Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Walkman NWZS739FB 16GB Video MP4 FM Tuner with Noise-Cancelling Headphones - Black

In my opinion, this mp3 player is currently the best one on the market right now, along with the sony S639. The user is able to change the level of trebel and bass of a song, using the eq function within the player. The player has a long battery life and in my opinion, it offers the best value for money compared to the ipod.

This player contains a noise cancelling function, which cancels out any outside noise, useful when on the public transport.

It took me quite some time to work out the basics such as switching it off. Probably not a problem for those who have already used a simmilar device. I didnt need any of the bundled software as it worked perfectly well using Windows Explorer to drag/drop files from my computer. The sound quality is excellent as one would expect. The unit is compact, lightweight and good looking. My one disappointment was the poor radio reception. The headphones lead forms the ariel, which is very sensitive to direction. I dont suppose there is much that can be done but I certainly cant listen to the radio while moving about. Since this was the main reason for my purchase, I dont suppose I will be using it often.

First of all, it is a very nice player indeed. Very easy to load videos and music onto it (either via the supplied software or just drag-and-drop) and very easy to navigate around. It has a 'mood' feature that tries to categorise music into different types - 'Energetic', 'Relax', 'Upbeat' and suchlike. It makes a brave attempt to place music into the correct areas, but doesn't quite get them right. I can't say I see the point in such a feature as you can always construct a playlist.
The video quality is superb for such a small screen. The radio is easy to use and quite good quality, although I find a small amount of interference and prefer to use the radio in my 'phone.
Where it was let down was the headphones supplied with it. I had used the player's graphic equaliser to really boost the base as the sound was extremely 'tinny'. This made it bearable but still quite a disappointment, and as the graphic equaliser didn't affect the videos at all, they still sounded awful. This was resolved when I used another set of headphones that I had, and it now all sounds superb. It means I can't use the noise-cancelling feature, but I couldn't tell the difference with that anyway, and I never bought it for that feature.
Another aspect that I think could have done with more thought is that you can't use it while it is plugged into the PC. So if I need to charge it I can't also use it at the same time. As the PC link and the headphones are seperate sockets I think this is a major oversight by the designers.
However, the best player I have ever owned and I even with those niggles I am pleased I bought it.

This mp4 player could have been really serious competition for the ipod nano and others, if Sony would have just made a few improvements, in fact there are some features missing from this which even my old Creative Zen Micro had which is about 5+ years old.
For instance, very disappointed that the player does not have the ability to create play lists on the player it's self, instead you have to do this on the computer and then sync with the player, and this is a real pain for me! However I must say at this point, that the player does have its own automatic play list generator (sense me), this is supposed to analyze all the tracks and then put them in to different moods/categories but as far as I can see this is a useless gimmick and some of the music that it has put in the same categories couldn't be more different.
Another feature of this player which as far as I can see is no more than a gimmick is the "noise canceling feature",I cannot tell any difference using the supplied "supposed" noise canceling ear phones or my own (which do not have the "noise canceling").
Another annoying thing, there is no function to set a sleep timer so that the player will switch its self off after 30, 60, 90 minutes etc. (I would have thought that this would be pretty standard nowadays!)

On the up side though, the Sony does have really excellent battery life, small and light enough for your shirt pocket, well built, and sound quality seems very good.
Also has a good quality display for playback of video, albeit a little small to sit and watch an hour and a half movie.
I am hoping Sony will release a new firmware which will miraculously solve all these deficiencies (but I won't hold my breath).
I really like the player as far as looks, build quality, sound quality and battery life go, but I do wish I had opted for the competitor instead, due to the features that this simply just does not have.

This Sony is pretty well made, even if some parts were not exactly in their place, when I bought this item. The sound, in MP3, is great, but if you are looking for the BEST portable sound experience, forget the MP3 format (and so, this item, too).

I tested several musical masterpieces in different styles of music and compared them with MP3 and FLAC formats. Believe it or not: there are some noticeable and perfectly audible differences, always in favor of lossless FLAC format, except that the FLAC files' sizes are more important in FLAC format than in MP3 format (think about the maximum capacity for your item).

Then, the only problem is to find out some items, which, unlike Sony, enable this lossless FLAC format.

In conclusion, according to your #1 priority (best sound quality OR other features), you can definitely look at other items... or you can buy this item for its overall performance. Personally, I sent mine back, after only one week and I bought another item that really enables lossless FLAC format. Now, I really enjoy the lossless sound, every day (with great earphones, too).