Cowon A3 review
By Darren Murph 
posted February 12th 2008 9:27AM
posted February 12th 2008 9:27AM
Design
After prying the A3 out of its subtle but sexy packaging, we were a tad turned off by the somewhat inelegant design. Sure, there's plenty of clean lines and hints of chrome, but we just can't help but feel that the D-pad and right-aligned buttons detract from the overall look. Additionally, this bugger had plenty of heft, and quite frankly, felt like a small brick when compared to a 60GB 5G iPod. Granted, this device can mop the floor in terms of utility with the aforementioned 'Pod, so we suppose a bit more weight is a fair trade for some. As for pocketability, the A3 isn't exactly first in class, but every time we thought about how uncomfortable this thing would be when shoved into a pocket, that luscious 4-inch display kept coaxing us into believing that everything was a-okay. Overall, we do feel that the A3 could stand to hit the gym, but for folks eying a PMP for video more so than audio, it's pretty much right on par with the competition.
Display
Immediately upon firing up the device, it became crystal clear that this thing was serious about delivering high quality video on-the-go. The 800 x 480 resolution display was an absolute joy to stare at from all angles, and is by far the most impressive aspect of the A3. Colors were sharp, brightness exceeded expectations and response time was unquestionably adequate for playing back TV shows and action flicks. To be frank, there's not a whole lot to say about the screen besides the fact that it makes looking at most anything else quite difficult.
Interface
So, what good is a gorgeous display if the interface behind it is in need of serious help? Thankfully, we found the A3's user interface to be quite good. The logos were sharp and refined and the menus were elegant, though the layout was exceedingly average. Actually navigating around in there, however, proved to be annoying, oftentimes frustratingly so. We understand the lack of a touchscreen -- after all, that's what the higher-end Q5W is for, right? -- but the built-in control stick could definitely use some tweaking. On most screens, moving the Joggle Lever, as it's so eloquently dubbed, around in any direction will move to an icon, but actually pressing it downward to activate said icon didn't always work as advertised. Additionally, we can't say we were terribly fond of using this same stick to control volume; a simple rocker switch on the unit's side would be immensely more convenient for pumping the level up or down while in one's pocket. As it stands, the unit really isn't useful if your eyes aren't fixated on the front, so you should probably be prepared to whip it out frequently unless you're the type who just selects a playlist and zones out.
Audio
Speaking of playlists, we were incredibly impressed with the A3's audio skills. The bundled earbuds were (unsurprisingly) horrific, but after plugging in a set of Westone UM1s, our ears were treated to crisp sound from a variety of file formats. Yep, this unit did indeed play nice with the whole gamut of supported codecs and formats, which aside from its LCD, is likely its second biggest selling point. Sadly, you won't find compatibility with DRM-infested files, but hey, we 'spose you can't always have your cake and eat it too. From APE to WAV and (almost) everything in between, this thing had no qualms interacting with a wide array of music files. With everything set to default, the sound quality rivaled that of its main competitors, but after tweaking the 10-band equalizer and having a bit of fun with the built-in BBE effects, we found ourselves actually preferring the A3. Oddly enough, the BBE enhancements actually improved our enjoyment of the tracks we chose to sample, though we admittedly expected 'em to be more gimmicky than anything else. This unit actually comes with stereo speakers atop its frame, and while they aren't nearly loud enjoy to enjoy on a blustery day, they definitely get the point across in a pinch.
Video
Of course, chances are that you're not really looking to the A3 just for its audio abilities, and we're pleased to say that it handles video just as admirably. We tossed just about every format we could find on here simply to see what would happen, and while larger files did require a bit of a wait (a few seconds, usually) before starting up, we experienced no jitters, skips, artifacts or other slowdowns during playback, and the fast-forward / rewind functions weren't hampered with extraordinary amounts of lag. Specifically, an episode of Conan that was captured via an HTPC's OTA tuner and encoded with DivX looked stunning on the (again, marvelous) display, and our eyes never felt strained after peering at an episode for any length of time.
As expected, the screen fared just as well when viewing still images. Slideshows were crisp and didn't look overly compressed, but it should be noted that flipping through a number of untouched 5-megapixel images did cause the music to skip on almost every transition.
