NWD-B100 announced

[LuLu]

From Engadget

NWD-B100

"Looks like Sony finally took the wraps off its Network Walkman NWD-B100, which we first heard about months ago. The featherweight player is landing in Europe come August (sorry, no US release info as of yet), and has a 3-line color LCD, comes in 1GB (NWD-B103 / B103F) and 2GB sizes (NWD-B105 / 105F), and features an FM tuner, mic / voice recorder, up to 12 hours battery life, and perhaps best of all, it's now ATRAC-free (MP3 and WMA only) with mass-storage mode, meaning you can officially throw out your copy of SonicStage. Sony, welcome to 2007 -- we could almost kiss you."

Click link above for pics.

LOG

[juli_]

These are now selling in the UK for:- 1 gig-£34.99 & 2 gig-£44.99.

OK, I just remembered they only have 12 hours playback, no good to me. Five years ago I would have rejoiced at 12 hours. . . but now it seems almost primitive. Funny how expectations change so fast

[markey]

Where??? Not that I need any more players, but I like to know what's new

I noticed them on the Argos web site. However, they no longer stock the NW-S7xx range. No doubt this amazing player will be discontinued very soon.

This sort of player I would buy for my 10 year old son. I guess it's aimed at the younger user or one who just wants simplicity.

Edited July 29, 2007 by markey

[Shinji Ikeda]

These are now selling in the UK for:- 1 gig-£34.99 & 2 gig-£44.99.

Those models do not come with the FM tunes. The models with the FM tunes are 10 pounds more.

[Zizone_]

I noticed them on the Argos web site. However, they no longer stock the NW-S7xx range. No doubt this amazing player will be discontinued very soon.

I am sure NW-S700 series will be replaced with new S. Hopefully, they will improve on SNR then the player will be perfect for me.

Edited July 29, 2007 by Zizone

[Ascariss]

I am sure NW-S700 series will be replaced with new S. Hopefully, they will improve on SNR then and then the player will be perfect for me.

yup new s series. I just hope it is still on scheduale.

[RobA]

S700 series being discontinued so soon? Damn this is unexpected.

[markey]

S700 series being discontinued so soon? Damn this is unexpected.

I would say the S7xx has been around for about 9 or 10 months now. That's pretty good compared with the HD5, I don't even think it lasted 6 months.

[juli_]

I'm amazed they're discontinuing it so soon, especially as it's so good. Wasn't the HD5 discontinued because of the issue with the cracked buttons? Now the HD5's are almost like 'collectors' items - maybe the 706 will go that way too. What a shame

On a different note, can anyone who's reading this please tell me where to post a query about the new docking cradle with wi-fi etc? I had the original Sony CPF-NW001 Cradle Audio Speaker and sold it. I then bought the 'new' model which is supposed to be exactly the same but with added features. But with the previous model you could flip albums from the remote control, with the new model you can only flip tracks, not albums, which means I have to change albums via the player. I haven't set up any of the software as I never plan to use the wi-fi, I just want to use it in the same way I used the previous model. I can't get help from the Sony site and I don't know where I should post this, anyone? Thanks

[markey]

I'm amazed they're discontinuing it so soon, especially as it's so good. Wasn't the HD5 discontinued because of the issue with the cracked buttons? Now the HD5's are almost like 'collectors' items - maybe the 706 will go that way too. What a shame

On a different note, can anyone who's reading this please tell me where to post a query about the new docking cradle with wi-fi etc? I had the original Sony CPF-NW001 Cradle Audio Speaker and sold it. I then bought the 'new' model which is supposed to be exactly the same but with added features. But with the previous model you could flip albums from the remote control, with the new model you can only flip tracks, not albums, which means I have to change albums via the player. I haven't set up any of the software as I never plan to use the wi-fi, I just want to use it in the same way I used the previous model. I can't get help from the Sony site and I don't know where I should post this, anyone? Thanks

