I just bought the a820 and it's pretty nice. I'm disappointed that there's no sleep timer though. And I have to admit, it's slower transferring from drag and drop then with iTunes for my Nano...
One question. Since it's basically a flash drive, I was expecting it to show that icon in my taskbar where I could "safely remove device", but it doesn't show up. Are you supposed to just unplug it? Also, when I plug it to my mac, it does have an eject button but once I do eject, the player will automatically re-sync to the computer.
I just bought the a820 and it's pretty nice. I'm disappointed that there's no sleep timer though. And I have to admit, it's slower transferring from drag and drop then with iTunes for my Nano...
One question. Since it's basically a flash drive, I was expecting it to show that icon in my taskbar where I could "safely remove device", but it doesn't show up. Are you supposed to just unplug it? Also, when I plug it to my mac, it does have an eject button but once I do eject, the player will automatically re-sync to the computer.
I usually just pull my flash drive whenever, and it has never been damaged. It really shouldn't make a difference, unless it is in use when you pull it out.
Background: just got the NWZ-A829 to use with my previously purchased DR-BT50 headphones (closed-back/over-ear BT phones). I also have the Samsung P2 and the Insignia Pilot players (both are bluetooth 2.0).
All of the audio effects and equalizers DO work over Bluetooth! (U have the ability to allow/disallow audio options to each paired BT device). The master volume control (side-mounted rocker) is reserved for the wired headphone jack only. U will have to use the BT headset's volume control. The A829 paired easily with the BT50 headphones and for some reason the bass bloat/bulge that was present in these phones when used with the other BT players was mostly-to-nearly corrected. I can't tell but there may be a preset "audio profile" in the A829 for these Sony phones when paired in the player...will know more when I try out a pair of DR-BT21's later this week.
As to audio quality over BT there are settings for the audio quality level verses RF connection in the setup menu. With the highest audio quality setting the fidelity is suprisingly good. Not quite the "air" or texture/depth compared to wired but definately much more than passible for those who need the wireless. I used a venerable pair of ol' Audio-Technica ATH-910 closed-back over-ear phone for a wired/wireless comparison to the BT50. Compared to the Samsung P2 the BT audio quality is definately a step or two up. To the poor Pilot, many steps up
To expand on the BT audio: I also had previously tried the Sony DR-BT22 headsets with both the P2 and Pilot and had to return them due to a irritating distorted/cracking sort of sound, hiss and odd background noises that would appear out of nowhere (not a RF connection problem as these sounds could be repeated perfectly, over & over). Research now leads me to believe this noise was some sort of modulation/re-coding error in the players (data file to PCM to SBC), really bad on the Pilot, not so bad on the P2 and AFAIK non-existent on the A829. I don't know if Sony has better BT implementation/integration, a better BT chipset (Broadcom?, CSR?) or what but it is the best sounding BT pairing I've heard so far. Although still saddled by the lossy SBC codec [and therefore shouldn't make much a difference] the BT sound is better. BTW, the BT chipset in the A829 is 2.0+EDR, the first that I know of in a player [even though the "EDR" part doesn't seem to be used here?].
YMMV but to me the wired connection with Sony also sounded a bit better than the P2; clearer/louder/stronger phone amps with a very slight nod to the Sony on depth/layering and clarity. It was no contest with the Pilot...it was left way back in the dust.
Also noted was what I first thought was an oddity in operation: When the BT is "connected" the wired jack is inoperative (and visa-versa). I thought this strange because the other makes of player's BT and wired outputs could operate in tandem (i.e. 2up listening). But thinking about it, the Sony probably cuts power to the headphone amps during BT operation to conserve battery power.
Otherwise, it seems like a well-built player. Nothing too fancy, good audio with decent build quality at less weight than the P2.
Thanks for the reply RoadHazard. I ask because at the moment I have a Zune 30 that does something similar to what you're describing and feel like it eats the battery life. If you were do guess, how many hours of play time do you think you get on your sony between charges?
Are you turning it off correctly at first I thought my zune30 had terrible battery life but it turns out I was putting it in sleep mode. In order to shut down the zune you have to hold the back button and down button on the pad.
I actually do know how properly turn it off, but the thing is that I usually go to sleep w/ music, so that's why a sleep timer or decent battery life is that much more important to me. I also am not one to charge my player everyday so that's why it matters to me.
