Intro

Cowon is one of the few companies that managed to stick around in the DAP scene pretty much from the start. Sure, they've had their ups and downs, but generally-speaking they're still going strong.

Although Cowon's players have (naturally) improved in terms of output qualities, versatility, portability and functionality, they did recently face the same threat as any other DAP-producing company: lack of innovation.

There's very little "excitement" left to add to a DAP nowadays. Most of them have various built-in functions such as movie playback, picture viewing, a little color screen and all that. Even within Cowon's own flash range, this caused players to kind of "look alike". Combined with the availability of certain high-ranking competing models, this could cause you to believe that "It really doesn't matter all that much which one you choose".


Luckily enough for us, Cowon figured as much and went back to the drawing board. They came out all sweaty and excited, carrying a rectangular little box dubbed "D2" in their hands. This would be your typical "Hey I haven't seen this kind of material before too often" concept - a flash-based, SD-expandable, feature-packed DAP slash PMP that comes with its very own touch screen (plus TV-out).

So, yeah - that's "new" and 'exciting" in theory alright. We're here to give it a good shakedown and see whether the D2 does indeed live up to its promising... err... promises or not. But let's first start by dumping a list of useful specifications hereunder.


Specifications

• Audio Playback formats: MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis (up to Q10), FLAC, WAV, APE
  
• Video playback format: predefined format (up to QVGA @ 30fps) through conversion software
  
• Picture/text viewer (JPG, TXT)
  
• Folder Limit: 500 folders and 5,000 files
  
• Built-in FM radio + recorder
  
• Built-in voice/line-in recorder
  
• Display: 2.5 inch 16 million color(24bit) TFT-LCD Touch Screen
  
• Resolution: QVGA (320x240)
  
• Built-in memory: 2GB, 4GB
  
• External memory (SD, MMC) Card Slot
  
• PC interface: USB 2.0 High Speed
  
• Power: Built-in Rechargeable Lithium Polymer Battery
  
• Playback time:
  Music : Max. 52 Hours Continuous Playback
  Movie : Max. 10 Hours Continuous Playback
  
• Charge time: About 3.5 hours by adapter, About 7 hours by USB
  
• S/N ratio: 95dB (A-Weighted), frequency Range: 20Hz~20KHz
  
• Max Output: 16 Ohm earphone : 37mW + 37mW
  
• Size: 78.0 X 55.4 X 16.6 mm (W x H x D)
  
• Weight: 91g (Include Lithium Polymer battery)

Note: this review was written using various versions of firmware - some information may prove to be outdated due to the availability of more recent firmware.

article index
page 1 - current : Intro & Specs
page 2 : Accessories & Design
page 3 : Data transfer
page 4 : Screen & Navigation
page 5 : Sound & Video playback
page 6 : Battery Efficiency & Additional Features
page 7 : Conclusion