melie
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2010
- Posts
- 107
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- 12
Intro and first impressions
Ok, let me start off with saying this. This is my first review and I’m just new into the whole hi-fi world so please be a little forgiving.
Earlier this week my long awaited ‘My First Sony’ arrived! I’ve been hearing very good things about Sony’s latest cassette deck installment and when I saw its stunning looks in a toy store yesterday I just had to pull the trigger and order myself one of these bad boys.
It arrived in a carton box, nothing fancy but I think it was real carton. Not the thick paper kind with plastics worked into it. I hate that fabric..
Upon opening, everything was there like I suspected. The unit itself, the attached microphone and a user manual. While I didn’t expect much more, I found it kind of lacking that they didn’t include a Bic ballpoint to manual rewind your cassettes when something goes a-rye.
The unit itself is of a very decent plastic finish with a vibrant red color. The yellow and blue accents, in contrast with the nicely colored buttons, really jumped out at me from the beginning. It’s not the sturdiest piece of equipment I’ve ever owned (that will probably still go out to the Sony SPORTS Walkman) but also not the worst.
A little detail I didn’t like is that there weren’t any batteries included. And later in this review you will learn that this thing eats them.
So, what does it sound like?
From the moment I placed my first cassette (Grease OST) and pressed play I fell immediately in love. The tones were all there. Not the most correct but you could still hear them. Kind of. At some point you could even understand the lyrics! After about ten minutes of play I caught myself head bumping and singing along in the microphone. I was that impressed.
Sound wise I would say the device is not the most analytical. I would even go as far as calling it ‘analog’ sounding. There is a clear roll-off from about 1 kHz and down and at the upper regions from 3 kHz and up. This does make for easy listening though. Also a thing I noticed, while holding the play button and pressing fast forward at the same time, the screeching sound the My First Sony makes was much clearer than the SPORTS waterproof Walkman. If you have any different experiences, don’t hold this against me, I only heard the SPORTS Walkman underwater so my judgment can be a little bit off.
After my first listening session I gave it a good 48 hours of burn in. The problem with this was that I had to switch batteries about every 3 hours. So about sixty-four AA batteries later I began my second listening session. I was literally blown away… Not only was the ‘pop’ sound that you hear when you press the play button much more sibilance free, the whole sound stage had opened up like a clear blue sky! It was like I was in the same car shop as John Travolta! With a lot of imagination I could even make up more of the lyrics than before.
After this I was already very impressed but I was still hungry for more. I was asking myself, “what would this sound like with REAL power”? I went out to buy some authentic Duracell batteries, these would replace the no-brand ones I was feeding it.
After some further listening with the Duracells I coulnd’t really hear much of a difference though. The soundstage maybe sounded like it gained more depth but the wideness and voice separation suffered from this. Overall, I didn’t actually like this. Not what you would expect from a 600% increase in power pricewise!
Last thing I wanted to mention is the microphone that comes along with the unit. I wanted to try out the recording feature but I didn’t have an empty cassette so I put some tape over the top of my Grease OST, pressed record, and let loose. After blearing my throat sore I re-winded and had a listen. Well, I wasn’t impressed to say the least. In my head, my voice sounds simply amazing. Like a combination of Pavarotti and Leonard Cohen but better. Very full bodied and sweet all along the spectrum. Well, this didn’t translate to the tape at all. It sounded completely out of key, shrill, no tonal balance what so ever and very feminine. No, the microphone isn’t my thing at all..
Conclusion
Well, my overall experience with the My First Sony was without a doubt very positive.
Pros
- Sturdy plastic finish.
- Very vibrant colors. You won’t lose this thing fast!
- Good ‘hold play while pressing fast forward’ control.
- Very useful handlebar.
Cons
- Bass could be better.
- Highs could be less ear piercing / bleeding.
- Doesn’t really benefit from better power.
- Microphone feels like a throw in.
- Couldn't drive my HD650's all to well.
Ps: Like I said, I thought the bass could be more pronounced. But after some more time with the unit I found out this could be modded very easily. Just place the model with the speaker downwards on the floor. This will give a much bigger body to the bass region. It does make the bass sloppier so if short controlled PRaT is your thing, I wouldn’t recommend this mod. (it is easily reversible though)
Thanks for the advice! I'll give that a try.
