Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony NWS703 - 1GB Walkman MP3 Player with Noise Canceling Headphones - Black

I own the larger 20GB Sony MP3 player, and have been looking at noise-cancelling headphones for some time. I commute into London every day and felt annoyed that I could not listen to my mp3 player due to the background noise. After some consideration, I purchesed this Sony Walkman instead of a set of noise-cancelling headphones and I know I have made the right choice.

This walkman contains exactly the same technology as the big noise cancelling sets but does not have the in-line box that all other sets have (or have placed into the earphones, in the case of some of the larger sets). This is a massive advantage over most other sets. There's no in-line box and no other batteries to worry about. The headphones can be used with any other device, although you won't get active noise-cancellation unless it is used with a Sony NWS700 series walkman. Similarly, any set of headphones can be plugged into the device, but only the supplied headphones will provide noise-cancellation. The headphones are tight-fitting and cancel a fair bit of sound just from the snug fit, but the noise cancelling technology really works. I was half expecting the noise cancelling to be not as good as in a specialist set, but I cannot complain at all about the results so far. I can stand in the same room as a radio or TV and not know it is on, even when the walkman is at a modest volume level.

The three line colour display is clear and easy to read, and navigation is as simple as you can get on a screen of the size. You can search through tracks by artist, album and title. The machine also has the ability to store CD jacket pictures and you can search by those too.

The battery life is quoted at 50 hours, and 3 hours of charge can be added in three minutes, which makes playing around with it when you first get it home very easy. By the time you have finished placing your essential CDs on, it's charged enough for several hours of trying it out.

On top of all of this it has an FM radio (with 30 programable presets), good button layout, time and date display during tracks and is avliable in three colours and three different sizes.

Considering the fact that the 1gb version is about the same price as many noise cancelling headsets, this is excellent value for money and I would recommend it to everyone. If truly breathtaking noise cancellation is what you are after, then maybe a £70-80 headset would suit you better, but if you are looking for a way to listen to your favourite songs on the move, then you could do a lot worse than this.

An excellent solution to hours of boredom on the tube, and I highly recoomend you consider this seriously if you are looking at noise-cancelling headphones.

This mp3 is fantastic. 50 hrs playback, stores up to 1400 songs with only 2GB of memory, built in radio and external noise cancellation, and about the length and breadth of ones index finger.
It feels reassuringly expensive, doesnt even scratch easily, and the screen can easily be be read in direct sunlight.
The sound quality is superior to that of an ipod. The player plays songs on the Atrac format, which is Sony's own compressed format, without losing sound quality.
Navigation is very easy, which is suprising considering the lack of buttons; this is because they all have multiple functions; it can get a bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of it it becomes a breeze. The noise cancelling headphones are fantastic. They work by detecting outside noise, and the speakers play notes directly opposite to the ones they detect, thus cancelling the noise out. They are even better than the sony fontopia 'in ear' earphones i bought for £25, and so they they are now collecting dust; its usually vice versa when i but these things!
The latest version of sonicstage is now also much improved. It hasnt crashed, is now actually user friendly, and you can upload songs from the player up to any PC now.
I love the extra functions, which some people think are a gimmick but i think are actually worthwhile. These include Sports shuffle, intelligent shuffle and it actually tries to figure out your 'favourite' artists.
All in all i think its the best mp3 player on the market. Technically and aesthetically it is very pleasing, and it is a joy to use. Also, since getting it for xmas i have only charged it a handfull of times, even though i used it every day!!

I would highly recommend this little mp3 player. The sonicstage software is actually fine, much better than the rubbish bundled with my previous iriver which died after one year.

Some things I like:

1. The noise cancelling headphones work rather well. Shuts out the noise brilliantly on airplanes and in noisy airports.

2. Controls are a doddle once you get used to them. And there aren't too many superfluous controls that most people would never use.

3. Sound quality is excellent, though see comment below

4. Very small and light. Fantastic build quality.

5. Battery is amazing. It just plays and plays.....

Some things I don't like

1. If you like listening to audiobooks, there is a slight background hiss which can be a bit annoying.

Lets get the main points out first.

Sound quality, battery life (50 hours) and portability is fantastic.

The noise cancelling earphone tech is very good. Just what you need to block out mundane conversations while commuting.

Easy to use when you get used to it. I read that the sonic stage software you use to export music from your computer to the player was rubbish and I wasn't expecting much. However, the only problem I have with it, is that when I try to export a custom album to the player, it splits some songs up into their own indiviual album's.

Once I figure that problem out, i'll be more than happy with this mp3 player.

1GB is more than enough space for me. I did consider an iPod but the Sony's size, battery and noise cancelling technology sold it for me.

I bought this player about a fortnight ago having never owned an mp3 player before and am very satisfied with it. The build quality is excellent and although I had heard awful things about it the sonicstage 4.1 software is easy to use. I don't know how it compares with rivals in this respect as this is my first player but I have found it easy to store/categorise albums and download them to the player itself.

The sound quality is great (better than a friends ipod) and I am impressed by the noise cancelling feature. I am on the search for some sports ear phones for the gym which also cancel noise as the head phone socket is so designed that if you use a different make of headphones they fit but this negates the noise cancelling feature built in. A minor gripe.

I was considering a shuffle but bought this instead as it has the following advantages for the same price: much better battery life, a display, an fm radio and good quality earphones (but see comments above re gym).

Stuff Magazine reviewed this player and said it was a challenger to the nano, at the price I bought it (£58)its more than a match for the shuffle. Since then the price has fluctuated but don't forget if you buy a shuffle you will probably want to upgrade the inferior headphones.