Cowon iAudio X5L 30Gb Review w/Pics

My iRiver iHP-120’s (now known as H120) power/play button finally gave out the other day, so I’m no longer able to easily turn it on. (I actually since noticed that hitting the reset button also causes it to power on; so it’s still somewhat workable although I have no idea what I’m going to do with it.) With iRiver unwilling to repair it for me, I had to pick up a replacement.

I originally bought the iRiver primarily because of the Ogg Vorbis support that I am so keen on. Since then, though, iRiver seems to have sold out to the almighty Microsoft because their product pages have the M$ “Plays for Sure” badge image and no longer support any open formats. (Add that to the list of reasons I hate Microsoft pls.)

I’ve been using the Cowon iAudio X5L 30Gb for a few days now and I must say, I am quite pleased with it overall. Although it comes from an iAudio fan site, iAudiophile has an excellent review on the X5 that I highly recommend if you want even more detail than I provide. (The X5L differs only in that it is 1) a bit larger, 2) a bit heavier, 3) costs a bit more, and 4) lasts for 35 hrs instead of the X5’s 14.)

The Looks

The first thing you notice when you pick the X5L up is its solid build. It is a touch on the heavy side, but not annoyingly so. The reality is that its size and weight are very comparable to the iRiver H120. The aluminum casing is smooth and quite scratch resistant. This is quite a contrast from the very scratch prone iPod! The only part that seems like it might be vulnerable to scraches is the 1.8”, 260×128, 260,000-color, 15 fps capable screen and they’ve included 2 screen protectors for it. A small 5-action joystick right under the screen is fairly easy and comfortable to use; two more buttons and a hold/power slider control are located on the right side of the unit.

One feature that I thought was particularly nifty was the fact that the wallpaper (image behind the main status screen) is customizable. I wasted little time before putting a slick camo pattern there to reflect my junglist nature. :)

An annoying feature is the subpack piece that attaches to the proprietary connection at the bottom of the player. You will need the subpack if you want to charge your unit, connect it to your computer via usb, or connect to line-in or line-out—so don’t lose it! As a bonus, the subpack stays in its socket only by friction; I’ve had it fall out by accident.

The Sound

I use Shure E2 ear buds and this player can definitely drive them nicely. I have to make sure I keep the volume at a reasonable level so I can keep my hearing. The player has a customizable 5-band EQ as well as special sound enhancers: BBE, Mach3Bass, MP Enhance, and 3D Surround. A “pan” feature is also included if you want one channel louder than the other.
The codec support of this player is incredible: MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, and WAV are all supported. (For video, it will play XviD MPEG-4.)

The Video Playback

The fact that this thing plays video is really more of a gimmicky bonus than a reason you’re going to buy this player. Watching the 1.8” screen (and holding the player up!) can get tiresome before too long – I wouldn’t recommend watching full-length movies on this!

Since I use Linux and cannot use the software provided from Cowon, I found the java program, iriverter, which makes converting most video file types to the mpeg4(video)/mp3(audio) format as easy as dragging, dropping, and waiting about 2-3 minutes (for a tv show-sized file).

Real World Usage

I really like the 3-position hold/power slider. It usually lives in the middle position. Moving it to the bottom position puts it on hold (where pushing buttons has no effect). Sliding it up (short) causes the screen to light up so you can see what’s going on without actually performing an action. Sliding it up (long, >1sec) causes the unit to turn on if it is off and off if it is on. I don’t really use the hold feature since the buttons are not easy to trigger by accident.

An issue of note is the fact that the minijack for your earphones resides on the left side of the player rather than the top like the iRiver. If you have a fancy pair of headphones with the massive connector, you might want to pick up an “L” connector. If you use better suited earphones that already have an “L” for the connector, it is not a problem at all.

List of Features

Apart from the stuff that I’ve already discussed, here are some additional points to be made about the X5L.

35 hours battery life (yeah, I already mentioned this, but it’s HUGE)
FM Radio: listen and even record! (my iRiver didn’t do that…)
Pictures: view JPEG images, set one as the wallpaper
USB On the Go (OTG): Connect any generic usb mass storage device to the side of the unit via a supplied dongle connector and copy files from a digital camera, usb hdd, etc directly to the iAudio
Recording: to MP3 from line-in, built-in microphone, or radio
A clock feature shows the time on the main status screen. You can also set a very flexible alarm.
Dynamic Playlist: Add files/dirs to the “dynamic playlist” on the fly
Bookmarks: Audio books? Long DJ sets? Bookmark your spot and come back to it!
There are options to configure each of the two (record and play/pause) buttons on the side to do different things when they’re held “long” (more than one second): JetEffect (EQ), Boundary/Shuffle, Equalizer, Add to DPL, Add to Bookmark, Lyrics On/Off
There’s an option to tell it to begin playing immediately upon startup. I had to push play again on my iRiver once it started up, but no more!
It’s a generic usb mass storage device.

With iRiver out of the picture, I like to call this The Best MP3 Player available right now. And with Ogg Vorbis being a requirement in my book, there aren’t too many great players to choose from.

Thursday, March 30th, 2006 Audio, Reviews

7 Comments to Cowon iAudio X5L 30Gb Review w/Pics

http://www.rockbox.org :)

Mikachu on March 30th, 2006

Yea, I haven’t revisited rockbox since I last decided I was too chicken to try putting it on my iriver. The iaudio firmware has a lot of features I suspect are not present in rockbox. I think it’s a very interesting project, and I will prolly try it eventually… but not just yet I don’t think.

thread on March 30th, 2006

That’s sharp, I really like the recording feature built into the player. Among many good features the background is awesome too!

Eddie on March 30th, 2006

It’s Cowon by the way.

With an "o" not an "a".

Martinp on March 30th, 2006

Gosh, my bad on that one! Thanks for pointing that out, t0dk0n.

thread on March 30th, 2006

Where yall be getting the video files from? i got the player, but no video to put on it. can someone hook me up with the hook up? E-Mail me

DeeRell on March 30th, 2006

You didn’t leave an email addy, dood!

As I explain under the "The Video Playback" heading, I use iriverter to convert any ol’ video file I please! I get these video files from any online source (google video, torrent sites, my own mythtv, etc)