Meizu m6sl vs Sony a8xx

Meizu vs Sony - carrying on an ancient rivalry

Since no one has chimed in, here are my quick impressions with Westone UM2s:

Meizu M6 SP - in your face clear & detailed sound, great ability to eq and great ability to provide excessive amounts of distortion-free bass for bassheads, lightning speed usb transfer rate, great colourful screen, great battery life; on-the-fly-playlisting is available but seemed tricky to implement (I never saved more than 1 playlist, can someone confirm that more can be saved?)

Cons - poor build quality: for example, power button is useless after everyday use for 5 months; buggy firmware, awkward & ugly ui; track skipping at end of tracks; difficult to display album art; slow power up/on; updating of media library is slow when player is near capacity; cannot browse by folder

Sony A818 - detailed enveloping sound = great soundstage; good ability to eq (clear bass option is nice and distortion-free); excellent build quality, great & logical & beautiful ui; album art display works (with embedding or wmp/mm transfer); great battery life; lightening quick power up; quick updating of media library when near capacity; can browse by folder

Cons - slow usb transfer rate; no on-the-fly-playlisting; smaller screen than Meizu's (but, for my audio only needs I would take this screen over the Meizu's for its more compact size, and sharper, more professional icons and ui display)

Conclusion: My Meizu has lasted 5 months and is now relatively useless. I can only power it up by connecting to the usb of a laptop as the power button has imploded within the unit - this is not ideal for my frequent subway, bus and airplane travel. She has now been relegated to roadie status as an 8gb usb storage device. Her singing days are over.

We had a great ride together, some may call it a brief, yet torrid love affair but what ended up being detrimental to our union was her physical fragility and mental instability (sexy, malnourished & uncultured urban princess with emotional issues).

My Sony has only graced my presence for less than a week, however, our love affair has exponentially grew with each passing day (elegant and sophisticated career-oriented business woman whose striking appearance is not in anyway tarnished by her Kevlar armor-like exterior).


Thus, my Sony A818 wins by a great margin in terms of dependability, and also by a significant margin in the sound presentation & execution category in my humble ears' opinion.

Just to add a bit more. The SP version is an older design. The new(er) SL version has addressed much of those issues. The dedicated power button was removed and relagated to the touchpad. The FW is much improved. Updating the media library does take a bit of time (a non-issue for me). I think the Meizu M6 is teriffic. Haven't heard the Sony but I've read nice things about it.

As far as dependability - the Meizu feels solid and well-built. I think if I threw it against a wall, I could break it. (I won't be doing that anytime soon). I think to say that a less than a week old Sony is more dependable than a five month old Meizu with a broken on/off button - the design of which, has been addressed and improved in the current model... is silly.

nice small comparo mate. i have the meizu m6 sp and the sony a615 - should be the same internals. wonderful sound for both of the devices. both are one of my favourites. the sony is just maybe a bit too crazy with bass but then i do not have windows and have only listened to recordings of my itunes collection as i bought it mainly as an alternative to my dead md recorder.

by the way, recording with this player is wonderful - very good. i have not given it upload tests as it only works in windows but i would assume that the original and line in are quite similar - will have to see how it fairs with a microphone later.

the meizu is a wonderful looking player witha great form factor. i love the slim, white, ipod look. warm inviting. great for cozy music. cheers

Hey guy, just giving my 2 cents here. Thats good news about the SL model though. However, I would still be concerned about the Meizu regardless of such changes. In vain efforts to contact Meizu in quest for some sort of warranty policy, I have yet to hear from them. After recently scrolling the meizu-me forums in search of answers, one comes across a litany of technical glitches and build issues from otherwise happy customers.

I fall into a similar base of meizu customers. Initially excited by a seemingly great product, but let down by build quality and lack of customer support. The Sony comes with a one year warranty, and there happens to be a wide assortment of sony stores to turn to if such problems arise. Where can you take the good ol' meizu when trouble lurks?

Sorry for my own silly question, and not to be trite but; Where, or from whom did you purchase it?

In Hong Kong. Maybe the folks at meizu will respond, I just realised its Chinese New Year, so they are on holiday. Hopefully they will get back to me after the holiday with a new player.

Good luck with the SL model.

Thank you, and sorry I wasn't more precise. I have the SL and as a matter of fact, I've had two of them. First a 4GB, then an 8GB and sold the smaller one. Never had any real issues with either, just a minor reset here and there. I've dealt with two separate authorized dealers in the US who inspired confidance. As far as I'm led to believe; You have a solid one year warranty on the product. Whether you or your dearler sends it in to Meizu, they should cover it. Also the warranty travels with the product for the one year term. In other words, it's transferable to a subsequent owner. Good luck getting yours repaired. You shouldn't have any problems doing so.

oops. I meant SL. Thanks and enjoy.

