[michaelJ]

I've decided to complement my beloved cowon U3 with a new player (keeping the u3 for exercise). My priorities are good SQ and good video. Radio, recording and such is not anything that I'll ever use. After looking around for quite some time reading reviews, following forums I've down to one of these three.

I would very much appreciate if there is anyone who has listened to more than one of these so they could give their opinion on which one they think is best?

Other input is also welcome.

cheers /michael

 

[Aevum]

the radio discarts the sony automaticly, also you should read up on sonicstage when considering a sony DAP, its basicly the audio managment tool equivalent of an STD,

the Clix2 is quite nice, not sure if the 8gb is on the market yet, but its a nifty player, the main disadantage it has against the D2 is battery life, 20h vs 40-45h, the D2 can also play some flash files with the latest firmware, its nice, you should check them both out, try them if you can,

 

[z3000w]

I faced a similar choice and went with the d2...mainly because all the newer irivers require windows xp - and I ain't got it

 

[Veggie_Musician]

SonicStage is fine to use these days as its a lot better than it used to be! Its simple to use if a bit slow. Id say for a compleat beginner wanting to rip CDs and put them on their MP3 player, SS is better than WMP11!

Im not however saying SS is better than WMP11 tho!

 

[aussie_017]

Out of those options IMO the D2 would be the best. You should also consider the Meizu M6, there is a new version of it the M6se coming out in I think 4th quarter of this year.

 

[michaelJ]

Thank's for the feedback. I had a chance to listen and handle all three yesterday and I fell for the sony.

I just ordered it so now it's a looong wait

 

[StevenBrouwer]

Good choice, could you also tell why? I am interested

 

[michaelJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenBrouwer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Good choice, could you also tell why? I am interested

Well the overall experience made me choose the sony.

SQ and movie quality is approximately the same IMHO. SQ, after tweaking the equalizers and adjusting the volumes so I compare the sound at the same soundlevel, is almost impossible to say that one or the other is better. Maybe if you had phones that are hard to drive the D2 would be better but otherwise... All three sounded *very* good. All three were very good at video. Maybe the clix had a slight advantage with it's amoled screen but then it was just a slight advantage.

But build quality, handling, controls. Here Sony wins hands down in my opinion. I really liked how the software (on the player) functions. Much better for me than the others. I'm not that fond of touch interface on a portable player. I do definately prefer sonys controls in favor of the D2 touch interface or clix2's sensible screen.

Sonicstage is ok. Not the best program around but functional.

So all thing's considered I think that thid player will be the best for me and I can't wait to get it...

 

[dura]

I think you'll love it.
I got the A808 for about 2 months now and the player still impresses m daily.
The build quality is really excellent.
Batterylife is very good, the player is fast and easy to use and sounds fine.
Update the firmware to 1.02, it improves the sound especially when you use the EQ.

 

[Vulpix]

I'm really close to getting a A808 as well... I just do not like how the D2 looks or feels, because it feels like a piece of cheap plastic. Yeah, I know it sounds awesome, but I dislike the touchscreen interface!

Should I get the A808? I've have really bad experiences with SonicStage during the NetMD time, so anybody wants to give me more advice? Does SS still suck?

 

[dura]

Depends. SS in 4.x is faster, stable and DRM-free. Personally I've no problem with it, but there are others that still complain.

 

[Vulpix]

Does SS still convert your MP3s to another format?

 

[dura]

No (Sony players now support WMA, AAC, MP3 & ATRAC).

 

[Aevum]

actually, it does wrapp them in a OpenMG wrapper, if you go in to MSC mode on the player, you will notice the files arent MP3, and if you try to play them with a normal media player, it dosnt recognize them, learned that the hardway with my NW-HD5, so much for mp3 support by sony,

 

[Veggie_Musician]

You dont have to use Sonicstage if you dont want to - you got verious mp3 managers and it even syncs with WinAmp with a plugin.