Cowon's iAudio 7 packs 8GB of FLAC on flash

What's better than the beloved iAudio 6? Why, the iAudio 7 of course... it's 1 better. Meet Cowon's latest DAP with that "simply brilliant" 1.3-inch LCD. Only now, we're looking at 8GB of flash memory instead of that dawdling 0.85-inch disk drive of its predecessor. The iAudio 7 is one of just a few to support FLAC and OGG audio in addition to the usual suspects and XviD video. Hell, it even squeezes up to 60 hours from a Lithium Polymer battery which can be charged via USB. Priced at just ?169,000 (about $182) for the 4GB on up to ?229,000 (about $246) for the full 8GB, what's not to love?

Gallery: Cowon's iAudio 7 packs 8GB of FLAC on flash

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[Via AVING]

[Carbonize @ Jun 14th 2007 5:39AM]

Big question is whats the sound quality like and whats the interface like?

[Jesse S @ Jun 14th 2007 7:21AM]

Interface: No idea. The iaudio 6 interface isn't supposed to be the best, though.

Sound quality: Cowon's X5 is one of the best. No idea on their flash players. Probably much better than the Nano though.

[LordFarkward @ Jun 14th 2007 5:44AM]

oh...... my....... god........ talk about freakiness:

i was just talking to my colleague about my i-audio 6, and was ranting how AFAIK there's nothing out there with more space other than the D2 (but you gotta add a 4gb card) that has at least as good a sound quality as the i-audio 6 (and no, there's no way in hell i'd think that the nano has good sound quality) and plays OGG. we ended with the convo with "oh well...", he went back to his desk, i pressed F5 on my engadget window, and whoah lah!

thanks for bringing me such joy, cowon (and of course, engadget) :D

[Kamokazi @ Jun 14th 2007 9:10AM]

Nice, I was looking at their 0.85 HDD version of this and wishing it was flash...wishes do come true!

[MEAT! @ Jun 14th 2007 9:43AM]

So, what, that's like 4 songs?

[Ethyriel @ Jun 14th 2007 10:11AM]

About 1300 at ogg level 6, and a lot of my songs are rather long.

[tekdroid @ Jun 16th 2007 12:33PM]

or about 24 average CDs' worth (300ish songs?) in truly CD-quality FLAC (without squishing down the music to sound like crap via lossy codecs like mp3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, etc)
http://flac.sourceforge.net
http://www.vorbis.com

[MEAT! @ Jun 16th 2007 1:08PM]

Word. I was just being difficult.

[Michael @ Jun 14th 2007 9:48AM]

Damn, and I thought the title said x7.. got my hopes up.

[thesawzall @ Jun 14th 2007 9:49AM]

Hopefully the boot time has dropped too. That's the only other bad point I remember from the reviews I've read. This just might be the player I've been waiting for.

[Tomas @ Jun 14th 2007 10:04AM]

Cowon is really kicking out some nice stuff these days. I love my D2, and this looks pretty sharp as well.

[Dave @ Jun 14th 2007 11:06AM]

Ugly as sin. An iPOD with vomit on it would look better than this.

[riggs @ Jun 14th 2007 11:23AM]

i guess youre the type of guy who likes pasty faced anorexic chicks.

[Gilgad @ Jul 27th 2007 6:44PM]

But an Ipod with puke on it would still be an Ipod....

[mashupmark.com @ Jun 14th 2007 11:59AM]

XVid?! How does that work? Doesn't look like it'd show on the little screen... or is that just XVid audio? Looks cool though! Cheap enough too!

[h3 @ Jun 14th 2007 12:15PM]

That looks more like an OLED display to me...

[PenaltyKillah @ Jun 14th 2007 7:06PM]

That was FAST! Basically, the iAUDIO brand is going to the dogs, with the X5 (their answer for the video iPod) going down, and that freaky cellphone-like player too. Now the iAUDIO 6, woops, 7, is converted into flash (so much about 0.85" HDD if its still the gigs are still flash memory-sized). So Cowon released their PMPs (real PMPs, screen covering most of the faceplates, and that's what every player should be, not just half like the X5 or iPod, or one-quarter like the iPod nano) under their company brand of... COWON, including the D2, with a bigger screen than the X5 (2.5" - same as iPod) with half the size.

[Ethyriel @ Jun 14th 2007 8:30PM]

Why should every DAP have a huge screen? I don't watch video on these things, 1.8" or 3", it's still too friggin small for video. I'd rather have the better battery life.

Of course, Cowon is behind the curve for flash capacity. They should have had 8GB out 9-12 months ago, and should be releasing a 12GB DAP now.

[PenaltyKillah @ Jun 14th 2007 10:34PM]

That's why players which only play audio should be more like the Walkmans (suitable for people who usually place their players in the pocket), and DAPs which can play video have screens that cover the front, for the sake of viewing quality. "In-between" players, like the Zune and Sansa e200 is not taking advantage of their abilities.

Btw, there isn't a 12GB FLASH player out yet. The TrekStor vibez has a microdrive.

[TJ @ Jun 15th 2007 5:49PM]

that is OLED i guess its a typo..... anyways the interface is a love/hate thing with the touch sensitive "swing" thingy. i persoanlly liked it when i tried a friend's and as for sound quality, I don't think there's a player that's been released from cowon with poor sound quality. its excellent as always, as well as high output and many diff equalizer settings to play with. anyways ive been waiting for this a LONG LONG time that really took them WAY too long, unless they made some good changes in there besides the storage..