For all Cowon Pleanue DAPs.
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So if I havent hinted at it enough around here, I have been a big fan of Cowon daps for the past 10+ years. Big enough to the point that I have passed on several newer, more option rich devices to hunt down older Cowon units. Cowons are pretty bare bones as there is no streaming or android build luxuries. It is an older linux base, with an older but nice screen, and an A9 dual core cpu.
They do have really plus tier DSP and EQ and most have a solid option set for inputs, and storage. Some very old Cowons did have some sweet firmware and ui project come out of a very dedicated community (I still have and use my J3), but since they made their higher end “Plenue” line their stock ui has been much better and incorporated much of what modders have done.
I like their Plenue S so much I decided against a different or change of pace dap for return to office and instead bought a(nother) used unit from the EU (thanks @Gothique for casually finding one) and sent it to np audio (https://www.npaudio.uk/ & https://npaudio.boards.net/) for some mods. The guy Steve is a dap servant, diving deep into specs, construction, mods, jail breaking, everything for basically all dap brands.
Its finally at a spot where components are in and being worked on. If I can post pics I will update here. But I am excited for this one.
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Going to @MazeFrame @TechnicolourDunk @MacDLaw as I know you guys are especially suckers for internal shots…
So some progress pics from the Cowon Plenue S I am having modded. Below are pics by Steve at NP Audio, and his explanation.
Top is a picture of the stock board…
Then with 19 ultra low poscaps removed…
Then with ultra low esr kemets. The battery power cap has has been doubled from 47uf 100uf.
A larger capacity, quite a bit thicker (just fits!) but shorter (in length) battery which is going to allow for some physically LARGE Audio Notes 
I’ll be removing the lip from the chassis were the stock battery ends.
Besides this we had a chat about opamps…
… After a little back and forth we decided to not change these. I know it is supposed to be the same thing but just higher spec but i also know opamps can change things a decent bit and I didnt want to stray too far away from what the player is. Also, tbh, I never head a Fiio that I liked.
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All finished, just needs to be closed up and shipped.
From NP Audio Steve:
Cowon Plenue S EXPMv1 (EXtreme Performance Mod)
20 ultra low ESR Kemet Tantalum Polymer
4 Audio Note Kaisei Bipolar Electrolytics
2 Vishay MKP1837 Metallized Polypropylene Film
1 5500mah Battery (Stock 4400mah)
New battery is thicker but shorter.
Stock chassis aluminium lip/battery stop dremmeled off.
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@Souldriver Looks awesome!
And hey, funny someone is bringing up Cowon. The Plenue D was my first DAP (and only one still), and somehow it is still working after years. It is probably even slower than an old iPod and can only play audio out of its 3.5mm, but I remember I got it for the sheer battery life it had mainly. Almost 100hrs compressed playback (mp3, ogg, and whatnot), and almost 50hrs lossless. Still enjoy the fun little reverb and room effects it has, and the eq settings. Just a fun little device which was great for me at the time.
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I had their first D2 (not the new cool one) and man those devices really reflected the era. It led me to buy the S9 (tossed as all the buttons died or broke) then to the J3 (still have, relegated to yard work duty) and now the S.
Those early players had forever batteries and were no audio slouches.
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Thats both killer and very clean, lovely PCB
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Small hiccup. The battery is a larger mah but is only getting 4 hours or the same as the worn out stock 6 year old battery. It seems there is a lot of hit and miss on batteries these days but it is being figured out if this is a bad battery or the cowon is relearning the capacity.
The mods hit a setback. Instead of being a 5050mah battery they only tested to be 3600mah (stock is 4400mah). So basically it was replacing the worn out stock battery with one of the same play duration but just squatter
Next steps are ordering other batteries that fit the new caps, but at least return the player to what a new stock battery would be. Unfortunately a lot of wait time as things ship.
This isnt the first time i heard of a battery switcheroo or issues not just for an individual but even hiby who was getting bad batches.
The good news is first impressions of SQ are good, and even though i wont be getting an upped battery it should still hit 8-10 hours after mods.
