Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Walkman NWA805FP 2GB Video - Pink

Frankly, I'm amazed that the Sony NWA800 series have not managed to creep up the bestsellers list to rival the iPod. It took a lot of surfing the net to find this mp3 player, but I'm now glad that I did. It not only looks fantastic (as good as, if not better than, the iPod nanos) but sounds fantastic. The earphones provided have pretty good sound quality although it takes a while to figure out how to get them into your ears. The quality of the visuals is also pretty impressive; the player came with the trailer for spiderman 3 and it was remarkably clear, though albeit a bit small to watch anything longer than a few minutes on.

For me, the main reason to get a Sony mp3 player was because they have the best battery life on the market and when they say 30 hours, they mean it. Sadly, they chose not to give this the massive 72 hour playback that some of their other players have, but I guess that's simply because this player has a powerful screen that the others didn't have.

The only quibble that some people may have with using Sony is the program used to transfer files, Sonicstage. Personally, I've never had any trouble with it even though it is occassionally a bit slow, but I have heard that others have had problems with it.

Pros:
Battery life
Looks good
Good sound
Can cram about 1000 tracks in 2gbs - not bad
Nowhere near as common as the iPod

Cons:
Sonicstage
Amazon not the cheapest (in this case)

Overall, if you have no problem with Sonicstage, this player is probably one of the best on the market and definately worth considering.

I wasn't even looking to buy another MP3 player, but when I got handle one of these in a shop I just had to have one. It's so small, light and stylish and the build quality is great. It plays video, music and you can import photos. But how good is it as a media player and is Sonic Stage really that bad?

1. Music. For playing music you have to use Sonic Stage. The version here is 4.3 and is much improved on the earlier versions that I have used. Sonic Stage really isn't that bad. You import your librarys and select your transfer method: you can import them as MP3 or convert them to Sony's ATRAC format which according to Sony is better quality at smaller file sizes. One downfall of Sonic Stage is that during the conversion it can take longer to transfer. However, just leave it to run in the background whilst you do other tasks (on my machine it isn't CPU/Memory hungry-and I don't a top-of-the-range PC). If you don't want to convert, then just transfer them in MP3 format. Note thought that .wmv files are not supported.

2. Sound quality. I'm a bit of an anorak when it comes to sound quality and to be honest the sound quality of the NW-808 is superb. Not as good as the iAudio players but not far off either (bear in mind that iAudio use BBE Maximiser which is exceptionally good). And in comparison to the iPods.... well there's no competition really. Sony have been making walkmans and headphones for years and with the NW-808 it really shows.

3. Video. The screen quality is superb. I honestly can't believe for a player this size and which is so light, that the quality is this good. The player is bundled with Image Converter which you use to convert your .avi files etc to play. Image Converter has the benefit of compressing and optimising the files for use on the player, so giving you more space for other things. Or you can simply drag and drop the files in an Windows Explorer window instead, without any compression.

4. Photos. You can use Image Converter again to compress your photos for viewing, or again drag and drop using Explorer.

5. As a memory stick. You can use the NW-A808 for as a hard drive simply by connecting it to any computer and using Windows Explorer for dumping files on to it.

6. Headphones. The headphones are actually quite good considering they are bundled. They come with a number of different size ear buds to accommodate different ear sizes. To get the best of of the NW-A808 you will need to buy a better set of headphones, but considering how bad the phones are that come with the iPod etc they really aren't a bad backup set of headphones.

Overall, an exceptional piece of kit. Battery life is good (although I'm yet to test it out to see whether you do get 30 hours). Don't be worried about Sonic Stage. Just learn the ropes and know it's limits and it will work fine for you. iTunes can be nightmare to use and in my experience Sonic Stage is easier and certainly more predictable to use than iTunes.

excellent little mp3 media player....sonic works ok with my mp3s and yes it is clunky but you get used to it....headphones are best ive had on a mp3 and ive had a few!!!!
battery superb and sound options vast.
video and photo great and you can see it in daylight.
bit pricey but you get what you pay for.

It took them a while, but Sony have finally produced a genuine iPod-beater.

This is a fantastic device:

-Build quality is top notch
-Quick, fuss-free interface
-Much bigger (and better quality) screen than the Nano, enabling excellent quality video playback
-Amazing sound-quality, no doubt helped by the inclusion of some excellent earphones (it would be nice if other manufactures took a cue from Sony and stopped bundling rubbish with their MP3 players)
-Incredible battery life

As is always mentioned, SonicStage could do with some improving (or they should simply stop forcing people to use it altogether), but the Image Converter software makes it surprisingly easy to convert videos. I am using a Vaio and had similar problems to others initially installing it, but this was resolved by downloading all the updates on Vaio Update.

I have owned this player for two weeks now. Here are my observations:
Hardware: The NW-A806 is small compact, and very sexy. The controls are easy to use, and well positioned on the unit itself, and the screen is large enough to view graphics reference album art, or videos that you choose to store upon your player.
Software: Now I have owned an Ipod, and I don't consider myself a Ipod hater. The big selling point to my mind ref the Ipod is the software. Itunes is excellent, easy to set up & use, and a great store to purchase songs, albums, or videos from. I don't have a problem with Sonic Stage. It does the job that it was created for. And the beauty of this player is that it truly brings to life SS. Once connected to SS, any tracks deleted off the NW-A806 will be updated on the software. true, it's not all singing and dancing like Itunes, and the cost of songs/albums can be more expensive than Itunes, but it does a good job of organising my music, and allowing me to add/delete music onto my player, and that's good enough for me.
Sound Quality: How this IS the big plus for me. Like I said earlier I have owned Ipods until recently, and enjoyed the experience. BUT the sound quality, or lack of, was the reason why i got rid of mine. The SQ on this player is superb. Unlike a Ipod you have a equaliser on the init itself, that adjusts the sound quality to your liking, surround sound, clear bass, and this coupled with the ability to delete tracks off your unit, and an excellent battery life, are reasons enough to consider purchasing this unit. Some may feel that 4(or the 2GB, and 8 GB models) are not enough for them, but it suits my needs fine. But don't take my word for it. Go into any Sony centre and have a listen yourself.