Gadgets: Cowon S9 Portable Media Player – Review – 76

I couldn’t wait to salivate over this portable music player. After all, I have a big crush on its predecessor, the Cowon O2, which I reviewed in the last issue of Tone. So how does little brother stack up? Well on several counts, extremely well, but there I go getting ahead of myself – let’s start at the beginning.

Once I’d shimmied it out of its packaging and cradled it lovingly, I got a good idea of the S9′s weight. At just 77 grams, it’s feather light in the extreme. The unit is made of plastic, and while that means it’s light (which is fabulous) it does also indicate fragility and an inexpensive build. As for the design, it isn’t out of this world. The unit is nicely curved though, and fits comfortably in the hand, which is all you really need unless you’re after a fashion player.

The S9 gets the thumbs up for having a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, meaning I could use my favourite set of headphones, although the supplied set also did a decent job. However, the USB connection is proprietary, which is annoying as it means having to carry the boxed cable for charging. Of course, the iPod is the same, but that annoys me too. There’s also no microSD slot, so the memory can’t be expanded, which would have been a nice extra.

The user interface is a little clunky, mainly because of the lack of a ‘back’ button on the panel. Moving backwards and forwards within the menu system requires pressing a tiny ‘M’ on the touchscreen, which I found fiddly. Apart from that, the icons are bright and cute and everything is laid out logically.

Now for the AMOLED display: it’s stunning. Really. Definitely one of the unit’s strongest selling points, the screen displays vibrant and luscious colours; I couldn’t believe how sharp and rich video images were. Indeed, I obsessively watched Paramore’s 
forest-set music video for ‘Decode’ over and over again.

Although it was tempting, I didn’t spend all my time gazing at the screen, so I can tell you that audio quality is also thoroughly brilliant. After recently seeing Toni Childs in concert, I’m into her music in a big way, so I imported her new CD, Keep The Faith, onto the player. Speaking of importing, the S9 doesn’t support anywhere near as many file formats as the O2. It does, however, accept the more commonly used codecs such as MP3 and WMA, which is the important part. As for the sound itself, I was blown away. Lows are taut, and there’s an obvious distinction between smooth mids and clear highs. I could even detect subtle details such as the specific acoustic instruments in the background of ‘Because You’re Beautiful’. Yep, the sound gorgeously clear, and listening to the Cowon S9 was a delight.

Strong battery life is another perk of the Cowon S9. I ran the poor thing for two days solid (with a lot of video watching) before it needed a charge.

Overall this is a very good player, though it has a few quirks. Those who deem exceptional video and sound to be crucial qualities will love this unit.

JESKA INNES

TECH SPECS

S9
Portable Media Player
$349

CAPACITY: 8GB/16GB
SUPPORTED FILE FORMATS: Video: AVI, WMV, ASF, Xvid
Audio: MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, APE, WAV
BATTERY LIFE: 8 hours video/55 hours music
CONNECTION: USB (proprietory)

GENERAL FEATURES:

• 3.3-inch touch AMOLED display

• 16M colour screen

• 10-band EQ + EQ filter

• Photo viewer

• Text viewer

• FM Radio

• Bluetooth 2.0

• Alarm scheduled playback

• Voice recorder

• AV out

SIZE: 105 x 57 x 12.7mm (L/W/H)
WEIGHT: 77g

PROS

• Scrummy AMOLED display

• Excellent audio

• Lightweight

• Great battery life

CONS

• Clunky interface

• Mediocre design and material

• No extras for the price

VERDICT

• If phenomenal audio and visual quality are what you seek, buy the S9

CONTACT

www.cowon.co.nz
www.digitalpride.co.nz

This Review is from Tone Issue #76.