Cowon Refreshes The Plenue 2 (Mark II)

Whilst Cowon might not exactly be quite as recognisable of a brand as Fiio is today, just a few short years ago they were pretty much the first step into the portable audiophile world for many people. In fact, it’s quite a shame that they aren’t more popular, as they genuinely have some killer looking DAPs. Products that fall under the Plenue moniker are Cowon’s premium line of devices, and one of their most popular models to be released in 2017 was the Plenue 2, which has now been updated to a Mark II variant.

What’s New With the Plenue 2 Mark II?

Well now, it would seem that Cowon’s engineers have given the Mark II quite a bit of an overhaul compared to the original Plenue 2.

In terms of cosmetics, the Mark II’s design and dimensions remain exactly the same, and the only way to distinguish the Mark II from the original Plenue 2 is in terms of colour. The Mark II comes in (what Cowon calls) Jupiter Gold. Basically, it’s just a rose-goldish colour, as opposed to the Imperial Silver of the original Plenue 2.

However, it’s with some of the internals and other specs of the Plenue 2 Mark II that we find further changes that have been made to the device.
Where the original’s internal storage was capped at 128Gb, the Mark II offers 256Gb.
The built-in 3050mAh battery still remains the same, but total playback time has been increased from 8.5 hours (96khz / 24-bit FLAC) to 10 hours.

In terms of audio characteristics, a few more improvements have been made here too.
For the unbalanced connection (3.5mm single-ended), stereo crosstalk is down from -137dB to -139dB, whereas the balanced connection is down from -139dB to -143dB.
The power output for the balanced connection has also been increased form 2Vrms to a whopping 3.24Vrms!

The output impedance for both the single-ended and balanced connections have also changed, where the single-ended is up form 0.6-ohm to 1.3-ohm, and the balanced connection is up from 1.2-ohm to 2.6-ohm.

Lastly, Cowon has made another change with the included accessories. Where the original Plenue 2 included a leather case, the Mark II comes included with an authentic Dignis leather case.

 

Pice & Availability

Currently there doesn’t seem to be any official word on price or availability, however, some online outlets in Europe have started taking pre-orders at a price of roughly $1730.