OK, what's your point? I too found SonicStage version 2.3 (in English) on Friday, but it didn't work with the HD3. I was very specific about this in the review.
In any case, if you feel that I have misrepresented the HD3 in my review, please feel free to write your own. What I reviewed was the unit I received, and I described MY EXPERIENCE with that unit. I'm sure that you would be better able to describe YOUR experience with the HD3 than I am, I had only MY experience with the unit to base my review on.;)
First of all, when I bought the HD3, SonicStage 2.3 was NOT available in English, except for an Asian-Pacific version, which did not support the HD3. If you bothered reading my review, you would have seen this. The correct version 2.3 might be available NOW, but it wasn't available last Friday when I spent several hours online searching for it. Nor was anyone at Sony able to give me any kind of direct answer as to its future availabillity (in fact, as I mentioned in the review, the guy I spoke to at Sony offered to call the store to arrange for a refund - that's right, HE suggested this as a course of action because in his words 'it might never work, due to having different firmware').
As for the background noise issue, I bought the ONLY unit that the store received on Friday. It wasn't possible to exchange the unit (to see if it was indeed defective) and quite frankly, after the many hours I wasted Friday night trying to get it to work, coupled with the incredibly long transfer times and the clunky AI, I really didn't care to exchange it for another one. In any case, if the unit I got was defective, that doesn't say much for Sony's QA, IMHO.
As for the bass-head remarks, yes I like bass. The iPod's bass is rather weak with certain low impedance phones, there's a sharp bass rolloff at about 50-60Hz, which means that that really low frequnecy bass is just NOT THERE with those phones. For example, MY phones, the Shure E5c's, which are have very low impedance (at 20-100Hz IIRC). Incidentally, this is part of the reason that the iPod usually sounds great through an external amp - the impedance is much higher, therefore there's no rolloff below 50-60Hz. THAT'S why I disliked my iPod's sound, but it's something I've decided to remedy with the purchase of an external amp (it's either that, or different phones, but the E5c's are just too great to let go of)...
As for comparing the HD3 to the iPod, what else would I compare it to? My MD player? The iPod I own is a 20GB HDD player, as is the Sony. It's an apples-to-apples comparison, and just because I felt the Sony couldn't even hold a candle to certain aspects of the iPod - well, it was a review, MY OPINION of the product. And that's exactly what I gave. MY OPINION. My opinion is based, in part, on my two week experience with the iPod. Sorry if that rubs the anti-Apple fanboys the wrong way...;)
Finally, the review I posted was 100% factual, and it outlined MY EXPERIENCE with the HD3. I bought the unit on Friday afternoon, the day it was launched, and I wrote about everything that happened TO ME. If I received a defective unit, then unfortunately THAT is what my review was based on. I'd recommend contacting Sony about that directly, it's not something I chose or had any control over. The background noise was the main reason I returned the unit, but there were enough other reasons to convince me that the HD3 was not for me. I'm not sure what you expect out of an informal review, other than a truthful account of the reviewer's experience, but that's what I gave.
Slashdot Mirror
OK, what's your point? I too found SonicStage version 2.3 (in English) on Friday, but it didn't work with the HD3. I was very specific about this in the review.
;)
In any case, if you feel that I have misrepresented the HD3 in my review, please feel free to write your own. What I reviewed was the unit I received, and I described MY EXPERIENCE with that unit. I'm sure that you would be better able to describe YOUR experience with the HD3 than I am, I had only MY experience with the unit to base my review on.
You know, these comments are rather amusing.
...
... ;)
;) (sorry, I do use lol from time to time)
First of all, when I bought the HD3, SonicStage 2.3 was NOT available in English, except for an Asian-Pacific version, which did not support the HD3. If you bothered reading my review, you would have seen this. The correct version 2.3 might be available NOW, but it wasn't available last Friday when I spent several hours online searching for it. Nor was anyone at Sony able to give me any kind of direct answer as to its future availabillity (in fact, as I mentioned in the review, the guy I spoke to at Sony offered to call the store to arrange for a refund - that's right, HE suggested this as a course of action because in his words 'it might never work, due to having different firmware').
As for the background noise issue, I bought the ONLY unit that the store received on Friday. It wasn't possible to exchange the unit (to see if it was indeed defective) and quite frankly, after the many hours I wasted Friday night trying to get it to work, coupled with the incredibly long transfer times and the clunky AI, I really didn't care to exchange it for another one. In any case, if the unit I got was defective, that doesn't say much for Sony's QA, IMHO.
As for the bass-head remarks, yes I like bass. The iPod's bass is rather weak with certain low impedance phones, there's a sharp bass rolloff at about 50-60Hz, which means that that really low frequnecy bass is just NOT THERE with those phones. For example, MY phones, the Shure E5c's, which are have very low impedance (at 20-100Hz IIRC). Incidentally, this is part of the reason that the iPod usually sounds great through an external amp - the impedance is much higher, therefore there's no rolloff below 50-60Hz. THAT'S why I disliked my iPod's sound, but it's something I've decided to remedy with the purchase of an external amp (it's either that, or different phones, but the E5c's are just too great to let go of)
As for comparing the HD3 to the iPod, what else would I compare it to? My MD player? The iPod I own is a 20GB HDD player, as is the Sony. It's an apples-to-apples comparison, and just because I felt the Sony couldn't even hold a candle to certain aspects of the iPod - well, it was a review, MY OPINION of the product. And that's exactly what I gave. MY OPINION. My opinion is based, in part, on my two week experience with the iPod. Sorry if that rubs the anti-Apple fanboys the wrong way
Finally, the review I posted was 100% factual, and it outlined MY EXPERIENCE with the HD3. I bought the unit on Friday afternoon, the day it was launched, and I wrote about everything that happened TO ME. If I received a defective unit, then unfortunately THAT is what my review was based on. I'd recommend contacting Sony about that directly, it's not something I chose or had any control over. The background noise was the main reason I returned the unit, but there were enough other reasons to convince me that the HD3 was not for me. I'm not sure what you expect out of an informal review, other than a truthful account of the reviewer's experience, but that's what I gave.
lol