Cowon iAudio A2 reviewed
By Marc Perton 
posted Oct 31st 2005 4:50PM
posted Oct 31st 2005 4:50PM
We've been waiting a long time for the Cowon iAudio A2 — we got our first look at it way back in January — and now that you can finally buy it (in Korea or on eBay, that is), was it worth the wait? PMP Maniac got their hands on one, and found that, with its 4-inch display, good battery life and solid video quality (at resolutions of up to 640x480), the A2 is "an excellent entry into the fast growing market of new generation Portable Media Players." The big question is whether customers will be willing to drop over $500 for the 30GB version, when $100 less will get you a Zen Vision (and, of course, if you have to have it now, you can expect to pay as much as $700 for the A2, via enterprising eBay merchants).
so let me get this straight..... there are people out there that think an ipod with video is better than the a2?
Interesting.....he has a copy of "Star Wars Ep III" on there....when it doesn't legally release until Nov 1....
Way to go, add some more paranoia to hollywood DRM supporters.
But it is a cool player.
dear young sir,
yes, in the end an ipod with video is better than cowon a2. Look at the pirce and that alone settles the battle. Now if it was like $300 cheaper(from it's $700 price tag) we could argue and start comparing. For now, shove it...
The price is set at $500. $700 is how much it is currently going for on ebay. So that is $200 cheaper.
So is there still hope that this might get a US release?
Cowon = quality stuff
just finished the review
I really wanna buy this thing
I honestly do not see how an iPod with video can even remotely be compared to this Cowon A2. The iPod with video doesn't play any of the major formats (minus H.264) and will play 480x480 (highest) on a 2.5 inch screen... and Apple is still calling it an audio player first.
I am sorry if I come off as if I am trying to attack anyone, but you get what you pay for, and if I'm paying for a 4 inch device with 30 gigs that can play divx and xvid, compared to a 2.5 inched screen that can only play H.264s... I'm going with the former.
don't forget the other features the cowon A2 has. It also has a built in radio. All the attachments you would have to add to the ipod would really add up. Extra battery so you can watch more than two hours, a FM tuner, is there even an attachment that would allow you to record directly to your ipod?
that thing is huge, and who will carry it all day? and plus, the screen fad under the sunlight. To #1, #9 & #10, stop compare ipod to other product, y'all ipod hater just jealous, dont hate it bcuz ipod is popular. ipod will still rule this market, bcuz its hip & hot! it seems like y'all compare a Jansport multi-purpose backpack to elegant Louie Vuitton hang bag. So what cowon a2 can play many type of file! it's still cowon! yuk! I will NEVER carry that thing around, and tell people how lame ipod is... it's like driving a hyndai to beverly center and tell those peep who drive bmw how good hyndai is.... LMFAO!
To cy7, you reall can't compare the iPod to the Cowon A2. A2 is a PMP and the iPod is an audio player that HAPPENS to play video. Video-wise the iPod can't compete with the A2. First of all A2 has way more files it is compatible with. Also it has more features like in-line recording, FM tuner and all that good stuff that you iPod lovers whine about. Don't be an iPod fanboy, and think for yourself.
if I really cared for a portable video player, the A2 would be the only one I'd consider right now myself, it owns the zen vision and 5G ipod
There are only two things keeping me in the "might buy" category: The price, and the "A B C" function buttons.
I don't mind paying a premium for my gadgets (hell, I bought a PSP. That should say enough.), but $500 is a bit more than what I can afford to spend right now.
Another thing is the function buttons on the unit. I'm not familiar with the Cowon GUI or any of the like, so I guess it'll take some getting used to from my old 4th generation monocrome iPod.
With all that said, IT'S SO SEXY!
Agree about the PSP premium. I got one and a hdd and I guess my christmas shopping is done early now.
I have been in the market for a media player.
If I got one today, which would be the best bet?
neuros 442
Cowon A2
Creative Zen Vision
Archos
Maxian T600
Sony
Rca Lyra AV
the ipod is in the back of my mind (far back because of the screen size)
I'll do some outside viewing.
watch about 1 hour video playback per day.
Format is moot. I can convert then transfer.
The neuros 442 looks good, but I could not find any real world test of it.
Thanks,
Alan
Depends what you are looking for. If we are talking a2 price range Zen Vision and Archos av500 come to mind. Archos av500 has line in recording some deem important. I do not think Ill ever need to record sth from TV as I am using TV tuner in my PC anyway. I defenitely want to get Zen Vision. I played with it in a shop. This thing is simply beautiful, screen is very, very good. Casing is made of metal, feels sturdy and elegant at the same time.
