S9 battery for audio

[justam]

I've had my S9 for about 2 months now (so the battery should be at least at its full potential each time i recharge it), and i'm curious about whether my battery's a dud one or not. I did a test a few nights back and had it run from full charge to empty, and it took about 16 hours (which isn't as nasty as what some other S9 owners have experienced here, but it's not exactly near the 30 hour performance mark that others have hit).

oh i used a pair of UE super.fi 5's btw.

Settings:
EQ - normal
BBE+ - all off.
volume - 15
bluetooth - off
screen was off and on hold. For the 10 seconds it was on, it was on 6 for brightness
File types: mp3's ranging from 128-320kbps. Majority are 320 though. I have a few FLACs in there too.

The above settings aren't what I usually use - it was just for testing purposes. Using my usual settings, it runs for 28 hours (which I'm happy with, but judging from the test above, the battery COULD be underperforming), but the volume is far lower. Ack, just for reference, these are my usual settings:

EQ - -6,-9,-7,-6,-7 (that's right they're all in the negative)
BBE+ - BBE (7), Mack3Bass (9), 3Dsurround (off), MP Enhance (On)
Volume - 2
Bluetooth - off
Screen - mostly off. If ever on, brightness setting at 6.
File types - as stated above.
Headphones used - again, just my super.fi 5's.

so yes, if S9 owners could sorta try these settings (well maybe not the headphones) and let me know if they're hitting similar times, that'd be awesome. [thumbsup] thanks in advance!

[Uphaillife]

wow your settings are heavy. i think it is right that you get about 28 hours.
actually im amazed by it.

[da1writer]

Settings:
Firmware- 2.10 (non-Beta)
EQ - N/A or FLAT
BBE+ - BBE Headphone 1
volume - 6
bluetooth - off
Brightness level - 1
Screen Time - 10 seconds to select first folder and set Boundary to A (All),
Screen will be off and on hold after.
File types- ALL MP3's are 192 CBR. No FLAC, OGG, or MP3's lower or higher than 192 CBR (no VBR).

I'll run a time test this weekend starting Friday 10pm and update this post with my findings...

A portable Headphone amp really helps with lowering the volume on the Cowon S9, just a tip ;)!
Lower Volume= Higher Battery life

[DAPmagic]

I'm thinking about returning my S9 again. I've watched approx. 2 hours of video and listened to about an hour of music and the battery is already half empty!

I listen to everything on EQ "hip-hop" and use the stock earbuds. Brightness is set anywhere between 2-4. And volume 15-30. And I keep the screen off when listening to music.

I got about 6 hours out of my previous S9. I returned it and got one that doesn't appear to be performing much better. Maybe the sent me the old one back. [unsure]

Aarrghh! [cursing]

[Don't Panic]

I'm thinking about returning my S9 again. I've watched approx. 2 hours of video and listened to about an hour of music and the battery is already half empty!

I listen to everything on EQ "hip-hop" and use the stock earbuds. Brightness is set anywhere between 2-4. And volume 15-30. And I keep the screen off when listening to music.

I got about 6 hours out of my previous S9. I returned it and got one that doesn't appear to be performing much better. Maybe the sent me the old one back. [unsure]

Aarrghh! [cursing]

That sucks allright, how do you charge the S9? And also the battery goes down fast in the first 2-3 hours but after that it stays half empty for 3-4 hours... So you should test it what the total videoplaying time is.

[gorgi]

How did you convert your videos? Are they 480x272 in size or bigger?
Unfortunately the battery indicator is very inaccurate.

[da1writer]

What Firmware are you on? 2.10 (non-beta) lengthens video battery by about 75%.

Screen Brightness will kill the battery faster (like any portable device). Having it set at 1 will lengthen the battery time.

Volume also kills the battery faster as well when set at higher volumes (15+). I never have mine set above 10.
Reason I'm able to set the Cowon S9 at low volume: Better Earbuds and a portable Amp.
You should have chucked those stock earbuds as soon as you got the Cowon S9, all mp3 players stock earbuds flat out suck (doesn't matter who it's from).
I grabbed the Yuin PK3's for $40 at Head-Direct and I thought my music was good before buying them (used stock earbuds like you). I was so Wrong! I was hearing instruments like I never did before, the clarity was so much better, vocals and pretty much everything was louder, and for earbuds- these surprisingly has BASS (pretty good too).
I sought after getting even better sound and bought my first portable amp, the Fiio E5 (which rings in at $24). This things makes everything alot louder, causing me to lower the volume on my device to 6-8. It even has a Bass Boost that makes my earbuds beat even harder than before, nice!

