Cowon G3 (1 GB) MP3 Player
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- Number of Songs: 250
- Usage: Music Recording
- Interface: USB 2.0
- Screen Size: 1.8 inch
- Main Storage Type: Hard Drive
- Storage Capacity: 1 GB
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Feature Rich, Good Sounding Playback AND Recording!!
Pros
MANY excellent features, great interface, AA battery lasts days, Firmware upgradable. Excellent recording!
Cons
Can't change level during mic or line recording.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Well-designed, feature-packed, great sound, small, easy to use, works on a AA battery for days!!
Let me begin by saying that I am a professional audio engineer and musician. I am very picky about the equipment I use and I am easily annoyed by bad sound or design. What follows are somewhat rambling observations. If you find them informative or useful, please push the appropriate buttons.
My purchase of the iAudio G3 was my third attempt to find a good voice recorder that would work for music ideas, etc. I am pleased that the iAudio G3 by Cowon fulfills my need for an mp3 player and a portable recording device.
If you are reading this, chances are you are doing your homework to see which mp3 player and/or voice recorder will meet your needs. You may have already read about the basic features of the G3. I'd like to expand upon the reviews I've seen and offer a few more descriptions.
The mp3 playback sounds very good. The digital-to-analog (DA) converters are very good. The included suite of processing controls: 5-band Graphic EQ, BBE, MachBass, Surround, MP Enhance, and Panner all work very well.
It plays mp3's very well. It has very handy functions for FF & REW, and skipping through long files like audio books. It's controls are very intuitive and easy to learn. If tracks are meant to be contiguous you will notice that this player adds about a half-second of silence between mp3 files. This is not a big problem for me.
It has a very sensible mode for navigating through folders and files. It will let you delete one file at a time, but other file management duties must be done while attached to a computer via the supplied usb cable. I have a mac and it works very well in OS X.
It has a built-in clock and can function as an timer/alarm. Although with no built-in speaker, you'd need to keep the headphones on or have it connected to an amp/receiver/speakers to have it work that way. It will allow you to set a specific time for it to play an mp3, a radio station or record a radio station for a specified duration (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, or 180 minutes or "always") It won't let you do line or mic recording with the timer function.
Ok. Now about the recording functions. It has three record modes: FM, Line-in, and Mic. The FM record is good (there were some reports of noise in the FM record mode. This is not true of the unit I have.). There is a line-input jack which works well, and a very nice sounding built-in mic. Both allow you to set a level 1-10. Both allow you to set record resolution (several mp3 bit-rates up to 128 and a few low-rent wave settings).
I tried the mic on a number of sources. It is a good sounding mic with respectable frequency range. If you need to capture ideas, they will sound very clear. The sound is clean at 128. But there is not very much low-end (bass frequencies) and I wouldn't call the sound "flat" or accurate, but it is pleasant sounding. But more than good enough for understanding words, hearing chords, picking out parts, etc. etc.
There is one feature which is a blessing and a curse. There is no "auto limiter". So you must set the level of the mic and hope that it is not to quiet or too loud (distorted). But this brings me to MY ONLY MAJOR GRIPE : you cannot change mic or line levels during recording!!
The iAudio G3 can have it's software updated via a windows computer to add new features and fix bugs. The software version in my unit is 1.55, the currently available version is a beta 1.58. The website lists 6 major software revisions with some major features added.
The Cowon website is very good (if you haven't been there it's http://www.cowonamerica.com). There's a funny little bit of marketing prose, in describing it's shape and white color the site says: "It's Bible Stylish MP3 Player!" That's cute.
The unit comes with a printed manual with many languages. However the print manual is incomplete. For complete directions read the pdf manual that can be downloaded from the website.
My purchase of the iAudio G3 was my third attempt to find a good voice recorder that would work for music ideas, etc. I am pleased that the iAudio G3 by Cowon fulfills my need for an mp3 player and a portable recording device.
If you are reading this, chances are you are doing your homework to see which mp3 player and/or voice recorder will meet your needs. You may have already read about the basic features of the G3. I'd like to expand upon the reviews I've seen and offer a few more descriptions.
The mp3 playback sounds very good. The digital-to-analog (DA) converters are very good. The included suite of processing controls: 5-band Graphic EQ, BBE, MachBass, Surround, MP Enhance, and Panner all work very well.
It plays mp3's very well. It has very handy functions for FF & REW, and skipping through long files like audio books. It's controls are very intuitive and easy to learn. If tracks are meant to be contiguous you will notice that this player adds about a half-second of silence between mp3 files. This is not a big problem for me.
It has a very sensible mode for navigating through folders and files. It will let you delete one file at a time, but other file management duties must be done while attached to a computer via the supplied usb cable. I have a mac and it works very well in OS X.
It has a built-in clock and can function as an timer/alarm. Although with no built-in speaker, you'd need to keep the headphones on or have it connected to an amp/receiver/speakers to have it work that way. It will allow you to set a specific time for it to play an mp3, a radio station or record a radio station for a specified duration (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, or 180 minutes or "always") It won't let you do line or mic recording with the timer function.
Ok. Now about the recording functions. It has three record modes: FM, Line-in, and Mic. The FM record is good (there were some reports of noise in the FM record mode. This is not true of the unit I have.). There is a line-input jack which works well, and a very nice sounding built-in mic. Both allow you to set a level 1-10. Both allow you to set record resolution (several mp3 bit-rates up to 128 and a few low-rent wave settings).
I tried the mic on a number of sources. It is a good sounding mic with respectable frequency range. If you need to capture ideas, they will sound very clear. The sound is clean at 128. But there is not very much low-end (bass frequencies) and I wouldn't call the sound "flat" or accurate, but it is pleasant sounding. But more than good enough for understanding words, hearing chords, picking out parts, etc. etc.
There is one feature which is a blessing and a curse. There is no "auto limiter". So you must set the level of the mic and hope that it is not to quiet or too loud (distorted). But this brings me to MY ONLY MAJOR GRIPE : you cannot change mic or line levels during recording!!
The iAudio G3 can have it's software updated via a windows computer to add new features and fix bugs. The software version in my unit is 1.55, the currently available version is a beta 1.58. The website lists 6 major software revisions with some major features added.
The Cowon website is very good (if you haven't been there it's http://www.cowonamerica.com). There's a funny little bit of marketing prose, in describing it's shape and white color the site says: "It's Bible Stylish MP3 Player!" That's cute.
The unit comes with a printed manual with many languages. However the print manual is incomplete. For complete directions read the pdf manual that can be downloaded from the website.
