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cliffster115

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Everything posted by cliffster115

  1. No, the NWZ-A818 does not currently support gapless payback. There is no way of doing this because a. due to the original firmware now on the player itself and b. because there is no Sony specific software that allows this. Hopefully, when Sony comes out with the Music Media Manager for Walkman, it will also have a firmware update for all the NWZs to support this function and others. But for now, gapless payback, on-the-go playlists, and rating of songs are currently NOT supported on the NWZ-A81X... unless Sony comes out with firmware update!
  2. all i can say is that in the US, there is probably VERY little to no advertisement for the Sony NWZ series. They also started to show up in retail stores such as those in Circuit City. Yes, I totally agree that Sony has some prevalent issues on what to do with their marketing. In one way I believe they are pulled into the HD format war. It seems that their marketing (here in the US) is more focused on their digital cameras, BRAVIA, and PS3. I don't think they have given up yet on the MP3 market yet, but perhaps maybe discouraged by the immense popularity in how Apple pulled most of their (and everyone else's) business in the Mp3 world. Of course Apple probably spends millions on advertisement, which is why the ipod is so popular today... I always see ipod this... ipod that... and am quite frankly sick of it. However, i think Sony's goal is to first of all hone in on broad appeal, which is why they are starting to create mp3 players without ATRAC and SS. And of course, they had always consistently made excellent products (with exception to the BEAN). If they continue on doing this, perhaps people will start noticing Sony. Sony wins hands down over their quality of products versus competitors. It's just that sometimes they get locked into their own proprietary methods of formats (such as betatrack, ATRAC, etc...) that they believe are more superior. Superior yes, but is it really what is best for the consumer? The first MP3 players by Sony from what i remember didn't support Mp3 natively. Now Sony has ditched Atrac, and is more opening minded and finally sees what the consumer really wants if it means sacrificing a few things. So yeah, Sony is definitely off to a great start, they just need to invest more in advertisement or just let the the reviews speak for themselves.
  3. Hey juli, yes i absolutely enjoy this player without a doubt! LOVE IT! I may not even need to look for more expensive earphones, as the ones supplied already are already good enough for me . Over here in the US, I'm sure the CNET editor's choice will definitely make Sony more popular, especially with all the great reviews going around! Although I am still waiting for the Sony Media Manager!
  4. I posted this review on Amazon.com around 2 weeks ago, but for those who are looking for another opinion on the NWZ-A8XX series, read on... 5.0 out of 5 stars This Walkman Simply ROCKS!, November 22, 2007 WOW. This player simply handles music superbly well and just ROCKS!!! Before getting this player, I originally was going to get either the iPod Touch or the Samsung YP-P2, from my dying 4G iPod and insufficient 1G 1GB Nano. The touch interfaces are pretty cool, but eventually thought that they were ultimately a gimmick and also provided no tactile controls. Plus, excellent sound quality is a top priority for me, and then cost. Before I made up my mind to spring for the YP-P2 for it's above average sound quality versus the Touch on Amazon, I came across the Sony Walkman NWZ-A818 which won a CNET Editor's Choice for it's excellent sound quality and bundles of features. After reading CNET's review, I became a member of AtracLife forums and read almost all of the reviews for this player. Sony has always made quality players with superb sound quality, but software packaging always marred the overall user experience and package. However, I learned that this Sony, the NWZ-A818, no longer supports the notoriously horrid SonicStage and thus the ATRAC format. Rather, the player supports Drag & Drop and MPT, which users will be able to sync and use the player with Windows Media Player, and music formats of WMA, ACC, MP3, and WAV. I have always been a fan of iTunes and it's excellent integration with iPods. Before the iPod, I had a Rio Karma, which I still miss today because of it's excellent sound quality. After the Karma came the 4G iPod, and then the 1G iPod nano. I have always thought the iPod's sound quality lacked something, a particular enveloping warm sound and low levels of bass. (I highly disregard the iPod's EQ, but bass reproduction is certainly biased with ok to good sound with the use of Sony's MDR-EX51 or Vmoda bass freq, or so I thought until I got the Sony A818) Then came this Sony NWZ-A818. I simply cannot emphasize how excellent the sound quality of this player is, so I'm certainly not biased in anyway in giving high praises for this Sony Walkman. I listen to a variety of music genres, but my love is for EDM genres such as trance, dance, or drum & bass. Sound quality is of a high caliber on the flat settings. I'm listing to the player as of writing this review. I have the volume on a relatively low level, at 10/30, and the sound is very well balanced. The treble and bass are very well defined and correlate together perfectly in harmony. And then there are the multiple options of boosting the sound even further with two custom equalizers (5-band parameter settings) along with other presets and other 'surround sound' (most noteable is the Matrix setting). Not to mention that it comes with Clear Stereo, proprietary DSEE (sound enhancer for high bitrate files), and dynamic