- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 50 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Excellent MP3 Player"
Pros: Astounding Sound Quality, Beautiful Screen, Great Battery Life
Cons: No Expansion Slot
Summary: What a great job Sony has done. I am so used to walking in a Sony store and quickly viewing the MP3 player selection and feeling slight stomach pains when I see that darn Sonic Stage software advertised with each and every one. You see I was a big Sony guy back when MD players were the new thing. I absolutely have never heard any portable device sound as flawless and clear as that good ol' Network MD player until now. Thing is back then, it used to take me hours upon hours to get the music encoded correctly in ATRAC format. I would have to re-encode all the MP3's and to my surprise, when I would come back to the computer, one track would sometimes have an error, and I would have to re encode the remaining songs. I'm sure you Sony people know what I'm talking about.
Imagine my surprise when I walk in the Sony Store once again and gracefully step up to the shiny glass counter and see some rather attractive players. What's this? Drag and drop? hmmmm... Can't be! No software required? Liars! At about this point, I feel a little dumb because a week previous I picked up my first true mp3 player.... "The Mighty Ipod Classic (80GB)" I know I know but hey, I figured I bought 3 of them for different family members over the years and I may as well give it a try since the price was good and it is the #1 MP3 player. Well to put it bluntly, the Ipod is a beautiful player, has a nice interface, lots of storage, nice screen, and has a great price. But when I turned this thing on, and synced my music, it left me wondering, is it defective? Why do all of the songs sound crackly, flat, and dull. There wasn't one sound preset I could select that would make me feel like it sounded remotely like my old Sony MD Player.
Oh sorry I'm all over the place. Well I ended up returning the Ipod the day after I went to the Sony Store... to Walmart, which put me in the awkward position of stretching the truth due to their Ipod return policy of only returning the device back to an official Apple Store. I went back to the Sony Store and picked up the 8GB player and hot damn. This is what a music player is supposed to sound like. Punchy sound, great bass without the crackling sounds or weird thumps, clear, brilliant highs, and just provides the listener with a phenomenal sound stage. When I'm spending $200-300 on a piece of equipment, based around audio, it has got to bring my music library to life and make me eager to hear the things the musicians intended the listener to hear and experience. Great Job Sony. We can go on and talk about the lack of fm tuner and the weird placement of the hold button, but I'm giving this player a 9 just because it really defines what a great listening experience, on the go, is all about.
Where to buy
Sony NWZ-A818 (8GB, black):
$224.95
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$224.95 | Yes |
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