Going from iAudio7 to iAudio9

[Oxide Blu]

Just received my iAudio9, been using an iAudio7 for a couple of years. There is no comparison. The iAudio9 plays album tracks in order without the necessity of additional gyration the 7 required. Also, gap-less playback, as verified by The Dark Side of The Moon. There was a noticeable 'tick' between tracks -- turned off the "beep" in the system menu and that went away. The display simply runs circle around the 7. I'm going to have to read the 9's manual ... some day.

ETA: posted here because I didn't see an iAudio9 forum. Did I miss it?

[jb2135]

Hey, I can't decide between a 7 or a 9. Can you tell me if there's a big difference in sound quality?


Thanks

[Giwex]

Very glad to see this thread. Does the new I9 support playlists?

[Oxide Blu]

jb2135 - don't bother with the 7 -- go for the 9. Sound quality of both is excellent, but unless you have the opportunity to sync the same playback source from both AND you are able to switch between the playback, you are never going to know the difference, if there is any difference.

Fwiw, a couple years ago I was privileged to be able to compare several MP3 players this way. I was blown away by how down right crappy an iPod sounded -- flat and muddied!!! The two best sounding players (of the bunch compared) were made by Panasonic and Marantz -- neither are sold in the US, neither support FLAC, my preferred format. Unfortunately, Cowon was not included in the comparison.

The reason to buy a 7 is the terrific battery life. The 9's battery will definitely get you through the (audio) day but it runs down faster if listening with the built in speaker. The sound quality of the internal speaker sucks, but it is good enough for listening to voice recording made with the built in mic.

The 9 gives you the option of choosing external (headphone jack) active, or internal speaker active, or automatically switch between the two -- meaning if headphones or line out is connect, that is used. But if the line out is not used or you unplug your headphones, the little critter starts spitting out audio through the internal speaker.

Giwex - from the user's manual:

+ Browser
Basic Use
■ Description of each mode from the list of Browser Mode

[NowPlaying] - Currently playing files are displayed. Change to the screen of currently playing file.
This menu will only be displayed during Music or Video mode.
[Folders] - All multimedia files are displayed by folders.
Save each multimedia file in categorized folders for more convenient use.
[Artists]* - All music files are displayed by artists.
[Albums]* - All music files are listed by albums.
[Songs]* - All music files saved in iAUDIO 9 are displayed.
[Genres]* - All music files are listed by genres.
[Years]* - All music files are listed by release years.
[New Music] - Newly added music files are listed.
[Playlists] - Playlists created from Windows Media Player 10/11 and synchronized with iAUDIO 9 are listed.
[Audible] - Audible contents are displayed.
Please refer to http://www.Audible.com for more information.
[Recordings] - All recorded files by iAUDIO 9 are listed by record method.
- FM Radio: Files recorded during Radio mode, or by scheduled radio recording.
- Mic: Files recorded by built-in microphone.


I do not have WMP 10 or 11 installed. I'm a MediaMoney fan, (what can I say?!? ) so I have not tried the new playlist function in the 9.

Also -- the whole touch sensitive thing is vastly improved. On my 7 I had pushed the sensitivity all the way down, to the lowest. On the new 9 it is left at the default middle setting, it works like you link it should -- better than the 7 at the lowest. It is responsive without being overly sensitive. Cowon finally got it right! I guess it is actually an individual thing -- maybe someone will think it is still too sensitive, or maybe not sensitive enough. Either way, there is room to make adjustments for both.

Unfortunately, the USB plug on the 9 is a micro-mini-thingy, not the same as the mini-thingy on the 7. There is a supplied USB cable with the player, but it means the wall wart charger I used for my 7 can't be used with the 9.

[jb2135]

Hey Oxide thanks for the wealth of information and all the stats. I really appreciate it. It is the first detailed analaysis I've been able to get for this question. I think you've sold me on the 9. The sensitivity thing sounds like it may be a deal breaker for the 7. THe 9 sounds like a great player. I think I'll gor for that one. Thanks again for your help. Post back if you have any more info on the 9, that you think could be of some help.