normalizer, which all work well. As a bonus, Sony included $70 MDR-082 earbuds, which are one of the best balanced earbuds I have owned. The player above all simply works great right out of the box, with no hassle of purchasing better earbuds. Many user reviews for the sound quality of the NWZ-A818 are certainly not kidding (such as the excellent reviews from "S. Su" or "Wookalia 'Wookalia'"). It really doesn't surprise me since Sony and sound quality really come hand in hand since they have nearly 2 decades of sound expertise from their original Walkman. You will really appreciate the sound quality of this player, especially coming from the iPod line. Sound is crisp, warm, and enveloping, which is just simply bliss. Classical music sounds clear, so well defined that you can hear all the ranges. Enya never sounded better. Sound reproduction of her work is so good that she seems to be literally standing in front of you and you can visualize the movement of lips singing. From what I hear, the treble is very crisp and detailed. With bass on the flat settings, it is clear and defined. It doesn't have the low quality muffled sound that degenerates the treble. I have to be honest and say that I'm a basshead. The "Clear Bass" of up to +3 definitely cures any of my cravings for pounding bass, and the name is very appropriate... the bass really is clear and not muffled. It is deep, defined, and and gives off a very nice punch. Bass heavy tracks are just simply amazing. Kanye's work is very punchy but not overwhelming so that you can't hear the treble, in another words well balanced and you won't be fatigued with long listening periods of bass intense tracks (on flat settings). Tracks from the more electronic genres such as Tiesto, Trentemoller, Armin, or Diesel boy simply makes my head spin with joy. Apart from sound quality, the excellent user interface is logical and fast to find songs. A 35 hour battery life is just stunning for such a thin package. I got a polycarbonate hard clear case for this model and it's still thin at 14mm (which i prefer over the original player of 9mm). How thin is too thin? Probably when Apple comes out with the iPod Pico, that is literally paper thin and has 1 hour of battery life, considering the rate that each phase of the nano is going haha . Pictures and Videos look excellent, but I rather save the memory for of course music . Sony is also coming out with Media Manager for Walkman soon, which is a software that will offer even tighter integration with music files (hopefully gapless) and conversion of various files. One downer though about this player (at its current firmware) is that it does not support on the fly playlist creation and rating songs. I am quite sure sony will address this issue with future firmware updates, since the NW-A808 (a European sibling of the NWZ-A818) supported playlist creation and rating of songs on the player. I can live without these features missing at the moment, since my music library consists of 106 GB and playlists can be transferred quickly from iTunes to Windows Media Player and then synced to the player. All in all, I am extremely happy with the purchase of this player, and quite frankly will probably not go back to the iPod line until Apple does something about it's sound quality (such as a custom EQ), which will probably be never since I have been waiting for that feature since the 4G. It is VERY VERY ironic since they can create such a fantastic User Interface and OSx on the iPod Touch but not create a much more simpler program such as user defined EQ? Ultimately, the build quality, sound quality, user interface, and other unique features of this Sony NWZ-A818 most definitely outweigh any of the player's cons. I'm very confident that true music lovers and audiophiles will not be disappointed with this player . [EDIT] After owning this player for about a week, it's really amazing what this player can do. Not to kid, but the player actually has breathed new life in my older songs. For instance, the bundle of the player and the MDR earbuds enable me to hear subtle background noises with great clarity, such as the ping of a music triangle. Seal's new album "System" just sounded wonderful. I was listening to the player in the library at a low volume of 6/30 and even at this low level, the music is still VERY WELL defined. I do use the dynamic normalizer on the player and the sound image (at flat settings) is just amazing! To me all ranges of the treble, mid, and bass are just perfectly balanced. Or rather, this player really enables you to truly listen to what the artist originally recorded. Perhaps it was the significant upgrade of the MDR-EX51 to the MDX-EX082, as headphones do make a huge difference in sound quality, but i did a sound comparison of my 4G iPod and this Sony. With the Sony stock earbuds, i hooked it up to the iPod and played "I can't get no satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones. Volume was at 50% and sound definition was good. But lower than 50%, i started to lose the sound definition. What is interesting though was that the Sony at a volume of 10/30 matches the volume level of the iPod at 50% approximately. Of course the Sony sounded much better, sound was definitely warmer and more defined in all ranges. Even at a lower volume on the Sony, say 5/30, the sound retained the track's definition but at a lower decibel. I can definitely see why this player got the CNET's Editor's choice, this player really makes me appreciate the artist's work! Pictures! Definitely the Best DAP i have owned so far...! NWZ a little big bigger, but i really prefer it's feel. These headphones make the NWZ a total winner! And they look good too, caught a few glances around campus today in the sea of bland white earbuds . The chrome accent is definitely cool with the walkman logo!
