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How Sony's HD Audio Player Falls Short
Mr_Silver writes "Sony's new MP3 based HD player (the snappily titled NW-HD3) is reviewed over at head-fi.org. Unfortunately it can't remember where you last were located when browsing, you can't list all the songs by an artist, 1.5 hours to transfer 2100 songs (instead of the iPod's 15 minutes) and a wall of noise in the output. Final conclusion? 'If there was a way I could return this thing, I'd do it in a second.' So close, yet so far." Update: 12/14 00:35 GMT by T : Not quite so fast: As
forums.minidisc.org Administrator Christopher MacManus writes, it turns out that (as the threads below this review reveal), "The reviewer
discovers that the unit he had is defective as someone else employs one
and there is no hiss issue. Furthermore, the software woes he
experienced are related to him employing JAPANESE software on an English
operating system. Sonicstage 2.3, which he needs to use the unit, is now
available in English."
The only advantage I can see to getting this is that it charges off usb. I hate the fact that my 4th gen iPod will only charge off of a firewire port (although the included wall adapter is a really cool feature). Also, does anyone know if the SONY product can be used as a harddrive? The review said that you had to use their software to transfer songs, but it said nothing about how you could transfer files and things.
On one page I see an advert for a 40GB IPOD that can hold 15000 tracks for only $399
On the adjacent page I see that these tracks only cost me $0.99/each
My math says that's $14,850 to fill the thing up.
I've only got a hundred or so albums and it would be nice to carry them around with me, but getting them into the IPOD or SONY HD3 or whatever and indexing, is a royal PIT@. Going out and finding all that music and buying it AGAIN at the 99 cent music store is also a PITW (pain in the wallet).
Why the hell can't I just take my CD or vinyl recording and easily stuff it into the portable player? Until this is 'fast and easy' the radio or listening at home is more attractive (granted there are some good stations in my two home towns).
Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle!
So my original story sent over a week ago about this new player wasn't good enough? Had to wait for a post that made Sony sound like it sucks, eh? Seems like the typical /. way... oh well. FWIW, someone else on that thread got the HD3 and didn't notice and hiss issues with the device. I'm still looking forward to its release here in the states.
Granted, the 2100 song transfer was all mp3's, which is likely being wrapped in some DRM on the device and not the native ATRAC3plus format. Regardless, I agree that it's still slow. But then again, how often does one swap out that many songs on and off a DAP?
In the meantime, I'll wait for the "SONY SUCKS! APPLE RULES!" posts to suck up more internet bandwidth and database server space.
A few players such as this Sony and perhaps the Creative Muvo2 look good on paper, but specs aren't everything. A lot of it also comes down to the UI and how easy it is to use. If I have to scroll through 5G of songs with only a one line display (ala Muvo2) to find one song, you can forget that!
The friendliest digital photography forums on the net!
The guy running this site is going to hate me for doing this, but: you can see frequency response graphs of the various iPod EQ settings at:
http://www.modeemi.fi/~vesas/iPod_Audio.pdf
iPod settings like "Bass Booster" increase the level at 20Hz by up to 6dB relative to the midrange. In practice, with even remotely accurate headphones this amount of EQ makes for incredibly overblown bass. I question whether anyone who finds this insufficient is qualified to make an audio quality judgement about anything.
I personally find the "Electronic" setting on the iPod to be the only useful one that boosts the low bass a bit without totally destroying the music you're listening to. It's about a +/-1.5dB countouring emphasising low frequencies while cutting back around 300Hz and 7KHz where a lot of headphones (and MP3 files!) are a bit rough anyway.
I personally believe that Sony's dual role of hardware manufacturer and record lable are at odds with one another. (Indeed, you have to wonder if the famed Betamax case would have ever been filed in today's world.)
The iPod puts out fairly accurate low end when its hooked up to a stereo.