If you're looking seriously at the A3, chances are you're at least remotely interested in the unit's ability to double as a portable DVR, of sorts. We used the included composite adapter to record footage from a camcorder and had no issues capturing both audio and video. Unlike viewing slideshows with music spinning in the background, this process didn't seem to bog down the device and introduce skips. Recording video, as well as voice notes and FM radio, was extremely simple -- no complex setup was required, and that's just the way we like it. As for outputting video, we were able to beam the aforementioned Conan episode back to an HDTV (yeah, it does HD input / output) via the bundled component cables and check things out on the big screen. Sure, there were some minor artifacts and noticeable compression flaws, but overall, we were quite stoked about how things appeared. If you're looking for a device to tag along on your next vacation and serve up videos to the television waiting in the room, we certainly can't say the A3 would be a bad choice.
Wrap-up
Unfortunately, we weren't able to test out the unit's ability to tune into mobile TV (being in the US and all), but we did find the integrated document viewer to be perfectly average and the battery life to be right in line with printed estimates (7 hours for video, 9 hours for audio).
Overall, we feel that Cowon has a winner on its hands with the A3. The outstanding audio quality, tightly integrated video recording / playback and tremendous codec and format support make this a unit worth craving -- if you can get over the somewhat burdensome chassis, that is. Truthfully, we'd recommend getting up close and personal with one of these before diving in head first unless you're absolutely certain that heft and bulk are not concerns, as it's really a bit harder to recommend this device to those who value compactness. Additionally, don't expect to be blown away by the unwieldy control scheme, which is really the only thing outside of size that's holding this unit back from being an absolute champion. Still, if you're willing to overlook its quirks for an interface that will hardly ever disappoint, a screen that will make all your pals envious and PVR capabilities that are atypically useful, the A3 is most definitely worth your while.
People worry too much about things being super small these days. So long as I can clip it to a belt or put it in a jacket pocket or something I'm happy
Looks like a pretty decent machine
It wouldn't hurt to specifically list the formats it supports in a review :)
FLAC among them :)
http://flac.sourceforge.net
Video:
AVI, WMV, ASF,MP4, MATROSKA(MKV), OGM, MPG/MPEG, VOB, DAT,MTV
DivX 3.11/4/5/6, XviD, MPEG-4 SP/ASP, WMV 9/8/7, H.264 MP, M-JPEG, MPEG 1/2
Audio:
MPEG1 Layer 1/2/3, WMA, FLAC, OGG Vorbis, AAC/AAC+, AC3, BSAC, True Audio, WavPack, G.726, CM
I despise the cylindrical shape of the buttons and general design, but Cowon do generally make decent stuff with broad format support.
It looks like a great device.. however, for almost 400 bones, you pretty much expect a touch screen (as noted in the review).
I paid $199 for my Archos 605 which has a touch screen. Personally, I think Cowon is missing the "price point" here, even though the device is great on all other accounts (besides touch screen).
You miss the fact that Archos has no loseless audio playback capabilities what so ever. ;)
You forget that it also supports HD input and output, live video capture, live audio capture and enough formats to make a Chinese kid happy with glee.
C'mon, Engadget, if you're gonna review something, at least use all the abilities. It's a good review, but you completely let some of the cooler features just fall right out the window.
I already mentioned the A3 "is great on all other accounts". And that it should have included a touch screen. The thing I envy the most is the huge codec support the A3 has. I wish Archos had that. Personally, I can live without the HD support (such a small device anyways), and the capturing abilities. I use my Archos for DivX/XviD videos I either convert from DVD or get from online.
Now, if this were $300, I'd look into it. $400 is a little high in my book.
I also bought a 605 wifi because the A3 was taking too long come out. I kind of regretted not waiting since the A3 was supposed to play HD but if you read around, you'll see that the A3 can't play h264 videos in 720p and playback of xvid in 720p is choppy too. So it really doesn't play HD. I'd like to see if it can really record in HD but I doubt it since it doesn't have the horsepower to play HD back. In the review, he is most likely playing back SD video to an HDTV. The 605 can do that too but you need the DVR dock (which is $99). Both the A3 and 605 use TI's Davinci chips but I'm not sure of the differences.