  5. Here's my pic! I love the sound quality pumpin outta the A818!!!
  6. hmm that is weird, I have a NWZ-A818 and it didn't work with my Xbox 360 while i was playing Forza2. However my ipod Nano did work, and under the dashboard, it appeared as "audiobooks" right under "harddrive". Then came up the usual navigation of Playall > Artist > Album > songs > etc... Any users out there that have their NWZ working with the Xbox360?
  7. hey everyone, this is certainly some very interesting information I came across on more detail information about the Sony-Ericsson Media Manager. I think we can expect some features of this to be implemented in the Media Manager for Walkman! Sony Ericsson Media Manager Blog
  8. I too have been waiting for the immediate release of this software. Hopefully it'll be out before December and maybe add gapless playback, followed by a firmware update? being wishful of course
  9. I just got this polycarbonate case too! Looks GREAT! Here's a quick question though: I suppose you can't use the player in the case with the BCR-NWU3 cradle/dock right? I'm assuming if it's possible one would not have to use the circular plastic dock insert that came with the player, since it doesn't accomdate the player with the case. I'm doubting it, looking at how the case along the bottom isn't completely flush with player. Just wondering or maybe someone can correct me?
  10. i'm not too keen on the newest id3 tag support, but last time I fiddled around the options in mp3tag, there was support for v2.4? is this the newest and doest it offer any real advantages over the previous versions? more importantly, will files tagged in the v2.4 format work with the NWZ?
  11. looks cool! and also looks like one of the previous designs of the Sony Walkman
  12. I think I read somewhere that it was compatible, specifically talking about Media Monkey with Mp3. Not quite sure about ACC though. For sure in AznBro's NWZ-A818 review, WinAmp playlist don't work with the A818.
  13. Yeah I think everyone can vouch for that! I have a lot of album mixes, and this feature would be quite essential for listening to those types of albums. I still think that the reason why Sony left out some features from the firmware was because due to the rush of getting the NWZs out to the market to compete with the 3G iPod 8GB 'Fatties'! haha. Just saying so b/c the NWZ were released just a month prior to the official 3G iPods. I think Sony anticipated Apple putting out some sort of major 'upgrade' to the iPod Nano Fatty since 2005. Well i could be all wrong, but the Apple update/upgrade to the 3G certainly isn't an upgrade in the sound department, perhaps it will never be! I just dislike how Apple is probably NEVER going to implement some sort of customizable EQ setting on the iPod. Geez just take a look at all these years from the first generation of iPods! You would think they would know better and add a custom EQ, after all it's primary function is a MUSIC PLAYER! And if they can scale down OSx for use in the iPhone/Touch then they can certainly damn well create some sort of customizable EQ for all the iPods! Oh and don't get me started on how Apple is just trying to squeeze money out of the consumer by devious methods such as older docks not being compatible (video output) and how one would have to repurchase games (even though I never did). Anyways I really hope Sony tramples Apple, we already know quite clearly that it does in the sound department, and that is what matters most to me! Which is why all the better I'm ditching the iPod line because to me the sound quality isn't first rate.
  14. Thanks. So just how close is this Media Manager being released? I went on the Sony.UK website and signed up for notification when Media Manager comes out. I think it should come out hopefully before next year, meaning at the latest in December. Do you know of an exact/approximate date?
