Cowon Systems iAudio A3 review

Cowon Systems' iAudio A3 is a hard disk-based portable media player (PMP) which can play an amazing number of audio and video formats, as well as record from audio and video sources.

It has an integrated 30GB hard disk (a 60GB version costs £40 more), putting it in competition with Archos's 605 WiFi (What's New, Shopper 237).

The first thing you notice about the A3 is its screen. Its 4in widescreen display is better than almost every other PMP's screen we've seen. The 800x480 resolution is high for its size, and it produces deep blacks and vibrant colours. Unlike many PMPs we've seen, the A3's screen doesn't have any noticeable lines across it, so images are flawless and video is immersive. Films encoded at the standard DVD 720x576 resolution looked very clear. Audio sounded very quiet, though, and we found that we sometimes had to crank the volume up to maximum to get the most out of films.

The interface is fairly easy to use, but not as intuitive as the Archos 605's touch screen. You navigate the main menu with a directional joystick and click in the middle of the joystick to select icons and media files. Disappointingly, the joystick feels spongy.

To get audio and video files on to the player, you connect it to your PC with a USB cable and drop files into the appropriate audio and video folders in Windows Explorer. You'll need to have your folders well organised, though, as the player can't sort audio files by artist or album, and just shows a list of files.

The A3 played all our test audio and video files, but dropped frames when playing a high-quality WMV. Films encoded with the XviD codec at high bit rates and quality settings played without a hitch. The battery lasted an impressive four hours and 40 minutes of video playback, so you can fit in a couple of films before requiring mains power.

The iAudio A3 can connect to a TV with a composite video cable, and also comes with a component output for much better video quality. As the player's audio volume was so low, we had to turn the TV's volume up to maximum. It can also record directly from a composite or S-video source, and recorded video had few artefacts when viewed on the player's screen.

Cowon's iAudio A3 is a superb video player, with an excellent screen and long battery life. Audio output is quiet, though, so you'll have to encode your video with a loud audio track. It's more expensive than Archos's 605, but if you want the best portable video playback, it's the PMP to buy.