Digital Trends

Cowon iAudio X5 20GB October 6th, 2005 | by Ian Bell

The Cowon iAudio X5 is one of those players that you want so much to fall in love with. It looks great, has a solid build construction, and is compatible with so many music formats including FLAC and OGG Vorbis. The adapter which you must use for charging, transferring media and so on, is the dumbest idea we have seen in a long time. If you lose this adapter, you are pretty much screwed until you can buy a new one. Fortunately, they are only $9 bucks a piece, so stock up on them. We really think Cowon needs to update this baby to make it compatible with music services as well. If Cowon can fix these mistakes, there is no reason why they would not be able to compete against Apple head-on, because, there is so much going for this player. 

Buy the X5 for its music capabilities, not its video. The sound quality of the X5 is certainly top notch, and if you can look past the X5’s shortfalls, by all means go for it. Otherwise, go with the tried-and-true Apple iPod.  For audiophiles, the X5 is certainly for you.

As the audio quality sounds so great, we are going to give the X5 an 8/10. However, don’t be fooled; this player is far from perfect. Luckily, Cowon has been updating their firmware, let’s just hope they continue to do so.