Trondis

Hi! Using wav-files on a 8GB player sounds like a big waste to me. I am not impressed that NWZ-A829 can play back wav-files gaplessly. Has anyone tried AAC-files encoded with Nero or iTunes on the Sony players?

Hi! I am still confused whether the new Walkman models support gapless playback or not. Some say they do, others that they don't. I think gapless playback was the most important feature of Atrac3, not the sound quality. So, if they don't support gapless, I would never buy a Sony again when my current players collapse.

The tradeoff is that the new NWZ-players are not gapless according to reports in this forum. And the superears will probably hear a difference between MP3 and Atrac of the same bitrate. There are listening tests that confirm this.

It IS a big issue, at least for me. I will never buy a non-gapless player. So goodbye, Sony!

I hope that you are not right. For me this player is completely useless. I listen a lot to gapless albums, and nothing is more irritating than getting gaps where it is not supposed to be. I have one Hi-MD minidisk, NW-HD1, NW-HD3 plus a Pocket PC that all can playback gapless. But when/if the players break down I would have to choose a player that support gapless. Currently the only one I know of is iPod. And that is sad.

If the player doesn't support gapless playback I don't understand why it get good reviews. A player should be able to play back any album just as it was created and meant to sound by the artist. If not it is a failure. So gapless playback is just as important as good sound. However, I mentioned this in another forum as a comment to a review of NWZ-A818. The reviewer claimed that he had ripped Pink Floyds "Dark side of the moon" to test gapless playback, and that the player played it back perfectly gapless. But he said that you had to use the right software and settings when ripping.

Hi! Just a question: Does this player support gapless playback? Some says it don't (in this forum), others says it does. Those who says it does says that the files has to be ripped properly. Can anyone try this and confirm it? Also, does it support the HE-AAC format, or just "normal" AAC?

No, I am not kidding. Just read the thread. They get pretty upset if Atrac is mentioned. To sum up: According to Hydrogenaudios recent test of 64kbs codecs (Atrac wasn't considered), HE-AAC is the best sounding codec. But in real life the support for this codec on portable players is almost absent today. It might change, of course. So I argued that even if AAC might sound slightly better than Atrac at this bitrate on a desktop computer, if you combine it with an existing player, you would probably end up with iPods against Sonys. And then Sony and Atrac would win. I don't know if I am right, it is just my opinion based on what I know. This opinion upset the moderator so much that he suspended my account there.

Hi! I found some listening tests. Check these: http://www.soundexpert.info/ http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....p;hl=atrac3plus But also check this: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....p;hl=atrac3plus But, don't try to defend Atrac against other formats on Hydrogenaudio. I just did that. And guess what? The moderator threw me out! Check this thread (the end of it) http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....p;hl=atrac3plus

I tried this. But nope, the files won't play. I guess that this has to do with the version of SonicStage that was used when the files was transferred to the player originally. MarC's HiMdRenderer works. But I guess that it only works with .oma files.

Hi! I just tried MarC's HiMdRenderer. It worked for me. I had bought a NW-HD3 from eBay with music on it. The music was encoded to Atrac3plus. SonicStage couldn't import the files, but the HiMDRenderer could. You will find more info on this site: HiMdRenderer forum

Hi! If you go to ebay (www.ebay.com) and search for "etymotic tips sony", you will get several offerings for Etymotic earphones tips adapted for Sony earphones. I was tempted by this offering and bought a pair. It is the Etymotic triple flange tips that are used. Maybe it's luxury, since the earphones already were quite good. I have Sony MDR-NC22. But I am very pleased with these new tips. It makes the phones fit better in the ears. They don't fall out as easily, or as I have experienced, leave the tip in the ear when I pull out the phones. And it seams like the sound is better also. I think it is because the phones are more stable inside the ear and better directed at the eardrum. And they give better isolation against external sounds also. Another option I have seen recommended is to use the foam tips for Shure E2. They supposedly fit also (other Shure tips doesn't). I haven't been able to try these, but this kind of tips supposedly isolate even better that the Etymotic triple flange tips.

I don´t think that any of my suggestions are "too much", really. Just look at the competition. The next generation iPods and Zunes will have wi-fi. Pocket PC´s have wi-fi and bluetooth as standard, plus a big screen and support for all the software features I mentioned (plus a lot more). The only technological feature I am not sure if is possible is the combined LCD screen/solar panel. But the use of solar power to charge cellular phones is available already, so it must be possible to integrate it one way or another. Of course a new HD player should have higher capasities than 20 GB. I had no problems filling up my HD1 with 64 kb encoded files. I would have liked higher capasity just to be able to have the same amount of music with better quality. And if the device should support video as well, then the GB´s run fast. Wi-fi is a feature with many uses. Access to the music library over the net is one thing. Another is wi-fi radio, or just to download podcasts without connecting through a PC. ebooks is not something I need, since it hasn´t hit the market where I live. But there are plenty of titles in English, and in Japan it is apparently a big thing on cellular phones. They make ebooks especially for that market. I have tried ebooks on my pocket PC, and it actually works quite well. ebook support is also available on the very cheap iPod clones from China. I forgot to mention audiobook support. That would be important. Present players don´t have that kind of bookmarking. And gapless playback on all supported codecs is a must. This is available on Pocket PCs.

