[grantp]

Got an HD3 for my daughter last December. Seems OK but I have not had much chance to play with it myself! I have noticed that the prices have dropped quite a bit this month.

I did not notice any hiss - but my Creative Zen Xtra had some electrical hiss audible in totally quiet sections when the backlight goes off. It's fine if it is on. The HD3 may have similar tendencies if used with sensitive earphones.

As for volume, the HD3 with portable device dedicated earphones seems fine but is a little quiet with regular headphones. Different powers required to drive them and high power will greatly shortent battery life between charges.

Volume using Shure E2c's or Etymotic ER4P (portable dedicated) seemed as much as your would want - assuming the original track was recorded at a sensible level.

I'm not sure if Sony have applied the same idea but my Zen is US spec and has adequate volume. However I hear that EU regulations mean that the models sold in Europe have a reduced output as standard. The Zen can be upgraded to use the US settings. As I said I am not sure if there is a difference in the way that Sony deal with this.

Which brings me on to my reason for posting.

Sonic Stage.

Got an earlier version with a Vaio desktop system a couple of years ago. Never used it except to see what it did. I stick with MP3's for compatibility and portability across different platforms.

With the HD3 supporting MP3 SonicStage 2.3 is, according to the documentation, capable of ripping CD's to MP3 if you obtain a plug-in for it.

I can't find the plugin program anywhere. Does anyone know where it might be?

Sony support in the UK say they don't know of it and it may be a US thing but they don't support US software. A little strange I thought.

I can get around it by ripping using a different product, and that is probably a better and easier to use tool anyway BUT, for my daughter's use, having everything in one application could have advantages.

BTW I have noticed that it will sometimes reject individual tracks from a CD for DRM reasons. Also it sometimes converts MP3 files to Atrac during transfer, though there is a patch listed that overcomes that problem it is claimed. I have downloaded the patch but not yet checked out whether the problem still exists.

 

[D-EJ915]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grantp my Creative Zen Xtra had some electrical hiss audible in totally quiet sections when the backlight goes off

My Panasonic SJ-MJ77 has that problem too, I noticed it with my A34 vertical-in-ear phones, but hadn't noticed it with my eggos before.

 

[Schakal]

Has someone some expiriences with jogging with the NW-HD3?
SonySupport sayd me, that the NW-HD3 is perfect for jogging. But I don't realy beleave. Should I worry about the machine, or is it no problem for it?

 

[sekigahara]

@schakal:

(I don't own a nwhd3, but no HD-Player is actually perfect for jogging. but the nwhd3 has 256MB flash ram built in I think...thats much)

But what I wanted to say, is that if you want to buy the nw-hd3,
look for best offers on www.preissuchmaschine.ch and www.toppreise.ch
But if you're going to buy one at the shop of Architronic, be aware
that they don't take back anything....(I trapped myself...)

schönä abig no

 

[Schakal]

Thans, its exactly what I do.

Aha, I didn't konw that architronic don't take back anything.... Thx

Grüäss üs um Wallis

 

[Sphinx89]

just got my Sony MDR-EX71SLB, and i have to say that regarding hiss, there is none at all, and they seem very good

 

[Lex101]

did u have hiss before then?

 

[Sphinx89]

no, but many people have been complaining about hiss with canal phones, Mavis for example

 

[HJDM]

I asked SONY UK if they were going to, or did a case. The answer was that they had nothing currently launched, and that Sony did not divulge information prior to launch.

I therefore plan to get a small padded case, probably a generic digital camera case. I think that Lowe do one which looks as if its the right size. I just need to get to my local Currys at the weekend.

As to the MP3's onto the HD3, it looks from the manual if Sonic Stage places DRM onto the MP3 files, and that MP3 files directly placed on the HD3 with windows explorer will not play. I have not looked into this too much. Can somebody confirm that this is right, or have I got it wrong?

 

[nimrodity]

today i got my HD1 and it yes it has a background hiss(tested with Koss Plug),my Ipod has is too but not that loud,the hiss of the HD1 is about twice as loud as the hiss of the Ipod,yet it isnt a big problem when hearing music i cant hear it and it doesnt disturb.The max volume is ok but the isnt much space upward,must be because if the european firmware.Tomorrow i am going to to the mp3 update,i will ask the customer about the hiss.But as it seems the firmware upgrade will make the HD1 to a HD3 softwaresides,read it on the support site which is now updated with all you need to know for the update.When i have the upgrade i can make a closer look at the unit,because converting to atrac need long an sonicstage often crashes.The sound otherwise is way better then the sound of the Ipod,bass is good but it could be little more just in case you would need it sometimes,overall sound is great.An the best thing it looks very cool,so small.

