Plenue D (32768 MB) High-Resolution Audio Player

When my trusty Cowon S9 finally gave up I required a replacement, and being a fan of Cowon's BBE equaliser software I decided to look at the same company. I had not intended to choose a FLAC player, as I don't have any lossless music, but I noticed that the reviews for this player were all positive, and it was priced in the same bracket as the S9 in 2010 when I bought that. The S9 had suffered from a very clunky and unintuitive UI, and a very limited playlist capacity- there was only one customisable playlist which could only manage c. 200 songs. The BBE equaliser was superb and highly customisable, and sound quality was better than any other mp3 player I had used. The Plenue D is however in every regard a superior machine. First the negatives- it doesn't make breakfast, it doesn't feature a self-aware artificial intelligence and left to its own devices it will not even attempt household chores. Really, there are no negative points which I can identify. The positives, in no specific order- -Aesthetically it is very pleasing, and a good size for most pockets. -The UI is superb and intuitive, and very responsive. -There are now 10 customisable playlists, and they can handle at least 326 tracks. -The BBE equaliser, while having fewer presets, is even more customisable than on the S9, allowing users to hear music exactly how they like it. -Sound quality is, to my ear, perfect. I won't comment on FLAC playback. This is only an entry-level FLAC player, and priced accordingly, but from what I can tell (there are 4 sample tracks pre-installed) it is very good. But I bought it for mp3 playback, and it excels at that. I would highly recommend this player to anyone looking for top sound quality on mp3 playback and a very nice gadget. Note- my player arrived with firmware version 1.11 installed; the up-to-date version is 1.14 which can be downloaded from the Cowon site and installed very easily.

The Cowon Plenue D, Well, if you're in the market for a tiny, high quality and affordable Hi-Res audio player then this is for you! It arrived yesterday, I must have spent about 2hrs, just playing with the EQ, BBE and SE settings (sound adjustment). It has a range of customisation for the audio that is just so vast, there's a setting for everyone, just too many to mention in this review! I don't think I'm an Audiophile, but, I am a musician and I like to hear detail in the music I listen to. The Cowon PD reminds me of when I got my top of the range Sony Discman but with a wider soundstage. The bass is clean and clear not muddy, the mids are spread over the sound stage and full of detail, I hear effects and percussion clearly and in some cases, I can hear detail I've never heard on my FLAC and WAV 24bit/192kHz tracks I didn't know was even there!! It's awesome. Pros: Sound quality and detail, solidly built, full customisation of sound stage, firmware upgradable, good touch screen response, small shirt pocket sized, 51 to 100 hrs battery life. The former is Hi-Res the later is MP3 / AAC / WMA etc. Con: Not many cases available, needs screen protection (it's a fingerprint magnet) UI could be improved due to the small size. Overall: This is an incredible audio player, it's hard to believe something so small can sound so amazing. I would recommend the Cowon Plenue D to someone on a budget who loves thier music.

Excellent product in all the right ways. Physical quality is excellent; sound is impressive but not outstanding. What you get is good detailed sound, providing good detail for each musical element with good separation, lovely sound smoothness and great battery life. It has an easy UI (User Interface) which generally easy to use; one does not need to look at the manual -- it's easy to work out. If you want really top-class, prime sound, yes, you will need to spend more but, frankly, I'm a seasoned, dedicated audiophile who knows what good sound should be from top-class hi-fi, yet, for portable use, am very happy with this product. I think it's a great buy at the price and far ahead of one's mobile phone sound, which these days is not bad at all. So, an acceptable standard all round and hard to fault. If you're looking for an above-average portable player, this is a great option.

