Cowon D2+ hands-on

The "plus" version of the Cowon D2 offers improved sound and a prettier interface than its predecessor. Click for more photos.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CBS Interactive)

I just got my hands on the latest D2+ MP3 player from Cowon, which began shipping in the U.S. earlier this week. Unlike the multihued models available overseas, the U.S. version of the D2+ only comes in black (with a possibility of silver coming eventually), and is priced at $139 (8GB) and $179 (16GB).

If you remember the original Cowon D2 from 2007, then the D2+ isn't going to seem like much of a shocker. The majority of the spec sheet features are the same: 2.5-inch QVGA resistive touch screen; music playback (MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, WAV,APE), video (AVI, WMV), photos, FM radio, text reader, and voice recorder. Rated battery life is still the same, excellent 52 hours of audio and 10 hours of video. Dimensions, same. Buttons, same. Kickstand, USB port, SDHC slot...same, same, same.

Fortunately, we were already big fans of the original D2, so Cowon didn't need to do much to keep us interested. The big news here is that Cowon upgraded the D2's already mind-blowing audio enhancement settings with the latest BBE+ technology (also included in the recent Cowon S9). I don't have an older D2 to compare against, but I can say subjectively that the sound really is fantastic, and I actually find the EQ and effect settings on the D2+ a little easier to navigate than on the S9--which emphasized presets over individual settings. The EQ on the D2+ also offers adjustable EQ frequency filters and bandwidth settings for the super-picky users, which I remember seeing on the S9 and Cowon O2, but not on the original D2.

The graphic user interface on the Cowon D2+ has also been given a thorough polish, borrowing from the Cowon O2's cleaner, more modern looking icons and menus. I'll need a little more time with the D2+ to see if there have been any functional improvements to navigation and menus, but so far it just seems like a prettier-looking version of the D2's original (and practical) menu scheme.

I do have some initial criticisms, though. First and foremost, there's no AAC audio support. I made this same complaint about the Cowon S9, but it seems even more relevant now that America's largest online music retailer (iTunes) sells its music in the AAC format and has ditched the DRM that once made songs incompatible with non-iPod devices. Don't get me wrong, I think iTunes should sell songs as MP3s just like the rest of the world (add an option for FLAC, while you're at it, Apple), but Zune, Sony, Samsung, and Creative have all seen the light on AAC, and Cowon should too.

Another complaint I had of the Cowon S9 that I'll lay on the D2+ is support for h.264 videos. In the two years since the original D2, the worlds of online-video downloads and podcasts have exploded, and much of the content uses the iPod-compatible h.264 video format as a standard. If you could drag and drop this content onto the D2+ without tedious conversion, life would be sweet. For what it's worth, I was able to natively play the small-format XVID files offered over at Revision3.

The third thing I noticed that I'm a little bummed about is that Cowon left off the metal accents that made the original D2 feel so classy and durable. Instead, the D2+ uses an all-plastic design that, frankly, feels just a little cheaper than the original D2. To make up for it, though, Cowon is selling a kit of metallic stickers (sold separately) to give your D2+ a little added *bling.* The decals are a fun idea (kinda), but it sure ain't metal.

I'll have more thoughts to share next week. Until then, take a look at our Cowon D2+ photo gallery.

Cowon D2+ photos

[superaznman]

ehhh... no aac? come on. i like the design though. (too bad ill never be able to buy one)

[Waveblade]

I was kinda bummed out of aac on my s9, but i got over it quickly

[SanjayGolf]

I wonder how the sound quality compares to my rockboxed iPod.

Cowon always uses quality sound chips, whereas Apple uses the market standard, and I'm not Apple bashing. I'm typing this from my Macbook Pro and have had four different iPods. The last one I actually installed Rockbox on, but it died after two years (hands down the shortest life of the four, but I digress). I decided to branch out last fall and get something different, and I heard a lot of good things about Cowon players, particularly the D2. After loading up some songs, I realized that the iPod wasn't doing my headphones justice.
It wasn't as instantaneous as that, but after a month of listening to my favorite songs I noticed some of the more subtle notes and some instruments that I didn't notice before. Everything was just a tiche clearer, or at least not as murky.

Er... Long story short: I don't believe that the iPod is a bad player, by any means. And I certainly wouldn't dump one just to get a D2. However, at the price of getting an original D2 (I'm assuming cheaper now, and I can't really see much difference between this one and the original), why not?

[inflammable]

Does it support ID3 Tag?.... cowon have a bad reputation on this subject...

[happyholycow]

I'd hope so...

[audiodonald]

Yes, you can sort your music collection by ID3 tag or folder tree (best of both worlds). Scrolling through long lists using the touch screen isn't quite as quick and elegant as it is on the Cowon S9, however (or the Samsung P2 or iPod Touch, for that matter).

[chris120783]

Actually, if the D2+'s firmware is like the D2's, it does have some shoddy support for AAC. You have to manually change the extension of the files from .m4a to .aac to get them to work. Album art (embedded or not) and the file name for the song are displayed just fine but there isn't any support for ID3 tags on these files, there is no AAC icon in the format section, and the bitrate says 0 Kb/s.

More than anything I was hoping for some changes that we've seen with the recent S9, namely: An AMOLED screen, support for video resolutions greater than the native screen resolution, and a slimmer design. It's worth pointing out that the D2's internal processor is capable of handling video encoded at up to 2500 Mbits/s, which is more than enough to support DVD resolution video. For whatever reason they capped it at QVGA resolution...

"The EQ on the D2+ also offers adjustable EQ frequency filters and bandwidth settings for the super-picky users, which I remember seeing on the S9 and Cowon O2, but not on the original D2."

Looking at my D2, using the 3.57 software, you can. Go under Settings -> Jet Effect -> Equalizer -> **EQ FILTER**

[audiodonald]

Good to know. I didn't have an original D2 on-hand to compare against. Have you found the EQ filter settings on the D2 useful?

[Undune]

I think it is really handy for low-fi songs where certain aspects of the song do not "pop" out enough, but I prefer to listen to my music as is, generally.

[320kbps]

Those are some great photos of the player. I was just curious, does this player have the headphone amp like the original D2?

[DaremoS]

two things:
- Cowon D2+ doesn't have the "hidden" support for AAC, it was removed from D2+ firmware.
- No idea what is "headphone amp" mentioned above. What D2/D2+ really have is a powerful output.