Best Audio Player for 9k!!

So, that's it, just as the title says, suggest some, music/vids only, so no need for android, and no ipods, unless its an awesome deal.

My choice is Cowon, any takers here? How's service?

PS: Atleast 16GB inbuilt memory or support for mem cards.

If sound quality is your top priority & you don't need a touch screen then this Sony PMP is the best. The only downside is that it doesn't have MicroSD slot but I guess 16GB internal memory will be sufficient for you : Flipkart.com: Sony Walkman NWZ-A845 16 GB: Video MP3 Player

I agree. For sound quality Sony is unmatched. For a bit of everything Cowon is quite good. BTW, which model are you eying for?

My experience:

Sony: excellent sound, kickass bundled earphones, looks good, interface is good too

Philips: good sound, trendy looks, bundled earphones are nice

Transcend: looks ok, bad interface, sounds standard

Cowon: No Idea (might get idea in the future)

My vote to Sony!

Get Cowon J3 4GB and use microSDHC for memory expansion.

Display: 3.3″ 480x272px capacitive AMOLED touchscreen
Battery life: max. 64h for music, max. 11 hours for video
Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, APE, WAV, AAC/M4A (unofficially)
Video: AVI, WMV, ASF, MP4 (unofficially) / DivX, XviD, WMV7/8/9, h.264 (unofficially)

source: anythingbutipod

Thanks for your suggestion, how's Cowon RMA support in kolkata?

tkin said:
Thanks for your suggestion, how's Cowon RMA support in kolkata?

To be frank, average to poor. I think everything is sent to Lipap (in Delhi i suppose). In terms of warranty/support, nothing beats Sony and Apple among PMPs.

If Can you increase your budget buddy.Then you can get Apple Ipod Touch 4G @12.69k from Ebay.You know how good is ipod touch 4G

desiibond said:
To be frank, average to poor. I think everything is sent to Lipap (in Delhi i suppose). In terms of warranty/support, nothing beats Sony and Apple among PMPs.

Right, same thought here, look at what cowon live chat wrote to me:

Hi, I am from kolkata, and just want to know the name/address of service center here.
Rawat has joined
You are currently being served by
Rawat
Rawat [agent]
I am afraid but Cowon does'nt have any service near your area
Are you having any issue with your player ?
You <click to change>
No, I want to buy one from flipkart.com but want to know about rma service here.
How can I get support for it?
Rawat [agent]
Cowon India offers free pick up of your defective/non working player,service it and send it back.The complete process does not take more then 7days.
That is also in the case if you buy from flipkart directly

At least they have a working live chat, no other company till date has a working live chat model in india.

But, maybe Sony.

Tenida said:
If Can you increase your budget buddy.Then you can get Apple Ipod Touch 4G @12.69k from Ebay.You know how good is ipod touch 4G

I hate apple, and also that poc itunes with it.

How's Gogear from phillips? Looks good and price looks good too, any idea guys?

This: Flipkart.com: Philips GoGear Muse 8 GB: MP4 Player
Specs look awesome, internet(wifi I presume), H.264 playback, capacitive touch, omg, nice.

AFAIK Philips sound and video quality is not up to the mark if you compare with APPLE, Cowon and Creative

tkin said:
How's Gogear from phillips? Looks good and price looks good too, any idea guys?

This: Flipkart.com: Philips GoGear Muse 8 GB: MP4 Player
Specs look awesome, internet(wifi I presume), H.264 playback, capacitive touch, omg, nice.

I would rather go with Cowon hoping that nothing will go wrong (which usually is the case) or get used to iTunes than getting this player. some Philips players are good but not this one, definitely not this one.

@Desiibond- Flipkart.com: Creative Zen X-Fi 2 16 GB: Video MP3 Player is this good?

X-Fi should be a very good option. I have a Creative Zen 8gb, Video is superb I would say, but audio is not really great with the bundled earphones. X-Fi has much better audio quality.

In X-Fi version both Audio and video is superb i must say.I have used creative earlier they simply rocks.

desiibond said:
I would rather go with Cowon hoping that nothing will go wrong (which usually is the case) or get used to iTunes than getting this player. some Philips players are good but not this one, definitely not this one.

Thanks for the heads up, this Phillips is out of the list.

Skud said:
X-Fi should be a very good option. I have a Creative Zen 8gb, Video is superb I would say, but audio is not really great with the bundled earphones. X-Fi has much better audio quality.

I will be using a PL30 with it, may get Brainwavez M2 later, so audio quality will not be an issue(unless the player produces cr@p audio), thanks for info, gonna search reviews on creative now.

Tenida said:
In X-Fi version both Audio and video is superb i must say.I have used creative earlier they simply rocks.

Hmm, thanks for the input.

Few months ago my friend brought Cowon J3 4GB + leather case for 10k. And that person is sonu rawat, on cowon site he only reply on chat application. Btw confirm about service issue coz i think liplap is in mumbai only. So consider it before buying.