I wish they would've done some HD specific tests for this review.
All in all, I'm sure the A3 is great but I'm glad I took the 605 over the A3. A3 has more codec support but the 605 has wifi, a web browser (extra$), touch screen, and now they have linux running on it. The DVR dock also provides a nice tivo-like interface with a TV guide.
@Ignatius
What kind of live video capture? Are you talking about recording from mobile TV? I guess that won't matter to US consumers.
this isn't too bad for the price.
1 year too LATE cowan!! I spent my $$$ on the Archos gear
I love my A2. The A3 is even better! Too bad Cowon opted for that joystick. It gets easier to use after time, but is still a bit annoying. Still, the A2/A3 is an awesome machine.
I love my A2, but I wish they had replaced the joystick on the A3.
this would be a great device if it had wifi and a touch sceen, and a 160gb HDD, for $500- £350 pounds. I would buy it without a doubt. for now i have my archs05 160g! for £300 with all the extras battery dock, dvr and opera plugin
the cowon q5w is exactly what you described.
I read elsewhere that the A3 has dreadful audio playlist abilities. In fact, it's more like a basic filesystem tree instead of true playlist abilities via metadata/ID3 tagging.
Is this true? I mean, even my crappy blackberry audio player can do that.
I just got my A3 flashed with some Revo Stage I programing. It now looks good and drives better/faster! I'll be installing my NeoProlink for my iPod Touch this week and road tripping this weekend. Very nice.
Oh, this is about a different A3. This looks cool. I was thinking about an Archos, maybe I think about this. The name matches better ;)
Fake!
sorry, minus the HDD
Oh and the wifi isnt as good, i have read from many reviews, and the price is waay to high! £450 for the 60gb version of the q5. If the q5 had a a 160gb hdd for 400 pounds, i may have been tempted.
true but what i was saying is that cowon wouldn't make two devices that were so similar. they have to have a stratified line of players
that was supposed to be a reply to jason's comment
I have the A3...ordered it the first day I could, I love all the file format's especially the .AVI format, great for watching all those downloads :) The heft is just about the only problem, but the 4in screen is absolutely beautiful.
I don't get how they can claim it plays anything in HD. If it can't do 720p H.264, let alone 720p XVID without dropping frames then I would say it can't do HD.
I would have been pissed off if I had made the purchase without knowing that. Of course I pity the fool who drops $400 without getting more info about something like that.
You don't have to downsample before loading it onto the device.
I have an A3, and I love it. Cowon has been fixing the HD support. With the latest firmware 1.18a, it can play back 720p DIVX files flawlessly, but h.264 is getting better. The audio plays now, but no video. They are fixing it, but it's not a very speedy process.
And yeah, the music browser doesn't do ID3 tags, but that's probably because it'd be kind of hard with all those formats. The playlist support is good, and you can add directories or a bunch of files or w/e. Just as long as you have the directories set up right, it works well. Specially since the last iPod I had had no way of adding an artist/album to an on the go playlist, but with the A3 I can, provided I put them in the right directories.
it's so nice to not have to convert anything. It's a godsend.
Heft or no heft, this Cowon has what it takes to be a multi-purpose video player. Apple can't come close to touching this thing in codec support. It's such a waste of time having to convert videos to something that the iPod supports. Cowon is really on the ball.
But how does it compare to the Archos 605wifi?
I know you have to pay for some things such as the web browser and addition file formats, but with those in mind, how do they compare?
todd
pmpalicious
The Cowon A3 is like a portable VLC player and Foobar2000 (or your favorite multi codec media players) in one device. The A3 comes preloaded with functionality, versatility and upgradeability, a few things every player should come preloaded with. I use my A3 more than my iPod, I might even sell it to a sheep. After having the A3 for just a week I felt like I sold my testes to Apple corporation. I paid too much for a pretty device branded with a bitten fruit that actually controls the USER instead of the other way around. Four hundred bucks is just the right asking price for the A3. It's a portable entertainment power....brick.
Can someone tell me the line-in recording quality of the A3? What format it records in terms of the codec and the bitrate. Perhaps some samples if possible.