Cowon Plenue D High Resolution Music Player 32GB (Gold/Black)
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Product Specifications
- 24bit/192kHz High Definition Sound, High Quality 24bit Stereo DAC
- SNR 123dB, THD+N 0.004%, Crosstalk -105dB
- Jet Effect 5 & BBE+, FLAC/WAV/AIFF/ALAC/APE/MP3/WMA/OGG
- Wide Angle Touch Display, Isometric Edge Design
Music Playback 100 hours, 32GB Internal Memory, microSD Card Slot, Matrix Browser
Product Description
Color:Gold Black We wanted more people to experience the beautiful sound of the PLENUE series. So, we set our mission to share the pleasure of listening to music by realizing perfect high resolution sound through the lines of PLENUE devices while retaining all the benefits of portable Hi-Fi audio. The PLENUE D is small and light, yet its powerful performance is capable of faithfully reproducing original studio sound anytime anywhere. The PLENUE D supports 24bit/192kHz high-resolution audio to reproduce an uncompromising level of original sound. The superior quality of Hi-Fi original studio sound delivers a clearer, richer experience that capture the intent of the original artists and audio engineers. The PLENUE D’s SNR, THD+N, and crosstalk values, which quantify the performance of audio equipment, all exhibit excellence despite the PLENUE D’s small and light form factor. The PLENUE D furthers the reputation set by the PLENUE line of products, boasting 123dB of SNR, 0.004% THD+N, and -105dB of crosstalk. The PLENUE D is equipped with a high-quality 24bit/192kHz stereo DAC to faithfully reproduce 24bit high-resolution original studio-quality audio without distortion or loss of sound. To play high-resolution original studio sound anytime and anywhere, the PLENUE D had to become smaller while retaining the ability to play back music for an extended period of time. Therefore, a power-saving circuit and battery were implemented to enable up to 100 hours of continuous playback. The PLENUE D is small enough to fit perfectly in the hand, and its high-strength aluminum head and back cover make it robust yet light. Now, the PLENUE D can be at your side without any restrictions on time and space. Each surface of the luxurious isometric metal head was delicately cut to accentuate its intersecting edges. A round, metal power button was placed on the leveled-down area to minimize accidental operation while at the same time enhancing the PLENUE D’s beauty.
Product Reviews
A fantastic hi-res player, priced for everyone to enjoy
Finally, a faithful successor to the Cowon J3.Having gotten the itch for a new music player, I decided to start looking out there. And let me say, what a difference a couple years has made in music players! Apparently gone are the days of the $2-300 iPods and Cowon J3’s of yesteryear…apparently I have to drop $600+ just to get a Portable Music Player (PMP) worth its salt! But no, this isn’t exactly true. While there are some obscure PMP’s out there that sell for a decent price, I wanted something that I knew came from a good brand and had a good price point associated with it. Initially, I started out by finding the Sony A17 series, which is where I thought I was headed. Then came the Sony ZX100, which was the $600 non-US market player that had great battery life and great promises of sound quality. After dabbling the idea of a Fiio player, I then turned my eyes over to Cowon again, knowing how much I loved the J3, and saw that they had somewhat changed…the Cowon Plenue 1 was going for nearly $1k, and the Cowon Plenue M was around $800 or so. Knowing full well that I loved Cowon and it’s sound signature and player capabilities, I was getting myself ready to drop that kind of money for a PMP when I saw that the Plenue D was coming soon, and it was going to be the PMP that I was really looking for – something to replace my J3, and build upon all of the strong qualities the J3 had. So how does the new Plenue D fare? Remarkably. It’s everything I was hoping for in my new PMP.The Plenue D comes in a very nice box, a sort of understated approach. It’s black and simple, yet feels premium to the user. Inside you find a warranty booklet, a quickstart guide, the Player, and a microUSB cable (THANK YOU COWON, NO MORE PROPRIETARY CABLES!) The player is a different size I must say comparatively to other PMP’s I’ve used, such as the J3 or iPods or smartphones. It’s a small little brick, almost kind of like a post-it note in size and feel. It’s got some decent weight to it, but not anywhere near a smartphone weight. The build quality is top notch – the metal body feels great, the power button up top is a nice touch, and the media buttons on the side all have good feel and press to them without feeling too hard or soft to touch. The headphone port has a good hold on both my Ultimate Ears 900s IEM’s cable as well as my Sony MDR-1A’s cable as well – no sense of looseness at all.I immediately charged the player (you can see the charging status of the player with the led circle around the power button – a nice looking touch if you ask me), and then booted it up. Took around 5 seconds, and