DSP

yes, that's true, in a way. I'm doubting apple in everything with their Ipod. in my opinion, they just got lucky they were the first with a real good MP3 player. in my opinion, sony would rule the world if they ditched those two arms and just make a great DAP. example: imagina a slightly bigger nw-hd5, with a great color LCD, glossy black surface (or matt metal), Divx, Xvid, MPEG and AVI support for video, and atrac3+, MP3, aac, wma, ogg and a lossles codec for music. I know this is not al possible, but that would be some great DAP! my point is: I believe that sony is the ONLY company that has the ability to make really great DAP's. They just get jammed in a way all the time due to their music division I guess. Sony has the posibilities, the expertise and the creativity to create the ultimate DAP and I think it's about time that they're going to use that. If the next DAP series coming from sony still isn't what you'd expect I think I'm losing faith in sony. But for now, my hopes stay with sony. for me ipods, zens or zunes don't work. Walkmans have always had outstanding sounquality, great battery life and a neath design. Other manufacturers ar just now coming up with those aspects. And i LOVE atrac of course but everybodey has his own opinion and I respect them all. greetz

damn..sony really needs to dicth thos two arms. As it seems you can't run a music label and manufacter DAP's, or run a movie division and make a portable video player. I have to say pata2001 is totally right there. greetz

@ pata2001: you're right about the music arm of sony. sony software? I think you can't really make that an argument. sony isn't a software company. The only software SSCP is getting compared to is apple's Itunes. Apple is a computer and software manufacterer from origin. It's logical that they could make better software than sony. On the other hand I have the feeling sony developers are sleeping, because they DO make great software like sony vegas, soundforge etc. I'm not shure who's developing sonicstage, But if it's not the guys who designed vegas etc, I'm going to kick sony's ass! I think the asain brands are making crap at the moment. Sony's flash Walkmans are simply great! You get quality for not too much money and a nice design too. You also get the best brand name on you're device (sony is the best known brand name in the US) in stead of some crappy cheap name like 'time' or 'victory'. The zune will sell well. I was very curious about it and didn't know what to expect. But when I heard it gets manufactured by Toshiba I knew it's gonna be crap. Toshiba gigabeat stinks in my opinion. But only guys like us, and people who are going to smash their Zune and get to see the inside, know that it's made by toshiba. The other people (the mass) will think it's a true microsoft product and just buy it. So I think zune can have some succes if they get the marketing right. These people won't give a damn if it's late in the market because if they like it, and see it's from microsoft, they'll buy it anyway. And the majority of people don't understand the most functions on their DAP. Most people just know how to put music on it, and how to play it basically. So lack of functions is no real disadvantage. Only lack of innovation. in short: Sony needs to wake up, get to work and come up with something that people will actually buy. The zune will find it's audience and for now, people will still go to the shop, thinking that ipod is THE only MP3 player out there. greetz PS: why doesn't sony update their PSP. with every FW update there are some minor things added but never really great things. If they ditched the resolution cap, added custom EQ and more video formats PSP would be even more awsome! (srry for the amount of text)

I was wondering how people around here, especially since it's a sony forum, think about the survival chances of sony. The are many new devices, services and concepts coming out. Apple showed the world their new Ipods, Microsoft presented ZUNE to the people, Iriver presented the 'smallest player with a LCD' and samsung released their new YP-K5 with built in speaker. And still no news, or even rumors from sony. do you think sony is preparing for something big, or once again waiting for no reason and come up with something when it's allready too late? Personally I have really no idea! One part of me says (read: hopes) that they are preparing something big. The other part whispers quietly that sony is going to do something stupid once again and that the future of walkman is getting awfully close to a disaster. Life without walkman would be very unpleasant since I really love my music in that sweet divinely soundquality the Walkmans have been offering me in the past few years. If walkman stopped existing I really wouldn't know which DAP to buy, since I think that the latest nw-a* series are the ONLY 'MP3' players in the market with decent sound quality. I guess I would be going back to good old trusty MiniDisc. So some Sharp auvi from japan or something like that. anyway, I would like to have your opinion on this. what do you think sony is going to do, since they're late again? Are the walkmans dead or are they alive and kicking? greetz

I have a sony nw-e307. It just rocks!! it really lasts like for evahhh!!! soundquality BLOWS away any ipod! and its soooo small. I think sony is doing a real good job with their small man flash DAP's! greetz PS: my nw-a1200 rocks even more! how about that!