The A2 is available at the cowon store website.
It's 450 for 30gb, the 20gb model will be released soon. This is great competition for the Archos av500 and creative zen vision. And for all the Ipod lovers that bash this; please get your facts straight before you post stupid comments. The ipod is a DAP(Digital Audio Player) and the A2 is a PMP(Portable Media Player) you see the difference? If you wanna compare something to the iPod compare it with the iAudio x5.
No matter what anyone says Apple will never be in the league of iAudio!
iAudio has the best audio quality you can find, and now they're gonna dominate the PMP market.
Dread, couldn't have said it any better myself. Thank you.
Now can someone please explain why it can't run wince and be my pda as well? Why do i need another 4" device? grrrr
ok first #11 i work at bestbuy and i sell plenty of ipods and every time i do i feel terrible about it. those things are crap. they look nice sure but they just suck. We get about one a day coming back from someone who bought it earlier in the day got home and it stopped working after an hour. and the nanos obviously blow since theyve been sued for their problems and since theyre being recalled. you cant say an ipod is compared to bmw when bmw is actually good quality. the cowon a2 has every feature you could want and it beats the other pmps by having a 10 hour battery for video. i hav an archos av340 now and the only problem is the bulkiness and the batery can no longer hold a charge
One thing people are not considering is the number of colors supported. I have a PSP and it supports 16.77 Million colors, which is great. I was tired of only having 1 Gig of flash storage, so I decided to buy an AV500 with a nice 60GB drive. The first thing I noticed was the awful colors. Maybe I have super-sensitive eyes or something but you can really see awful color banding due to the 262K colors, particularly in any areas of solid color, like a wall in the background.
The Zen Vision has a higher resolution, but again the specs are only 262K colors . So I think it will have the same problem. The COWON A2 looks promising thought. It is supposed to have 24 bit color. Is it true? Does it really support millions of colors like the PSP?
I have a simple question. Which should I buy?
PQI Mpack p800
archos av500
Cowon A2
If I am not mistaking they all have similar features, so which is best for the money? When will the Cowon A2 come to Canada?
After a lot of research, I had actually ordered the Archos AV500 but then I found the Cowon A2 and found it fit my needs (on paper at least) more accurately so I cancelled my order for the Archos. So, why did I order the A2 and not the Archos?
The overwhelming reason is the codec that is included with the A2. I watch a lot of anime fansubs and jdramas. With the Archos, if I'm not mistaken, I would have had to convert those files before watching them. The A2 boasts that I can just load them and watch them automatically.
Additionally, I liked the design of the Cowon more. The Archos kinda looks like a digital camera with a big screen. (It looks a lot like my minolta digicam) The A2 design is more eye pleasing.
My own comparisions between the two:
Archos AV500
+ Removable battery
+ Cheaper ($436 vs $500 with tax for the A2)
+ Easy TV Recording with Yahoo TV Listing (A2 is not too descriptive about their TV/DVD functions)
+ DVD recording even with Macrovision
+ Numberous positive user reviews
- Battery life (5 hours for video vs 10 for the A2)
- Divx and Xvid format support
- Design
Archos A2
+ File format support
+ Design
+ Easy GUI
+ Battery Life
- non-removable battery
- price
- non-descript TV/DVD recording functions
- few user reviews
As for the Mpack P800 mentioned above, I did a quick search and once I saw that I would be paying about the same price as the A2 but for a 3.5 LCD screen instead of a 4", I didn't look further.
I also considered the Ipod but discarded it after reading about the 2.2 inch LCD screen and the 2.5 hour video playback. Plus, I'm not a fan of I-tunes. I like to just copy and drag my songs onto the device rather than synching them. However, I must say, if you are looking for an audio device mainly but wouldn't mind having video, get the Ipod. It's a great bargin and Ipods are really easy to use.
If you are looking for a video device mainly then think about the Archos or A2. It seems that with both, it takes some know-how to use the devices to their fullest potential. If you're comfortable with that, then it's all good.
I will be getting my A2 next week. I will update with a review if I can.
Thank you D.Leung, you seem pretty knowledgable. I have a couple more questions for you.
First of all, I hear that with the cowon, you can only put on "legally downloaded material" on it. Not that I illegaly download movies anyway....;). Is this true?
Second, What are the differences between the archos av400 and the av500. Is the av500 worth 100 dollars more?