then turned on. Upon start up, the player was preloaded with the 1.02 firmware, which is the latest release from Cowon - my guess is that the US spec ones sold by JetAudio have this, but I cannot confirm for everyone. Once I realized that I did not need to do a firmware update, I powered back down, and loaded in my 128gb microSD card, which was filled with around 70gb of music – a mixture of FLAC and MP3 files. Do note that if you are going to be using a microSD card, the card must be formatted in FAT32, not ex-FAT like many cards come preformatted. This is an easy job to do – just download GUIformat and have it run. With my card now loaded, I booted the player up to get it going – the player took its 5 seconds to start, and then proceeded to complete a database upgrade, which took roughly 30 seconds. After that completed, all of my music was there, ready to go!The system UI is very Cowon – anyone who’s handled a J3 or other Cowon player should feel pretty much at home, but it can be a bit quirky to work around for a first timer. Most settings for the player can only be accessed while playing music – a bit odd, but that’s just how it is. The player responsiveness is average – I will say that it’s better than the J3, but you should not go in expecting iPhone 6 level UI responsiveness. Your clicks will register without issues, scrolling up and down is relatively good, and the new search function is good, but album art and such do take some time to load. But for a player that’s solely focused on playing music, I don’t find this to be a nuisance at all. Again, as a comparison back to the J3, this system UI feels a bit more polished and ready to go.The screen quality is decent – certainly nothing special or to write home about, but it serves its purpose fine. Album art looks good, and all the menus are easy to read and interact with. It is a little pixely as it’s not a high-res screen, but again, at the end of the day this PMP is for playing music only – no photos, videos, etc.Now onto the main point of the review – the sound! Sound is classic Cowon sound, nearly the same as the J3 (and well, my Soundblaster ZxR for that matter) – well defined, slightly warm, and tons of detail. The player responds on all ends of the audible spectrum from bass to treble and all the way in between. What makes this player even more special than the J3 is that playback is completely black – there is no player noise like there was with the J3 – essentially, there is no player ‘hiss.’ This is more than likely attributed to the 120db SNR compared to the 95db SNR on the J3. The player also has a stronger crosstalk rating, which I was able to perceive as different from the J3 based on a couple of songs I have in my library that I’ve heard happen before while playing. This is not to say the J3 didn’t do a good job, it’s just that the Plenue D is nearly 5 years newer, and benefits from a much stronger DAC and internal component setup – its great to have a player with no hiss present!JetEffect 5 and it’s EQ capabilities are plentiful and great – I’ve personally always been a fan of either the standard BBE setting or the BBE Headphone 3 setting myself, and they are both here and making the player sound fantastic. Even without EQ, the sound quality is excellent and presents the listener with wonderful detail and quality. There are even more presets than the J3 had, and there is a full 5 band EQ you can play with in user settings to get the sound to exactly where you want it to be, all without any distortion – Cowon simply cannot be outdone with their EQ capabilities.Another major improvement from the J3 is the power output – this was also another big reason that I was looking for a new player. While the J3 could drive my multi-armature IEM’s (the UE900s), in certain situations, the J3 was not really able to drive my MDR-1A over ear headphones – I would have to pump the volume anywhere from 35-40 (the J3’s maximum setting) just to get them to where I wanted them to be. That is no longer the case with the Plenue D. The D has a 100 adjustment volume scale, and I am seeing that at most, I have to have the player on 60 for my MDR-1A’s – a huge difference in output power. While I don’t think you are going to be driving 300+ ohm headphones without an amp with the Plenue D, it is certainly capable of driving headphones up to 100ohm’s or so on its own.Battery life is also fantastic – I let the player run for around 90 hours of mixed MP3 and FLAC playback on its first charge. Its fantastic! As someone who hates to charge things all the time, this makes me truly happy, and really speaks to the portability of this player.Cowon has truly created a home run PMP with the Plenue D. If you’re someone who is looking for a no-nonsense music player, this is the player for you. It’s good price point, it’s fantastic build quality, its wonderful sound quality, and it’s awesome battery life all combine for a great music player that will keep you happy for years to come. This is the true J3+ that many have been looking for.
MP3 Player with Hi-Res option or Hi-Res Player with MP3 option?