Although I really wanted the Gold version, I purchased the Silver edition on the spur of the moment after seeing it reduced to £199 (The gold edition remained £50 more expensive). Before I go into detail, I should also point out that I purchased this because of its relatively small size, positive reviews, its hi-res capabilities and VERY long BATTERY life! I received it promptly on a next day delivery schedule. To my pleasant surprise, I received the Gold version! Don't know if it was a mistake by the seller or down to low stock and Gold was the only version available. However, from here on - it's mixed feelings and experiences... Please read until the end of this review for the conclusion. The Good: ------------------- • Style and design. • Build quality. • Touch screen!! (Surprised - why is this not mentioned in the description?). • Built-in 32gb storage • Micro SD card slot for up to a further 200gb storage. • Includes blank Micro SD card cover for protecting ingress of dust (when Micro SD slot is not in use). • Includes high quality USB/Micro USB cable with gold plated connectors. • 100 hour playback of lossy / compressed music files (MP3's) • 50 hour playback of Lossless / hi-res music files (FLAC/ALAC/etc) - The battery life beats ANY other high end DAP by lightyears. • Fantastic sound - [but see conclusion below]. The Not-So-Good: ------------------- • No physical instruction manual (supplied only online or via USB connection with PDF stored in internal memory). • No Bluetooth. • Control buttons are not very prominent and therefore hard to press and very difficult to distinguish by feel alone. • Screen resolution is adequate but was expecting sharper pixel resolution in keeping with other DAPS at his price level. • The GUI (Graphic User Interface)..... I thought the 'HiBy Music' GUI interface used by Shanling in it's DAPs was so-so, but it puts the GUI on this Plenue D to shame. This GUI is positively horrible to navigate, restricted and illogical. [Read that last sentence again - If you're gonna buy this, there's no reason why you shouldn't, but you shouldn't dismiss that sentence] Conclusion: -------------------- • I can't go into any more detail because that's as good (or as bad) as it gets, because ultimately - after a few days use (with literally no more than 4 or 5 hours play time), THE WHOLE UNIT WENT BLANK. No sound output, no screen, NOTHING. Does not even register on a computer when connected via USB. Only sign of 'life' was a red circle light around the power button when connected for charging. The unit was charged before it's first use when taken out of the box, but despite being left 'on charge' for a FURTHER 5 or 6 hours after it blanked out - it's never come back to life and is being returned for a full refund. Technically I should give this a 1 star review based on my experience, but I reserve 1 star reviews for really bad products - I appreciate and know that this Cowon Plenue D does not fall into that category! If you think you could put up with the user interface, then Plenue D is hard to beat. • Will I re-order the same again? I don't know, is the honest answer. I really wanted to like it, keep it and enjoy it. But I didn't get enough usage out of it to really appreciate the sound output or to see if I could overcome the horrible GUI navigation. UPDATE: In the end we decided to get a Sony NW35 plus the new Shanling M3s.

I have only had this product a short while but it has proven itself very good at playing CDs re-coded to both ALAC and FLAC formats. With half-decent earphones music sounds very engaging and more believable than from my early iPod and phone. Four tracks are provided in FLAC 48kHz 24bit format and, although perhaps not to everyone's taste, they sound very good and demonstrate what the player is capable of with better than CD quality recordings (41.1kHz 16bit). By chance I used the track 'Don't You Lie To Me' from the SuperTramp live album 'It Was the Best of Times' as a test between my other players and the Plenue D and I was amazed at the difference. However, some music seems to be poorly enough recorded and the so the difference is not so great but, with a decent recording, the difference is there. It would have been nice if the Plenue D also used the exFAT file format for microSD cards of greater than 32 GB but the guiformat program worked fine in formatting a 64GB card to FAT32 format. Dragging music files to both the inbuilt 32GB storage and the microSD card is simplicity itself. Each shows up as a separate disc drive: store the files on whichever you wish. I haven't tested the battery life yet, as I am currently re-coding one or two CDs to FLAC format every other day and copying them to the player, via the microUSB cable, an activity which recharges the battery to a degree for as long as the cable is connected to the computer. However, battery life seems to be very good indeed. The interface is a bit obscure on first glance but I managed to do most things without reference to the manual. With a little practice the interface becomes second nature. My only concern now is whether somewhat better earphones would boost my listening pleasure even more!! As an aside and perhaps of interest to some, my wife bought me a silicone rubber cover for cigarette packets from a bargain shop, for the princely sum of £1. I believe there are two sizes available and this one is the smaller of the two. At a pinch it serves as a holder for the Plenue D and protects it to a degree when out and about.

