[D555]

Hello,

Picked one of these up today and I'm fairly impressed.

Assuming one can live with SonicStage and the transfer rate..... read on!

This player is smallish but quite hefty and feels substantial -- lots of metal and seems rugged. The USB connection flap is the only part that appears less than tank-tough. My thought was that the silver coating would severely hamper the viewing of the OLED screen. In practice, indoors, no problem. The display is bright and readable with a good choice of font. Haven't taken it outdoors yet.

Connection to USB was painless. In fact, I used the already-connected-to-the-PC USB cord supplied with the MZ-RH10 and it worked fine.

Initially, I'm pairing this unit with the Sony MDR-EX81 earplugs and these seem to be a good match for more than one reason (later). The first reason is that 507 can drive the EX81 to quite loud volume with reasonable bass and treble. Background hiss is all but vanished. There is some but it's virtually unnoticed. Navigation is quick and fairly intuitive (although anyone familiar with Sony lipstick remotes will note that the volume is not affected by twisting the knob!). The adjustable bass and treble seem reasonable and provides nice tonal choices without being overly aggressive. My initial test transferred 179 tracks at ATRAC 3plus @ 256K and that took about 55 minutes. No speed record here. I found the sound pleasing and detailed -- not irritating at all. I expect even better results with better headphones.

FM reception with this little player is quite good. Actually, I was floored. The second nice thing about the MDR-EX81 is that they seem to act a good antenna for the 507. One of my gripes about Sony micro FM receivers is the poor RF quality -- poor selectivity and poor image rejection that is so bad that it affects the generally good sonic qualities -- even local stations get swamped and can sound "static-y". Well, the 507 has taken great strides here. The FM auto-program found eighteen clean local FM stations. Impressive for this area. I can even pick up *cleanly* our local Co-op station on 91.7 which is overpowered by images on the SRF-M10 and SRF-M97. The 507's FM reception isn't perfect but I think it's a strong point (and that infernal "beep" can be silenced). The only real negative I can see is that the tone controls are not operable in the FM mode. Pity.

So what we have here, in my view, is a very nice flash player worthy of consideration.

Pros:
- Strong detailed sound
- Generaly good ergonomics
- Nice OLED screen
- Superior FM reception
- Solid construction

Cons:
- Somewhat slow transfer rates
- No tone control on FM

Thanks!

Paul

 

[Sodacose]

Nice review!

I have a 505 (the 512mb version) and I'd like to add one more con: the screen is very difficult to read in sunlight.

Other than that, I agree it's a pretty darn good flash player and, for me, its pros far outweigh the cons. As I've had it over a month, I've grown so used to the operational ergonomics that they seem absolutely natural. I tend to carry it in my hand now, rather than keeping it in a pocket, for that same reason (it's too sexy to hide anyway). I'm also looking forward to the new Sony HD players soon to be out (with the same aesthetic theme as this series).

huzah for Austin, TX