It seems WHF don't share your opinion of the superiority of Cowon players -
clicky.
Have done a quick google and haven't found any other reviews with a greater than a 4/5 rating for the Cowon, suggesting you can do better (whether that's an iPod / iPhone is up for debate, though the reviewers seem to think so on the whole).
Even if you ignore the reviews though (I'm sure some people will naturally assume Apple has paid them all), a lack of demo facilties to actually try the players out means Cowon are hardly doing themselves any favours in refuting this...