Cowon D2+ (16GB, black)
Manufacturer: Cowon Systems, Inc. Part number: D2P-16BL
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- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Product series
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- Bottom Line:
- The Cowon D2+ is a sturdy little touch-screen MP3 player with flexible sound enhancement settings and useful features, but it hasn't changed much from the original version we saw in 2007.
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CNET editors' review
Cowon D2+ (16GB, black) price range: $151.99 - $152.99
- Reviewed by: Donald Bell
- Reviewed on: 03/10/2009
The good: The Cowon D2+ touch-screen MP3 player offers rich sound, long battery life, and seamlessly integrated memory expansion.
The bad: There's no AAC support on the D2+, most videos require conversion, line input and video output features require extra cables, and menu scrolling can be tedious.
The bottom line: The Cowon D2+ is a sturdy little touch-screen MP3 player with flexible sound enhancement settings and useful features, but it hasn't changed much from the original version we saw in 2007.
Cowon's original D2 MP3 player from 2007 quickly earned a reputation for outstanding sound quality, a long-lasting battery, and cutting-edge touch-screen technology. Two years later, the Cowon D2+ refines the audio quality and touch-screen interface that made the original model so compelling, and includes a reasonable price tag of $139 (8GB) and $179 (16GB).
Design
Physically, the Cowon D2+ is nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor, measuring the same 3 inches wide by 2.2 inches tall and a relatively chunky 0.65 inch thick. The D2+ is manipulated mostly through its touch-screen interface, however, controls for power, menu, button hold, and volume remain on the top edge of the player. Audio, USB, and peripheral connections are located on the left side of the D2+, and an SD/MMC/SDHC card slot is tucked away on the bottom.
The screen on the D2+ is a 2.5-inch TFT LCD capable of displaying 1.6 million colors at a 320x240-pixel QVGA resolution, and looks comparable with the iPod Classic screen in both size and image quality. The look and feel of the D2's graphic touch-screen interface has been overhauled for a cleaner, more modern look. Functionally, however, the interface is identical to the original D2, which means that scrolling long lists of music takes patience, and some operations are better executed with a stylus than a clumsy finger.
One of the only hardware design tweaks that distinguishes the D2+ from the model we saw in 2007 is the absence of metal trim along the front and back of player. Instead, the D2+ uses an all-plastic design that--though lighter--feels a little less substantial than the original.
Features
The Cowon D2+ is no slouch when it comes to features, offering music, video, and photo playback, along with an FM radio, voice/radio recorder, text reader, Flash player, and a ton of little extras. If you're willing to shell out a little extra on cables, you can also enable features such as line-input recording and video output.
In spite of the extensive spec sheet, generous screen size, and two years spent back on Cowon's drawing board, the most prized feature of the D2+ is the same feature we loved on the original D2: outstanding audio playback. In fact, one of the only concrete advantages the D2+ offers over its predecessor is the inclusion of the latest BBE+ suite of audio enhancement settings.
Beyond the sound quality, the D2+ does a nice job handling music playback, in general. The main music playback screen shows off album artwork, track information, elapsed time, and settings such as repeat, shuffle, and EQ. An easily accessible pop-up menu in the bottom left corner of the screen lets you jump into the song browser, bookmark playback, or add songs to a dynamic playlist.
Common music files such as MP3, WMA (including subscription tracks), Audible, and WAV, are all supported on the D2+, as well as boutique formats like FLAC and Ogg. Support for AAC music files isn't offered, though, which was excusable when the original D2 came out in 2007, but is harder to justify now that the popular iTunes AAC format can be played on devices beyond the iPod. The latest MP3 players from Sony, Samsung, and Zune, are all compatible with the iTunes AAC format, and Cowon should really get in the game if they want to compete against the iPod in the U.S.
Another music feature we aren't thrilled about on the D2+ is the song browser, which is a little awkward to move through. Scrolling is helped by the capability to use the volume buttons on the top of the D2+ to move through lists, but the end result can't match the swiftness of Apple's scroll wheel or the Zune's touch pad. That said, we appreciate that the D2+ lets you browse your music by either ID3 tag or your own custom folder view--offering a degree of freedom not found in the iPod universe.
Video playback on the D2+ is unchanged from the days of the original D2, which seems like a lost opportunity on Cowon's part. To be fair, the D2's video features were far ahead of the curve in 2007, and and its 2.5-inch screen still trumps the iPod Nano's relatively small 2-inch screen. The problem with video on the D2+ is that the supported formats (AVI and WMV sized at 320x240) aren't as common on the web as the H.264/MPEG files that are standard for most video podcasts and work natively on the iPod and Zune. More often than not, you'll need to convert video to play on the D2+ (conversion software is included), which feels like a tedious extra step just to watch video on a 2.5-inch screen. If Cowon had included H.264 video support and some extra wiggle room on the 320x240 resolution, the D2+ would be a more compelling product.
