Cowon PLENUE R2 MP3/MP4 Player Black

I used to have a Astell&Kern AK380, but Technology has moved on so much so when it comes to sound quality in five years that Cowon’s Plenue R2 has better sound quality than a DAP that cost more than five times the price back in 2016

This player is not going to be for everyone because it doesn't use Android and thus there are no apps. Neither is there wifi, only bluetooth. But if you can get past that and just want to play music files it's hard to beat in this price range. Dropping android gives it a very smooth and efficient interface. I took the 256GB microsd card from my android phone and put it in, started it up and it quickly found all the files (FLAC). The process was far faster than previous Fiio players I have used. Navigation/configuration is also quick and easy It's a smart looking player and feels solid. There are hardware buttons on the side for music control. It's about 2/3 the size of a modern smartphone in surface area, but a bit thicker. Only thing about the design is that it's a bit sharp on the edges so I'll get a case for it. The screen won't blow your mind but it's perfectly suitable for a device like this. The sound is really excellent. There are a huge number of preset on the equaliser and of course you can customise it (via 10 bands). It's certainly the best DAP I've yet heard (and the specifications back that up). The battery life is considerably superior to the many Android players in this range with similar output levels. Really a top-notch player overall.

Good, but expensive.

Cowon's latest digital audio player boasts the sound quality of the Cowon Plenue D2 and functionality of the Cowon plenue R. So what does this mean? It means that this is one hell of a music player. Sound Sound wise this player is the apex of what a music player should sound like. It has to be heard to be believed. Listening to this device with an open back balanced headphones set up you can separate Stevie Wonder's Vocals from the instruments playing in the background and the backup vocals as well as the various adlibs he lays throughout his music. You don't even need to play it at a high volume to appreciate all this. Listening to a different artist like Soundgarden gives you a different appreciation of the device's capabilities - You can literally hear the guitar chords being strummed individually at certain stages of "let me drown" , leader singer Chris' vocals sound crisp and clear. The level of clarity and signal quality on display here exceeds what I've heard on far more expensive DAPs that I own, namely the Astell and Kern KANN and the Astell and kern sp 1000m. Functionality Ever since owning the cowon plenue D2, I hoped cowon would release a device like it without the memory limitations of its 128gb +64gb setup. With this device you can store more music. Thats not all, even with more memory for music you'd expect some sort of trade off with the boot times right? No, this device is even faster than the d2 when loading up from being turned off. The only mysterious omission from the D2 is the inability to put the device on a sleep mode which isn't that much of an issue since it loads so quickly. Features Jeteffect allows you to customize your listening experience from a set of music eq effects. AI Jeteffect automatically sets eq effects depending on a tracks music genre. AI shuffle - Shuffles and plays your music in a way that is random but generates a mood playlist by playing tracks that sound similar to the first track played. I tested this by playing a folder of music with "garage" hits on it. I played a Vocal heavy track and everything that proceeded it all had a prominent vocal in its composition. It didn't always work but I'd say it had a 95% accuracy rate. Things I noticed Battery life Battery life is on the shorter side for cowon players but the fact that it utilises a USB c connection means I can share cables with Samsung phone and charge my dap with them. Random unexplained power offs A few weeks using this device, it would randomly power off whilst I was driving which was very annoying. Its hard to tell if it was a hardware or software issue but thankfully this is yet to happen again since then. It might've been resolved with a firmware update. Bluetooth Bluetooth is another thing that this player has, though if you're paying this much for a dap, you're better off sticking with a wired connection as you lose signal quality and battery life when you go wireless. Size & Dimensions It has the exact same size dimensions as the original cowon plenue R, so if you're looking for a protective case, you're better looking for one for the original cowon plenue R. Show Song Change If you are using this player and you're driving or at the gym, I highly recommend disabling this option as the player momentarily turns on while a new song starts playing which means you can accidentally skip the new track playing and if it's a favourite could be quite annoying. To conclude This device is well worth its asking price, it will not disappoint. It is the best sounding digital audio player, I have heard to date and it punches well above its weight.