 

[Zuerst]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nimrodity today i got my HD1 and it yes it has a background hiss(tested with Koss Plug),my Ipod has is too but not that loud,the hiss of the HD1 is about twice as loud as the hiss of the Ipod,yet it isnt a big problem when hearing music i cant hear it and it doesnt disturb.The max volume is ok but the isnt much space upward,must be because if the european firmware.Tomorrow i am going to to the mp3 update,i will ask the customer about the hiss.But as it seems the firmware upgrade will make the HD1 to a HD3 softwaresides,read it on the support site which is now updated with all you need to know for the update.When i have the upgrade i can make a closer look at the unit,because converting to atrac need long an sonicstage often crashes.The sound otherwise is way better then the sound of the Ipod,bass is good but it could be little more just in case you would need it sometimes,overall sound is great.An the best thing it looks very cool,so small.

Can you point me to the support site with info on the firmware upgrade? Thanks,

 

[nimrodity]

here it is
http://www.sonydigital-link.com/DNA/...Upgrd.asp?l=en

 

[grantp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HJDM As to the MP3's onto the HD3, it looks from the manual if Sonic Stage places DRM onto the MP3 files, and that MP3 files directly placed on the HD3 with windows explorer will not play. I have not looked into this too much. Can somebody confirm that this is right, or have I got it wrong?

That's as I understand it.

If you transfer directly you can store the files just as you could with any other type of file but they won't be recognised/registered by the internal database that the HD3 uses. This is pretty much the same on all units since they need an index and for that index to be efficient using multiple keys (all the info held about the file in the file header.) The wrapping of the MP3 with a DRM constraint is something closer to Sony's heart (as a Music company with intellectual property to protect) than it is for, say, Creative. So far anyway. It could at some stage be an inconvenience but in theory should not be a major problem for most things - at the moment.

What still puzzles me is the missing plug-in program for Sonic Stage to enable the direct creation of MP3 files rather than Atrac. It is mentioned in the PDF manual but I can't find any trace of it in the wild.

BTW I did a quick earphone/volume comparison this evening. I accept that no two people are necessarily alike and that my old ears may be less capable than they once were. Here is what I thought.

Used the rather cheap looking ear buds that come with the HD3 - which are actually better than many in my opinion. Volume was fine and balanced considering what they are. Without playing with the EQ settings or any of the other sound modifiers in any way, half volume was alright. 75% volume setting seemed to better suit the output characteristics and was plenty loud enough for use in the house. Above that they added volume but lost a little clarity.

Shure E2c canalphones. Much the same comments as above but they seemed a little louder for the same volume settings and had a broader sound spectrum with much more bass. A warm sound as well. I quite like the E2c's with the Zen for the up front bass response but although I didn't attempt to do a back to back comparison (not enough time) I felt they were a marginally better combination with the HD3 than the the Zen. Either way, very satisfactory with both devices.

Etymotic ER-4P. Tremendous clarity but not quite the same sound stage as the Ety's seem to produce with the Zen. Much better at 75% + volume. They were loud enough but seemed musically strangled at 50%. I find it almost impossible to assess the bass from the Ety's when doing back to back comparisons with other phones, especially the E2c's. Ety's have a lot of detail in the frequencies but not the same punch from the lower frequencies until you get the volume up and even then the sound is heard but not 'felt'.

However if you have the time to let your ears atune, and your brain adjust its interpretation of the inputs, the clarity and attack of the bass frequencies is much better controlled than the Shure's and you can really appreciate the sounds without missing the elevated level of bass. It's more subtle and it takes some time and practise to appreciate fully and get to the point where the lack of bass 'volume' is no longer an issue. (May even be a benefit sometimes!)

I also find the Ety's (using the standard rubber earpieces not foam or a tailored fitting) more comfortable to wear during longer listening sessions but that is a very personal matter with canalphones.

Saying all that takes nothing away from the E2c's which are excellent value and seem strongly made. And for some of the stuff I listen to they can, to me, offer a slightly better rendition of the material-as-I-would-like-to-hear-it than the Ety's. But overall I am happy to use either of the canalphones or even the Sony supplied earbuds with the HD3.

Grant

 

[Intrigue]

Hi-MD™ Walkman® MZNH1 is still my preference as it allow me to rip my cd directly through optical cable with no conversion. Added bonus is there's no limit on storage.
what do you folks think?

MZNH1 - • Weight: 3 oz (85g) without battery
• Dimensions: 3 1/4" x 3" x 1 9/32" (81.7 x 76.1 x 14.8mm)

HD3 - • Dimensions (WHD) : 3.5 x 2.44 x .58" (90.0 x 62.1 x 14.8mm)
• Weight: 4.59oz (130g)

 

[*JespeR*]

Hey guys, I read quite everything on this forum about sony nw-hd3/1.
I saw both, and maybe the hd1 it's cooler but the hd3 is also really nice to see. But my question it's a little bit different:
20 GB are a lot but maybe not enough for me, expecially if I want to use it not only as a mp3 player but also as an external drive...so whta do you thing about the Creative Zen Xtra??? (Creative Zend Xtra ) I mean ok it's quite ugly but is there somebody that can tell me something more about it in comparison with nw-hd3???
THX!!!!!!!