Are you interested in a used PMP , my friend has year old cowon S9 16g and i am selling ipod touch + philips she9550 in ears @ 5k.
Not advertising , just mentioned since you said about good deals :smile:

Cowons are hailed all over the world for their audio supremacy. Personally, I have an iPod Nano 3G, iPod Touch 4G, and Sony A844. Of the three, Sony sounds best with my Klipsch X10. Then comes iPod nano, and the last one is iPod Touch. I'm getting Cowon J3 next friday as my friend coming over from Korea is getting it for me. I'd be able to comment on it only after I receive it. So, I'd suggest you should go for the Sony, or get Cowon J3 from flipkart and add a micro sd card to it. And btw, Cowon S9 sounds similar to J3. You can get that one too.

I once had a gogear, nearly 2yrs back. I don't remember the model number, but it was a small, really small, square in shape, light-weight device. It had a small white on black display, and the oval screen cap acted as the 4-way navigation button. I still can't remember the model number and name. It was Philips gohear. The bundled earphones sounded good [well, you can never actually Define GOOD]. I preferred rock/pop music and very little metal [Metallica, Dope, COF, COB...]

#maybe i had extremely little perception about sound quality at that time.

Btw, my vote will always go to Sony. Awesum sound quality with bundled uncomfortable earphones. (my frnd's pmp)
But how many Sony Walkman supports video?? :-?

Yeah, guys, I am going to pune within a few hours, i'll buy the pmp after getting back, meanwhile, do post and keep this thread alive(or try to anyway).

W

cowon j3 or iaudio9 or sony NWZ-A844?

warrior047 said:
cowon j3 or iaudio9 or sony NWZ-A844?

Cowon J3 over Sony NWZ-A844 anyday. I personally have both of them, and ever since I got my Cowon J3, the Sony is eating dust somewhere in the cupboards. I took it out one day to compare the sound quality, and put it back after some 20 minutes or so. However, compared to iPods, the Sony A844 sounds better. In fact, they are the 2nd best PMP I ever heard.

W

aniket.cain said:
Cowon J3 over Sony NWZ-A844 anyday. I personally have both of them, and ever since I got my Cowon J3, the Sony is eating dust somewhere in the cupboards. I took it out one day to compare the sound quality, and put it back after some 20 minutes or so. However, compared to iPods, the Sony A844 sounds better. In fact, they are the 2nd best PMP I ever heard.

thank you but don't you think j3 is pricey? Does it deserve that for 4 gb at 9k! :shock:

still, if u did say therez no other player around for some time from now better, i did go for it :-|

i own a zune hd and sony a844. Overall zune is awesome but sound wise, couldnt see much diff but i think zune has a little edge in that too! Ipods are not worth their price considering the sound quality alone.

warrior047 said:
thank you but don't you think j3 is pricey? Does it deserve that for 4 gb at 9k! still, if u did say therez no other player around for some time from now better, i did go for it

i own a zune hd and sony a844. Overall zune is awesome but sound wise, couldnt see much diff but i think zune has a little edge in that too! Ipods are not worth their price considering the sound quality alone.

Yes, Cowon J3 is pricey. But I got the 16GB model for 8.7k only. Didn't hurt much. :razz:

You can look around for more players, but most people out there are interested in the features rather than the SQ. And that is the reason iPods get recommended everywhere over everything else.

Tenida said:
If Can you increase your budget buddy.Then you can get Apple Ipod Touch 4G @12.69k from Ebay.You know how good is ipod touch 4G

Hi Sorry to mention this, but in my own opinion, the sound quality of ipod sux totally, the bundled ear phones , are the worst . If you want all eye candy, install apps, play games( I have different devices to play games), and snob value and ultimate bragging rights and want to compromise for sound quality, please go ahead and get ipod.

If you want really good sound quality, and if sound quality is your only concern( which should be , its a music player after all) then please dump that ipod and get something from Sony(A series) / Cowon.

The above is just my opinion.

^ I totally agree with you.

R

Buy Cowon MP3 Video Player C2 16Gb (Black) at Best Price in India - Also find Specifications, Photos, Features & Reviews

OP must have bought the player by now guys. It's over two months since his last post.

I'm sorry guys, I was busy with campus recruitments and after successfully acquiring two jobs I have upgraded my budget to 30k+ and will be going for the best smartphone money can buy, I will be buying in dec-jan as I believe new models will be coming by then(its been a while since Galaxy SII was out), I am looking at the next iteration of Galaxy or else the Sensation XE, so I'll post a new thread later, this thread is no longer needed, thanks for all the hard work, appreciated, this thread will help others very much.

Congrats tkin for the job! :thumbs:

dashing.sujay said:
Congrats tkin for the job!

Thanks, now waiting eagerly for the next smartphone to shake the world.

*1.bp.blogspot.com/-aiQsAABtAxE/TaTa-fwWA1I/AAAAAAAACT0/IwwnnZsISj8/s1600/blahblah.jpg

tkin said:
now waiting eagerly for the next smartphone to shake the world.