Now with that outta the way, Flash games also kill battery life fast, along with movies.
Movies play for about 10+ hours if you grabbed firmware 2.10, Flash games still suck the life out of the battery. The Cowon S9 excels in music battery life.

I have to ask the same question that Manuskate80 asked, Did you fully charge the device (with it indicating "Battery Full" when charging it)?
I haven't charged my device for days now and I use for about 4-6 hours a day listening to my music.

I'll do my test this weekend to see if I can reach the 55 hour mark :P!

[DAPmagic]

That sucks allright, how do you charge the S9? And also the battery goes down fast in the first 2-3 hours but after that it stays half empty for 3-4 hours... So you should test it what the total videoplaying time is.

I own the D2 also and I get FAR better battery life out of it than with the S9; AND I use similar volume, screen, brightness (etc.) settings and use it for music and videos. (I convert videos using JetAudio.) I charge the S9 using a wall charger for a "FULL" charge. (The reason I bought a wall charger was so that I could tell when it was completely charged.) It was half empty after two hours of video playback. So I let it play continuously for over 4 hours and it drained completely (Oh, I must've listened to music for an hour or so.) So, it took approximately six hours to drain completely while in video mode.

I've never had to test the D2 for anything. (It takes days before it's even 1/4 drained.) So it's a bit annoying that I have to test the S9 again and again. [wacko]

Sorry if I've hijacked your thread, justam.

[omega215A]

My S9 seems to last 30 - 46 hours on a single charge for audio (continuous). My D2 lasts about 30 - 48 on a single charge for audio (continuous). I use my Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5 Pro and my settings are as follows:

Volume = 10 - 12
BBE = 10
Mach3Bass = 10
EQ = 12, 4, 2, 7, 11 (80 to 11.7 kHz)
Screen Brightness = 3 - 4 (5 & 6 are a bit too bright)
All my files are MP3 VBR set for quality.

The D2 has the exact same settings and files.

As for movies I couldn't sit through enough of them to accurately gauge the time. When I left it playing on a loop I came back to find it still playing stuff 5 hours in and a bar of battery was left.

[justam]

I own the D2 also and I get FAR better battery life out of it than with the S9; AND I use similar volume, screen, brightness (etc.) settings and use it for music and videos. (I convert videos using JetAudio.) I charge the S9 using a wall charger for a "FULL" charge. (The reason I bought a wall charger was so that I could tell when it was completely charged.) It was half empty after two hours of video playback. So I let it play continuously for over 4 hours and it drained completely (Oh, I must've listened to music for an hour or so.) So, it took approximately six hours to drain completely while in video mode.

I've never had to test the D2 for anything. (It takes days before it's even 1/4 drained.) So it's a bit annoying that I have to test the S9 again and again. [wacko]

Sorry if I've hijacked your thread, justam.

lol that's perfectly fine, reading everyone else's thingy's act as a nice benchmark for tests.

[da1writer]

With my settings above in my first post in this thread, I got 42 hours before the battery died. The battery indicator is actually somewhat bad in telling you how much life is left. After about 24 hours the battery was half full but was a quarter full for the last hours. I wish Cowon would put a percentage indicator like the memory when it comes to the battery. So there's my benchmark results and small rant...

[rockphantom]

Howdy,

I'm planning to buy a S9 very soon.
I was wondering what the average battery expectancy is for exclusive playback of FLAC files encoded at level 8.

Thanks,

Milan

[tlo001]

I just did a test to see for myself that it could get to 55 hours using the same settings cowon used.

EQ - normal, volume - 15, 128kbps

I picked a 128kbps song and put it on repeat and left the player. Turned on the screen for a couple of seconds every few hours to check the battery and found that the battery indicator was fairly accurate when using these settings.
I was happy when it got to 55 hours and it was still playing and was really surprised that it got to 60 hours before it finally stopped.

Glad to know I could now listen to music for 2 and half days straight if I ever wanted to. :)

[justam]

I just did a test to see for myself that it could get to 55 hours using the same settings cowon used.

EQ - normal, volume - 15, 128kbps

I picked a 128kbps song and put it on repeat and left the player. Turned on the screen for a couple of seconds every few hours to check the battery and found that the battery indicator was fairly accurate when using these settings.
I was happy when it got to 55 hours and it was still playing and was really surprised that it got to 60 hours before it finally stopped.

Glad to know I could now listen to music for 2 and half days straight if I ever wanted to. :)

Okay I really need to test that then. Last time I tried, it was with a variety of bitrates, but this time i'll lock it down to a 128kbps track. that should be a better benchmark.