Hi,I own my PLENUE D since beginning of 2016, one of the first delivered to Europe, maybe the first one imported to Germany :-)I own a PLENUE M as well and must say: The PLENUE D can’t beat the PLENUE M apart from two obvious factsa) the D is much smaller and much more light weight than the Mb) the run time is maybe (estimated) 8 times longer compared to the MThe PLENUE D offers the typical COWON sound quality - no doubt. The sound is superb for the money payed but can’t beat the M. The treble resolution of the M is more sophisticated, the soundstage is a bit smaller when experienced with the D, the M plays loud and/or complex music scenarios a bit more ‘relaxed’. Compared to the M the D sounds somehow a bit “static” but by far not analytic. I am missing a bit the “drive” of the M.The sound is a bit better compared to the legendary J3 or S9 (I own almost all of the COWONS) whereas the bass provided by the D is a bit more dry (more punch, less boom) compared to the J3.COWON doesn’t tell us which DAC is used but it seems to be obvious: The marvellous Burr Brown PCM 1795 built in the M seems to make the difference but the power consumption of this superb DAC is much higher then the DAC used in the D.Update: The fan community meanwhile knows: There is no classic DAC built in the D, COWON uses a so called “codec”: the Wolfson WM8998. I don’t want to dive into technology just telling you it is a very good chip from one of the three/four leading audio chip making companies.You may read the PLENUE D is built all metal. This is not correct. The top part (silver/gold) and the rear plate are made of alluminum but the frame is plastic (yes, it’s a good plastic). All parts fit perfectly together. The D is “mini” compared to the M and light weight.SDXC card with 128GB can be used (tested) but you have to format the SD card with FAT32 (external tools necessary). Drag/drop functionality without issues using Windows 10.The power is comparable to the J3 or very much the same compared to the D2+. So, the D CANNOT (!) drive high Ohm cans or more critical headphones like the AKG 701⁄702-family. This can be done much better by the PLENUE M or the PLENUE 1 (and note: even if this is not enough DAP power the all new PLENUE S provides 1,5x more power than the M,1 and 3 times more power than the D). Note: the PLENUE D provides more than enough power if you use normal (uncritical) full size headphones or in ears. So it is much more power then e.g. provided by a SAMSUNG smartphone (S4, S5, S6).The UI is almost perfect. It is very easy to understand (and very much compareable to the UI of the M or 1). The useability is a bit limited as the reaction time is a bit slow and the flow is a bit fitful. The new firmware V1.10 (Feb, 2nd) improves all this quite a lot but there is still a long way to go to reach the UI performance of a modern smartphone. The 1 and M both have a much more sopfisticated processor built in and no probs in this way.Good news: all the PLENUEs - so the D as well - are using standard USB cables to connect to your computer (the same you use for your smartphone) plus there in NO (!) cheap ear phone in the box.I fully recommend the D if- you want a high class / high performing player- you want a small and light device- you need a long runner per charge (this is really a big plus compared to the M or the 1)I do not recommend the D if- you are looking for the ultimate in sound quality- you are looking for the ultimate in built qualityGo and buy the D if your desires belong to the first section.Go and buy the M or the 1 if your requirements seek for the latter.Answering the question in the headline:The PLENUE D is more an excellent MP3-Player with Hi-Res option but less an excellent Hi-Res player with MP3 option.Update for those focusing on maintenance as well: 4 screws and this player is open. The battery could be exchanged. The 1,800mAh battery is not “standard” so connected with two small cables. It’s the same look and feel as seen with the D2(+)/D20/M2, battery type for exchange not available yet.Hope, my review helped a bit to make a decision.Cheers, Rounder6
Impressive audio quality without fatiguing my ears and superb battery …
My plenue D arrived yesterday and i instatntly charge it and then kept it burning in for 24 hours. And just wow after 24 hours continues playing the battery dropped 20% only :O .When it come to audio quality it is done right, it even beats my Dragonfly red DAC in soundstage and instrumental separation with no EQ, and just became way above in SQ when use EQ presets, since most of Eq settings don’t distort audio no matter how you change them. (Reverb effects distort though when go above 3 or 4).For me i always wanted a player that have excellent audio quality without fatiguing my ears and superb battery life, fortunatily the Plenue D ticked my two boxes for me . I am really happy and satisfied with it.
Excellent battery life, good portable size, beautiful sound quality.
Having owned the original D2 for years, still has it as a backup/car player, I just had to have this.
Five Stars
Good Sound, no bluetooth (only for more expensive models) anyway excellent quality.
Battery life is very good.
A compact HR player worth the value of your money. The sound quality is superb. Battery life is very good.
No support?
Amazing sound quality, but after turning off and on the screen then screen no longer responded to touch.
Five Stars
Excellent device
Buy this and thumb your nose at Apple!
When Steve Jobs first introduced the IPhone in 2007 he made a big play about how it was three things: a breakthrough internet communication device, a revolutionary mobile phone,…
Great little DAP. Wish Cowon provided more documentation, though.
I like the look and feel of this DAP, and how it sounds. My only complaint is that it’s difficult to clean up entries.
Improve your listening experience without breaking the bank!
Cowon Plenue D High Resolution Music Player 32GB (Gold/Black)I recently decided to upgrade my music files to High Definition files using the lossless FLAC format to…
amazing. award proven
Quicky review hereSound: amazing. award proven.Conrol: very easy, straight forward. Thoughtful UX designAMP: here is what people confused about.
Don’t go anywhere without it.
comments powered by DisqusIf you are a true audio quality nerd, this is what is needed. No other producer has product with the output I needed for the sound quality I have got accustomed to.