Regards

[Giwex]

Thanks a lot Oxide Blu.
I was caught by the in-built speaker. I never understood why on I7 there was the alarm feature but not a speaker. Ordering the I9 asap :-)

[Snooker]

I will upgrade my i7 to an i9 as soon as they release a 32Gb version...

[Oxide Blu]

Originally Posted by Giwex

Thanks a lot Oxide Blu.
I was caught by the in-built speaker. I never understood why on I7 there was the alarm feature but not a speaker. Ordering the I9 asap :-)

The "alarm" function is not so much an actual alarm as it is a scheduler/timer thingy. It has nothing to do with the built in speaker.

From the user's guide:

+ Time
Settings Mode
* Scheduled recording for FM Radio requires more battery power than usual.
Check the battery status before performing this function.

Time - Set the current time.

Alarm - Automatically turn on the device at the scheduled time.
- Music alarm : play music
- FM alarm : Start radio broadcast at the last tuned frequency.
- FM record : record the last tuned frequency during the set time.
- Off : disable alarm

Sleep timer - Automatically turn off the device after the specified time even if a file is being played at that time.

Auto off - Automatically turn off the device after the specified time if no action is taken. This feature does not operate during a file playback.

[Oxide Blu]

Something diff with the i9 is the way it plays an artist's music. If there is an entire album for an artist in a folder, and you select that album to play, it will play the tracks in the order as they appear on the album. But if you select [Play All] for artist, the same album is played in alphabetical order.

[Sloth]

I completely agree, the 9 runs circles around the 7. The sound quality, to my ears, is better (I was getting some weird BBE artifacts on the 7, not on the 9), but they are very close. The controls are light years better on the 9.

Did you notice you can replace the font? Uses the same method as the S9. Very cool.

Pluses/Cons for the 9 versus the 7:

+ Better controls
+ Screen is massively better. Album art is actually useful.
+ Sound quality.
+ Size (I like the thin package better, you need to decide)
+ Music transfer vastly faster

Cons:
- No auto play
- Battery life is just excellent, not mind-blowing
- No user defined button

A firmware update would make this just about perfect.

[bets]

I had a 7 and it was stolen.
now i need to decide between these two cus i was really happy with the 7.

does anybody know if u can use the volume buttens to go to next or preveus song while on hold? (is that the "user defined button" Sloth mentioned? if so, what do you think are the chances that thay do an firmware update like that?)

[Insta]

How is the "album Matrix" browsing?

[Oxide Blu]

Originally Posted by Insta

How is the "album Matrix" browsing?

It's pushing more buttons than the i7 but it also gives you more choices. I like it -- it is intuitive.

To give you an idea, here is a normal start up sequence:

Slide the [POWER] on the i9 -- top menu displays, 'Music' is the default choice.

Depress [>||] once -- the display goes to the last song playing.

-- If I depress [>||] again the i9 continues player from where it left off on the last song playing.

Depress [<] once - the browser displays the songs in the folder/album. Make a selection.

Depress [<] again - the browser displays all of the albums for that artist. Make a selection.

Depress [<] again - the browser displays all artists with folders. Make a selection.

Depress [<] again - the browser displays top level choices (now playing, folder, artist, albums, songs, gene, years, or music newly added to the i9). Make a selection.

[Oxide Blu]

Something else to know -- the i9 takes advantage of the larger area used for the finger sliding technology thingy. On the i7, you could slide your finger, or tap either end of the slide scale to input. The i9 allows you to slide your finger, tape either end, or for some functions, tap the middle of the slider area to input.

What the i9 lacks is a numerical reference for the volume. The i7 has a numeric pop-up (1-40) and scale that changes as you raise or lower the output volume. I haven't found anything like that, nor have I found any reference for what the output volume is playing at. Perhaps a future firmware update will provide one.

ETA: UPDATE: the i9 does indeed have a numerical indication of the volume setting. It is a number (0-20) to the right of the autio output icon. The i9 save the volume setting for each output setting, e.g. vol 10 for internal speaker and vol 25 for headphones. If listening thru headphones, and disconnect during playback, if you have the i9 set to auto sense it will automatically start playing thru the internal speaker and reduce the output vol to 10. Plug the headphones back in, the internal speaker is bypassed and the vol goes back to 25 for the headphones.

[WAI]

have you updated to v1.10?