Sony recently announced their next player - another flash-player with 1 or 2 GB memory, 12 hours battery time and just MP3 and WMA support - no Atrac or SonicStage support. Is this what the users want? Maybe Sony needs some ideas what we really would like to buy? Here are my suggestions for a new HD-based player: The player should be small and light. The NW-HD1 was supposedly the smallest made, so the size of that would be perfect. But the screen is too small. My suggestion is that the screen is as big as the player itself. The NW-HD1 was made of magnesium, and that looks very solid and elegant. So that is my suggestion ofmaterial for the case. The capasities should be larger than the previous 20 GB models, maybe 40, 60 or 80 GB? "Steve Jobs hates knobs". Me too. I suggest that the new player comes without knobs. So how should it be operated? Maybe a touch sensitive screen? No, that would leave fingermarks. But I have seen one device that has a touch sensitive back, and that would be a better alternative. Or there could be optical sensors on the sides of the player. Some sensors could be "knobs", and there could be one "slider" that do scrolling or change volume etc. Battery time should match the 40 hours of the NW-HD5. Or better still - the player could have a solar panel to load the battery. Maybe the screen could also be a solar panel? I think I have seen a device with a solar panel. The player should support both audio and video, plus photos. Anything else? e-books? The player should have both wi-fi and bluetooth. The player should support many codecs for both audio and video, including support for Atrac and Flac. But they should release the Atrac code and make plugins for popular programs like Windows Media Player and iTunes, so people can choose their own program for encoding and downloading files to the player. The player should support all tags available for MP3 files, including composer, album artist, full track and album credits, plus support for onscreen lyrics. It should be possible to search for albums by album art, in addition to genre, artist, album artist, album, playlists etc, and there should be a fast search by alphabet. For connections I suggest audio and video out, plus an expansion port. The video out could have connections to TV, portable projectors and video glasses. Video glasses are new devices that I suppose will be hitting the market soon. What about the expansion port? This could be used for a radio. Or should an FM radio be included? If the radio was sold as an optional addon device, they could produce both DAB and FM radios. I imagine a snapon device about 0.5-1 cm thick. The reason is that the future for radio transmission is uncertain. Some countries go for DAB (my country has announced a date for the last FM transmission), others go for a new FM standard. Since the device has wi-fi, also Internet radio would be available. The expansion port could also be used for Audio in. I imagine that the player could be used for recording as well. They could provide a snapon device that gives the same recording possibilities as on the Hi-MD minidisks. They could also make a professional version with balanced microfone input and phantom power etc. and 24/96 recording. Should the device have an output for a remote? I suggest that they make bluetooth remotes instead. A remote could have a clip like the ones made for other players. Or it would be even cooler if they made remotes that also is a clock to put on your arm. It Sony made bluetooth versions of all their headphones we could have a player with a remote and headphones all controlled via bluetooth. That would be very cool. What do you think?

Hi! I also recently bought a NW-HD1. I bought it from eBay. Actually, I ended up with both an NW-HD1 and an NW-HD3. I had been bidding for a week on different players, only to experience that they were snatched right before my nose in the last 5 minutes. So I gambled when I bid on two. I am not terribly sad about it, since it could be useful to have a reserve in case something happens. But I also have a HiMD minidisc. Since the NW-HD1 came first, that is the one I am using. I think it looks better than the HD3, and it is a bit smaller and lighter. But I don't really care about how it looks, since I use it for listening to music, and then it is in my pocket inside a pouch. I have ripped my CD's to 64 kbs bitrate too, and I think it sounds nice. I recently also bought MDR-NC22 noise cancelling earphones. I am going from Norway to Mexico soon for my holidays, and I am looking forward to some comfortable music listening on the plane. I still haven't managed to fill up the player, although I must have ripped close to 700 CDs. Last time I went to Mexico I only had an old minidisc player and 15 disks, which meant 15 CDs. So this is definately an improvement. Regarding SQ, I do notice some hiss on soft music, and there is more hiss when I turn on the noise cancelling on the earphones. But I can get used to it after a while. On loud music I can't hear anything. I am not an audiophile, however. I think my ears are too old for that (I am 50). Trondis

Strange - the display on the NW-HD1 read 352. If the file had been converted I think that the display should read whatever new bitrate it was converted to. Trondis

Hi! I have tried to use the Advanced Lossless codec twice, both times with bad results. First attempt: I ripped a gapless CD (containing two long continous pieces split into around 50 short tracks) to advanced lossless 352 and transferred it to my HiMD minidisk player at a lower bitrate. The transferred album had gaps when I played it back. Second attempt: I ripped a CD with one long track (60 minutes) to advanced lossless 352, and transferred it to a NW-HD1 player as Atrac 352. When I played back the file it had several (5-7) dropouts. Now I don't know if the dropouts was caused by artefacts in the file, or if it was the players fault. But I think I will stay away from Advanced Lossless in the future. Does anyone else have similar experiences?

Hi! I don't know if you have read about the new line of Walkman Video players? There will be two parallell series that consist of both flashbased and harddiskbased players. The "basic" series will have 16 GB flash, 50 GB and 90 GB harddisk players. The "advanced" series will have the same, but in addition it will have Wi-fi. Both series, however, will have bluetooth connection, allowing you to use bluetooth headphones. The size of the players will be approximately the same as the NW-A3000-series. But the screen will fill up the whole front size of the player. So the screen will be big and the player will be small. The controls will be placed around the edge of the player, and will be optical sensors. So the player will have no mechanical switches. The real genious of these players, however, is that the screen doubles as a solar energy panel. That makes the battery life almost infinite. The players will come with handy cases that protect the screen and at the same time let the daylight charge the player. The players will still support Atrac, and in addition it will support Flac, Ogg, Wma, Aac/M4a, Mp3 for audio and a number of video codecs, including Nero digital. Sony will release Atrac plugins for Windows Media Player and iTunes, and also release a general plugin for other libraries. SonicStage will be upgraded to also include video. But the players will support drag and drop, in addition to using other libraries, so the users can have their own choice of music library. The Connect store will start selling videos, and have cut a deal with the major Japanese and Hollywood film publishers. They also expect to start selling European films next quarter. Ups! I must have dreamed this. Sorry!