Yeah, but he was complaining about the iPod not having the power to drive his headphones, not his stereo (in which case it would be docked). Many an audiophile would agree that those preset "equalizer" settings aren't nearly precise enough to properly drive a larger set of Cans..
In fact, here's a graph that shows the problems that low impedance headphones can have when driven by an iPod (or similar DAP, in this case the iPod was used). Many DAPs have this "problem" and it can be remedied (to my ears at least) with a real parametric EQ...
Without looking, I know the DSC-F828 is a camera. I would guess that the KD-36XS955 is a TV (with the 36 indicating screen size.)
With cars, the opposite of what you noted is true. Honda used to name its Acura line of cars with names (Integra, Legend, Vigor, etc.). Their marketing experts didn't like that. They realized that buyers of high-end autos refer to the cars by brand, not by model, because the model was a series of numbers. I.e., a person buys a BMW or a Mercedes, not a 540iL or a E320 4Matic. But Acuras buyers refer to their cars as an Integra or a Legend, not as an Acura. To build brand identity, they changed the naming to initials (RSX, TSX, etc.). The goal is to get people to say they bought an "Acura," instead of a Legend, without reference to the manufacturer.
Chevrolet has the opposite problem with the Corvette. Chevrolet is known as a budget brand, but the Corvette is a $40+k sports car. So they minimize use of the name Chevrolet with the word Corvette.
My thoughts exactly.
Seriously, can it really be that hard? Elsewhere some people have so suggested, but honestly? Really? Are Apple that clever?
It staggers me that Sony have taken this long to come out with something, and when they do, it is virtually insulting. This product is, quite frankly, turd. (I speak from experience - I had the misfortune of tryin to use one in Japan in a shop - I failed dismally.)
Sony rocked the world with the Walkman. Now they're getting their asses whipped by the likes of Creative, iRiver and so on.
It truly is absurd.
iqu 8s
(To the parent: next, get an Apple laptop. You can get more of that warm fuzzy feeling - that completeness - that your iPod gives you. I bought an iPod, then made the switch, and have never looked back.)
Some older Walkman-type cassette tape player devices used the headphone cord as an antenna for a built in FM tuner. I used to have one. It didn't work as wel as a "real" antenna, but it was decent. Somtimes I had to hold the cord at a weird angle to pick up a faint station, but most of the time it was fine just letting the cord hang free. I don't see why that couldn't be done for the iPod and similar devices.
Of course, the real reason it hasn't been included on the iPod is probably that very few people want it. Carrying your entire music collection in a pocket-sized device means you just plain don't need radio anymore.
I mean come on... I HATE 'lol' as a damn abbreviation. I can't help but say it in my head when I read it and MAN it's annoying when it's used in writings...
So can I ask for a ban for any review that even thinks about containing 'lol' within it? This one does, has been shown to be a bad review of a defective product, and I think that speaks volumes of someone who would use 'lol' within a piece.
The E5 earbuds he was using are extremely sensitive, 122 dB SPL/mW. Most headphones are down in the 80 range. As a result, any noise in the electronics will be audible.
Make me a friend and I'll mod you up
"The reviewer discovers that the unit he had is defective as someone else employs one and there is no hiss issue. Furthermore, the software woes he experienced are related to him employing JAPANESE software on an English operating system. Sonicstage 2.3, which he needs to use the unit, is now available in English."
The original reviewer is employing much higher quality headphones (Shure) than the person who states that he encounters no hiss at all. As well the person in the headfi thread who responds that he has no issues has a different model.
This can mean several things:
1) That the model is particularly sensitive to power line noise.
2) That the better headphones are more sensitive to noise within unit than the lower quality headphones employed within by the other individual.
3) That the model is actually defective.
It does not mean the model 'isn't defective. But the reasons presented within the thread to not 'prove' the model is defective.
This is somewhat obvious, but: iTunes is definitely better than copying files manually.