Features such as FM radio, photos, text, and voice recording work well, but also remain unaltered from the original D2. Extra utilities such as a calculator, notepad, and a Flash game player came to the first-generation D2 by way of a firmware update, and are offered on the D2+ out of the box.
Last, but not least, one of the more understated features of the D2+ is a memory expansion slot that supports SD, MMC, and SDHC cards. Instead of treating memory card content separately from the files stored on internal memory, the D2+ merges all the content together for a seamless experience. Most people prefer to have content merged this way, but only a few MP3 players pull this trick off (most notably, the
Performance
When you boil it all down, the take-away feature on the Cowon D2+ is sound quality. You'll need to upgrade Cowon's bundled earbuds and switch on a few of the player's sound enhancement settings to really appreciate the sonic supremacy of the D2+, but the effort is well worth it for anyone looking to take their listening experience to another level. Settings for five-band EQ, Mach3Bass, BBE enhancement, 3D Surround, Stereo Enhancement, and MP3 Enhancement, can all be adjusted independently and saved as a single group preset. You can even drill down into the EQ and adjust the frequency ranges for each of the five bands, if you're feeling very particular.
Now, if you're the kind of audio purist who wouldn't be caught dead slathering artificial audio enhancements on your music, then the D2+ isn't a great pick. In fact, when we switched off all of the EQ and enhancement settings and put on our trusty Shure SE310 earphones, we tended to prefer the sound of the iPod Nano (fourth-generation) and Samsung P2 over the D2+, finding they offer a warmer and wider default sound. After juicing a few settings, the sound of the D2+ quickly takes the upper hand, but not everyone enjoys fiddling with EQ to dial in the best performance.
Video quality on the D2+ is bright and crisp, and supports playback up to a smooth 30 frame per second. Unfortunately, if you're converting your videos to get them on the D2+, you will inherently encounter some loss in video quality. Just like the original D2, the video player on the D2+ supports video bookmarking and auto-resume, and lets you apply audio enhancement settings to video audio, as well.
Cowon rates the battery life of the D2+ at 52 hours for audio and 11 hours for video, under best conditions. For reference, the original D2 tested at 50 hours of audio and 10 hours of playback. CNET Labs test results averaged 40 hours for audio and 9 hours for video, which are short of Cowon's claims, but still above-average.
Final thoughts
Overall, the Cowon D2+ is a great little portable media player with impressive sound, long battery life and a price that makes sense. Still, we're a little disappointed Cowon didn't do more with the D2+, considering they had two years to hash out a redesign after launching the original model. For better or worse, the D2+ is practically the same D2 we saw in 2007 and will probably be a little anticlimactic for Cowon fans.
User reviews
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My Perfect Little Player !!
Pros: The sound and video quality on this device is GENERATIONS AHEAD of apple or sony or any of the big players. It's got an amazing battery life, and the screen looks good enough to watch long movies on the go, the sound feels much like a theater!!
Cons: All videos need to be converted before dropping into the player. The earphones jar a bit at high volumes, for music although movie playback works fantastic at all volumes. It seems this device was engineered for movies, it does a fantastic job
Summary: This is why the D2+ is perfect for me: I was looking for a gadget that would let me watch movies as I travel to/from work on bus. So ...
Summary: This is why the D2+ is perfect for me: I was looking for a gadget that would let me watch movies as I travel to/from work on bus. So the screen needs to be brilliant and non-reflective. I needed high audio volume, because buses tend to get noisy. I also require the surround sound effect to be perfect, sounds that come from behind, literally seem to come from behind :D. I do not mind having to convert video, as my computer's on, downloading all the time.
THE D2+ is perfect for my needs, it's just fantastic. Plus it feels awesome holding the matchbox- sized movie player in my hand, having all the on-lookers fascinated by its video quality and the sheer fact that I get to enjoy movies on the ride!
You'd think a 2.5 inch screen is too small to have a proper movie experience but it isn't at all, the picture clarity and thundering sound quality make for a GIANT movie experience.
TO CNET experts: try playing the same video on iPod nano/classic/touch and the d2, before saying things like 'comparable to iPod nano'. There is no freakin' comparison, on any parameter!3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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A Good Player
by brett_h_l on June 18, 2009
Pros: The best audio.CNET reviewer missed one of the most important features of Cowon players - no software is required to transfer media to and from the player. Plug it into Linux, Apple or Windows system that has usb enabled and navigate the file system.
Cons: Wonky interface and dynamic play list.
Summary: The best player available.
Summary: The best player available.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good, but room for improvement
by amadensor on May 15, 2009
Pros: Audio format support
Audio enhancements
No funny software to load songs to itCons: Picky about video encoding
Poor play list support (must use MTP and sync with media player, can't just copy over play list files.)
A little dark sounding when set to flat audio settings.Summary: Overall this is a very good little player. The screen clarity is excellent, and video looks very nice, surprising on a player this small. Blind navigation is possible, since all ...
