X9 : Initial impressions

[Question]

I actually received the X9 last week...but after trying the touch calibration option, i got stuck in that screen and was unable to exit it...the soft reset just frozed the player and i could not get it to start again. Minidisc solved the problem quickly though.

The X9 is a really new player apparently...and it looks like cowon hasnt gotten round to updating their global site with it yet. It seems to be a basic mp3 player with an emphasize on screen size and battery life...rated at a amazing 110 hours of music playback, about double that of my S9 (which was itself pretty amazing).

Purchased the X9 because my S9's power button broke, and the J3 still has no replacement...and all the other modern cowon players have terrible battery life.

I have the 16 gb version, and theres only the white color out now. Here's what i think :

Design

It fits comfortably into my hand (which is pretty small). The player feels solid...all the buttons are arranged so that they are easy to reach with the same hand. It's got a speaker on the back...haven't tried that out yet. I would recommend disabling the speaker in the settings, because the last thing you want is the embarassing situation where you accidentally pull out your earphones and your player starts blarring music.

One thing i did notice was that it is rather difficult to plug in/out the USB cable (which is still the cowon proprietary cable for some reason...). You need substantial force to plug it in, and then plug it out. Hopefully the cable is built to last, or you are going to spoil it eventually. My S9 didn't have this problem...so Cowon definately took a step backwards with the USB port this time round.

The white color is "decent", but really...it's very boring. I know it's a "safe" color, but i wish Cowon would make players in more colors than just white or black. Blue for example, would have been really eye catching. As it is, it kind of looks like an apple mini tablet or something....

The way the power button works is also fairly confusing. When the player is on, one press locks the screen, two presses puts the player into sleep mode. If the player is in sleep mode, you need to hold down the button to wake it up, rather than just pressing it once...feels counter intuitive.

Screen

4.3 inch screen. Sounds amazing right? Until you realise it's the old, touch resistant type screen...those used to the AMOLED screens on the S9 and J3 will be dissapointed. The touch screen is pretty accurate, and i had no problems using it...although i did have to use more force than with my S9.

Another oddity is the very low resolution of the screen...480x272 pixels. Fine enough for music playback, not much for videos (a waste with the large screen). It's weird...did Cowon just get an absolutely insane deal for a ton of cheap, 4.3 inch touch-resistant touchscreens? The screen feels like a step backwards from what other modern players are using.

There's also a rather weird black plastic strip on the left side of the player, right next to the screen. I have no idea what it is for...you would normally use that for screen space, or just make the player smaller. It feels like they wanted the player to be of a certain space, but the screens they had were too small so they had to put in something to take up the excess space...

UI

Another Cowon UI. Fairly easy to use actually...the options are seperated into two different screens, and you can switch between them at the main menu. The main downside i've spotted so far is that it is an absolute pain in the ass to scroll down...on my S9, i just needed to "drag" the screen to scroll it. With the X9, i need to use my fingernail to activate the scrollbar on the extreme right side of the screen, which is very annoying (not to mention the times where your fingernail will miss and activate another function instead). Again, huge step backwards for no apparent reason, which is something Cowon frequently does with their players.

It is also difficult to browse for tracks with long filenames since they get cut off. This wasn't a big deal with the S9 since the font size was pretty small, but with the X9, the font size is a LOT bigger (even zoomed out all the way), so long file/folder names just get cut off.

One thing i noticed was that there is a search function, which should make finding that one specific track a LOT easier.

Sound quality

I can't do a proper test till my yuin pk2s arrive, but using the stock earbuds, these sound MUCH better than my laptop...and significantly better than my S9. So good that i don't feel like listening to music on my laptop anymore.

Packaging

Manual was bare bones, and didn't explain any of the settings at all (they really should at least include that...). One thing i really want to see them add though, is a screen protector, already applied...it doesn't cost much, and cowon players are notorious for being finger print magnets. I'm not willing to pay $20 for aftermarket cowon screen protector either...that's just highway robbery. With the unusual screen sizes, it tends to be difficult to find alternatives...unlike for the ipod.

Will update more when i have time.

[slthoeny]

Thanks for the review. I am really interested in getting one of these. And it is so new there is very little information around. If you feel like doing me a favor could you play around with the fm radio record function. One of my must haves in my next player is the record fm feature.

[TheDarkSide]

We need a few pics in your review, so we can get a nice look at this new toy you have. Enjoy!!!

[SamanTortega]

hello i had this player yesterday and today i try the touch screen calibration it get locked and no it's impossible to do anithing .
can i have more details about this mini-disc thing that allow you to solve this problem.

[azwel]

does this have folder browsing? seems better than the j3 is the battery life is 110 hours!
also, is there microcard slot for more memory

[rangerofheaven]

Someone should try to see if any of the UCI's for the X7/J3/S9 would work on this. It would seriously convince me to try out this player.

I would hope they have similar architecture, I'm not sure how this works but hopefully the player would accept the UCI. It seems out of all of Cowon's new players this one would be most similar to X7/J3/S9

[TheDarkSide]

Originally Posted by rangerofheaven

Someone should try to see if any of the UCI's for the X7/J3/S9 would work on this. It would seriously convince me to try out this player.

I would hope they have similar architecture, I'm not sure how this works but hopefully the player would accept the UCI. It seems out of all of Cowon's new players this one would be most similar to X7/J3/S9

According to Kizune the X7 UCI's should work. Ask in the chat box just in case,...

[cooljets]

Mine just stopped working after 5 months of normal use. I didn't drop it or anything. Just wont turn on now. Holding + and - doesn't fix it. Not sure what to do now. :/

[s1m0n]

I have just installed Sense v1.2.2 on my X9 and it is fantastic. My only issue with my X9 before was the lack of 'on the go' playlists - this has just been fixed thanks to Sense. Kizune if you're listening - Thank You!!

EDIT: And now leaf is working too

[Kizune]

Nice to hear my UCIs work on the X9 as well.

[s1m0n]

They do indeed and the scrolling works better (is smoother) on leaf than the default browser. Thanks again Kizune!!

[rangerofheaven]

Awesome to hear the UCIs work!

I'm probably going to buy an X9 now.

My only concern now is any sort of bricking problem with Mac OS X(like the X7)

Has anyone tried one of these with a Mac?

[Hoegaarden]

Originally Posted by s1m0n

I have just installed Sense v1.2.2 ... Kizune if you're listening - Thank You!!

Great news. Will install posthaste. Kicking myself for not trying that earlier.

[s1m0n]

To Kizune, sorry if the answer lies elsewhere on the forums (I look all last night but couldn't find the answer), is it possible to access the playlists created in Sense whilst the X9 is attached to my Windows PC.

I've had a look for a file but I'm guessing the playlist is embedded in the .swf files

Is there a feature I've not found in Sense that will allow me to export the playlist to a txt file, or M3U file at all. It would be a massive help as I usually generate playlists on my PC in Media Monkey. I'd love to add new music to various playlists in Sense whilst listening to them and then add them to established playlists I've previously created at a later date.

Is this a possibility.

Sorry to ask you about something you completed so long ago but it would be a massive help.

Thank you

[Kizune]

Playlists are stored in "/System/Flash UI/SOL/", but they can't be edited with a music program or text editor because SOL files are binary config files Flash uses to store settings. There was no other way to realize dynamic playlists because UCIs cannot create any files but SOL files.