Like most users probably I started my portable music career with sony's cd player which I later ugraded to sony's cd player that could play mp3s. After some years reclutanly I upgraded to iPod mini (gen 1 or 2) and went through three of them in three years so I decided it was time for a change and looked for something else. I tried sony, sandisk, intenso all had some flaw that made them unusable for me. (like sony's player had always first few seconds of a song quieter and then ascend, with every song and you can't turn it off) Cowon seemed to be the most logical choice at that time, as I favoured music quality and long battery life over all, and none of the big names had all the components I wanted in one player. So I got Cowon's J3. The second I got the player I fell in love with it. The sound quality and the equlizer options, omg! Now it's 6 years since I got my J3 and it's time to put it to well deserved rest and upgrade since Cowon has been kind enough to release a cheaper line of the acclaimed Pleanue series. Now, the moment I saw this player I didn't hesistate for a second, I had to have it. And it was a desition well made. I own two sets of quite valuable headphones ( -ad- by Shure -ad-) and the voice from them was magnificent. I say was because I refer to the time I hadn't heard Pleanue D's sound. My J3 had quite obviosly outlived it's days for this is something phenomenal, I know this is only a toy version of the actual Plenues but by all creation, this player's sound is beyond anything I imagined and all I hoped for. If you are looking for a player focused on actually playing music this is your thing! The sound coming out of this thing is amazing, can't wait till I get it hooked up to my speakers, there are basically endless options for altering your experience through equalizer presets or just by setting up your own presets (4 available slots). The menus are very simple and there aren't many of them. This player is made only for repeating music. That said I must critisize that I bought 128gb memory stick with this and the player doesn't recognize it. Using now a 32gb one and works fine. All in all looks like this will be my best friend in the years to come.

In my mind, that was the first really quality mp3 player I was buying. I had had other quality devices such as a Fiio X1, but this was more expensive and looked like it was at an even higher end of the spectrum. Reason I'm saying this is because the main reason I enjoyed my Plenue D was my perception that it had to be good. With time, this fascination vanished and I started being a bit annoyed with a few things. 1) The screen is way too small and functions are difficult to select because of that. 2) Booting, unless you activate the sleep mode, takes ages. When I had the sleep mode on, the device would regularly start giving issues especially when the micro sd was getting full, with several crashes while playing music. 3) At some point, I started having a hard time finding USB cables that would connect the Plenue D to my laptop in the file transfer mode. That is, most of them were only connecting it to recharge the battery, including the cable originally shipped with the device. 4) Most importantly, the device starting falling apart a few weeks back. Firstly, the cover keeping the power button detached, followed by the o-ring holding the metal pin, followed by the actual metal pin used to switch the device on and screen on and off. This is unacceptable for a DAC payed 200 pounds just 2 years ago. Time to go on to something else, but as long as I'm concerned, I'm done with Cowon.

This is my first Cowon product and I am impressed. I've had it a little over 6 months now. Terrific memory, easy to use and I like the fact that I can still control the volume and next track/previous track function while the screen is blank, which I couldn't do with my last Creative product. The sound is great and there are loads of choices to personalise the sound. The most impressive thing though is the quite amazing battery life. They make a point of saying how great it is in their own product review and they are not lying, by far the best battery life of any similar product I've known. All in all I love my player and will certainly consider Cowon again in the future, though hopefully not for a few years.

