juli_

If you can't hear much of a difference, then there seems little point in filling up your player with lossless files - not to mention the battery hit it would take. There have been a few discussions about bitrates here before, and the general opinion is to use whatever suits your own ears. You're the one who'll be listening after all I consider myself quite fussy about bitrate and A/B'd both lossless and 352kbps Atrac files - the absolute truth is I could hear absolutely no difference whatsoever. After a lot of testing, I'm now happy with 256kbps for all instrumental and 192kbps for vocals. I tried 132kbps as well, and while it sounded fine on its own - I could hear the difference compared with 256. There's no 'should' or 'shouldn't' use bitrate - but I think you'll find lossless is a waste of space (and battery) if you're just listening on a portable player. The best way to test (as often said before), is to try a few different bitrates, (pick some songs you're very familiar with) and then test them for yourself. It's really the only way to know what your ears will accept! Having said that. If you do a search, you'll probably be able to find the other discussions about it, but seriously, just pick what sounds good to you.

Ha ha ha ha!! :lol: Thank you Dura. I've noticed that some Head-Fi threads can turn a bit too 'lively' and as mine was just a simple comparison thread, I was keen to keep it that way. But that was a bit naive I think. Thankfully, the 'tempers' only lasted for a page and then it was OK again. As for the links, someone else suggested it, and I have to admit it was a very good idea. Saves having to sort through pages of waffle trying to find what's important - the sound! I'm quite surprised myself that the thread took off, as the Denons are almost unknown there, well, actually everywhere from what I've seen! Seriously?? Well, I hope you like them - if not, I'm pretty sure you'd be able to sell them on Head-Fi. I added some more links today as someone else had bought the C551's which are cheaper and supposedly almost as good - and smaller too. Makes me want to buy them for backup. The sound is just beautiful with my 808. I love the 808 anyway, but I was one of those who felt it was too 'sharp' after the 706. So to find a headphone that softened the edge while still keeping all the clarity was like finding gold!! The new Sony headphones sound great too going by Zizone's review, but they're a lot of money. I got the Denons for half the Sony price, although to be fair, the price for them in the UK was the equivalent of the Sony's anyway, but I didn't buy them from the UK. Maybe the Sony price might come down, although I didn't notice the EX90's reduce in price at all at Amazon.

KnightStalker - you can save a whole £1 on the clear case at Amazon. It's a mere £15.99 LOL http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-CKHNWA800-Cle...8822&sr=1-8 By the way, the link you posted to i-nique's selection of cases: They sell on Amazon.co.uk too so I wouldn't be overly concerned about the quality, but they don't sell the clear hard cases, only the silicon ones. I've never had luck with applying screen protectors, I always end up with a rogue corner sticking up or bubbles that won't go away. And anyway, if the 808 took a hard knock (as mine did), the screen protector would be useless. I had a silicon one from Portapro but didn't like it as it looked like a giant condom and the screen protector had to be purchased separately. By the time you've paid out for that, there's not a lot of difference in price between that and the hard case. Also, the 808 felt limp and squashy in the condom case. The hard case is lovely as you can still see the player clearly through it, and the buttons are really responsive.

Yes it does. I always felt the 808 was too thin and the clear case just makes it feel sturdier. It bulks it up the perfect amount

Unbelievably not, and I inspected it very closely. It's unmarked! I expected at least a blemish. . .

And while it's expensive, I'm really glad I have one. The other day I was listening outside in the garden and I didn't have the neck strap attached (which I normally do) - and then the cat jumped on my lap, startled me, and I jumped up. It was one of those awful moments when there's nothing you can do to stop what happens next. As I jumped up, the headphones were yanked out of my ears and the player went crashing to the ground. Thank God I had the cover. The screen would have been smashed to pieces, no doubt about that. For the £19 I paid, it saved me having to buy another 808. It was a really heart-plumetting moment, I think I even covered my eyes as I couldn't stand to watch!

I didn't buy a 'no-name' one from eBay, I wouldn't dream of insulting my 808 with a cheap copy! I bought a Sony one from a seller who stocked them before they were available anywhere else. It cost £17 plus £2 postage so it turned out to be more expensive than Argos!

LOL yes!!! And I'm julikat somewhere else but can't remember where. . .

I don't know of any with a clip, but I use the hard clear case (which still allows access to all the functions). I bought mine from eBay but I've seen them for sale now at Argos. http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...text%3ESONY.htm

Nice review Zizone. I think this is Sony's first really high-end canalphone isn't it? I saw very high prices at over $300 which is really expensive. It's difficult to see from the photos how they fit in the ear. They kind of look bent out at an angle! Do they isolate fairly well, or is there a lot of sound leakage? What volume are you using with them - higher than with the NC022 headphones or EX90? For the high price they're selling at, I would expect them to be a huge improvement over the very decent EX90s since they cost almost 4 times as much. I'm surprised you're hearing much hiss though because the sensitivity rating is not that high at 108dB/mW. I don't get any hiss with my Denon AH-C700 and they're rated at 104dB/mW. Does the hiss bother you much? I have to say that although I love my Denons to pieces, I also love the Sony headphone sound too, and if these had been available before I'd bought the Denons, I would most probably have bought the Sonys. Still, I only have one pair of headphones now so it wouldn't hurt to have another pair When you've listened to them for a little longer - can you say more about the sound? Are the vocals clear and close. or far away? I look forward to hearing more.

