Confused between E Series and A Series.....

[Andrew Soebali]

Dear all,

hope you guys can help me to decide which DAP i should buy. Currently i ownd D-NE20 PCDP and i really enjoying atrac format....

I plan to give it to my sister and i lure to A1000 series. But today at Sony Center the staff showed me E seres walkman. I just try for a few minutes and i kinda like the song...... It also equipped with FM radio that is a big plus.

Which is actually sound better? A seres or E Series? I dont care much about capacity size (actually 1 GB is enough for me), what i care is sound quality through the headset.

Please help.....

[markey]

The E series players use flash memory. The benefits of this are no moving parts unlike the A series. Also no waiting around for the player to start up. The downside is capacity, at present Sony only does a maximum of 2 gigs on the flash players. With the A series you have a larger capacity, up to 20 gigs. The volume can be unlocked if your player is a european model. You can't unlock the volume on the flash players. You also get a graphic equalizer. On the downside it uses a hard drive that will one day eventually fail. I Hope this helps.

[Guest Stuge]

I will not recommened you to buy A1000,unless you are a collector. .

[Andrew Soebali]

I will not recommened you to buy A1000,unless you are a collector. .

Why? Is the sound quality really bad? Please elaborate. Thanks

[markey]

I think what Stuge means is wait around and see what new players Sony releases this autumn/fall. The A1000 has now been discontinued, but there is an A1200 which has replaced it. Basically it is the same as the A1000 but with an extra 2 gigs. Sound quality is good. You could go for the A3000 which is the 20 gig model. Personally if I were you and 1 or 2 gigs is enough, I would go for an NW-A608 which would give you 2 gigs plus an fm tuner. I think it may have been discontinued, but there should still be some about. There are also the newer flash based players, but some people seem to have an issue with the volume. I have an e407, it's not too loud but with the supplied ear phones it's not too bad. I would imagine the NW-A608 would be the same.

[Guest Stuge]

Yup ,Angrybadger is spot on .

Also Volume limitation is only on European units.

@Andrew:In which part of the world do you live ?

[Andrew Soebali]

Yup ,Angrybadger is spot on .

Also Volume limitation is only on European units.

@Andrew:In which part of the world do you live ?

I live in Indonesia, South East Asia. Based on my previous experience with Sony PCDP i don't think we have volume limitation issue here.

I floating around in this forum and i got slightest impression that A series sound better than E series. Is it right?

[bogon07]

Andrew,

I found the E407/E505 & A1000 very similar in sound quality.

The new E003/5 also has the advantage of plugging straight into a USB port without needing a cable.

Go for the highest capacity you can afford. It is amazing how quickly you can fill it up. Also more capacity gives you more flexibility if you decide that you want to encode at higher ATRAC rates which take up more space but give better sound quality.

You may also like to have a look at the earphones section of the forum for suggested replacements for the player supplied ones as that is another way to improve sound quality and comfort.

[Andrew Soebali]

Andrew,

I found the E407/E505 & A1000 very similar in sound quality.

.......

Go for the highest capacity you can afford. It is amazing how quickly you can fill it up. Also more capacity gives you more flexibility if you decide that you want to encode at higher ATRAC rates which take up more space but give better sound quality.

.......

Sorry for further question, how about sound quality between E003 and A1000?

Is HDD based player have the same (or better?) sound quality than PCDP : such as D-NE20 and A1000 --or D-NE20 and E003?

I found D-NE20 quality is superb, not too much bass, vocal center surrounded with instruments, just the way i like it -- it keep me hold off another DAP purchase, afraid it wont sound like D-NE20.

[Guest Stuge]

@Andrew:Yes somewhat same (when only Atrac or Mp3 files is listened same bitrate ).

[bogon07]

Sorry for further question, how about sound quality between E003 and A1000?

Is HDD based player have the same (or better?) sound quality than PCDP : such as D-NE20 and A1000 --or D-NE20 and E003?

I found D-NE20 quality is superb, not too much bass, vocal center surrounded with instruments, just the way i like it -- it keep me hold off another DAP purchase, afraid it wont sound like D-NE20.

Not having an E003 I can't compare it's SQ to an A1000. A few forum members seem pretty impressed with it.

Have a look at some of the detailed reviews on E00* players.

Doomlordis

http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1593

gonococcus

http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1800