Ipod all the way in this particular case! since it's a 'sony''forum.. and I'm a sony fan VPT acoustic engine OR MegaBass

@ stuge: yes, as you can read I'm a big fan of sony. Love my MiniDisc, my PSP and my Walkmans. but that's just ones opinion and experiences with a company This doesn't mean that i can't be objective in my opinions. What I said was 100% objective BUT also 100% my own opinion. greetz

imho ipod is boring. they only made up for the lacks in the older models. the battery life sucked big time, they fixed it. the screen wasn't that good, they fitted a better one they didn't support gapless, they fixed it. the nano was scratch-sensitive and the battery sucked, they fixed it and fitted a batter screen. But why no video?? the shuffle; they just made it smaller, I see no further improvements. sony walkman's have always had gapless, great battery life, not scratch sensitive. imo ipod is just making up for its failures. The only thing I like about the new ipods is the price. 250$ for 30GB is very good pricing! but that doesn't make a good product. I was very curious about the new ipods, after hearing rumors of touchscreens passing by. But with this news I'm kicked in the face once again: ipods keep having the very same design, no innovations there anymore (the nano looks almost exactly like the old mini, so it look kinda old-fashioned to me), and why should the nano be even thinner? and the ipod itself looks exactly the same. If i'm honest, I'm very disappointed by this news. I hoped for more. I'm sticking with the walkman because I have no need for a colour screen (but that's very personal), walkman has original and sexier design and of course much better sound-quality. In general, the sound-quality is the most primary factor that's keeping me with sony.Ipods just don't have that. I was hoping that apple could surprise me only once, so that I had a reason to go and have a try with their product. But jet again, they didn't. mind you, this is just MY opinion. you might 'think different', but everyone has it's own thoughts right? for those switching from walkman to ipod: enjoy your new ipod! greetz

I'm not sure. I've heard that PSP's with sharp screens are PSP's produced before a certain date. After that date, every PSP shipped wit a samsung LCD. I only heard this somewhere, don't know if this is true.

I think sony and the walkman brand have much potential. but they just don't use it. I've gotta admit that apple did a very good job with positioning the ipod in the market. But that doesn't make a good product. Walkmans are losing territory now but are, imho, a very solid product. Don't forget that sony has far more experience on this end but their marketing just isn't right. They seem to miss what people are asking for: BIG HDD's, color screens, video playback, drag n drop, wide codec support etc. I think sony is doing a great job so far and apple too. But I think there's gonna be sometime when people have enough of Ipod and I hope soo deeply that the big S is awake then and can come up with a ground-braking walkman. Like apple did with the ipod a few years ago.

I have a sony nw-a1200 and sennheiser CX300. I hear some quite background noise sometimes, with a quiet song or between songs if I'm in a very silent place. I think that the Westones will have it too. because they're even more sensitive I think. But that's just my guess. I thought it would be helpfull to let you know. greetz

I think atrac3(+) is a very good codec. I use it as my primary codec for everything. I think atrac has a warm and natural sound... it sounds very full and vibrant. I feel comfy with it's sound. Where I think MP3 and AAC fail is the warmth of a song... they sound sharp and clean (if you used a good source and encoder) but not natural or warm. they can sound cheap sometimes. I would like to mind you of the fact that soundquality is very personal. I think atrac3+ greatest strength (for me) is the 64 Kbps bitrate. files are soo small and sound very good. also at higher bitrates it's a very, very good codec. I like the 192 Kbps codec too! it's not too big an yet outstanding soundquality. it has for every need a bitrate. 64 Kbps, standard 128 Kbps, higher 352 Kbps and advance lossless. and som other bitrates in between. So for every need there's a solution. so for me it's atrac3(+) all the way! that's not just some sort of fanboy behavior, but I tested it several times and compared it to AAC, AAC+, WMA, OGG, MP3, MP3pro and some other codecs. greetz.

I'm listening to the following: Santana - supernatural (PSP; atrac3+ @ 320 Kbps) Toto - falling in between (nw-a1200; atrac3+ @ 352 Kbps) Jimi hendrix - experience hendrix (nw-a1200; atrac3+ @ 352 Kbps) also listening to: Iron Maiden - A matter of life and death ( nw-a1200; atrac3+ @ 352 Kbps) Meat Loaf - bat out of hell ( mz-n707; SP ) > good old mz-n707..... it's been five wonderfull years together.....and it's still very trusty....best device I've ever owned! greetz

this is indeed realy strange. Why didn't they put the sennheiser CX300's there?? (for example) But I think it has something to do with the salesrate. or is that a stupid idea?

( voor alle andere gebruikers ff in t engels ) No I didn't import my PSP from japan. I bought it around christmas 2005, at the dixons store in maastricht. My brother got his PSP the same day, in maastricht too. but at the e-plaza store. The only difference: I had a value pack and he a giga-pack. So my guess is that sony's first shipment to EU, wich were all value packs, were fitted with a sharp screen and I got lucky and got one from the first shipment I'm very happy with it and I'm sooooo glad I bought a value pack! greetz.. bedankt voor je reactie !

I wanna know if anyone has noticed a difference between two PSP's? I know there has been much speculation on the internet about this, and many people said it was nonsens. But I've opened up my own and my brothers' PSP to check, because I saw a difference in the screen quality. And guess what? On my screen it said 'Sharp' and on my brothers' nothing, so I assume that this is a samsung unit, unless sony is having other manufacturers making screens for the PSP. If anyone can confirm this, could someone tell me in what country/package I can find a PSP with a sharp screen? A friend of mine would like to buy a PSP too, but since he saw the difference between our two PSP's he wants one with a sharp screen. any help to locate PSP's with a sharp screen is welcome. thx guys! greetz PS: I live in the netherlands, Europe.