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A bunch of set backs mostly around the battery. We were originally trying to get a bigger battery in there, but the battery had a fake rating, then the replacements that fit from an ibasso were also testing to be a different rating than stated. Then stock rated but different shaped batteries also didnt test.
But we finally found a battery that was stockier, to fit the caps, and also slightly more capacity to get a solid 9-10 hours of continuous flac playback.
It took a little modding of posts, and pulling out the 6 pin connector for the maybe-never-actually-existed-outside-of-press-pics docking station. But it all snuck in there.
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The modded S arrived today. 1 day shipping from the UK aint shabby.
Unfortunately the previous owner deleted everything on the unit so I am loading it up now. I usually like getting free passed on music from these things.
Going to hope that this was basically a cap upgrade it is more of the same. I even turned down an opamp upgrade even though the new one was supposed to be just a better measuring version of what is in there now.
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So all those cap changes did a darn decent job. Those audionote caps need a longer time to break in but so far it is promising. PRaT is more exact, like right on, no more fuzz. A scoop more bass but it feels better and it is more “square” hitting. Really good for rap and hip hop
Definitely more spaced out and cleaner. Details are retained but just not in your face. More things feel like they are coming from further out than a closed (or even some open) headphone should be capable of.
Perhaps the focus is leaned a little bit more on a snappier transient. I want to say it is a little more delicate or leaner, but A/Bing kind of disproves that.
Directional sounds that previously sounded like a speaker turning on in a specific spot in space, now feel more natural.
Treble still retains the tizzy, sparkle, chime, sizzle that it should and is juuuuust smoothed enough to keep it from being too sharp. Which is good because my right ear feels like it is going to explode. (Allergies giving me one more run for it)
There was a little bit of congestion before where things were focused a little too much towards the mid stage, and a little too much on top of each other. That is all spaced out now and much better layered.
I really wish i knew how to dive into the dap’s firmware and see what eq and dsp settings are used for their presets. I really dont want to go ocd on a user custom EQ again but the “Rock” preset i am using has just the tiniest too much bass now. Near perfect outside that.
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Hello,
share your opinion about the audio note caps.
It was similar for me.
When I personally upgrade something it is the first thing I look for if there are Audio Note caps because they don’t have them in all sizes, potential projects tend to lose interest unfortunately.
They also do a great job in the area of power supply, not only on the amplifier side.
Have fun with the update, otherwise the project looks very reasonable.
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Mr. @j.fopps , I was told this thread can use a little variety in posters. Are you able to help out?
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havent had a ton of time listening the last few weeks, but ill come up with something soon, i promise
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I just found this thread again!
2 years ago I was trying to buy my first dap as a transport, now a days I want something that fits the pocket and sounds amazing, something that puts some special magic into the music that was not there before and cowon seems like an excellent brand to try.
Im just a bit confused because they seem so hard to buy, theres almost none on head fi and a lot of them seem like the price is wrong or the page is shady. I hope I can end up trying a used one.
So @Souldriver do you like more the plenue L or the Plenue S with Np audio mods? maybe both but if you had to pick?
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The Cowon plenue daps are for a very specific consumer base.
It has no wifi, browser, app, or streaming support. It is local library only. You can use it as an external dac/amp if you plug something into it’s USB. The hardware is old but they were pretty damn good at extending it’s ability. You also need to be ok with using EQ and DSP. Without it the sound can be flat, but the magic is in the settings. TBH i set it to the"rock" preset and just let it go. In the past i would spend way too much time making a custom EQ but not needed here. It also has older ports such as an older usb and 3.5mm balanced, while batteries of this age will last 6-8 hours.
Right now i only have an S. Never had an L, only the original D2, S9, amd J3 but those are all more fancy ipod range and not the high end plenues.
The S has trademark separation and goes for a slightly warmed natural and eased sound. Some say it is very “analogue” sounding.
The NP audio mods increase the separation, clarity, and squares everything up.
I would read above for more of my thoughts on the unit. I use it daily.
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Thank you very much I have read now, I think Id really like it ive been waiting for headphones to be released with this “AI” features and I dont use eq but on a device like this or a schiit with knobs I love to
Theyre on my watchlist