Well, thanks to a friend, I managed to borrow the Cowon S9 from him for a day.
Packaging was pretty simple with your typical items in the box. Stock buds, CD, manual, cable, etc. There really wasn't any reason to try out the stock buds, so I left it alone.
The player was smaller than I imagined, as well as thinner than I thought. It's very light, but feels like it's of good quality. I don't understand how a number of people found it to be "cheaply constructed, due to a light design". Feels like quality to me.
Putting music onto this is simple, since all it uses is drag and drop. I just put on the AU 2.0 UCI after trying out the 'meh' stock UI. Instantly, I just put on about 30 songs, and listened to most of them without the BBE effects. The sound was nothing impressive. I found the ZHD to sound better without the BBE. Smoother presentation with better soundstage. Soo, I put on the BBE settings and played around with most of the settings. I found the BBE ViVa with small EQ changes to suit me best and tested the sound side by side. The difference was there, but nothing vastly better.
A few minor problems though. The touchscreen is nowhere near that of an ipod touch or a Zune HD. The picture browser is slow, and the whole thing should really be sped up. Still, it's fun to play around with the UCIs and the sound effects.
Oh, and purely for sound, Sony X1061 > iPod Touch > Cowon S9 > Zune HD. Of course, everyone will have different opinions. But in the end, it seems like I'll end up with a 32 gig version of the Zune HD.
Packaging was pretty simple with your typical items in the box. Stock buds, CD, manual, cable, etc. There really wasn't any reason to try out the stock buds, so I left it alone.
The player was smaller than I imagined, as well as thinner than I thought. It's very light, but feels like it's of good quality. I don't understand how a number of people found it to be "cheaply constructed, due to a light design". Feels like quality to me.
Putting music onto this is simple, since all it uses is drag and drop. I just put on the AU 2.0 UCI after trying out the 'meh' stock UI. Instantly, I just put on about 30 songs, and listened to most of them without the BBE effects. The sound was nothing impressive. I found the ZHD to sound better without the BBE. Smoother presentation with better soundstage. Soo, I put on the BBE settings and played around with most of the settings. I found the BBE ViVa with small EQ changes to suit me best and tested the sound side by side. The difference was there, but nothing vastly better.
A few minor problems though. The touchscreen is nowhere near that of an ipod touch or a Zune HD. The picture browser is slow, and the whole thing should really be sped up. Still, it's fun to play around with the UCIs and the sound effects.
Oh, and purely for sound, Sony X1061 > iPod Touch > Cowon S9 > Zune HD. Of course, everyone will have different opinions. But in the end, it seems like I'll end up with a 32 gig version of the Zune HD.
