Is the Sony NW-HD5 any good even though its so old?

I've heard of new zealand before.

Sorry, can't say I'm familiar with it. But I love how old school it is!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synergy Sound 

Sorry, can't say I'm familiar with it. But I love how old school it is!

Talking about new zealand or the DAP?

I'd say that it sounds like a pretty good price. Are you talking about US$80 or NZ$80? If it's NZ$80 it's a really good price.

If you do not need fancy stuff such as a color screen or gapless playback, the HD5 is great. When I bought my second hand HD5 earlier this year, I was surprised at how small it is for a 20GB HDD player. It also has got a 100% user replacable battery. A very wise choice by Sony.

It does have a line out option in the menu. I have never used it, but I've seen it. If you set line out on, the volume will be mxed out, so remember to turn the line out off before going back to headphone listening...

Here's a thread about the line out:

http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/4325-nw-hd5-line-out-question/

A thing that can be negative to some is that you have to use Sony's Sonicstage software when you transfer music. If you use some other software the player's database will not update properly. I do not find Sonicstage that terrible. It might have been bad in the beginning, but the last version released isn't that bad.

What else is there...

Ah, most of the HD5 sold in Europe have volume restriction. You need to enter the service menu to remove this. If the HD5 you are looking at first was sold in New Zealand , it might not have that volume restriction.

Here's some info on how to remove the volume restriction and make the HD5 louder (remember to not fiddle around too much in the service menu.):

http://www.avforums.com/forums/portable-music-mp3/215671-sony-nw-hd5-volume.html

If you do not mind not having gapless playback, and being forced to use Sonicstage to transfer music, the HD5 is a great choice. Soundwise is is still a good choice.

ive just posted about the same player,  ( HD1 and HD5 are the same internally )

see;

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/565202/sansa-fuze-v-sony-nw-hd1-sony-has-much-better-sound-quality#post_7646715

yes,  the HD5 is still unbeatable for sound quality, and can drive full size headphones like the HD600s

forgot to add,

the HD5 does do gapless  ,   at least with CD rips,    might not do it with MP3 but i dont use MP3s anyway

also sonicstage is NOT that bad,   I used to think it was awful,  but having recently purchased a Sansa Fuze,  Ive now realised you need to have ID TAGs with FLACs ( etc  )  so thats another process ,  and in the end with sonicstage it uses gracenotes to find all the album data

so swings and roundabouts really -   seems sonicstage is not as bad a process as I used to think,  the ID tags can be a right hassle also

as mentioned you can bypass the EU vol restrictions,  so thats not a problem,  newer sony flash players can not be bypassed, now that would be a major problem

you will find that in terms of  SQ it will be extremely hard to beat,  I personally dont know of a better sounding player yet

Oh yeah. The HD5 does gapless with ATRAC. But with MP3 it's not gapless...