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Cowon's S9 is an iPod Touch-beater. Sort of...
The Cowon S9 boasts superb sound quality.
This week I’ve been playing with one of the many pretenders to the iPod Touch’s portable music player crown – the Cowon S9 8GB. And by and large I’ve been very impressed, particularly when it comes to audio quality.
Plug in a decent pair of headphones and you’ll be staggered by the S9’s beautifully detailed soundstage – it’s certainly a couple of notches above the iPod’s sonic capabilities.
Another strength is its support for a huge range of file formats (including Ogg and the ultra-high quality FLAC lossless codec), not to mention a fantastic AMOLED screen and the ability to play hugely popular DivX videos – the iPod is much fussier about what it will play back.
That said, the S9 still can’t offer the all-round slick user experience of the iPod Touch. There’s no Wi-Fi, no web browsing and the touchscreen capabilities pale in comparison.
If Cowon can step up to match these in the future, then it might have a real iPod-killer on its hands. Of course, then there’s the whole question of competing with Apple’s multi-million dollar marketing campaigns – a slightly tougher prospect, methinks…
Take a look at the latest Web TV episode for a more in-depth first look at the S9.
User comments (12)
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chatterboxlee14 September 2009
This S9 sounds great but as an iPod touch owner i still think it is the best portable music player
Report as inappropriateLeigh Norris18 October 2009
I have one of these and i wouldnt swap it for anything else. Its responsive, good fun and beautiful to look at. The video playback is amazing with an extremely insane bitrate. And i believe it has the better sound of the two even though the EQ settings are rather overwhelming.
Report as inappropriatejaneluevano28 December 2009
Nice! But I still love my apple gadgets. My new Iphone 3GS is one for all gadget..phone..browsing...music player and reading ebooks and <a href="http://www.term-paper-research.com/custom-research-paper.html">research papers</a>.
Report as inappropriateJackweath1222 April 2010
I hate itunes as it just doesn't work as well as copying and pasting which means i should like the cowon however apple's internet connectivity just wins it by an edge. (i like the oled screen though...i wish they could join and create the perfect product
Report as inappropriateNcik06 June 2010
try the samsung YP-P3. I have one and it has absolutely awesome sound! and its about the same price as an iPod Nano for a touch screen, flash playing, bluetoothed mp4 player!
Report as inappropriateLawrence Rayner10 June 2010
I'm still waiting on a view of the best iPod touch Killer; The Zune HD. Admittedly its not officially sold in the UK but it has some impressive specs Hook me up Gadget Show!!
Report as inappropriateItsMe26 January 2011
Has anyone seen the i9 4G its similar looking to a iphone but only £50, i've seen it at www.jafa-gadgets.co.uk with free delivery but im not sure if i should buy or not. it would be a perfect music player and phone if im right?? direct link is here http://jafa-gadgets.co.uk/touch-screen/172-dual-sim-4g-ifone-touch-screen-mobile-phone-java-and-bluetooth-.html
Report as inappropriateGideon Morley23 November 2011
You should try the J3 instead. How many players can last 64 hours and have superb sound quality to boot!
Report as inappropriateAdrian28 November 2011
How can any device without Wifi be any sort of rival to an iPod Touch, especially one with 64Gb storage. I had no interest in a MP3 player but bought an iPod Touch for my daughter and was quickly made aware of its use for e-mails and the internet. I bought one mainly for quick access to e-mails and listening to internet radio stations. The storage of music files (over 34Gb in use already) is a bonus with good headphones but can't come close to matching the quality of a real Hi-Fi sound. iTunes and MP3s are encouraging far too many to accept the low-fi MP3 sound and are killing off the much higher quality sound systems of domestic HiFis.
Report as inappropriateAnonymous05 December 2011
Archos 4.3?that's amasing!
Report as inappropriatePeter04 April 2012
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Report as inappropriateMarjorie09 August 2012
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