COWON A2 HARD DRIVE UPGRADE
COWON A2 HARD DRIVE PLUS

Keep researching, you will find the mp3 player you need. I guess it also boils down to how much money are you willing to spend. It is a fine DAP, I would also check out the iRiver H320, a newer version with out the optical inputs, but with a color screen, and all your bells and whistles. There is a 40GB model, but you will probably be hard pressed to find one.

COWON A2 HARD DRIVE PLUS

You have radio and recording, plus direct mp3 encoding, what more do you need? A possible downside is that its a 20Gb player, maybe you need more space. Music > iPhone 8s+ > FiiO BTR5 > Little Bear B4.

COWON A2 HARD DRIVE UPGRADE

It has both Line in and out and Optical in and out. However I do wish you could upgrade the hdd to a 60gb or higher drive.:: Portable Rig. Perhaps this is an idea for you, goodsound, since you did want good sound quality (many think iRiver is the best) and Rockbox will support lossless formats including WAV, AIFF, FLAC and more. I cherish my X5L, but it is no longer cutting it.ДЄlso, been looking into the iRiver H120, which can be bought off ebay for $150 refurbished as a future replacement, because I have heard it has lasted years for most owners, a definite plus compared to my 6 months working X5L. The big thing I do like about the iPod is the click wheel, especially since it wont break like my iAudio. I have actually thought myself about buying an ipod with a broken hard drive off ebay (probably 4G, maybe a photo.) and putting in a new 60 GB hard drive, Rockboxing it, and testing it to my X5L.

It costs a little more and gets scratched easily, but it's smaller, doesn't have any moving parts outside of the hard drive (read: no broken joystick), and, after installing Rockbox, is equal to the X5 software-wise. To be perfectly honest, if I knew that a Rockbox'd iPod worked with line-out adapters (I don't have a clue), and I were to do it again, I would buy an iPod. I believe the A3 has since superseded the A2. I've used it as a hard disk recorder for a body-mounted spy camera (don't ask), and the recording quality is pretty decent. Battery life with Rockbox has improved, but it's still not close to where it is with the stock firmware. I have a Cowon A2 that records 640x480 mpeg4 via an included RCA+stereo audio breakout cable.

Nothing spectacular, but it sounds good compared to an iPod mini (unrelated note: is it just me, or does the mini-KSC75 combo sound great?) Headphone output, on the other hand, is pretty good.

Line-out is a joke, substantial roll-off in the bass and a very bright sound signature. Fortunately, mine died while still under warranty, and the RMA time was surprisingly quick (under a week from sending out the dead one to recieving a new one) The X5's joystick does have a tendency to break down. Instead, I hope it spurs Apple into innovating beyond bigger hard drives and new colors. As an owner of an X5, I'll throw out the following points. A friend of mine recently purchased a Cowon A2 a great portable media player with a 4 inch widescreen.

Cowon a2 hard drive