i9 video review vs sansa's rockboxed

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I believe Bruce has another cowon, C2 possibly but I'm sure he'll tell you. As far as driving the hd555, I believe they have an impedance of 120 Ohm so any DAP will have a hard time driving them to full potential. I've read they need a lot of burn-in to loosen up the drivers to sound best but I'm one to pass that route and just listen to the chages along the way. Not sure about the amp in the i9 but I can tell you for sure that my i7 is much more powerfull.

Edit: BTW Spinifex welcome to abi, hope you enjoy

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Originally Posted by Spinifex

Hi, first post on ABI.

Firstly, Nice review and comparison.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Spinifex

Did this end up being your main player? What are you using now that has great sound quality?

It was my main player for awhile, but I ran out of space (16gb not enough), so i did some digging around and bought the Cowon C2, I have also done a review for abi here.

Sound quality wise I don't think there is any difference, im sure more knowledgeable chaps will be able to confirm same audio chips in both devices etc. It certainly has the same BBE tweaks.

The switch was purely for space as the C2 can carry an sd card. If 16gb is enough i would recommend the i9 over the C2 simply for a nicer lighter form factor.

Originally Posted by Spinifex

What headphones did you end up using with this player?

I mainly use the Soundmagic e10's (review here)

Originally Posted by Spinifex

My wife doesn't want to muck around so a headphone amp is out of the question. She just wants something that sounds great and is simple and easy to use.

Then this might not be the player for her if she doesn't want to 'muck around'. There is PLENTY of mucking around to be had to get yer head around the User Interface, this is not for the faint hearted. It is not simple and easy to use, there is a steep learning curve that will take a good 30min sit down with the player void of distractions and patience and lots of trial and error, regular practice with the device further cements how to use it, put it away for too long and it will infuriate you when you try to use it again. Do not think the bundled manual will save her, it won't.

Ipods are simple and intuitive, Cowon likes to filter out the audio purists via challenging UI, least that's what i think (if u want the better sound then god dammit u will have to fiddle me!!).

Perhaps a better choice may be the Sansa line of players which also sound great and when paired with rockbox custom firmware have heaps of extra bonuses. But the sansa stock firmware is fairly straight forward and if yer wife is unlikely to use any BBE tweaks/jet effects from the cowon player i9 then sound wise sansa is on par with cowons i.e. i find the BBE tweaks/jet effects of the cowon players to push past what the sansa sound can do, but many don't like tweaks or are unlikely to use anyway. There is no doubt the sansa players are very good value for money, just steer clear of the Fuze+ as it has not been well received, but the fuzev2, clip+ and clip zip are solid little players.

Originally Posted by Spinifex

Thank you.

Yer welcome