Zizone_

That's good to hear... Since this earphone must be expensive

I share same opinion as yours and it is the reason why I still only purchase CDs.

This language issue is really bad... Connect Player eliminated this issue though the CP had its own issues... Anyhow I really wish next SonicStage will support all the languages in the planet Earth...

I totally agree with you on that MP3 issue. And as for you to somehow restrict on your purchasing new gadgets... Good luck when the new Walkman comes out

I just updated my review on minor problems and wish list. Thank you.

All you had to do was to uncheck copy-right protection box when you were importing CDs to your computer. I believe then you won't have this problem except Walkman cells not playing ATRAC.

2007 CES will take place in Las Vegas on January 8th, which is only few days from now (sony.com/ces, cesweb.org). I really hope Sony will reveal their new walkman. My personal wish is a flash player with video capability with nice screen, slim size, light yet heavy enough to feel its high quality of hardware, nice design, capacity of atleast 20GB flash (since they showed memory stick DUO 32GB), atrac lossless support with many other formats, built in noise cancelling function, and many other people's wishes from the new contest going on at atraclife.com. Does anyone know whether Sony is going to show off their new walkman? It is really hard to wait... Even it is only fews days from now. I wish for Sony's success (hopefully they will concentrate on portable audio market) and all the atraclife supportors!

Yes, but about same as NW-1000. However, in noisy area NW-S706F sounds better.

plus, ATRAC Lossless and PCM.

actually, I don't have digital camera... sigh...

Sony fixed this issue somewhat: When you use USB cable to charge without data transfer, the player holds its current track but not the exact position of the track. So the same song is displayed but the song starts from 00:00 (when the player is connected to a computer, it says data access and seems to reset the time but the track holds). I am sorry but I haven't tried with AC adapter but only with USB cable. So as for the AC adapter I cannot say for sure. I am sorry about changing the answer.

I sent manual to Ishi so I believe it will be posted soon. And yeah it is pity that the recording cable was not supplied with the player. It is not possible to delete songs from player but only through the software like A series. There are playlists on the player ^^. By using SonicStage 4.1 it is possible to set your play list. Fliping through the list is quick enough but possibly due to Album arts, there is very little slow down about 0.5 seconds. It is just enough to notice but actually it is very fast and doesn't bother me. There is a lag in a Jacket search like I mentioned before and this is the only area where there is noticeble slow down for about 0.5 to 1.0 seconds. But still this didn't bother me and thought is was fast enough. Also, there is a hissing sound when searching through the Jacket search for some reason but when music starts the sound is not evident (sounds like the noise cancelling function is being turned on and off). The player is very confortable to hold and use, especially the menu botton is conveniently located on the side of the player and it will not be pressed accidently. Only button that is hard to press is the playmode/sound button on the back of the player. So all other function can be managed with one hand. There is a place to attach a lanyard which is similiar to NW-E407.

Yes, it does support the intelligent features (i.e. intelligent suffle).

Oh wow I forgot totally about the CP's existance. But even the CP works, ATRAC advanced lossless and PCM is not supported so I don't think it can bring out the best of this player through CP. Yes, I the pdf manual came with the player. However, the manual is in Japanese and uhh... please give me instruction how to post the pdf manual (sorry I don't know how to post pdf). And I don't have accessory to try recording function, eventhough I would love to try it. I am sorry for not being much of help.

asadasad22: Sorry but only software I used with NW-S706F is SonicStage 4.1. So I can't say whether MP3manager works with this player. DanteSS3: Personally I would recomment this model because its superior sound quality, noise cancelling fuction and color OLED. I own NW-E407 and NW-S706F sound quality is much better than NW-E407. But since I haven't tried NW-E507 I can't say for sure. However, NW-S706F should solve your bulky noise canceller issue.

