i9 vs. D2

[nsxviper]

Anyone who owns a D2 and i9 can anyone care to explain any difference? Such as SQ, BBE presets, shuffle, playlists, ease of use, interface, gapless, any noticeable problems, etc.

I may be considering getting the i9 but the battery life is a little off putting and there's no expansion slot. I probably care more about the SQ, BBE, smaller, and thinner form factor than the little bulky D2. But I have the zCover on my D2, dropped a few times, and it hasn't even break yet.

You don't have to explain to me about the battery life since I made another thread on that.

Btw, the shuffle feature is kind of an important feature for me since it's pretty much horrible to try it on the D2.

[Grandpa Jones]

Hi. To sum up, overall the i9 is a sort-of D2 Jr. You've got it down already. Everything you say is exactly the way it is. But, OK here's my compare. Note that the i9 has been around a week whereas I'm on my 2nd D2 in over two years:
- = - = -

The D2 plays clearly with more power, so if you use inefficient headphones, the i9 might not play loud enough for you. (most earbuds and any canalphones this will not be a problem!)

BBE and EQ and the like are nearly exactly the same. The main difference is that there's a boatload of presets (32?) and a batch of user-specified storage slots. And if you customize one of the user slots, you'll see the same thing you get on the D2; BBE 1-10, Mach3Bass 1-10, individual EQ bands and centerpoints, etc. But for the most part this is hidden, I guess they're catering to the iPod Nano switchers who want presets?

SQ rocks, just like D2. Pristine and gorgeous. Playing a quality recording compressed losslessly on the same headphones at roughly the same volume level, it might actually sound better than the D2! I'm not sure, it could easily be the "new toy!" syndrome where I *expect* it to sound better; It certainly doesn't sound worse. (I haven't done any analytical testing, mind you.)

Usage is completely different. You'll find yourself touching the display a lot to try to use the non-existent touch screen. The power/hold switch works exactly the same as the D2, as do the volume up / volume down / menu combo switch, and can be customized just like the D2. The difference is the diagonal slider. It's fairly intuitive. The "back" button is in the upper left and the "select" button is in the lower right, so getting confused is impossible. (once you get past the initial 10 minutes of figuring it out.)

Shuffle & playlists seem exactly the same, however I haven't had enough experience to see if the shuffle is very random. (you may remember early D2 firmwares had horrible randomization for subdirectory-oriented Music directories - so if your shuffle is still horrible, please upgrade your D2's firmware, you might be pleasantly surprised.)

The LCD is so much sharper/clearer, for many reasons: it's a different technology, it's a newer unit, it's higher resolution, it's backlight is perfectly even, and, not the least of which, it doesn't have a thinfilm touch screen interface overlying it and slightly blurring the screen. It might be smaller than the D2 display, but it's twice as gorgeous. Seems impossible, but it is. Too bad it doesn't have a microSDHC slot because videos are just as easy to watch as the D2 but space becomes a concern. It's sold as a music player not a PMP, so...

The design, far and away better than the D2. The vol +/- are on the left and menu is on the right with the power/hold, and the headphone jack is dead-center on the bottom. It's the perfect layout for those that walk with their player in their hand. The micro USB is exactly like the power port on the D2, in that it's a proprietary pinout of a standard connector; so unlike the D2 where you can borrow anyone's computer that has a mini-B cable to charge up or copy some files, the i9 you better carry that stupid cable in your backpack. (and get a spare!)

Durability, I've dropped it twice so far, no damage. It weighs nothing, so it's a lot less mass to impact the floor. Still, that mirror-finish is bound to get scratched no matter how carefully you treat it. I can't speak for it's long-term durability; I have a D2 that looks like it survived a war, and functions perfectly, whereas the i9 is brand new.

Battery, well, it's less than half the size, it's common sense it's not going to run as long. Probably the main reason it doesn't play at 74mW like the D2, as it'd be a 2-hour unit and that would lead to negative press? No idea.

Wrap-up: Look, they are different units. I love both. I don't find carrying the D2 any effort whatsoever, and I mainly listen to FLACs, so I have a 16G+16G SDHC to give me enough space to carry a hundred albums at a time, and can play through all of them on one charge at ear-ringing volumes using less efficient over-the-ear phones.

The i9 is tiny, light, comfortable, contains a gorgeous screen and beautiful audio IC, but it's also less... less space, no microSDHC slot, smaller display, proprietary USB cable. So I guess it depends on why you want to have an i9 over the D2. Physical size is probably the only reason I can think of. It's a great player, but compared to a D2/D2+, it's features are so alike, it's a junior version of one.