Now I don't think we should jump to conclusions just yet, Argos have simply stopped stocking it. It would make sense though, as it has been around since before Christmas of last year. It has also dropped in price considerably. They will probably bring out another noise cancelling NW-S walkman to replace it. That's just my opinion anyway

Edited July 29, 2007 by markey

[juli_]

Now I don't think we should jump to conclusions just yet, Argos have simply stopped stocking it. It would make sense though, as it has been around since before Christmas of last year. It has also dropped in price considerably. They will probably bring out another noise cancelling NW-S walkman to replace it. That's just my opinion anyway

Play.com have stopped stocking it too. My idea dap would be the 706 as an 8GB. I'm sitting here admiring both my 706 and 808, and have to say that the 706 is absolutely beautiful. The 808 looks great too, but the 706 is like nothing I've ever seen before.

By the way, for those that have both the 706 and 808 - what do you put on them? I mean do you have a total of 12GB of music, or do you have music on one - and videos, audio books etc on the other? I am about to stick uncompressed classical and flamenco on the 808 and have the 706 for all other styles. I think the 808 is great for instrumental, and the 706 best for vocals as the 'harshness' I referred to on the 808 is mainly noticed with vocals. I think I have a very sensitive ear to vocals

[markey]

Play.com have stopped stocking it too. My idea dap would be the 706 as an 8GB. I'm sitting here admiring both my 706 and 808, and have to say that the 706 is absolutely beautiful. The 808 looks great too, but the 706 is like nothing I've ever seen before.

By the way, for those that have both the 706 and 808 - what do you put on them? I mean do you have a total of 12GB of music, or do you have music on one - and videos, audio books etc on the other? I am about to stick uncompressed classical and flamenco on the 808 and have the 706 for all other styles. I think the 808 is great for instrumental, and the 706 best for vocals as the 'harshness' I referred to on the 808 is mainly noticed with vocals. I think I have a very sensitive ear to vocals

I was wondering why I was seeing a lot of the S7xx's on the London Underground, everyone's been picking them up cheap.

I have the same music on both players. I am far too lazy to use one for one genre and the other for a another genre. I listen to mainly House and dance music anyway.

[Zizone_]

Play.com have stopped stocking it too. My idea dap would be the 706 as an 8GB. I'm sitting here admiring both my 706 and 808, and have to say that the 706 is absolutely beautiful. The 808 looks great too, but the 706 is like nothing I've ever seen before.

I can't agree with you more on how great design it is, NW-S700 series is one of the best looking DAP. I have some wishes for the future S series though: brighter and higher resolution OLED (Sony's recent OLED TV just blew me away with their brightness and contrast), much better SNR and ofcourse keep up with great design.

Edited July 29, 2007 by Zizone

[ppau0822]

I can't agree with you more on how great design it is, NW-S700 series is one of the best looking DAP. I have some wishes for the future S series though: brighter and higher resolution OLED (Sony's recent OLED TV just blew me away with their brightness and contrast), much better SNR and ofcourse keep up with great design.

yes the design of the s7xx is on the best i have seen though IMO the a808 and the a1200 are not too far behind.

[ppau0822]

I can't agree with you more on how great design it is, NW-S700 series is one of the best looking DAP. I have some wishes for the future S series though: brighter and higher resolution OLED (Sony's recent OLED TV just blew me away with their brightness and contrast), much better SNR and ofcourse keep up with great design.

i just wish that they improve the navigation may be something more like the a808 and may be make the sound more like the s7xx series

btw what is SNR?

[ppau0822]

any way i don't think that the coming of the b100 would signal the discontinuation of the s7xx. only a few online sites seem not to stock them.

[juli_]

i just wish that they improve the navigation may be something more like the a808 and may be make the sound more like the s7xx series

btw what is SNR?

Did you re-buy the 706 and sell the 808 after all? I bought the 706 again and kept the 808. I put all instrumental stuff on the 808 and vocals etc on the 706. I was finding it was the vocals that were too 'harsh' on the 808 which made it hurt my ears. But it's excellent with just music and no vocals, so now I have the best of both worlds and luckily they are both small enough to carry about with me when I want.