*Edited previous posts' mistakes from SP to SL to maintain coherence. I hate acronyms.

For the best sound, you may want to take a look at Teclast T39 also.

The Meizu has better sound then Teclast. I have never found another reviewer on any DAP fourms that has ever prefered Teclast over Meizu.

I own both the Meizu M6 SL and the Sony NWZ-A818. The sound is pretty comparable. The Sony has a +1dB boost in the low and high frequencies which adds a touch more to the sound. Even though the sound very similar, I prefer the Sony.

The build quality of both players is also comparable. Both are very solid. I trust the Sony's tactile buttons over the Meizu's touch strip (it can get annoying).

The user interface is where the Sony really shines. You can access any other screen in 3 clicks or less. The Meizu takes much more patience.

The Meizu has a much bigger screen for movies.

I reviewed both her on Head-fi:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/so...review-276557/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/me...review-276559/

In three words , Buy the Sony:

Sony NWZ-A818 $195.99

Also look at the Cowon D2, which is easily superior to the Meizu m6, in build, features, firmware, and expandability.

Hi Kaz, Although you own both players, I find it very difficult to believe that the Sony sounds better, based on the Sony having a +1dB boost in the low and high frequencies (which, as you say adds a touch more to the sound).

FWIW, I read your "reviews", of the two players though for now, my interest and focus is more on the Meizu. My 8Gb M6SL seems to have a few (slight) operational differences from what you've described. You're correct on the time it takes to update the library. Turn-off for me is practically instantaneous, and turn-on is about ten seconds. With "clean" well-recorded music, I'm hearing no low level hiss to speak of. Though at my age, my ears are certainly not what they once were. I do hear the tape hiss encoded onto all of the Mercury Living Presence CD's (purposefully done when these were digitised from analog). And FWIW, I'm mostly using UM2's and pod-modded iM716's for my listening. Also, your "review" notes many of Meizu's sound enhancement features, but from your description of some of them (or rather, lack-of description), I'm not convinced that you actually know how they work! Although you may. For example you say, "The spatializer is one the worst sound enhancements I have ever heard on a DAP." - you've written this as if it were an on/off switch, while in reality there are a few selectable choices within the Spatializer mode. Yes, it can be set to sound pretty horrible, but it can also be adjusted to nicely enhance the sound. Your discription of it is disingenious, and could lead those even less knowledgeable than you, to believe the wrong thing! You're well-meaning, but not a very good reviewer (at least yet). Though I do applaud your efforts. Please permit me this statement - as I've been reading (more like living & breathing), TAS, Stereophile and numerous other reviews for more than twenty five years.

So... assuming you're using the sound effects adjustments for both players because if you're not it would be a waste of either players capabilities, and would completely invalidate your opinion of them (stated above).

But I'm ready to accept your opinion if you're willing to take a few minutes, and take-up this challenge (of sorts) A little experiment if you will...

Listening to your own music of choice set-up the Sony, with its sound effects set to however you most like them. Get the best sound out of it you can - whatever best suits your ear.

Do the same with the Meizu, setting it's (user-defined) ten band EQ to however you like it best. Next, turn the Spatializer on. Set the Spatializer Mode to Normal. (the other two modes are of limited use - there's no need here to give my opinion of them). Set the Phase Corrected Equalizer to somewhere between 5 & 7 whatever suits you. Virtual Bass should be off.
Lastly, adjust the separate Bass Boost & Treble Boost to fine tune your music. This with the understanding that the frequency sliders aren't overused in your 10 band EQ settings.

That's it. YOU be the judge. I'm willing (at least for now), to accept your opinion that the Sony sounds better - if indeed it does.

Please post back your findings.

For the record. I'm "joe purist". No EQ or tone controls - though I've "toyed" with them. I listen to and enjoy digital but I'm all-tube analog. I've owned a very nice compliment of high end equipment over the years. I'm an experienced listener - though I make no claim to fame. I've just been at it a long time. Re: Portable audio at this level of equipment, I think it's a mistake to not use tone controls if they're available. It's a blast and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I think that's the point of it all.

When you call something "easily superior" to something else, it's not really helpful to anyone unless you state why. Give some proof of the validity of your opinion. As it is; You're probably somewhat right and somewhat wrong.