GJ

[dfkt]

The new generation BBE implementation is quite a bit different than the old one on the D2. It's less 'in your face', more subtle. As for the huge amount of presets - they're mostly just willy-nilly EQ presets made by Cowon. The really interesting stuff are the presets with BBE in their name - especially BBE ViVA and ViVA2. Those sound really nice with almost all my different headphones and most music genres. They give a very nicely shaped loudness contour, with perfect clarity and no mud or veil.

The i9 has the same screen resolution as the D2, 320x240px, but a smaller screen - thus the single pixels are less easy to make out and distract you. It's the same old technology, it's your average low-ish-quality TFT screen, but with slightly better image quality and less solarizing when viewed from an angle. Backlight is uneven, though. It sure cannot be compared to the amazing AMOLED screen of the S9 in any way. Why they used a shabby TFT and not AMOLED on the i9 is beyond me...

I think there's really little difference between most Cowon players in how they drive a headphone. The i9 isn't that much quieter than the D2 to my ears. I haven't measured the i9 yet, but here's how other Cowons rank: http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41708

The i9 certainly doesn't have much from the D2 in overall design cues. It's basically a much better i6/7 on the outside, with the functionality and UI cues of the S9 on the inside.

It does play gapless like the S9, which for me is one of the most important features on a player. I can't help you with playlists, shuffle, and such - I only use file/folder browsing and listen to albums in order.

[nsxviper]

Thank you both, you guys provided more than enough information. Most likely I'll be saving my money. I really do like the small thin form factor of the i9, Jet Effects 3.0, capacitive touch, UCI, and gapless. playback. But what I didn't like was the low battery life, mini-usb port, and no expansion slot. It's funny how the rated 29 hours of battery life seems more than enough for most people but when you own something that's rated 52 hours battery life, you become spoiled. S9 would definitely been nice but I don't see myself watching videos.

The problem I had with the shuffling feature on the D2 was that it would shuffle through all my folders instead of shuffling just one folder.

I guess I'm going to have to wait for the next MP3 player that Cowon will release someday. D3 perhaps?

I'm sure they've used TFT to cut costs. I don't see a reason for AMOLED unless you are going to play a lot of video.

[plonter]

is the I9 that small? from the pictures it looks pretty big but I know pictures can desieve. so,is it smaller than the d2? really? I would say the D2 is pretty small when naked.

[dfkt]

The i9 is a third as thick as the D2, also slimmer, but it is a bit longer.

[plonter]

is there an improvement in SQ with the I9 comparing to the d2? does it still have a know probelm of rolling the bass with low impedance headphones? i am not using any EQ or other enhancement. the gapless playback sounds nice but i don't know if i should get it only for this.

[dfkt]

Almost all MP3 players of any brand roll off the bass.

[plonter]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Almost all MP3 players of any brand roll off the bass.

do you mean with low impedance headphones or in general?

[dfkt]

With low impedance phones. They all start behaving better as soon as the impedance increases. It's just how the analog output stages are designed in most players, unfortunately.

[Peterkorse12]

I have i9 and I like it most because of its improvement of SQ. It is slimmer than D2 but the in size it is longer than D2. Only one thing of i9 I do not like and that is its screen size. As the screen resolution of i9 and D2 are same the variation lies between them where i9 has the smaller screen compare to D2.

[plonter]

after spending some time with the i9 i think it sounds better than my D2+,at least for me. as i am very sensitive to harsh notes and sharp treble which the D2 can have,the i9 is definitely warmer sounding and sound a little fuller. more to my liking.

[iaudioed]

Serious question:

Does the i9 play video files WITHOUT conversion? Example: Can I drag/drop my 700mb movie that I downloaded, straight onto the i9 WITHOUT the hassle of converting it??

Can the D2 do the same? Do you need to convert videos (700mb downloaded movies) to play on the D2?

[Peaceful1]

the size of the video doesn't matters the pixel count matters D2 only plays videos near to its pixel rate. mostly exact rate,and I think it can't play films with more than 30 frame /sec.
the ability of watching films with higher rate or witch format can be supported its related to the main processor mostly in low price players of cowon it can only play in the exact size of the screen or less,but I'm not sure about i9.

[dfkt]

The i9 can play all your average AVI (MPEG4/XviD/DivX) movies without converting. I think that's what you mean with the standard 700MB movies.

The D2 can't play anything without converting.