I would assume there'd be no volume cap on the Sony (the newer models after the 7xx series didn't have a volume cap). If there IS one, I'm sure it can be removed And I'd have thought the Sony would have better SQ than the Sansa Express although that's just my opinion. I don't recall reading glowing reports about Sansa SQ so I'm basing my opinion on that. Sorry I can't offer any useful advice as I don't have those players, but I know that the latest Sony offerings are considered to have great SQ, and with SS now dropped, I would be tempted to get the Sony over the Sansa Express.

You're assuming somebody owns all 3 units and has been able to compare them side by side. But I believe the NWD-B1xx is relatively new, so it may be a while before comparisons can be made between them - and that's only if someone owns all of them. And 23,500 members means nothing unless you think they all read your post within the last 24 hours! Maybe someone does have all 3, but I think it's unlikely you're going to get a response as fast as you'd like, simply because one of the models is so new. You might get lucky and get an answer, but I think you're going to have to be patient a little longer. . .

It can't sound any different, it's the same model. Only the software has changed. How can the 818 possibly sound different to the 808? They're using the same sound chip. As far as I know, they're the same model bar the software. Anyone else like to chime in? I'm not 100% sure, but I'm 99% sure they're the same. . .

OK, I finally got round to installing the update after downloading it last week, but the strangest thing's happened. I didn't have this playback 'blip' before, but I have now!! It's not on every song, but about 20% of the time, there's a stutter during the first few seconds. Is it safe to go back to the previous 1.02 version? I guess I shouldn't have installed the update but I assumed it's always best to have the latest version

Sorry I can't help you with all your questions, but I do know that SonicStage will continue to be supported and updated for all ATRAC devices. I was concerned about this aspect myself - but there's no need to be as Sony have confirmed SS will continue. The Connect store is closing but SS will still be there for all of us who need to use it with our devices. And I'm sure your other questions will soon be answered by some of the more knowledgeable members

My b/f has a Zen Touch and I can confirm the SQ doesn't touch my Sony. He actually agrees the Zen is far inferior to the Sony but he also doesn't care about SQ unless it's really bad, and the Zen isn't awful - but no way does it come near the 706 or 808. I had the Vision:M for a week (nice screen and easy transfer) but SQ didn't cut it for me

Debbie, I'm always wary of clicking on any link within an e-mail. Try going directly to the Connect store first. If you have a voucher code (like I did), then as atown suggested, it will either work, or it won't. But I do advise trying this from the Connect store, not the link. If you didn't get a voucher code - then keep your fingers crossed. . .

When you mentioned phishing, it made perfect sense to me, having been 'bitten' by the Friendsreunited spoof e-mail. And I think it makes very god sense to be cautious of any e-mail that asks for personal account information via a 'link'. The thing that made me the most suspicious was Sony offering me something for 'free'. . .

Except that I've had my A800 for about 3 months now and I already had the free downloads. That's why I was so surprised to get the e-mail. djamylee, I think the word is 'cautious' which, given the abundance of phishing e-mails circulating now, seems like a sensible reaction Anyway, it all turned out OK in the end

So I chose 10 tracks and it accepted the voucher code. . . and then nothing downloaded at all! I shut down SS - restarted, and the tracks are just sitting there with no way of forcing a download. Guess I'll have to e-mail Sony EDIT: I hadn't scrolled down far enough to see I had to press 'order now'. Once I did that, the tracks started downloading! Nice surprise to get 10 free tracks out of the blue like that

I didn't think of that. I could bypass the link in the e-mail and go straight to Connect - ok, fingers crossed

Thanks Shinji - I will look into that. It looks so genuine too. . .

You didn't? I wonder if it's a spoof mail. I was just about to click on the 'link' for more detailed instructions, when I thought I should ask if anyone else received it. Last month I got an e-mail from Friendsreunited to say someone had left me a message on the site, so I clicked on the link, and there were no new messages at all. I didn't think anything of it until I started to get bombarded with spam a few days later. I don't want the same thing to happen, so I'll wait and see if anyone else got the voucher code too.

I recieved the following e-mail today with a voucher code for 10 free downloads. Did anyone else get the same e-mail? I'm wondering if it's genuine.

Bruye, what you say doesn't surprise me at all. The 1st Gen iPod shuffle is reputed to have the best SQ of all the iPods so far, and better than some Creatives and Samsungs too (maybe Sony?). And it seems to be common knowledge that the 1st gen shuffle used a superior Sigmatel sound chip which was not used again in any of the succeeding iPods, mainly due to cost if I remember rightly. I thought it was strange that there was so much praise for the shuffle SQ, and yet the sound chip wasn't implemented in the other models. Was it because iPod users weren't considered to be bothered about SQ? The shuffle is one I'd have liked to have tried just to hear the SQ for myself.