Neil Young’s US$200 PonoPlayer, which
was successfully funded by Kickstarter on Tuesday April 15th, 2014, can
be seen as the first HD Music Player that’s driving the shift toward HD (High
Definition) Audio in the United States of America if not globally. Those who
pledged their money have already begun receiving their PonoMusic Players and packages between
October and December 2014.
Thus
don’t be surprised that the Neil Young’s
US$200 PonoPlayer as described in my blog article
entitled “Neil
Young’s Righteous PonoMusic and US$200 PonoPlayer Kickstarter - The Hills are
alive with the Sound of FLAC Music” has competition in the budding HD Audio
Player Industry.
Enter
the US$1,249
Cowon Plenue 1 that not only has a shocking price tag for a HD Audio Music
Player but also delivers on quality as well according to the article “The
outer limits: the Cowon Plenue 1 Music player”, published October 25, 2014
10:24 AM PDT by Steve Guttenberg, CNET News.
HD
Audio Music Players basically play 24-bit, 192 kHz Free Lossless Audio Codecs
compatible with Dolby Digital Stereo Surround Sound with none of the 24 Audio
channels are missing. Thus we're looking at Audio playback standards that
result in some very large Music files, even larger than the 50 MB WAV files
used in Audio CD’s. Specifically I’m referring to:
1. AAC
2. Apple
Lossless Audio
3. ATRAC
4. FLAC
5. WAV
6. MP3
7. MP4
So
what's so special about the Cowon Plenue 1
HS Audio Music Player that it demands such a hefty US$1,249 price tag? Folks,
it’s all about the Bells and Whistles!
US$1,249 Cowon Plenue 1
- The Rolls Royce of HD Audio Players that defines High End Music
The
Cowon Plenue 1
is an electronics beast worthy of the Apple iPod, a much-loved Music player
which I still have hopes will be resurrected as a HD Audio Player as predicted
in my blog
article entitled “Apple
iPod Classic is Dead as Apple iPhone 6 Rises - Why a US$250 Apple iPod HD Music
Player with Streaming Option is Possible”.
With
dimensions of 116.4x64.5x13mm (4.6 x 2.5 x 0.5") and a fairly sizeable
80mm (3.7") Capacitive Touch Screen, the Cowon Plenue 1
is pretty hefty when compared most smartphones.
But
it's big for a reason as for such a state-of-the-art device, its packing a lot
of easy-access features familiar to users of a Walkman Player.
For
example, it actually has physical buttons for Power, Volume, Play/Pause and
Previous Track/Next Track. The bottom houses space for a micro USB port and
microSD card slot capable of using 128GB SD Cards, doubling your 128GB Internal
Memory Allotment.
Interestingly,
the Headphone jack is also an Optical output and the whole shebang comes with a
real leather slip case and a very sturdy USB charging cable. Playback support
as the US$1,249
Cowon Plenue 1 is able to support up the following 24-bit, 192 kHz Free
Lossless Audio Codec:
1. AIFF
2. ALAC
3. APE
4. DSD
5. DXD
6. FLAC
7. MP3
8. OGG
9. WAV
10. WMA
Cowon Plenue 1 is worth
every penny - US$700 Sony Walkman NWXZ-ZX1 is their only real competition
With
that much electronics hardware, your playback time is a measly 8 hours. Pretty
low for such a high price, but it’s ok….for now!
But
the playback quality is great and may even sound better if you're wearing a pair
of US$299.99 Bose Quiet Comfort 25 Headphones which are also worth the price by
the way as detailed in my blog article
entitled “US$299.99
Bose Quiet Comfort 25 Headphones - Why the QC25 improves on the QC15 despite no
Inductive Rechargeable Battery”
So
how good is it?
It
can even act as a source for your Marantz SR5009 Home Theatre A-V Receiver,
making your Home Theatre Surround Sound jump as you'll hear every note and every
rasp of the singer as his voice caresses the microphone as described in my blog article
entitled “US$900
Marantz SR5009 Home Theatre A-V Receiver - 4K Video goes great with 5.1 Dolby
Digital HD Audio in 2 Rooms”.
But
I guess it's really the DJ that play at Late Night Session that might
appreciate the high quality sound amplified by their US$800 Marantz HD-DAC1 Headphone
Amplifier as described in my blog article
entitled “US$800
Marantz HD-DAC1 Headphone Amplifier - Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC makes this a Disc
Jockey's Value-buy” using the US$1,249 Cowon
Plenue 1 as an Audio sources.
So
it's really a win-win situation for the buyer. Their only real competition is
the US$700 Sony Walkman NWXZ-ZX1 which is slated to land in the West by
December 2014 as I'd predicted in my blog article
entitled “US$700
Sony Walkman NWXZ-ZX1 – Trend towards HD Audio in Asia and Japan will make it
sell in the US of A”.
The
range of playback and its support for High Quality Optical Audio which is conveniently
packaged inside of the same 3.5 mm Headphone Jack and Headphone Amplifiers is
what really clinches it for me.
It’ll
work well with the US$1,199 Oppo HA-1 Headphone Amplifier which supports this High Quality Optical Audio
as detailed in my blog article
entitled “US$1,199
Oppo HA-1 Headphone Amplifier – Retro 80's Polished Portable HD Audio Sound
System makes Live Music great with any Headphone”, we're basically looking
at a competitor on the premise of value not so much price.
Having
your Music crammed into a device that makes Music sound great on Headphones
with or without amplification is what makes the US$1,249 Cowon
Plenue 1 a value buy for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment