iAudio X5 20 GB Portable Multimedia Player with FM Tuner & Voice Recorder (Black)

by Cowon

Product Details

Product Manual [4.27mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009Q4U7Y
• Item model number: X5-20BL
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Sturdy, versatile, and remarkably compact, given its voluminous storage capacity, iAudio's X5 portable multimedia device is sure to be a hit. The 20 GB audio/video player and recorder can store about 5,000 songs (4 minutes each, 128 kbps) i n a nearly unparalleled choice of formats, from MP3 and WMA to linear (uncompressed, CD-quality) WAV files, Ogg Vorbis f iles (which sound a bit better than MP3 for files of comparable size), as well as FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec, compr essed but designed for 1:1 encode/decode). The X5 can recognize up to 2,000 folders and 10,000 individual files, and its super power-saving circuit provides up to 14 hours continuous playback on a full charge.

Coolest of all? You can import photos taken from most digital cameras and view them on the player's 160 x 128-pixel, 260 ,000-color TFT LCD thanks to OTG ("on the go"), the player's USB host feature. (Certain digital cameras are not supporte d; see www.iaudio.com for compatibility.) Create your own logo or download logos from the iAudio web site. You can also set a picture of your choosing as wallpaper.

Click here to view a detailed list of parts.

The player also offers FM radio listening and recording (with one-touch tuning presets), audio recording through either a built-in microphone or analog line-in input terminals, and the ability to read text as well as images--you can even vi ew text, though not images, while listening to music.

Use the included JetAudio software to convert various video files to MPEG-4 (up to 15 fps), then enjoy the transcoded vi deo files on the X5. Another program, JetShell, performs CD ripping and file conversion and facilitates music playback.< P> The X5 provides direct encoding, too, by which you can capture the output of an external audio device. This means you co nnect the output terminal of an external audio device to the recording (input) terminal of the X5 using a bidirectional stereo cable (supplied), letting you load material from components like a DVD player, a cassette deck, a minidisc player , a turntable, or a TV.

And, with the unit's built-in, high-fidelity microphone, the X5 can record speech with the quality of dedicated voice re corders--perfect for important meetings, lectures, and notes to self.

Onboard sound processing includes BBE Sound enhancement, BBE Mach3Bass, MP Enhance (designed to compensate for sound los t in MP3 compression), a 5-band adjustable equalizer, and 3D Surround (3-dimensional sound that gives the sound a wide s ense of space).

What's in the Box
iAudio player, stereo earphones, a subpack, an installation CD (JetShell and JetAudio), a USB 2.0 cable, a line-in recor ding cable, a USB host adapter, an AC power adapter, a user's manual, and warranty information.

Product Description

There's a new digital media player that's earning many ears and eyes. Reviewers are falling in love with the iAudio X5 from Cowan. It is a super-compact, portable digital audio device that supports playback of various multi-media audio files including MP3 files and Mpeg4 video, features FM radio listening/recording, recording through a built-in microphone or line-in input terminals, and text and image viewer OTG (USB host feature). At only 4.08 X 2.39 X 0.56 inches and about 5 ounces (including built-in rechargeable battery), iAudio X5 offers more entertainment and educational potential than virtually any other pocket-sized portable. It's the in product for those beyond the average. Are you ready for the iAudio X5? Integrated Color TFT LCD screen, Resolution 160x128 Long Playback Time - Up to 14 hours playback on included Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery (time may vary based upon features and settings used) Multi language support Enhanced Integrated Navigator - Play/Pause, Recording / Pause While Recording / Next Song/Previous Song, Fast Forward/Rewind, Section Repeat / Resume, Fade-In, AutoPlay Features / Search Speed, Skip Speed Setup / Volume (Digital 40 Levels) / Various EQ and Sound Field Effects User-Adjustable 5-Band EQ - -Normal, Rock, Pop, Jazz, Classic, Vocal, User Supports BBE, Mach3Bass, MP Enhance, and 3D Surround Clock, Alarm, Timer Recording, Sleep Function, Power Saving Shut down, Power / LCD On/Off, Hold Combined Switch / LCD Auto Off Time Adjustment, Brightness, and Contrast Adjustments Includes Software suite / Easy Firmware Upgrade Supports ID3V2, ID3V1, FileName Supports Microsoft Windows 98/98se/ME/2000/XP // Macintosh OS 9.X, 10.X (data transfer only) // Linux kernel v2.2 or higher (data transfer only)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ipod killer, May 28, 2005

By 

submachine (NYC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: iAudio X5 20 GB Portable Multimedia Player with FM Tuner & Voice Recorder (Black) (Electronics)

Cowon? You may not have heard of them (yet) but they make the best audio (iAudio U2) and audio/video (iAudio X5) players on the market. Their products put them in the same league as Sony and Apple.

Positives:
The first thing you notice about the iAudio X5 is the high-quality feel of its aluminum shell and how everything fits together perfectly, with solid controls.

The size is about the same as an Ipod Photo, but with the addition of a video display. The TFT type LCD is not the best you can get on a portable player, only 1.8 inches and 160x128 pixels, but the screen is bright and clear. Video playback at 15fps is good considering the display size.