当初、説明書らしきものがないので設定に苦労しました。 音質は、自分好みの音が設定可能です。 手持ちのウオー〇〇ンよりも音質はいいと感じられますが、使い勝手は若干ウオー〇〇ンかな・・・ やはり、肝心なのは音なので 最近、こちらばかり使っております。

Der Player ist einfach nur genial. Die Bedienung ist einfach gestaltet und man findet sich fast sofort zurecht. Etwas verwirrend sind am Anfang zwei Dinge: Um die Einstellungen aufzurufen muss man erst mal ein Musikstück abspielen (ein paar Demotitel sind bereits drauf). Damit die SD-Karte erkannt wird, muss man sie im laufenden Betrieb einlegen (steht leider nicht in der Anleitung). Ein besonderes Lob verdient der Equalizer: Er schafft es sogar poplige MP3 Titel klingen zu lassen als wäre ich direkt im Stadion, in einer Kathedrale oder in der Konzerthalle. Die üblichen Presets sind auch drauf, aber es lohnt sich, alle einmal auszuprobieren. Schön wäre es jetzt noch, wenn man einzelnen Songs einen Equalizer zuweisen könnte, aber das zähle ich mal unter Luxusprobleme. Und ganz wichtig: Passende HiRes Kopfhörer sind Pflicht. Standardgeräte für 10€ kann man auch betreiben, aber die klingen bei Weitem nicht so gut. Aber wer sich so einen Player kauft, wird sicher nicht bei den Kofhörern sparen. Ein Netzteil ist nicht dabei, nur ein Ladekabel. Aber dank Micro-USB Anschluss wäre auch das Kabel nicht erforderlich, sowas hat man heute als Handy / Smartphonebesitzer ohnehin im Haus. Das ist auch praktisch auf Reisen, denn man muss nur ein Ladegerät und ein Kabel mitnehmen. Ich hab den Player erst einmal aufgeladen, aber ich bin sicher, dass die 100 Stunden, die versprochen werden auch gehalten werden. Auf den Bildern wirkt er vielleicht etwas pummelig, aber er ist wirklich schön klein und liegt gut in der Hand. Nur die beiden Ecken oben Rechts sind etwas sptiz. Wem das nicht gefällt, der kann sie etwas abrunden.

Prodotto rispondente alla descrizione. Ottimo sotto tutti i punti di vista anche esteticamente. Piacevole anche al tatto e non scivoloso, fantastico da portare in tasca anche della camicia per le dimensioni e peso contenuti. Qualità audio sopra la media ad un ottimo prezzo. Sicuramente meglio dei vari IPod e Lettori Sony. Unico difetto l'interfaccia un po semplice e poco intuitiva. Per il resto consigliatissimo.

Este Cowon es un buen DAP dentro de su gama (media): - Es muy pequeño. La construcción es sólida. Se siente grato. - Se controla a través de la pantalla táctil (de respuesta no muy rápida) y botones laterales. - La duración de la batería es inmensa. - Admite microSD de hasta 128Gb (Fat32). Aunque la actualización de la biblioteca es lenta. Hasta la fecha no ha salido un software que permita usar formato eXFat, ni agilizar el uso de dicha microSD. - El sonido es muy bueno. Tiene un fondo silencioso sobre el cual aparecen las texturas con claridad. - Gracias a los Jet Effect 5 permite una gran personalización del sonido, lo cual se agradece. Cierto que, comparado con su hermano mayor el P1, se nota la diferencia en la mucho más densidad de texturas y calidad del sonido de este último. Es normal: vale casi el triple ! Conclusión: Es, para mí, un muy buen DAP de gama media.

La qualita' audio in rapporto al prezzo e' molto buona .Chiaramente per apprezzarlo occorrono cuffie o impianti di buon livello .Lo consiglio ,non do' 5 stelle per l'audio ogni volta all'accensione limitato al 64% quindi va' sbloccato .Probabilmente una normativa obbligatoria per questi prodotti .Ho avuto un problema in auto ,quando l'ho messo sottocarica ha cominciato a scaldare da matti e si e' bloccato . Puo' essere pero 'dovuto al mio adattatore per auto di scarsa qualita' .Ho inserito una scheda sd da 128gb per avere una capacita' musicale quasi illimitata .Voglio far notare che va formattata in fat32 da pc con letttore altrimenti non viene vista a dovere .