I have used NW-S706F for about 4 days and just leaving my few thoughts on it. First, the sound quality is superb. I tested with the song I know most (Dir en grey's Kodou (鼓動)). When the noise cancelling function is set to off, the sound quality is good as current NW-A1000/3000. NW-S706F shines when used in a noisy place such as subway. However, it is not desired to set noise cancelling function to maximum though; I placed noise cancelling level to right on the middle, and it seems to be very effective when compared to off. There is a "hissing" sound when the music is not playing, but when the music kicks in, this shouldn't be a problem. The color OLED is beautiful to look at. When viewed, the resolution is good enough to view album art. But because the screen is small, small detail is hard to look at. There is a big improvement in this OLED besides its color capability. Previously, the OLED for NW-A1000/3000 was impossible to read under the sun light. NW-S706F's color OLED is bright enough to read under the sun light; however, the quality is, as expected, largely reduced. The jacket search is a nice added fuction. There is little lag about 0.5 to 1 sec during scrolling down the album arts. But it is fast enough and so didn't bother me much. I still need to use this more to see more pros and cons but as for now I believe SONY has done very nice job in its trade mark killer sound quality, design and battery life. I will try to answer if you guys have questiong regarding NW-S706F. Thanks. Edit: 2007年1月12日 (1/12/07) I hope everyone is enjoying their NW-S70X series. 1) I found some lag in this device when ATRAC Advanced Lossless is used. The song itself plays just fine with incredible sound quality (lossless). The minor problem in playing this file format with my NW-S706F is that there is some lag in accessing menu and switching songs while the song is playing. Other than this problem, ATRAC Advanced Lossless plays flawlessly. 2) I noticed very small static sound when the classic songs are being played (anything not heavy I can hear this sound every 15 seconds or so). It may just be my particular NW-S706F but I just wanted to share. I would like to note that this isn't a big deal, and it can't be heard unless I am listening in a very very quite place with my concentration to hear this static sound. But still this static sound during classic songs... It can get annoying... Wishlist: 1) During the jacket search, I wish I have an option to not play the songs in that particular jacket so the searching can be done without minor lag. 2) As for the Japanese model, the headphones must be connected to extension cord* (which is supplied and nice quality) because actually length of the headphones is very short. However, this can get heavy and cause annoying discomfort on the left ear due to the weight of the connecting point. *It may not apply to U.S.A and other models. 3) In Japan, customers have wide selection of very nice accessories. I hope in near future, these accessories will be available to many other regions. 4) Possibly reduce this hissing sound (though not a big deal) in future Walkmans. Edit: 2007年1月27日 (1/27/07) Method to get rid of static noise Lately, there were many complaints regarding to light static noise that occurs about every 10 seconds. I noticed that the static sound occurs just at the moment when the display is turned on from off. So, let's say the song is playing. Then about every 10 seconds, there is a screen saver with some bubbles; this is when I hear a static sound. To get rid of this static, turn off the screen saver: Menu>Settings>Advanced Settings>Power Save Mode>Save ON SUPER. I believe the only difference between the Save On Normal and Super is the screen saver. Now, the other way of getting static sound is when you hit a button thus turning on the display from off. So, while to song is playing, just enjoy the song without pressing a button. To be clear, having display on does not make static sound. It is only the moment when the display is being turned on from off. This method does not fix the hissing sound, however, it should prevent static sounds from occurring. I hope this is helpful to everyone. Summary and Conclusion Sony has been placing the sound quality as their primary goal in making Walkmans, since the Digital Audio Player (DAP) is for music listening. Accordingly, NW-S706F supports many formats: ATRAC (ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, ATRAC Advanced Lossless), AAC, MP3, WMA and linear PCM. To enhance listening experience, for the first time, Sony adopted built-in Noise Canceling function along with Clear Stereo and Clear Bass. Also, this is the first Walkman to use full color OLED display; the screen brightness has been improved thus improving visibility under the sun light. There are areas in need of improvements: reduction or elimination of static and hissing sounds, improvement of the software (SonicStage), better marketing and availabilities of accessories and models (i.e. NW-S706F 4GB) in all regions. In conclusion, NW-S706F is one of the finest and most beautiful Walkman made by Sony. Edit: 2007年2月22日 (2/22/07) I would like to edit few things to prevent from miss leading people into a wrong idea. Above, I mentioned hissing sound issues which may or may not bother people with MDR-NC022 (supplied noise-canceling earphone), which is audible only under very quite environment. However, this is not due to the NW-S706F itself, but more due to the MDR-NC022. When MDR-EX90 is used with NW-S706F, the hissing sound is reduced significantly, it shouldn't bother people with most sensitive hearings; thus, the player itself produces very clean sound. Also, the static sound can be eliminated with the method I mentioned in January. And, yes it does play back ATRAC Advanced Lossless and linear PCM

really, Sony has the best designers and engineers. I am hope their marketing department good as these designers and engineers.

The price might look high but if you consider the built in noise cancelling function I don’t think the price is high, since buying noise cancelling device it self is likely to be $100. However, if one doesn’t care much about the sound quality then yes it might be relatively pricey. At the same time, Sony can’t just follow other companies’ DAPs specs; in addition to their specs (i.e. Apple) Sony needs something unique for them (e.g. sound quality and possibly battery life). If Sony were just to follow Apple then could there be any creativity? Having other companies trying new functions are the better service to consumers who are only predisposed to Apple in this time of Ipods.

I am not too sure about the above article though. Because Japanese SonyStyle site has changed the NW-S203F status from "Coming soon" to "New Release."

exactly. above mentioned factors are few of many other factors. plus getting items on shelves thus cost more in other countries, including different labor fees. ofcouse it is not just electronics but all items, such as food which cost more in some countries than in US. when you compare prices in diffent countries, it should not be done by converting currency alone, but these converted prices should be normalized also; however, normalizing itself is not an easy task.

well, first of all you can't just convert one currency into other other currency and compare that way, because the market is different. think about Japanese price, when you convert yen into dollar, then you can see Japanese price is higher also; this is due to market difference. so, just comparing price by currency change does not correctly represent the company's strategy. after all each country's market is based on many factors and converting one currency into other currency in different country is not an accurate method to compare.

Yeah, I also wish NW-A1000/3000 had true Linear PCM playback like MZ-RH1... The way players capacities are increasing over years, for who cares very much about sound quality, this playback seems necessary...

funny... you never get this sort of problem in Japan... even my shipping cost was covered by Sony.

hey, I also enjoyed conversations and nice points you made. Anyway hopefully the industry will find a right place.

Yeah, that's true problem. For some reason, music market seems to be really localized as for copy right issues for legal download market. They only let people to purcahse musics if they are really released at that particular country. Hopefully this issue will be fixed soon... sigh... To Lamewing: oh and yeah it may allow people to experience more music. But that experience to let others to listen used to be a market where money can be made. Once people get hold of files, not many buys CDs or download it again. Also, it's very good to hear that you care about music quality. But there are tons of people who don't know about or can't tell difference between bit rates.