  15. Hey everyone! Sorry if this has been posted before, but I'm curious. I've been recently working hard on building up my WMP11 library from iTunes. Interesting thing though, I use a codec from 3ivx, and now ACC files can be played in WMP11. My question is this: Can WMP11 sync these ACC files over to the NWZ series or do these ACC files have to be transfered to the player by drag and drop? I have also found some additional WMP11 for those who haven't heard already from http://jrmwillis.googlepages.com/home22: "WMP does not natively support AAC files, however if you install the right codec you can enable this functionality. I have personally used a codec from 3ivx (www.3ivx.com) which costs less than $10, there are also free codecs available. These codecs do not however allow the direct editing of library information in WMP." So NWZ users out there, can you confirm this for me? My NWZ-A818 is coming in a couple of days and am just wondering! Thanks in advance!
  16. cliffster115

    Sony NWZ-A8xx

    oh man, i really hope sony gets a firmware out to us NWZ owners! I want those features! Especially Gapless. haha gapless gapless... everyone wants gapless while listenin to DnB mixes or trance mixes!
  17. cliffster115

    Sony NWZ-A8xx

    I can't believe I have read the Amazon reviews like almost 10x (for each one) simply in anticipation in wating for the player to come in this week! The player itself would have 5 stars, if it was not for the 2 star rating from this complete idiot who doesn't even own the device and apparently has the nerve to call it a few steps backward (WTF?) because: "But what does Sony do? They deliver a unit that has a storage capacity of only 8 GB! 8!! That's IT! Can you believe that? I can't. Meanwhile, Apple has a player coming out with 20 TIMES that storage! I lower my head in embarrassment for Sony. There was a time when they LEAD the pack, but now? They're a polio-stricken dog with one of its legs missing." Someone has issues, and I just hate it when some people ruin the ratings when they CLEARLY don't even own the product! Still waiting for the player like an excited kid, guess my Christmas present is coming early hehehe
  18. I think I have exhausted all my resources in finding out feature-wise what the American NWZ-A818 has in comparison to the NW-A800 series (not released in US). I've been pretty excited about my recent purchase of the NWZ-A818 BLK through Amazon.com (coming next week! ), and can't wait to hear the sound quality of this Sony, versus the flat sound of my iPod 4G and nano 1G. I first leaned that the NWZ software (in terms of player features) is not identical to the NW found somewhere here in the forums. Well according to my research I believe it is true that Sony did indeed leave some nice features off of the intial firmware of the NWZ-A818 in comparison to the NW-A800. Such things left off were: on the fly playlist creationrating system with starsautomatic playlists? (not sure if it is dynamic in the player, or just through autoplaylist sync through Windows Media Player)Coming from an iPod, i loved being able to rate songs on the device itself. Since the NWZ-A818 doesn't seem to support this function like its NW sibling, I'm kinda disappointed, but it's not something that Sony can't really fix. The same goes to the exclusion of playlist creation on the fly in the NWZ-A818, and also automatic dynamic playlists in the player itself. Although these features aren't necessarily a deal breaker to me, I would still very very much like them. Some reasons to why Sony excluded these features I believe is mainly due to the exclusion of SS/Connect support for the NWZ-A818 with the replacement of Plays for Sure and Drag & Drop. But Windows Media Player itself fully supports the star rating system, and I think Sony could easily implement it in a new firmware update; same goes to dynamic playlists on the device. I also have been hearing about the new Sony Media Manager for Walkman to be released. I'm really hoping this software will bring some dynamic playlist functionality (such as recently added, most listend to, new songs, etc.) to the player itself and also the star rating system, although I really doubt it at this point, since it is really a firmware issue. Why would Sony remove these nice features, and is it very possible that the next firmware update that Sony will included these features back on the NWZ-A818? Has anyone heard any rumors? Thanks, Cheers!
  19. Thanks for such an indepth review! My A818 should be coming in next week and am really exited. I'm coming from the ipod and decided to ditch it because of it's poor customization with sound and general soudn quality. Of course, I am also currently working on converting my iTunes Library to Windows Media Player with the help of this program called MusicBridge. My library is about 105GB, and I still think iTunes in terms of organization is much faster than WMP. I use playlists and lot, and I have already seen and read that playlists from WMP can be transferred and synced to the A818. My question is: Can the A818 make playlists on the fly? The manual did not mention this, and I am very curious if the newer A818 can do this. Prior to this, I have read that the older A800s that still support ATRAC have the ability to create playlists on the fly with teh player. So in all, can anyone please confirm if the A818 (drag and drop, or corresponding series) can indeed create playlists on the fly? Thanks so much guys, much appreciated, cheers!
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