Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Walkman NWZA828K 8GB Video with Wireless Headphones

This is a fantastic purchase as you can see from the other reviews here it is really going to be a hit this year.

I personally did quite a bit of research into the latest players on the market as i dont want to give out 150pounds without being sure, and neither should anybody. Utimately when one makes the purchase, unless you have already seen it upclose, you are taking a risk. Here are my thoughts to why it is a solid purchase.

Firstly it looks great, it is light but not plasticy, a solid build. The screen looks fantastic and really makes a positive impression during use.

The buttons are absolutly straight forward and easy to use. More usefull though are the controls on the bluetooth headphones.

So about those bluetooth headphones. I was unsure about the whole thing, did not really understand the technology and thought that i might get a headache from them or something. Having used them for two weeks now, i am so utterly satisfied, it would be difficult to go back to regular headphones. Of course i make a point of being aware of where i am going with them, and if i might end up at a party or something i would probably just go out with the in ear cable phones, this is because (you will knowwhat i mean soon) i have become so overly protective of the things that i want to make sure they do not get knocked and damaged, this is probably the sets only drawback, if you put these headphons in your rucksack and forget about them.........

other than that, they are fantastic, no more messing about with cable when riding a bike, which i do alot of, there are a hundred uses. plus you can do basic navigation and volume control, so you never even have to touch the player for short periods of time. To conclude they are essential.

The sound quallity, as to be expected, is the best on the market.

videao quaity is super, although you will have to use a third party software to convert your movies into mpeg4 (google avi to mpeg4 convertor and you will get some freeware). This is perfect for long journeys on the train or plane, and is easiar than a laptop.

cost is high but worthwhile.

in ear phones are briliant

Little advice, get the official sony leather case, they go so well together it becomes part of the player, it is elegant and protects the player for sure.

i wont bash other players, but if you to a little research on features you will see that it is out doing all players on the essential issues. Sure some players have different features, but the essentials are here and superior. It is so simple to use, like a usb stick.

so thats my quick review i hope that you make the right choice.

I got my player this week and i love it. The sound quality is clear through both the bluetooth headphones and standard earphones and the device is well made and easy to use. The menus are similar to Ericssons and the interface to my computer is simple via media player 11.

The unit charging is via USB to your computer, but the Sony AC to USB 5V power Adaptor is sold seperately allowing you to plug it into the socket.

The bluetooth headset charges via normal plug socket.

There is a biggish speaker dock Sony SRS-NWGM30 Speaker Dock, and a small speaker dock Sony SRS-NWT10M Mini speaker for NWZ Walkman available on Amazon. If you want to retain the bluetooth freedom then there's also Sony SRS-BT100 Bluetooth Speaker.

You can buy a wire which will allow you to hook up to your existing stereo via the aux from any electronics store, but make sure you know the size of the port at the back of your stereo.

This is my first player so i can't compare it to the others, but i certainly recommend it to anyone. By the way, it doesn't come with a case but it fits a large phone sock i got from a certain auction site.

Update: there's a leather case available on Amazon: Black Genuine Leather Case Cover for Sony Walkman Bluetooth NWZ-A826 NWZA826 NWZ-A828 NWZA828 NWZ-A829 NWZA829 NWZ-A828K NWZ-A826K NWZ-A829K NWZ-A726, NWZ-A728 & NWZ-A729 + Screen Protector

I bought this Sony Bluetooth Walkman 8GB NWZ-A828K as an upgrade to an old Sony Network Walkman I have and overall I've been very impressed with it. The player is well made with an aluminium body and has easy to use controls and a bright, clear screen/user interface combined with excellent battery life.

In the box you get both Bluetooth headphones and wired in-the-ear style headphones with different sized ear-buds for comfort and fit. The neck-band style Bluetooth headphones have a reasonable 10m range, their own mains charger and basic controls such as: volume/shuffle etc, on the right hand side earpiece. Although, I found the wired in-the-ear headphones to provide better sound quality.

The player's default sound quality is very good and has excellent depth and definition in the mid to high range tones. I found that I needed to tweak the bass levels a little bit for my own taste and this is easy to do with numerous options available for personalising & enhancing the sound as listed below:

Graphic Equalizer modes: None, Heavy, Pop, Jazz, Unique, Custom 1, Custom 2.(you can tweak the levels and Clear Bass in the custom modes)
VPT Surround sound modes: None, Studio, Live, Club, Arena, Matrix,Karaoke.
DSEE sound enhancer: on/off
Clear Stereo: on/off
Dynamic Normalizer: on/off
AVLS (volume limiter): on/off

Obviously, sound quality can vary slightly between file formats, bit rates and quality of the original source recording, but most of the tracks I've downloaded and CDs I've copied to it have a deep, rich quality to them, which shows Sony have put some serious effort into the engineering of this little player.

Transferring files to the player is fairly easy and you can use Windows Media Player, Windows Explorer or the supplied Sony Media Manager Software. Although the Sony ATRAC file format is no longer supported, the supplied software includes a file conversion tool, if you have an older Sony player.

I have read some criticisms of the video functions of this player on a few review websites and think this is mainly to do with transferring video to the player rather than the playback quality itself, which like the music & photo gallery playback is very good.

You can't really transfer copy protected material to the player and transfer & file conversion times can be quite lengthy. Most file formats are supported, but you can upgrade to Sony Media Manager Pro on-line for about $12/£7 for extra functions and file support.

Overall, I'd say this is an excellent little player from Sony and avoids being locked into Apple only stuff and the whole ipod poor sound quality/herd mentality scenario and I'd recommend it to anyone, although I did knock a star off the rating because the video transfer isn't as seamless as I'd hoped it would be...

I wanted an I-Pod. I read a lot of bad press about them. This item looked like it said what it did on the tin.

I bought this with the i-nique case. It arrived today 13 Jun 08. I installed the software to my 2 computers, charged the batteries for the Bluetooth Headset using the supplied adapter and let the Sony charge from the USB port of my Laptop. I ran the software , downloaded my music, hit play and the wireless headset hasn't been of my head since. Great sound, easy to use but I have a bit of trouble with the select button on the Sony. It is too easy to hit the 'OK' instead of the 'left' 'right' 'up' 'down' button. Apart from that, can't fault it. Having main controls on the headset is really convenient once you find out where they are by feel.

I bought on the strength of the other positive reviews from this site. They are correct in my view. Highly recommended purchase. Good sound, wireless headset is a winner.

This is my fourth MP3 player after 3 Creatives broke down. It took me ages to work out which one to get next, I picked this one, and it's fantastic. The sound quality is amazing, the screen is reasonably sized and it's very easy to use.

Incidentally, I was a bit confused by playlists at first, but just make them on Windows Media Player 11 (which the player comes with) and you can drag them right on over. The wirless head set is really easy to use and handy when it comes to household chores! The screen is clear and bright and it charges up in next to no time.

I strongly advise you to pick this one if you're struggling between brands like I was!