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DAPreview's Cowon iAudio X5 Gallery, Part 1
comment: 3 | Thursday, April 14 (2005) 04:04PM | Posted by Austin Vaughan
As promised, DAPreview now has a Cowon iAudio X5 in its inventory and we'll be testing it out over the next few days while we write up the review. In the meantime, check out our first X5 gallery filled with over 100 pictures of the player and its accessories plus some comparison shots next to the iPod and Rio Karma. We'll post the second part of the gallery tommorow - a full set of GUI shots, one of every screen. Hopefully we'll have the review ready a day after that.

X5 GALLERY



Note: The leather case in the pictures is not the official case and does not come with the X5.
Comments

renegade732

Comments: 38
 		Apr 14 (2005) 04:16PM  

Can't wait for the review. Does the case have anything to protection over the screen?



ameyer17

Comments: 85
 		Apr 14 (2005) 04:23PM  

what headphones are those?



shaka_1205

Comments: 6
 		Apr 14 (2005) 04:29PM  

Thank you Austin ! Thank you !!!! You're my god !



Austin Vaughan
Location: Lenexa, KS
Comments: 770
 		Apr 14 (2005) 04:30PM  

ameyer17 - customized Grado 325's. The aluminum chambers were replaced with Paduak wood and the cable was replaced with a flexible sheathing, terminated to a mini-plug. Purrrfect.

[Linky]



shaka_1205

Comments: 6
 		Apr 14 (2005) 04:33PM  

One more thing, you compared the X5 with a 40GB iPod right ?



Allen
Location: Dub Vee Ooo
Comments: 1511
 		Apr 14 (2005) 04:39PM  

Hmmm... Im liking this browsing by files less and less... :-/


Austin Vaughan
Location: Lenexa, KS
Comments: 770
 		Apr 14 (2005) 04:46PM  

yeah, that's a 40-gig iPod. the X5 is just a tad thicker on the hump (~1mm) and a bit thinner on the bottom end (by ~2mm).



chicubs

Comments: 915
 		Apr 14 (2005) 05:20PM  

that hump still pisses me off.



rbilsbor

Comments: 37
 		Apr 14 (2005) 06:30PM  

the day after that? that would be dapreview's quickest review ever.



Aewon

Comments: 21
 		Apr 14 (2005) 07:08PM  

Very nice... seems that mine will be coming next week. X5L so it'll be a tad thicker.

I want the review



Krishna

Comments: 131
 		Apr 14 (2005) 07:55PM  

Awesome, can't wait for the review! Looks so nice, and it seems to be smaller than the specs allude too.



zip22

Comments: 1816
 		Apr 14 (2005) 09:34PM  

that thing looks awesome, especially with the headphones. i dont mind the hump, but the plug out the side stirkes me as odd. not necessarily bad, just different.



Robert Sinke

Comments: 1221
 		Apr 14 (2005) 09:40PM  

looking good. You're right, I too forgot how small it really is. And humps, well bah, I have to drive across Belgian roads - I'm used to bumps, gaps and botomless-pits-of-doom.



Krishna

Comments: 131
 		Apr 14 (2005) 09:51PM  

Oh I forgot to ask Austin; Does the X5 drive the Sr-325's well?

Rob- I know what your talking about. Canadian roads are TERRIBLE at this time of year.



Sweet Spot

Comments: 27
 		Apr 14 (2005) 11:10PM  

Those Grados are hot to trott man... Ok, the pics. What's with pic 30 bro ? You thought we'd like to see it in full out "gook" mode ? I dunno, I find the thing to be a tad ugly. That bump really does it in IMO. The buttons on the side seem really nice and solid though. And what were they thinking by putting the headphone jack on the side like that ? That's utterly obtrusive and stupid looking, not to mention disfunctional as you see in the pic.

I hope the audio is better than the visual.



Flid

Comments: 262
 		Apr 15 (2005) 06:23AM  

Great pics (as always) and can't wait for the review. But.. the size comparison to a 40GB iPod isn't strictly fair. I know Austin's probably on ly working with what he has immediate access to... but it'd be interesting to show the thickness comparison between an iPod 20/30GB and the X5... or iPod 40/60GB and the X5L. Sadly, this would show the inherent chubbyness of the X5 range and further demonstrate the ridiculous protrusiveness of that hideous hump.

~sigh~ The dawning realisation that I really am about to go the iPod route (albeit in a super-slim fancy photo way)



Krishna

Comments: 131
 		Apr 15 (2005) 08:03AM  

You do know the Ipod photos are bigger than the normal Ipods, right?

Plus the only reason that the X5 is so thick at the bump is because of the USB OTG capability. Actually a smart design choice would have been to put the USB OTG on the subpack with all the other things, making the main body smaller. You need to carry around the subpack anyways for charging and stuff, so you might as well have had it on there. Ofcourse you have all the other features that the X5 packs in anyways adding to thickness.

Still the X5 is still slimmer than, what I would consider a more comparable product, the Iriver H3xx series, although all of the connections for the H300 are on the device itself.



TrueDis

Comments: 2
 		Apr 15 (2005) 12:48PM  

What about an inline remote?



Anonymous

Guest
 		Jul 29 (2005) 06:02PM  

I just got my X5 today, this is the best MP3 Player I've ever had!! I'm an audiophile, trust me, this is prolly the only thing that blows everything else right now in regards to sound quality. Ipod, Iriver, whatever crap... just dont worry bout the rest. The li'll joystick might be a pain in the ass for some but get used to it, it's worth the while!! Note : Get some other head/earphones for better sound quality and better bass.

This thing is slim man, I dont know what people are talkin about sayin its thick and all, and its not heavy! Very High quality.... I give this badboy a 5 star + 2 thumbs up!!



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Step666
Apple, perhaps, is a bad example for the reason Pondy points out.

But the point in general stands, most people don't want to carry round multiple devices, especially not two that are near-identical in terms of features.


In other news, the Eels are amazing live.

Pondlife
largely=larger

See atrocious.

Pondlife
cab=can.

Damn my typing sucks atm.

Pondlife
Well that was partly in what I said

But the Touch comes in largely capacities too doesn't it?

For the touch and iphone I think we cab assume a fair amount of ibuyanythingfromapplesyndrome.

bloodycape
From what I can tell from visiting mac forums, there are quite a few users with the Touch, and the iPhone. Partially for the reason Pondlife said. Not to mention it the case of Apple the Touch cost less for more space(v. iPhone).

Pondlife
So you only have to deal with the one interface but have a music back up on your phone for when mp3 player battery goes. Cheaper than buying two phones.

Well hopefully.

Step666
You wouldn't buy a Touch if you had an iPhone though, would you?

So, if you have a high-end Android handset (which a number of people here either do or are looking at getting), why would you then buy a second device that gives you the same functionality sans the phone element?

bloodycape
It is partially the same reason why the Touch is doing well.

TheDarkSide
Not everyone wants a phone, so what's so hard for some of you to comprehend?

Step666
I don't see why you'd buy either of them over a Galaxy S (or one of it's sister devices).


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