I was thinking of buying an iAudio X5 to mainly listen and record FM stations and to download photos and text files from my Apple Mac G5 running OSX 10.4.3. But having read the comments in this link I am tempted to buy the iAudio A2.
If I do, would I be able to transfer text and photos etc between it and an Apple
Mac running OSX 10.4.3.
Also can someone please tell me what the sound quality of recorded FM stations is like.
Thanks,
Ieuan Rees
I'll be ordering my iAudio A2 today but let me comment on a few reasons why.
1) No drivers required. Plug in to any machine (Windows,Linux,Mac) like a flash usb key and copy anything you want on it.
2) No DRM or any control over content, any file you have, whether supported or not can be drag and dropped onto the device which looks like a drive to the PC.
3) Fantastic sound quality, -95dB noise to ratio, 32mW per channel, advertised to sound almost as good as the Rio Karma! - No distorsion (panasonic), or complete absense of bass (ipod), or no soundstage (sony) or artificial 3d sound (creative).
4) Reasonable size/weight slightly bigger than a palm T3 PDA. Smallest size screen I can tolerate for video really.
5) LiION batteries like to be topped up constantly - if you milk it dry it will fail within 6 months (remember ipod batteries with 6 hours?)! If you only use around 30% of the capacity of the A2 (3.3 hours) per day the battery will last for several years at least. So better than removeable batteries really.
6) OGG codec support. Leading quality codec, used in all latest games like Quake4, UT2004, etc - not DRM infested, better sound quality, no royalties to use.
7) Native resolution XVID/DivX support. Quite fantastic really, only 600mhz or more PDAs pull that off with a pretty pathetic battery life.
This player is years ahead anything I can find out there. Finally I met something that meets my requirements, just :) - Happy chanukah for me!
$360 on the Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16855603834
Looks like a steal at that price, especially considering the widescreen LCD and 7+ hours of video playback on a single battery charge.
Sure beats the pants off my Lyra 2780, aka "iBrick"
Help need info, I want to purchase Archos Av 500 or Cowon A2 but I need to know which has better digital voice mic recording Khz sampling? I need 44.1 or better I was thinking about buying a digital voice recorder Olympus DM 20 but I want the video and all the extras the other 2 provide.
thanks
Dear Hackeron,
Many thanks for your detailed and informative response to my queations.
Ieuan Rees
Hey Ieuan, thanks for the thanks :)
One thing I got wrong though was it doesnt use a Lithium Ion battery but a Lithium Polymer one.
That means a higher capacity and flexible size but its the new battery technology that has a lower recharge cycle and is more expensive and harder to find replacements for (unique shapes).
So instead of 500 charges it may only hold 400 (I'm guessing here based on the technology documentation).
Something to keep in mind.
hi i was wondering it the A2 can play songs from napster and/or itunes.
Does anyone know what type HD is inside the A2? Would be nice to be able to UG the capacity on this thing if it's a 9.5mm job.
The A2 kicks the Ipod Video's butt in every thing! Let me begin by saying that too many people belive in IPOD's revolutionary products.(such as MP3.com) The Ipod Photo came out "OMG an MP3 w/ photos!!!!" well obiviouslly many people dont know what they are talking about. There are a few MP3 players that had Photos before the Ipod Photo! IRIVER IS A GREAT EXAMPLE! and then the IPod Video, an IRIVER had video first, The Archos Gmini also had Video before the IPOD! and this is if we exclude PMP's! Basically Ipod was the first sleek, cheap MP3 so the average person thinks "Ipod" when they think "MP3 player"
Back to the point...
The A2 is a great PMP, it has either is equal or exceeds the Creative PMP and also the Iriver in everything.
as an owner of it:
Pros:
Wonderful LCD Screen! displays Pictures clearly and crisply. Videos look nice. THE SOUND IS AWESOME. I was surprised. Navigation also works well... I own a 20 GB and that is enough for my 4000+- songs and I also am to have several Simpson's and Futurama episodes. I also have like a couple hundred photos. User Interface is decent
Batery Life is supurb
Cons:
its kinda large
Screen with strange lighting can be kinda bad
Onboard Speakers arn't too loud
THE BIGGEST CON: Video RECORDING IF DONE improperlly can be choppy at playback! (I messed up several times)
Final Score 8/10- Combined with all of its features and accessories is WORTH THE MONEY!!! :)
Final Notes:
AN Ipod is inexpesive for many reasons... The biggest is that it does not come with any bonus stuff! Remeber that IPODS ARE OVER RATED always look for more options
Thank you COWON