Summary: Overall this is a very good little player. The screen clarity is excellent, and video looks very nice, surprising on a player this small. Blind navigation is possible, since all you need are right, left, and middle along the center of the screen, something uncommon for a touch screen device.
Data transfer is easy as it is just an external drive, and amazingly fast. I filled all 16G with music in about 30 minutes, compared to the 6-8 hours for my previous player.
The audio quality is a mixed bag. It is OK, but a little dark when used my very good headphones (professional studio monitors) and I turn off all of the enhancements and set the EQ flat. I can make it nice by adding a little of the enhancements to it, but I shouldn't have to.
That said, there is another side to this. On my mediocre headphones, I can get a very good sound by using the enhancements. This is something I was unable to do with my previous player, even with the EQ.
Considering that most people have only mediocre headphones, and my view of mediocre is a little pickier than most as these headphones got 5 stars on the C-Net reviews, this is a great player, just be prepared to mess with the settings a little to get the sound you really want, then be sure to save it to one of the effect presets. I am using 4 of them, on for each pair of headphones, one for my small desk speakers, and one for in the car through the FM transmitter I have.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Awesome Music Player (Forget MP3, this does LOSSLESS!)
Pros: Direct support for FLAC and other lossless codecs. Now I don't have to convert my FLAC files at all, I can just drop them into the D2+ filesystem. Nice screen, GREAT sound. Include a pair of great earbuds and you will not be disappointed!
Cons: The form factor is a little strange, somewhat "blocky" vs a slim profile like the Samsung P2 (which I lost and the D2+ is its replacement). The font used could be a little bolder.
Summary: Great price, easy to use, awesome audio. A audiophiles portable digital player.
Summary: Great price, easy to use, awesome audio. A audiophiles portable digital player.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great player.
by edpaiva on September 23, 2009
Pros: Player has a lot resources to increase and modify equalization really efficient to improve sound quality. TV out works good for litle screens like carīs tv or CRT until 20?, to LCD from 20? to bigger screens quality decrease as the size goes bigger.
Cons: Letters that appear on player (music) screen with information about the file is too litle and some cant have the colour changed, what prejudice the reading.
Summary: TV out makes the battery goes too fast to play a entire movie once player didnt a have DC in connection. SD card works as a native memory. TV out ...
Summary: TV out makes the battery goes too fast to play a entire movie once player didnt a have DC in connection. SD card works as a native memory. TV out cable dont came came with layer and have to be bought a part. After all, I think this may be one of the best player in this price range.
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Some of the poorest firmware I have ever seen
by mrdataguy on March 30, 2009
Pros: Long battery life; good sound tweaking options
Cons: Device firmware is beyond horrible -- you will have to wrestle with it to accept your files, and even then it may not work properly.
Summary: Reading this review on CNet, I can't imagine that the person reviewing it actually used the product. This product is broken beyond belief and it is well documented.
For ...Summary: Reading this review on CNet, I can't imagine that the person reviewing it actually used the product. This product is broken beyond belief and it is well documented.
For example, do you have any mp3s with a "comment" field in the ID3 tag? If so, forget about putting them on this device -- it can't handle them! I am serious. My device was constantly rebooting and after looking on forums, it turns out that the device is *extremely* finicky with mp3s. The standard advice is to re-tag your entire collection and to remove the comments/lyrics field from every one. I am serious. This is an mp3 player that can't handle regular mp3s. You have to specially format them to get them to work! This is why I can't imagine the reviewer actually reviewed the product.
I would give the device a passing grade if this was the *only* problem (since you can re-tag your mp3 collection), but it's not. Think about -- if the people who wrote the firmware for mp3 support couldn't even get it right, what chance do they have at video support?
Getting videos to play on it is easy. Getting videos to play on it *properly* is very difficult. I have been struggling trying to get it to work. I've used three different programs, including the "official" converter included with player. The result? After laboring away at it, many videos work properly, but there are some that still have audio/video sync problems. Moreover, I've seen major decoder artifacts twice in the short time I've had it, and the thing rebooted on me while trying to go to another video (and subsequently wiped the video database, meaning I can't access videos anymore until I re-sync it and re-build the database).
It is really amazing how such a positive review can be written for such a horrible piece of hardware.1 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
Product series
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Manufacturer: Cowon Systems, Inc.
Specs:
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Manufacturer: Cowon Systems, Inc.
Specs:
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Manufacturer: Cowon Systems, Inc.
Specs:
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Manufacturer: Cowon Systems, Inc.
Specs:
Manufacturer info
- Cowon Systems, Inc.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Cowon Systems, Inc. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.cowonamerica.com
- Address:
448-2 (STX bldg 7F) Dogok-dong, Seoul - Phone: 82-2-3460-8282
- Email: service@cowon.com
- Fax: 82-2-3460-8222
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