Review on Cowon Plenue P2 Hi-Fi HD Sound MP3 Player - 128GB Imperial Silver by Kyle Armstrong

This is not a smartphone replacement. A smartphone can stream music and take photos, but a dedicated device like the P2 plays music much better. Magic happens with the right headphones. The P2 gives me a fantastic listening experience. My headphones on the Fostex TH-909. JH Audio Layla travel headphones. My home headphones are MrSpeakers Etherflow C. The P2 is my first playback device that doesn't require EQ on any of my headphones. iBasso, FiiO and other devices have never been so lucky. My P2 is loaded with Classical, Jazz and Rock at different bitrates. The MP3 music sounds very good and better than many other DAPs that play the same song from a 24-bit file. 24-bit music with P2 is another level that most players surpass. I'll refrain from using too many audiophile bingo adjectives to convey what I'm hearing. From Beethoven to Count Basie to the Beatles, I hear more detail in every note. P2 conveys a larger soundstage and more layers of sound. Especially in jazz and classical music, the instruments are better localized. I can count the musicians and know where they are. The volume is enough. In a quiet environment, I adjust the volume from 10 to 30. I increase them to 50 and 60 when I want to drown out external noise. The volume goes up to 140, which should make do with various headphones. Unlike other players I've owned or tried, the Cowon P2 sounds great at any volume. I don't have to turn it up to hear the details of the music. To my ears, the P2 delivers about 95% musical detail compared to the A&K SP2000 and about 90% of the A&K Kann Cube (Kan Cube). plays more music than the Chord Mojo, but the Kann Cube is too bulky to carry in your pocket). Besides great "normal" sound, JetEffect 7 does its best to bring old jazz or classical recordings to life. BBE separates the instruments so they have a clearer and more correct placement on the soundstage. It can also clean up bass so it doesn't get muddy or lost in the mix. JetEffect 7 breathes new life into old recordings. It can really make small labels shine. To me, this is a great excuse to choose Cowon products over others. JetEffect 7 can also help with competing ambient noise. As I write this I'm on an airplane listening to the "Coherence Quartet" (acoustic jazz) and really enjoying it with a BBE Headphone 2 setup. I don't hear jet engines; I hear music. The P2 has a regular 3.5mm jack and a balanced 2.5mm jack. I get more volume and hear more detail with the 2.5mm balanced jack, and I've opted for balanced cables for all my headphones. For testing purposes I used my old 3.5mm single ended cables and reminded myself why I switched to balanced cables a few years ago. There is an industry trend towards 4.4mm balanced jacks, but time will tell if 4.4mm becomes a solid standard. I don't know anything about Cowon Plenue (other than R) with Bluetooth or any other wireless connection. Revain sometimes collects reviews of similar products. Plenue P2 is not a PM, which is not a P. D doesn't have a balanced output, but D2 does. Overall, the P2, S and L offer an excellent listening experience. All of them have a similar interface, battery life, and balanced outputs. I bought P2 for AK4497EQ DAC. The S uses a Burr-Brown PCM1792A DAC. The L uses the Saber ES9038PRO chipset and may appeal to those who want a little more punch or quick attack in their sound. Most important is the chipset implementation, and Cowon outperforms the P2, S, and L implementations. P2 has been on the market for several years. Micro-USB allows the P2 to be fully charged in a few hours. Transferring files for multiple albums is easy, but might require some patience when filling up an empty 256GB SD card. The 256GB SD card is the maximum capacity card released and my 256GB Sandisk card works fine with the P2. The battery suits my lifestyle and provides all day lossless listening and 24-bit audio. I charge my P2 every day. There are some attractive new wireless offerings from iBasso, FiiO and HiBy at a similar price point, but they don't seem as good to me. The Cayin N6ii sounds very good but costs about twice as much as the P2. I've read of users having N6ii quality issues, so I won't be owning this wireless wonder any time soon. (I just ordered a Fostex TM2 to pair my old Shure IEMs with my phone. The promise of a great DAP with wireless capability nagged me). The P2 without JetEffect 7 is one of the best DAPs in a very crowded segment. Adding JetEffects7 can mean the difference between a disappointing sound and a very enjoyable one. Every album and all my headphones sound great with the P2, so I think the P2 will be with me for a very long time.