Although the
sound quality is only so-so, the controls aren't the best, the battery life is far from what the manufacturer claims,
and there's no PlaysForSure, OGG, lossless, or Audible support, Cowon's
iAudio F1 1GB DAP nonetheless gets big points
from us for excluding the annoying engine noises found in
other sports car-themed electronics
(dashboard-like indicator gauges remain, though). PC Mag isn't so kind however, and breaks the F1 off only
two-and-a-half stars and a Fair rating, although they're into the design, OLED and UI, and multiple but seemingly
ineffective digital sound enhancements. Also nice are the FM radio (with in-player recording), line in, alarm clock
(for use with travel speakers), and voice-activated recording. Still, besides that 13-hour battery life (9 less than
Cowon promises) and weak bass we mentioned, the F1 frustratingly comes with two USB sync/charge cables (one home and
one travel), yet no AC adapter for plugging it into the wall. Weak. PC Mag's conclusion? This is a great little
player...for your kids.
[Thanks,
Dave]
posted February 3rd 2006 8:30AM
I've owned this player for a month or so. I bought it because it's UMS-compliant (shows up as a hard drive natively in Windows), has a rechargeable battery, and has an OLED display. Also, although this is my first Cowon player, all the reviews of their products that I've read have listed sound quality as a main strength.
One point that jumps out in the PCMag review is that they found it to have a lack of bass, or muddy bass when using the bass enhancement features. This has been the opposite of my experience. This is the bassiest player I have ever heard*, although I have been able to turn down some effects from their default settings to get what I consider to be a balanced sound. I'm sure that PCMag's tests are accurate, but I'm wondering if it's a firmware issue -- I'm on the latest -- or if they just got a dud. I generally use half-decent Sennheiser headphones, and have never tried the bundled ear buds. Occasionally, I use Etymotic in-ear phones or hook it up to decent PC speakers.
I tend to leave the OLED display on all the time and just use it for short periods, so I'll just defer to the review as far as battery life is concerned. I do wonder what bit rate files the reviewer was playing back.
While it may be a big factor for other people, the lack of PlaysForSure compatibility was anywhere from a non-factor to a selling point for me, since I have no interest in DRM and would like to think that a player without it might end up being able to be sold for less.
All in all, this player does everything I need it to.
One correction to the Engadget summary above: This player does play OGG Vorbis, as is correctly mentioned in the review.
*I currently own a Dell DJ, and also play MP3s on my Palm T3. Of course, I've heard several iPod models and generations, too.