US$1,249 Cowon Plenue 1 - The Rolls Royce of HD Audio Players defines High End Music with Sony Walkman NWXZ-ZX1 as Christmas Competition

Neil Young’s US$200 PonoPlayer, which was successfully funded by Kickstarter on Tuesday April 15^th, 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.