The PSP is quite big compared to a NW-HD5. But not so bulky that it won't fit anywhere. I can put my psp in my pocket. Converting DVD's to the PSP is very easy. There's a lot of software to do that. Like NERO recode and PSP video 9. The PSP integrates perfectly with sonicstage! Its almost the same as transferring music to your NW-HD5 I think. The PSP shows album art and accepts WMA, AAC and MP3 as well. The only disadvantage of the PSP compared to the NW-HD5 is the memory and the size. But the memory doesn't bother me and the size is something I can live with, knowing I have a widescreen 'portable cinema' in my pocket Watching DVD's on the PSP is just awsome! the screen is amazing. Like I said, it's just a portable cinema. very cool. Also the soundquality of the PSP is very good! although it was not in the first place designed to play audio files, it's ver good in playing them! I think my PSP sounds better than my friends ipod nano. It's more natural, and balanced. The sound is more dynamic, if you like. So if you don't mind the drop in memory capacity, The change in size and buying a memory stick, the PSP is well worth trying! But this is just my opinion greetz

what do you think of the soundquality compared to your mz-dh10p? I've owned a mz-nh900 and really liked its soundquality, but at the same time I think my nw-a1200 has some sort of edge over the mz-nh900. What do you think?

I´m getting bored with all this ipod vs. walkman discussions. peronally, I´m a true Walkman fan. I love walkmans. I think they´re great and there´s no other device that can match them. They are just basic. They have all the things you need to listen to music. That´s the only thing I wanna do with my DAP, listen to music. i don´t have to watch vids or view photos... so I don´t need a big colour screen. But all in all, I´m not an ipod fan, I think the ipod is a good product. It has it good points, but has many weak points to. It´s just ones opinion and taste that desides what DAp is best for him. If the ipod wasn´t so over hyped, and wooowed every time someone sees it, and if it was not sooo worshipped by half the world and it´s manufacturer, and was a bit cheaper, I think I´d realy like the ipod. It´s a solid product. But for that big pricetag and the big fuss around it, it´s just not good enough. i expect more of a device with that pricetag and all that worshipping to it. but like I said, it´s jut ones opinion.

It depends of your budget. I owned several headphones. I had the sony mdr-ex71. they are very good, but a bit overdone on the bass. for the same price I've bought sennheiser CX300. They're just amazing. They sound so well balanced an detailled. I heard things I've never heard on my MDR-EX71's.. and for the same price! (€45 here in the netherlands). if you want to go beyond that I could recommend you the shure E3c. They sound very good. the sound is just at another level! The sennheiser CX300's are very close to shure E2© in terms of soundquality as far as I know. you could see If you could get some sony MDR-E888's.. But they're very hard to find. They are known for their very natural sound. I've had no experience with them. If you wan't to go cheaper I'd recommend the sony MDR-E51 or MDR-NX1.. they have very good soundquality for their price. I have them myself, and even though I have cx300's now, I still love them! I hope my story is a little helpfull. And sorry for the bad english. greetz

I have a nw-a1200B and I love it! I bought it mostly because of it's soundquality. My unit always looks black, and yes, it's easier to read the screen under an angle (outside). Inside the screen is really nice. It's very bright. I took the device to the movies the other night and in the dark the player just looks awsome! I recommend this player to anybody! If you don't need to have photo or video on your DAP this is the one to get! sonicstage is very easy to use. Shure, everyone has it's own opinion, But in general I think sonicstage CP is very good. I don't see the big difference with itunes. I'm an old MiniDisc user and I've been with sony's software since OpenMG. OpenMG was not very good, that's true. But sonicstage is very good at this point. No problems with that!

yes, finally. I used to own a Minidisc player with a remote control that had teh same form, an people were always asking ''WOOOW is that an mp3 player? It's so stylish.'' and I had to say that it was just the remote control. But now there really is an mp player with this form factor. way-to-go sony!

thanks very much! but now another question crossed my mind: since these are jap. only units, will they have a sharp LCD screen? I think it's a guess for you too, but If anyone knows, please tell. people say that this samsung vs. sharp issue is nonsens... but I thought I should see for myself and opened up my brothers and my own psp to see.. we both live in the Netherlands and both bought it in the same city, on the same day. only difference: my brother had a gigapack and I had a value pack. guess what? I had A sharp screen and my brother not. (so he has probably a samsung screen unless sony has another company assigned to make screens for the psp ) and you CAN see the difference....so that's why I want to know.. thx anyway!

yes, you're right. but my point is that sony devices are decent enough for many people, but not if they wanna get on the top. They have the knowlegde and the abi;ities to make a killer-product, but why they don't do it? I have no Idea... something like a combi of a PSP and a walkman... perhaps

Imho, sony DAP´s are just at a higher level sounquality whise. I´ve had several MD devices, a PSP and now an nw e307 and nw a1200. they´re just so goed in terms of soundquality. can´t compare to anything else. sony´s sound signature is just something unique you won´t find in another device soon.