Which headphones did you finally settle with?

SNR = signal-to-noise ratio

[Zizone_]

Hmm... Having created Playlist, I find it easy to find songs by using Jog-Shuttle. I believe NW-A800 series interface is similar to NW-A1000/3000 series. Both players are different in finding songs, but I find NW-A700 series is more convenient and faster, at least for me. It is probably I became used to search with Jog-Shuttle from MD players remote (though remotes didn't have one but is similar searching method) and NW-E400 and S series; in fact, I personally like Sony's stick shaped Walkmans and prefer over bigger screen players since I use Walkmans for music only.

Edited August 1, 2007 by Zizone

[Shinji Ikeda]

Hmm... Having created Playlist, I find easy to find songs by using Jog-Shuttle. I believe NW-A800 series interface is similar to NW-A1000/3000 series. Both players are different in finding songs, but I find NW-A700 series is more convenient and faster, at least for me. It is probably I became used to search with Jog-Shuttle from MD players remote (though remotes didn't have one but is similar searching method) and NW-E400 and S series; in fact, I personally like Sony's stick shaped Walkmans and prefer over bigger screen players since I use Walkmans for music only.

Yes, It is convenient to navigate through playlist using the dial-job (job-shuffle) on the NW-S700 series. However, using the NW-A800 would be more simple, since it possible to navigate through all playlists until the correct playlist is found.

On the NW-S700 series you do not require to look at the screen to navigate, but it is required that the player is in playlist mode. Additionally, previous/next playlists/songs need to be queued before you get to the required playlist. Depending on how you use playlist on the NW-S700 pulling out the is quicker and easier. The NW-S700 uses audio queue to indicate when the correct playlist is reached.

On the NW-A800 series you can select a playlist during any playback, but going to the playlist menu and selecting any song in the correct playlist. However you need to look at the screen at all times. The added bonus on the NW-A800 is the you can create playlist on the NW-A800 and then re-import them into SonicStage.

I would give the overall preference to the NW-S700 series on this.

[Zizone_]

On the NW-S700 series you do not require to look at the screen to navigate, but it is required that the player is in playlist mode. Additionally, previous/next playlists/songs need to be queued before you get to the required playlist. Depending on how you use playlist on the NW-S700 pulling out the is quicker and easier. The NW-S700 uses audio queue to indicate when the correct playlist is reached.

Ahh, yes. In order to access Playlist on NW-S700 series, it is required to enter playlist mode where few icons are absent from the menu compared to normal play mode. It seems like some people get confused... especially if users do not know much about the difference between playlist mode and normal play mode, and not knowing how to enter normal mode. I hope next generation S series will make this more user friendly.

Edited August 1, 2007 by Zizone

[ppau0822]

Did you re-buy the 706 and sell the 808 after all? I bought the 706 again and kept the 808. I put all instrumental stuff on the 808 and vocals etc on the 706. I was finding it was the vocals that were too 'harsh' on the 808 which made it hurt my ears. But it's excellent with just music and no vocals, so now I have the best of both worlds and luckily they are both small enough to carry about with me when I want.

Which headphones did you finally settle with?

SNR = signal-to-noise ratio

no i haven't re-bought the s706 but i just heard it from my friends and does want me to spend another au 180 and get it, but im short of cash right now. any way about the harshness i have been using the eq seeings that you recommended thnx

im still using the se 530 and im pretty satisfied with it at the moment but im egaer to see how the westone 3 goes there has been some rave previews but its been bogged by delays so im not getting my hopes up yet.

[metal]

The 1G/2G models start selling in Hong Kong at HK$688 and HK$498.

[c0ldr0ses]

Well I guess this player would have been cool 2 years ago...But seriously, with that low battery life and only supporting two formats, what does it have going for it besides price?

[Ascariss]

Well I guess this player would have been cool 2 years ago...But seriously, with that low battery life and only supporting two formats, what does it have going for it besides price?

no software needed.

