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Cowon iAudio G3
Ameya Dalvi, Nov 10, 2006 1701 hrs ISTThe G3 can be summed up as the iAudio U2 in a different shell with a couple of changes. Read on to know more.
Excellent sound quality, Tons of features, Good FM tuner, Good bundle, Direct MP3 encoding, Supports wide variety of audio formats, Upgradeable firmware, Sturdy build quality, Excellent battery life, Simple user interface.
Uncomfortable headphones, Sound cracks at peak volume, No integrated battery.
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Performance
The iAudio G3 is a usual plug-n-play device. Drivers or any other custom software is not necessary under Windows XP and the player is detected as soon as you plug it into the USB port. Data or songs can be transferred by the usual copy/paste or drag and drop methods. Since the player is compliant with USB 2.0, the transfers are quick.
Just as I expected, the player performed brilliantly in most of the tracks I threw at it. The sound quality was excellent and very much like that of the U2. The bundled earphones were same as the ones you get with the U2 and that didn't make me too happy. No doubt they sound good but they are a tad too big to fit perfectly in your ears. Either you have to push them in harder (which give you a feeling of discomfort) or else they keep popping out of your ear every now and then. Also they tend to crack at volume level beyond 85%; especially the bass. Though the player is loud enough (even when you are traveling) at around 75% of the peak volume, you wouldn't want them to crack at the peak. Ideally, Cowon should have stuck to the headphones they bundled with the U3, which were not only distortion free but also fit perfectly into a normal sized ear.
Though I would have preferred an integrated rechargeable battery, the use of AA battery is not a bad idea here. That's because the company claims that this player can run for about 50 hours on a single AA battery, at 4 hours of daily listening. Though I cannot completely verify the claims, I don't think they are way off the mark with that figure. I have been using this player for over 10 days on a Duracell at an average of 3 hours a day and the battery is still going strong with the indicator hinting over 50% of juice remaining. That in itself is mighty impressive.
Conclusion
The iAudio G3 512 MB version is available for a street price of Rs. 4,250 with the 1 GB variant selling for a grand more. That makes it almost a thousand Rupees cheaper than the U2. The pricing is pretty decent for what it offers.
All said and done, the iAudio G3 is a good buy and will appeal to those looking for a not-too-expensive, feature-rich audio player with high quality sound.
Test Unit sourced from: Lipap Systems Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai.
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