Cowon Plenue V Review
Ah, Cowon, never change!
While every manufacturer are focusing on providing streaming, BT, WiFi and all the bells and whistles inside their DAPs, Cowon is one of the few who are keeping things simple and basic.
Put in an SD card, load some music, go about your way.
The Cowon Plenue V is a good showcase for Cowon’s philosophy. It has one of the best DAC chips in the market for budget devices (CS43131), the battery life is awesome at 45hrs (rated) and of course Cowon’s entire focus went into sound tuning and overall sonic performance. It does have its own sets of quirks (proprietary OS with no connectivity features) so let’s see if the trade-offs are worth the price of admission.
Installed Firmware: 1.13 (latest)
Relevant specs are here.
Note: the ratings given will be subjective to the price tier. I purchased the Cowon Plenue V from their official store. Disclaimer
Price (when reviewed): $130. Available on Amazon.
IEMs/Headphones used: Final E5000/E3000/E1000/E500, Moondrop Starfield/A8, Tin T4, IMR R1 Zenith, Shuoer Tape, , Sennheiser IE40 Pro, Final Sonorous III, Sennheiser HD650