Navigation is from a 5-way joystick, which is as good as Ipod and more comfortable than just about everything else.
FM reception and audio quality is excellent, close to gapless MP3 playback. Charges over both USB or AC adapter is a plus.

Negatives:
Does not support ID3-tag database.
Cannot view photos and hear music at the same time.
No video recording
No external volume controls
No video output!

Conclusion:
At its current price, the iAudio X5 has no direct competition.
I can only think of two reasons NOT to buy it:
1 - you want a TINY mp3 player (get a JetAudio iAudio U2)
2 - you want to output videos to a tv (still waiting)

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic mp3 player. Awesome features!, November 22, 2005

By 

Luis G. Martinez (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: iAudio X5 20 GB Portable Multimedia Player with FM Tuner & Voice Recorder (Black) (Electronics)

I'm not going to write anything silly like I-Pod killer because I've never had an I-Pod and wouldn't really know. I know I didn't want to own the same thing everybody else had and I also know most of my friends have I-pods and they're all now jealous of my iaudio X5.

Cowon is very well known for its top audio quality, but in this player they went all out and threw in a ton of goodies. I often switch to an FM station when I'm tired of listening to my mp3s and have recorded plenty of music right off the FM tuner. You can find better video quality elsewhere, but this is not a video player. It is a high end music player with video ability thrown it to boot.

Great battery life, very good firmware downloads, the best audio quality, video capabilities, FM tuner, voice and FM recorder, and all this in a cool package and awesome price made this decision a no brainer. Oh yeah, plus you don't need any silly program like Itunes or whatever to put in or take out mp3s or other files from the player, just hook it up and you can scroll through all your files using Windows Explorer! That right there did it for me!
[...]

116 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ipod killer... not exactly, August 16, 2005

By 

Zac (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: iAudio X5 20 GB Portable Multimedia Player with FM Tuner & Voice Recorder (Black) (Electronics)

Having recently purchased the cowon iaudio X5 (30 GB) I would not be so fast as many others to give it the label of "ipod killer".

Let me first tell you why I bought it: The X5 has slightly better sound quality than the ipod, which provides (according to many people who have used both, which I have not) for a noticeable difference when listening to the two players on comparable sound systems. It also supports far more file formats than the ipod, which means for me that I would be able to rip my CDs with either lossless sound (FLAC) or with better sound than MP3s for about the same bitrate (OGG). All the various audio enhancements (BBE, Mach 3 bass etc...) add to the overall sound that the X5 gives you leading, in the end, to the X5 being a better sounding player than the ipod.

The features are also great extras, but as I'm sure you know about them already, I will not go into detail about them. I will however, tell you that the voice recording (the feature I most anticipated) gives a great deal of feedback, although it is a lot of fun to use. (If you need good sound recording, you can always buy an external mic anyways).

The X5 is also a slightly smaller and (in my opinion) better looking player than the ipod and is scratch resistant instead of scratch prone. However, the X5's small size means that it requires an adapter for charging, USB, line in and line out. If this adapter is lost, your player is useless. Getting a replacement is especially difficult if, like me, you live in Canada, and Cowon America will not deliver one to you.

The fact that the X5 is also plug and play is great, allowing you to download files off computers without installing any software or partitioning the hard drive (which the ipod requires you to do in order to use it as a portable hard drive).

Now for why I'm not satisfied: Far from having "solid controls" and "a 5-way joystick, which is as good as Ipod", the iaudio's physical controls are one of its biggest problems. The joystick is tiny and hard to manoeuvre, and even from my short use of the player I can tell that using it for long periods of time would be cause for annoyance and even border on causing mild physical pain. Although I have not heard of anyone else having this next problem, mine also shipped with a broken joystick, which would stick while moving it to the left. The play, record and power buttons are also on the side, which is slightly less convenient than the ipod (although I didn't find this to be much of a problem). Compared to the ipod and its click wheel (which also gives faster scrolling speed), the X5's controls are inadequate.

The iaudio's other largest problem (the killer for me) is its interface. It is hard to navigate and cannot be searched by artist or album (this is a problem that cowon said they would change early August but hasn't) so you have to organize everything into folders on your computer by hand. Ideally, it would be good to do this anyway if you really respect your music collection, but if you have a lot of music on your computer this can be EXTREMELY time consuming. I have also heard it can be done with third party software but haven't looked into this yet. It also displays the file name (eg. 02harvest.mp3) instead of the song name (Harvest) which can be a real inconvenience if your songs have messed up or inconsistent filenames (as many of mine do).

The last thing that I will say is that some of the MP3s on my X5 skipped. This was very odd and likely the result of corruption in the MP3s themselves (though an ipod played the same MP3s fine, though they were loaded onto the ipod earlier and may have been corrupted since then).

I have other things that I could write about the X5 vs. ipod debate, but I think that I've been fairly thorough.

I think it really comes down to one thing: Take the X5 if you want a player that will perform better; giving you better sound and features. Take the ipod if you want something that is easier to use; giving you better physical controls and simpler software.