Cowon iAudio A2

361 reviews

Apr, 2024

Positive
usability (195)
sound (135)
design (84)
battery (74)
performance (57)

Negative
portability (50)
reliability (27)

General overview
Price comparison

alaTest has collected and analyzed 361 reviews of Cowon iAudio A2. The average rating for this product is 4.2/5, compared to an average rating of 3.9/5 for other products in the same category for all reviews. Comments about the battery and design are generally positive. The performance and sound are also mentioned favorably, whereas there are some mixed opinions about the storage and portability. There are some negative reviews about the reliability.

usability, sound, performance, design, battery

reliability

We analyzed user and expert ratings, product age and more factors. Compared to other products in the same category the Cowon iAudio A2 is awarded an overall alaScore™ of 89/100 = Very good quality.

Review analysis

(Based on 361 reviews)

Expert Reviews

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Review Ratings

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Features

usability
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sound
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performance
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Showing 1 - 218 of 333 Show Reviews: in English | in other languages (28)

Consumer review (amazon.co.uk)

Amazon.co.uk review summary for Cowon iAudio A2

alaTest has collected and analyzed 10 user reviews of Cowon iAudio A2 from Amazon.co.uk. The average user rating for this product is 4.4/5, compared to an average user rating of 4.0/5 for other products in the same category on Amazon.co.uk. Reviewers are impressed by the design and portability. The size and sound are also appreciated.

usability, sound, size, portability, design

80% of the reviews on Amazon.co.uk give this product a positive rating.

Apr, 2024

Consumer review (amazon.com)

Amazon.com review summary for Cowon iAudio A2

alaTest has collected and analyzed 198 user reviews of Cowon iAudio A2 from Amazon.com. The average user rating for this product is 3.9/5, compared to an average user rating of 3.8/5 for other products in the same category on Amazon.com. People are impressed by the battery and performance. The design and sound also get good feedback. There are some critical comments about the portability. There are some mixed opinions about the reliability.

usability, sound, design, performance, battery

portability

78% of the reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

Apr, 2024

Expert review by : Richard Baguley (pcworld.com)

Cowon A2-20WH MP3 Player

The 20GB Cowon A2 ($380 as of 7/21/06) is an impressive audio and video player that has a big, bright, wide-aspect screen that looks great playing back videos. But it's a bulky device that won't fit into a shirt pocket.

Supports many audio and video formats ; Big 4-inch wide-aspect LCD

Limited online music support ; Roughly average audio quality

The A20 is a great pick if you regularly want to watch videos as well as listening to music. If you want to listen to music mostly, there are plenty of smaller players that can handle the occasional video. Though the A20 is impressive, it's expensive...

Aug, 2006

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Expert review by : Richard Baguley (pcworld.com)

Cowon A2-20WH

This multimedia player is on the large side, but it has a great-looking screen and good audio quality.

Supports many audio and video formats, Big 4-inch wide-aspect LCD

Limited online music support, Roughly average audio quality

Jul, 2006

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Expert review by : James Kim and Stewart Wolpin (cnet.com)

Performance

Cowon A2

The Cowon A2 portable video player has a bright, crisp 4-inch wide-screen LCD as well as a clean, visually appealing form factor and interface. It's a performer with an excellent FM radio, great sound and recording quality, and long battery life. It...

The Cowon A2 takes a step down because it doesn't yet support Windows Media DRM. Despite a clean and attractive color interface, it has an inefficient navigation interface. Also, the Cowon A2 doesn't ship with a remote control and lacks a removable...

The Cowon A2 is a sleek portable video player with a bright, wide-screen color LCD, as well as full multimedia recording and playback capabilities, but it's not the most efficient device. Plus, it's in desperate need of Windows Media DRM 10 (Janus)...

Feb, 2006

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Expert review by : Mike Kobrin (pcmag.com)

Cowon A2

Though you get a lot out of this portable media player/recorder, video recording was somewhat disappointing.

Clean design. Good audio quality. Built-in widescreen LCD is clear and sharp. Photos look very good. Excellent battery life.

Recorded VGA video is jumpy. Maximum video recording bit rate isn't high enough. Non-removable battery. No remote.

The interface looks fairly polished and relies on a combination of a tree-style browser and "soft keys" or buttons that have contextual behaviors. The multipaned browser provides an excellent amount of information, including how many files (and of what...

Dec, 2005

Partner Source

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Expert review by : Douglas Moran (geardiary.com)

Cowon A2 Unboxing

I recently got a “Thanks for all your good work!” bonus from one of my contracts as I was eased out the door, and couldn't wait to spend it on something. So, being a gadget fiend, I had to spend some of it on a gadget, of course. As folks who read here...

Nov, 2006

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Expert review by : Austin Vaughan (dapreview.net)

on Wednesday, December 14 (2005) 12:00AM

Cowon A2 Review The A2 is a new portable media player (PMP) from Cowon Systems, a Korean company that specializes in high-end MP3 players. Cowon also has branches in Japan, Germany, and in North America (CowonAmerica.com) for software development and prod

As usually by PMP reviews I have to complain about the video part of it. Listing out all existing DivX versions has simply no sense, they are all the same format. In order to know what the player can a can not do, you have to make some samples with...

Dec, 2005

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Expert review by : Dave Jansen (goodgearguide.com.au)

iAudio A2

Sometimes you can't help but drool over a gadget with as many awesome features as the Cowon iAudio A2. When we heard about this product we thought it ...

Awesome screen, heaps of playback options, Video Recording

No stop button

The Cowon iAudio A2 is the ultimate tech-gadget for people who can afford its price tag. There is very little it cant do and even does a few things that aren't expected from a unit of its size.

Nov, 2005

Partner Source

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Expert review by : Jonathan Bray (trustedreviews.com)

Cowon A2 30GB Portable Multimedia Player

With Cowon's increasing market presence is this just another one of them PMPs or is it a winning choice?

It also has an FM tuner where the Archos doesn't, and support for video and audio formats is superior to much of the opposition off the peg too. Not only are MP3 and WMA supported, but also OGG, the excellent lossless codec FLAC and Musepack as well -...

Feb, 2011

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Expert review by : tech.co.uk staff (techradar.com)