/artist/album/ folder structure. One click. I then take the new songs and drag them onto the device where they are similarly organized. One drag.
This is especially true if you stay in iTunes-land: You rip your CDs with iTunes or buy songs from the ITMS and it automatically adds all the correct ID3 name tags. iTunes doesn't deal well with missing ID3 tags - it will just plop everything in the "unknown artist" category.
Why is iTunes better? iTunes provides a database of music and keeps the files organized on the disk in the background for you. I would naturally assume that any geek would understand how a database is better than a file system, but here are some examples: Searching is easier, re-organizing is easier, you have meta-data (like rating: 1 to 5 stars). You can create smart playlists, like "all 5 star songs in my library". And so on.
And you can conveniently move albums from iTunes to your portable mp3 player. If songs are already there, it will do nothing, not annoy you with an "are you sure you want to overwrite?" dialog. You can also set it to auto-sync all music if you have a big enough player.
A real-life example: I have a Bob Marley album on both the computer and the portable device. Now i just bought another Bop Marley album. On iTunes, i click "import" and it will go to the CDDB and get track names, import all files and put them in the correct place on the HDD, naming the files like the song titles, and putting it in a
If i am HDD based, i need to first tell my importing program where to put them on the HDD, "Save As: Bob Marley/Album..". Then, i open Explorer on the HDD, navigate to the the album (many clicks), hit "copy" on the album folder, navigate to the portable player to the correct album (many clicks) and hit paste. No gain, but a whole lot more work.
As far as crappy MP3 software is concerned, i know what you mean. Back when i had a Creative Nomad with MusicMatch JB (PC), i just could not use it. Like, at all. It was total crap. I had to resort to using the Nomad only on the mac, with the iTunes plugin (there was no iTunes for windows at the time).
I've owned about 10 portable CD players and a MiniDisc player and the iPod kicks all their asses for sound quality. Even the top of the line Sony Discmans over the years can't compare. Also, in terms of the output, I think it's probably higher than the average which makes it great for better headphones. I have some excellent Beyerdynamic DT531s which it drives wonderfully. In fact, a number of hi-fi reviewers have taken to using the iPod in show demos.
I do a lot of audio production (analog and digital) so I have a lineup of various brands/models of headphones that I use during final mixdown processes. From my experience, some devices do seem to have a little bit of extra "edge eq" similar to techniques used by commercial radio stations trying to get "that signature sound" type of an effect. IMO the iPod is bright on my whole range of headphones, from my wonderful Audio-Technica M40fs' (a great deal at $69-$99US for studio headphones that also sound great on everything) to shitty panasonics and almost-brandless Sony rip-offs I spend $7 to $15 on almost weekly. My PowerBook puts out colorless sound and (with eq off in iTunes and my mixes how they played out through the board, as CD size/format uncompressed AIFFs) has beautifully distinguished bass. I've noticed similar effects on some sony players, enhanced when sony's headphones are used, but muddy through the AT monitors and dry and harsh through iPod earbuds. These are my own mixdowns of stuff I'm working on in production and were transferred in that same uncompressed AIFF format to all the devices, and on CD as CD audio to play in car stereos, etc. Just my experience, but it's been something I've had to actually thinking about when closing up a mix recently. I've never heard a hiss, though, on any non-powered headphones (noise-canceling ones are really noisy, it's a bitch) on any of the devices I use, with any of my headphones, the hiss could be result of interference, crappy modem(DAC), crappy electrical in your house, no ground, or a million other things. Oh, and if this guy is driving 'audiophile-quality' headphones to the point of hearing hiss because they are sensitive (ohmage? s/n ratio? frequency response pattern?) he may well have already blown a crossover or otherwise damaged the drivers on his phones. Also the SPLs this would be pushing are close to ear-damaging and also cause the brain's very own distortion channel of pain to kick in on the signal, so he might be hearing the his from aural compression, so to speak. Stuff sounds better when you turn it down.