[Mors]

As I posted before, I broke my beloved Clix in the gym and needed an equivalent replacement and sharpish, so after a fair bit of reading I jumped into the Sony a818.

I've had it a week now, and I'm absolutely gutted

In my opinion, it's well made, but the audio it throws out is complete pants

It's driving my E4G's and my E530's and it's dire with both. I've tried everything to get some quality out of it, thinking I was going mad - I've re-encoded a load of my mp3's at different bitrate's, played with every equalizer setting under the sun on it (including the stupid 'hidden' menu - Why 'hide' an audio setting menu?!). But all to no joy. This thing just has no 'umph'. And the volume control goes to 30 but doesn't change a all after 20?

I can't believe how lucky I was having that Clix, so I'm getting this Sony on the bay after a week, taking the hit on it, and buying another Clix. Bloody expensive game this is lol

The only way I can explain the lack of 'umph' on the Sony is that on my Clix, a track might go:

thump thump thump thump [size=medium]thump thump thump[/size] - Picking up in say a chorus or a drum line coming in etc, but the sony goes like this - thump thump thump thump [size=xx-small]thump thump thump[/size]. It completely washes out just when tracks are about to pick up. I thought it might be because I'd mp3gain'd the tracks but I tried them without the mp3gain - Hardly any difference.

I'm really surprised as all Sony kit I've bought in the past has been excellent, from mp3 players, surround sounds, TV's, my PS3 etc but this thing is dire!

If you've got a Clix, please dont consider one of these things and make the same mistake I did.

 

[abitdeef]

My 818 had great low end and dynamics with my e530, never got the volume past 15. Which clix did you have 1 or 2? Of course e530 are very easy to drive, maybe your sony was defective?

 

[Mors]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ihatepopupads /img/forum/go_quote.gif My 818 had great low end and dynamics with my e530, never got the volume past 15. Which clix did you have 1 or 2? Of course e530 are very easy to drive, maybe your sony was defective?

I had a 2nd Gen 4gb Clix and it was awesome. Really surprised at the sound of this Sony, my previous experience of them has been really good.

 

[GadFly]

Seconding that your Sony might be defective. SQ is certainly a matter of personal taste, but I can't imagine that the Sony's SQ is "pants".

I've never heard the Clix, but I've owned multiple iPods, an iRiver h320, a Sansa Fuze, and various Rios. For me, the 728 beats them all hands down - low-end, high-end, soundstage and dynamics. It's also painful to listen to thru IEMs when the volume is above 15.

 

[Mors]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GadFly /img/forum/go_quote.gif Seconding that your Sony might be defective. SQ is certainly a matter of personal taste, but I can't imagine that the Sony's SQ is "pants". I've never heard the Clix, but I've owned multiple iPods, an iRiver h320, a Sansa Fuze, and various Rios. For me, the 728 beats them all hands down - low-end, high-end, soundstage and dynamics. It's also painful to listen to thru IEMs when the volume is above 15.

Exactly, it was hard to listen to anything through my E530's above 50% volume. And even with my E4's I could no way get to 100% - But with this a818 it's not a problem and surely that's not right.