Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony NWS706 - 4GB Walkman MP3 Player - With Noise Canceling Headphones - Violet

The device deserves 5 stars, but the software is slow, clunky and demanding of resources. It is far from intuitive to use. The noise cancelling earphones work well and are the only earphones I have ever had supplied with a player that I have wanted to continue to use. On top of that the player itself looks great and works well. So what more could you want, apart from decent software, of course....

I bought this as an upgrade for the NW-E405 which I've been using for the last couple of years. I wanted Sony because of the quality and I'm not disappointed in the NW-S706F build. It's a beautiful little player - very solid.

However, like others I have real issues with SonicStage and it's about time Sony listened to their customers. For starters I upgraded from version 3.0 to 4.3 which was the wrong thing to do. I couldn't find the icon or process to create a new playlist ands in sheer frustration I deleted it all and re-installed version 3, which is not great but at least I understand it.

Another gripe is with the USB lead. Sony have now decided to supply a lead with their own plug attachment at the end whereas before they supplied the standard USB `small connector' at one end for MP3 players etc. This is ridiculous and means you cannot use an industry standard lead if you damage or lose the Sony one.

Unfortunately I can't use the noise cancelling earphones because they are `in ear' bud types which I'm hopeless with - I have to have the ones with ear loops. However, that's not a Sony fault - it's me.

Despite this the quality of the sound is excellent, and I love the FM Radio - another reason for me buying it. Easy to tune and establish preset stations (up to 30, which is a real bonus). All in all, a great MP3 player and radio, badly let down by the software and USB connector.

I'd been an extremely happy owner of an iPod Nano (4GB) since Oct'05 when a couple of months back I pulled it's lifeless shell from my back pack. It was covered in what looked like thick black blood. I had crushed the screen.

With a 8GB second generation Nano available this seemed like an obvious replacement until I happened across the lush form of the Sony NWS706. The NWS706 (a catchy name) has many positives. For a start it is simply gorgeous to look at. I would say that it's noticibly superior in sound quality than my nano (which is was very good).

It's battery life appears to exceed that of my nano's. It's reported to have a battery life of about 70 hours which I haven't tested, but it certainly is long. The unit charges via the USB connection. I'm not sure if there's a travel power adapter you can buy for it (like the one available for iPods).

The NWS706 isn't difficult to use although I would say that the iPods interface is far more intuitive. On my nano I could quickly select a new track on a new album with one hand using the touch wheel. The same is still possible with the NWS706, but you won't figure out how to do so as quickly as you would an iPod and more than likely a glance of the manual is required. In fact it's generally easier to use two hands just because of the way the rotating controls are located at the top of the device and the display is in it's body.

The device is well built. It's got a robust feel about it. The display is much less likely to break than an iPods for sure. I'm not brave enough to do a drop test though. It gives me more confidence than I had with my nano. It's also more "portable" than a nano. It's the size of a slim lighter making it easy for pockets. It can also be worn around ones neck which is nice.

The radio feature of the NWS706 is excellent. Apple missed a trick here. I think listening to the radio is a nice break from your own music too. The NWS706 can store up to 4GB of music where as the latest nanos can store up to 8GB. It would have been nice to have provided us with more storage.

The sonic stage software (it's music transfer software) provided is not even a patch on iTunes. Not even close. No where near as inutitive or powerful. For example if you have compilations containing several different artists it doesn't group these easily. It's doeable, but not easy. Transfering stuff is okay, but then again iTunes interface is far more slicker and i think much faster at this. That said the interface is usable and definitely not a show stopper for me.

In short this is an excellent little music player which could have done with more memory and better software. Even with it's faults, I still love it!

After extensive research I chose this player for its build quality and sound quality and I am not disappointed. Just a couple of observations stop a 5 star review. The supplied CD of Sound Stage 4.1 does not work with Vista, but a visit to Sony's site and a downloaded version 4.3 and all was well.

The sound reducing headphones work well, but will not stay in my ears during exercise, regardless of which 'grommet' is chosen, so I use ordinary headphones in the gym and when running.

Sound quality is good and I like the shuffle features. I bought it to use in the gym and it's fine - it's built like a brick.

If you want a very well built machine with FM radio and size of memory is not an issue, this could be okay for you.

Mousie

I don't know how anyone can struggle with this unit unless they are completely inept with technology. The software installed and ran fine ripping my moderately sized library to it in less than 25 minutes. The sound quality is awesome, I think that is main outstanding factor, it really is great value for money! Only downside is, as with most Sony stuff, the licensing restrictions can inhibit the transfer of downloaded tracks, I bought Muse's Wembley souvenir download and it won't let me transfer it. This player really is a quality piece of kit, I can't recommend it highly enough!