[map68]

Well I decided to take the plunge and actually ordered a NWD-B105 from Amazon yesterday (£31), the unit arrived this morning and to be honest I don't reckon it's all that bad. Nice build quality and if I'm honest I can't fault the unit at all, I already have a NW-A806 and wanted a cheap player to use and abuse whilst out running etc.

First impressions:

1. The sound quality is very good, certainly as good as my A806 (once custom EQ settings were applied)

2. The build quality is up to usual Sony standards, I have no complaints.

3. Ditch the supplied headphones, they work (enough said) my Shure E2C's or the EX's that came with th A806 are far better.

4. Finally I can ditch Sonicstage Yippee !! (Using WMP 11 encoding WMA's at 160 Kbps - Sounds fine to me)

5. Sony software to transfer MP3's etc is included on the unit itself - Functional, works perfectly well and nice to see.

6. No background hiss that I can detect.

7. Voice recording works but they've used a codec not supported by WMP, so can only play them on the B105 - Shame.

8. Acceptable 3 line display, not great quality, but for the price I don't think you can complain.

I guess it's nearest competitors price wise would have to me the iPod Shuffle (no display) or the Zen Stone Plus (scratches real easy) - The standard NWD-B105 is far cheaper than both (without radio) and stuffs them on functionality especially if you purchase the B105 with the radio.

The auto transfer is a useful application, it's a small applet (543kbs) that resides on the flash drive, simply stuff the B105 into a usb port and run the program and it'll automatically download any file ending with .mp3 or .wma straight across the player, with no fuss - It's simple, effective and stable, you can also direct it to indivdual files if needed (Needless to say it also works flawlessly with Windows Media Player).

Yeah okay I know it's only got a 12 hour battery life, but I only run or go to the gym for an hour or two a day (so no problems). I'm never far from a usb port either at work or home - Really don't perceive it to be a big issue.

Personally I reckon Sony hit the nail right on the head, it's a great little MP3 / WMA Player for the money.

Edited October 17, 2007 by map68

[LuLu]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to write it and share your photos.

7. Voice recording works but they've used a codec not supported by WMP, so can only play them on the B105 - Shame.

Just curious. Can you see this file when you have the player hooked up to your computer? I'm thinking that as long as you can transfer it over you can probably find a way to edit or play it on your computer. If I recall correctly back in the day of the old minidisc players Sony finally added a utility to transfer your own recordings. Perhaps they are going to get to this (fingers crossed)...

The auto transfer is a useful application, it's a small applet (543kbs) that resides on the flash drive, simply stuff the B105 into a usb port and run the program and it'll automatically download any file ending with .mp3 or .wma straight across the player, with no fuss -

I hope you can also shut off this autorun feature! Nothing worse than a device automatically doing that everytime you plug it in to recharge.

One other thing...I noticed in your photos (the one that shows the backside with the cap off)...is there a way to hook a lanyard on the back (is that what that small metal loop is in the middle of the player but close to the top near the reset button?).

Thanks.

[map68]

Hi LuLu,

The B105 acts essentially in the same way as any usb drive. You can use it to store just about anything, in addition to using it as a MP3 player. All folders are clearly accessible and if you don't wish to use the supplied file transfer software you can simply delete it and solely rely on Windows Media Player to transfer music (I've ready deleted it, don't worry it's freely available to download again from Sony's support pages)

The transfer applet doesn't auto run itself, but rather you get the normal windows pop-up inviting you to perform various operations ( as you would with any device, such as a usb stick or memory card, see the attached screenshots). The first option on the list is to run the applet and transfer your music - Simple and works 100% perfectly.

Your correct regarding the lanyard attachment point, it's about a fifth of the way down the body from the top, directly below the hold switch and to the side of the reset button.

