I guess the very first think you'll have to wait for is an upgrade by Cowon which upgrades Android GB to ICS (the Z2 still uses GB after all) - I'm not even sure if Cowon is going to provide such an upgrade, but the GB upgrade for the D3 was quite a surprise so maybe Cowon will surprise us again.

I'm just figuring that's the only road that would allow you to have the Z2 work as a digital source for an external DAC/AMP combo?

Uh, I don't know, I'm by no means an audio expert. I "only" have a Cowon J3 + ATH M50s, that's all. :)

I don't know either (I'm in the same boat as you with a J3 currently). Was hoping to carry some 24/96 needle drops around and feed them in to an external DAC/AMP.

Seems like there are very few options currently, and people are waiting for an update to ICS for this to open up more choices with Android phones and tablets.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what are the main improvements of Android ICS vs. GB?. What can we get focusing in a DAP?.

ICS' performance is in all aspects superior to GB, better UI (well, I bet most of it would get replaced with Cowon's terrible UI anyway if Cowon decided to release an ICS upgrade), improved core apps.

Don't underestimate the UI update, it has become awesome and improves the Android-experience a lot.

Android 4 is meant for new hardware, though - and the Z2 is, well, quite old hardware still. :) It might be slow, and there aren't really any apparent benefits for mainly audio/video usage.

It arrived and is charging now. The instruction booklet is in Korean (which I don't read) and the non-USB charger is, I assume, made for Korean electrical outlets since the plug won't fit American sockets without an adapter, but the USB-charger is fine. I'll try doing something of a proper review on Monday.

Android 4 supposedly allows for digital output circumventing the Android audio subsystem, much like ALSA output in Linux or ASIO and WASAPI in Windows.

I'm a raging Android fanboy, but trust me, Gingerbread will be fine for the Z2. It's not like we need full device encryption or any of the other new features from ICS. An android market hack would be far more exiting than an upgrade to ICS.

I look forward to it! I hope you are happy with your purchase!

It has arrived yesterday but at the post office ! With the opening hours, i have to wait for saturday when i will not go to work , to bring it back at home.
Too hard, to wait ...

Looong week...

HAHA, good luck to you, waitting is full of suffering. More than 100 Z2 was sold in China, there ware lots of photos and videos ware posted. If it's battary life is longer, it'll be a wonder player.

Hi

Not really in to technology side of products, but I was looking at buying an older Cowon couple of weeks ago and then I found most don't work on 64bit laptop (which I have). I was told that this would work on said laptop without any trouble. Question is does anyone know if this is true or not. Also saw some link when searching product online, something came up about ROOT. What is this and would it be an issue when the item is released in the UK or anywhere else?

Oh and sorry will it work on Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 11 Media Player without any issue?

Thanks for any help on this.

The main improvement of Android ICS over Gingerbread is the stock UI actually looks bearable. ;) Whereas earlier versions look like something found in the 'cheap Chinese players' people constantly seem to allude to.

@sllaw79 My J3 and D3 both work perfectly with my 64-bit laptop.

Any possibility that this releases to the U.S. sometime soon?

Someone said March for the global launch. I don't know when it'll be available after the launch. If you want it earlier you'll have to pay a premium and get it imported.

I just want a warranty, do Exportprive offer one?

Thanks for the reply snakebite...


Can anyone confirm this March release??

I guess it won't release outside of Korea.[thumbdwn] They released like 6 firmware since launched in Korea. They couldn't get one firmware localized? I'm starting to think it's Apple's fault.

Are you in Korea now? Z2 FW x.31 still has a lot of bug. Could you help us to report the problems to COWON?

I'm not in Korea and I don't speak Korean either. What bugs are in the X.31? I think there should be a bug list thread. I'm sure they know about the bugs. Their Korean users possibly complain about it as well. [confused]

EN……I hope you are right and COWON will fix them as soon as possible. Look at the covers of the album, zoom more worse than J3 for Z2's weak pictures software.

All I want is a mp3 player with Cowon's audio quality and storage with Sony's firmware - UI that doesn't make creating playlist a PITA and the most stupid "400 songs limit". Koreans are apparently not good at listening to their customers. Why do they have to spend worthless times to come up with such complicated and stupid UI and a shitty playlist supports.
My previous mp3 player was a Sony 16Gb S-series and it was a PITA-free. And why won't Sony make HDD players with FLAC supports. I have almost 2 grands worth of audio gears to go with it.

I think the majority of customers are in their homeland. And a while back someone here said Koreans don't use playlist then just put whatever music and play at random.

Waiting for the result. Support Apple or not??

While we are waiting for at least 12 months it seems, I was hoping to purchase either the X7, X9 or i10. I am after at least 64gb, something that is only good for music, so I dont care for other functionalities, whistles and bells. Is there any real difference in the sound quality between these 3 choices. Are they all able to be charged from A/C and USB? And though not a complete Luddite, I am confused about Flashdrive, HDD, cards etc. Is it possible to buy the i10, and insert extra memory in a card that brings it from 32gb up to 96gb, and does that mean there is a higher chance of it being lost? Any help would be great, as waiting for i11, or the J3 update may be a while away. Thanks

1. X7 and X9 are rather large players whose point is large screens for video, so if you buy one just for audio, you're dealing with a bigger, heavier player than really make sense.

2. X7 is a hard drive player (it has a mechanical spinning disk inside, like your computer probably does, or like an old ipod). That means bigger, more likelihood of mechanical failure, etc., but more space. X9 is like X7 except it uses flash memory (no moving parts) which is better but costs more per GB, so they set it up with less total capacity. X7 is discontinued in favor of X9, I think.

3. I9 is a cute little player that also uses flash memory. It is not expandable. Whatever capacity you buy is all you can use with it. I think the X7 is also not expandable but that's less of an issue, since its capacity is large to begin with (120GB+).

4. J3 (discontinued) does have an expansion slot, as does the X9 and C2. The expansion slot lets you add a microsdhc card, up to 32gb or possibly 64gb (see threads about 64gb cards). Microsdhc/microsdxc is a small (fingernail sized) chip containing flash memory that you can insert into some players, cell phones, etc.

5. I believe they can all be charged from USB (maybe needing special cables included with player) but I'm not sure of this.