Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony NW-S203F 1 GB Flash Sports Digital Music Player with Armband (Black)

I have been trying different mp3 players and found this to be a great buy. Expecting the worst, I found this player to have an excellent sound stage; perfect even frequency with nearly no noticeable distortion at any volume. My ears are sensitive to treble causing listening fatigue. This player does not do that. I believe it to be the Sonics mated with the ear phones, the flat frequency range won't give you the range that will cause listening fatigue. With years as a guitar player and a past of car stereo competitions I would say I know a lot about sound. I would be interested in listening to the 200+ headphones on this. I would not expect much better. The bass is weak as stated in earlier posts, but it is plenty adequate and distortion free. I believe this to be a full balanced player and worth every penny I spent. Players tried: Sansa, Ipod, Creative zen.
FM tuner works well also, with super low station drift if any at all.

Pros:
1. Battery life
2. Sound Stage
3. OLED display (the cover acts as a lens to make the display viewable at any angle)
4. The controls were easy to learn
5. Light weight
6. Comes with an armband
7. Hold feature
8. Ergonomic design
9. Volume is not WEAK!
10. Small
11. FM tuner works very well, better than any model I tested.

Cons:

1. The software (I design software for a living and I found this hard to learn but figured it out)

I'm pretty satisfy with the product.
-The screen is pretty cool, it sort of rotate as you rotate the player up and down, so screen can still be seen at an angle.
-The headphone is very nice, it fits my ear comfortably and sounds really great. Although it doesn't fit on my girlfriend's ear. If you have small ears, then you out of luck with this headphone.

The down side about this player is BASS is reduced in the player. Same song playing on my computer will have much stronger bass. When I plug the mp3 player to speaker the bass is very low. I guess it's a function to protect your ear while using headphone, so if you don't plan to hook it up to speaker then it's no problem.

pros: 1.Battery life, quick charge feature
2.water resistant body and design
3.oled display screen works great
4.sound quality is fairly good
5.sonic stage is not bad at all. I think they have improved it.
cons: 1.the headphones coming with the player don`t fit my ears(though their quality is so good, comparing ipod headphones), and I don`t know if the problem is with my ears or the headphones. I`ll buy new ones anyway
2.it`s too light(yes, you should be able to feel it when you hold)
3.the worst thing is its white ring which enables you to seek songs. If you dont mind a small loose part on your player it`s fine though.

Overall, it`s a decent player for the price.

Let's dive right into it... The person who designed the hardware of this music player deserves an award. I use music players exclusively for working out. This is the first player that seems designed specifically for that purpose. The waterproofing and the pedometer are a God-send. I had lost 3 players before this to rust and short-circuit. The waterproofing is pretty important to me. The pedometer is simply useful. I keep track of how far I've gone and even cue the music to stop after a certain distance. Very cool. I can take or leave the tempo matching. (it is kind of insulting, I can't run fast enough to get the high tempo songs. :P)

Great, that was the pluses. Here is the reason I hate this player: the software. Notice how I kept writing "music player?" That is because this device doesn't actually play mp3s. It converts mp3 into a proprietary format. These files appear to be 2 or 3 times bigger than mp3s, judging by the number of songs need to fill the player up. (100 to a generic 1 gig mp3 player's 400 songs) Essentially, you need to use the Sony software to get the player to work at all. The software, in a word, sucks. I use Windows Media Player to manage my music. It excels in allowing me to sort media by upwards of fifty variables, such as "date last played," "rating," and so on. The Sony software has five. Also, it is difficult to create a handpicked playlist, while the player is attached, because the software transfers every selection as you make it!! If the person who created the hardware deserves an award, the software designer deserves to be shot. Thank you!!

I bought this for the water-resistant function (rain killed my other mp3 player) and the price. After a few weeks, here are my experiences:

- I prefer belt clip to arm band; band and the length of player can chafe some. Not alot but noticeable - probably a personal preference.
- No off button is frustrating. Seems to die in my gym bag.
- Sony software is a pain. No drag-and-drop directly into folder like other players.
- Controlling player while running is easy ONLY if you are just skipping songs. Otherwise, you have to stop, take off the band and muddle your way through to perform other functions.
- Charging via USB adds extra hassle, vs. simple battery.

Overall, once it's loaded, strapped on, and playing, it sounds good while exercising. And it's easy to skip song. BUT getting there is a bit of pain.