With regards to the voice recorder, sorry I gave you a duff information - It is saved as an MP3 file, for some reason yesterdays test didn't work, but today's did. Windows Media Player opens and plays the saved files perfectly

All in all I'm very happy with the device - Any more questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Regards

Mark

Edited October 17, 2007 by map68

[map68]

An in depth review can be found here:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/mp3/review/2...man-NWD-B105/p1

[LuLu]

An in depth review can be found here:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/mp3/review/2...man-NWD-B105/p1

In this article the author mentions a recent review of another Sony DAP, the NW-E015. He writes that these devices have the same "small, three-line colour TFT". When you look at the review for the NW-E015 there's a picture of the unit that shows cover art on the display. So my question is does the NWD-B100 also have cover art capabilities? Thanks.

LuLu

[map68]

Hi LuLu,

I nearly certain the reviewer got that part totally wrong, the display is functional but not great and certainly not to my knowledge, capable of displaying cover art - Hence why I originally described it as being:

Acceptable 3 line display, basic and not of great quality...

Don't get me wrong for the price Amazon are asking £31, it's perfectly good - But if I discover that it'll display cover art, I'll serve it up on a plate with some side salad and eat it

Mark

Edited October 18, 2007 by map68

[lamewing]

I have to disagree with many of the postive comments regarding this unit.

I bought mine at the local Fry's (and replaced it with the same model as I thought I had a dud) and took it back after one day. The whole unit felt cheap and plasticky, unlike the S7xx series. This unit also creaked whenever I used the controls. Also, the screen is terrible when compared to the S7xx model. I just don't understand the downgrade in quality of this unit versus the S7xx players. No dice here...happily returned the both. I guess the feeling of moving from the S7xx to this was the equivalent of moving from the HD5 to the A1000. The A1000 had some nice features, but...yuck.

Joe

[aafuss]

It seems the B103/105's do not have any service mode, as the service manual only lists parts information.

The service manual for these players is attached.

[aafuss]

Bought a NWD-B103F yesterday for $55-$5 less than Sony Australia's RRP of $59.00.

Even though the system requirements imply that it's Windows only, it works quite fine with OS X-see:

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6169/nw...3macviewgg6.jpg

I will post a review or pictorial of this Walkman soon.

Also the B100 does not support showing of cover art-unlike the E010 series.

Edited April 7, 2008 by A.A. Fussy

[shintoenail]

Hiya all.

I bought this mp3 player a few weeks ago...

And all I can say is - AVOID THIS PLAYER IF YOU'RE IN THE EU!

Well, any Sony player in the EU now has a 100db limit. I emailed Sony directly and got a stock response, they've obviously had to send a few out recently.

Quote:

European standards imposed recently mean that personal audio products now have volume limits set to these products. Since this standard has been introduced all Sony Walkmans have a maximum 100db. The regulation code for this European standard is "EN50332-1*".

It doesn’t just "cap" the volume. It actually affects the way the sound is delivered. If you put the volume on max and adjust the graphic EQ, you'll see what I mean. If you turn the bass up, it actually goes DOWN in volume. It changes the shape of the sound.

I asked them why the 100db limit wasn’t advertised, and they said:

Sony UK Limited does not advertise this limitation as it is part of a European legislation that Sony UK Limited must abide by when releasing a product. This does not require advertising as it is a portable audio standard within Europe.

Which I think is absolutely deplorable, if I’d have known this, I wouldn’t have got one!!!

The fact that the sound is altered, not just volume capped is an issue for trading standards. I’ve passed on the details and have asked why Sony don’t tell their customers that they actually change the way the content sounds.

Sony will not get any of my hard earned cash anymore…Consider yourselves boycotted!

The unit has been returned.

I bought an mp3 player from Tesco’s for £5 that sounds phenomenally better.

Thought you’d like to know, Cheers,

Shintoenail.

[aafuss]

There doesn't seem to be a way to disable the volume limit on the B100 as no service mode is present-compared to the E020 series which has one.

Australia gets the 'E' area model without a volume limit.

I bought a fantastic noise cancelling headphones at Retravision-the SBC HN050 street dtyle for jiust $55-was $150.

Sony wants at least $200 for their basic NC headphones here.

The NC works quite well-enables me to listen to music on my B103F in peace and quiet.