Yeah, I like falling asleep to music too. As far as I know, the only players with a great interface and Sleep Timer are the iPods so I was hesitant of ever buying a different brand player for the longest time. If only Apple put as much effort into their sound as their interface (1st gen Nano mind you). Guess I can use it as a night time player.
The Zune was the only other player which had a great interface, but no sleep timer. At least with the Sony, there's the sound quality to warrant a buy. It's only been a day, but this thing already completely destroys the iPod in the sound department. Everything else I like more on the iPod.
There's quite a few things I don't like with the Sony:
- case-sensitive names
- no seeking except for a very slow RW/FF, AFAIK
- slow scrolling
- ugly generic interface that should have been updated
- no sleep timer
- no gapless playback
- volume knob too easy to accidentally push
- hold button too easy to accidentally push
- can't set volume limit to anything lower than 12 (I'd set it at 8 if I could)
- unstable support for Macs
- a lot of other minor details
Positives:
+ best sounding MP3 player I've heard so far (most important quality I guess)
+ big, clear screen
+ drag and drop is nice, but very slow
+ new model looks much cleaner than the a818 (those buttons were blah)
But overall, I don't regret this one bit. It's a killer player
Yeah, I like falling asleep to music too. As far as I know, the only players with a great interface and Sleep Timer are the iPods so I was hesitant of ever buying a different brand player for the longest time. If only Apple put as much effort into their sound as their interface (1st gen Nano mind you). Guess I can use it as a night time player.
The Zune was the only other player which had a great interface, but no sleep timer. At least with the Sony, there's the sound quality to warrant a buy. It's only been a day, but this thing already completely destroys the iPod in the sound department. Everything else I like more on the iPod.
There's quite a few things I don't like with the Sony:
- case-sensitive names
- no seeking except for a very slow RW/FF, AFAIK
- slow scrolling
- ugly generic interface that should have been updated
- no sleep timer
- no gapless playback
- volume knob too easy to accidentally push
- hold button too easy to accidentally push
- can't set volume limit to anything lower than 12 (I'd set it at 8 if I could)
- unstable support for Macs
- a lot of other minor details
Positives:
+ best sounding MP3 player I've heard so far (most important quality I guess)
+ big, clear screen
+ drag and drop is nice, but very slow
+ new model looks much cleaner than the a818 (those buttons were blah)
But overall, I don't regret this one bit. It's a killer player
How's the stock headphone that comes with the A829?
Yeah, I like falling asleep to music too. As far as I know, the only players with a great interface and Sleep Timer are the iPods so I was hesitant of ever buying a different brand player for the longest time. If only Apple put as much effort into their sound as their interface (1st gen Nano mind you). Guess I can use it as a night time player.
The Zune was the only other player which had a great interface, but no sleep timer. At least with the Sony, there's the sound quality to warrant a buy. It's only been a day, but this thing already completely destroys the iPod in the sound department. Everything else I like more on the iPod.
There's quite a few things I don't like with the Sony:
- case-sensitive names
- no seeking except for a very slow RW/FF, AFAIK
- slow scrolling
- ugly generic interface that should have been updated
- no sleep timer
- no gapless playback
- volume knob too easy to accidentally push
- hold button too easy to accidentally push
- can't set volume limit to anything lower than 12 (I'd set it at 8 if I could)
- unstable support for Macs
- a lot of other minor details
Positives:
+ best sounding MP3 player I've heard so far (most important quality I guess)
+ big, clear screen
+ drag and drop is nice, but very slow
+ new model looks much cleaner than the a818 (those buttons were blah)
But overall, I don't regret this one bit. It's a killer player
Someone mentioned earlier or somewhere else that if you pause first, then FF/RW will be faster.
Someone mentioned earlier or somewhere else that if you pause first, then FF/RW will be faster.
Ah you're right! Thanks for that.
Originally Posted by Loc13
How's the stock headphone that comes with the A829?
For the stock earphones question, I only tested it for a couple seconds, but from what I heard, it's not bad. Better than most ear buds that come with other players. I don't know about your other question. I listen to the volume at about 3-5. Anything in the double digits is too loud for me, so 20 is out of the question.
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