[bangraman]

The sound is pretty similar to their Discmen. Not bad at all. Not as transparent as a Karma, fairly close to the X5, H320, 5G iPod. The 6-band EQ is probably the only differentiator... the sound quality is good but not an outstanding aspect of the A1000/3000. I'm also unsure about the overenthusiastic praise given to the control system by the original poster. I for one think it's not an improvement on the HD5. A big issue compared to previous Sony players is the display.


This is the A1000 under very overcast skies.

The other problem is in darker conditions, where the OLED display 'ghosts' on the back of the display area, causing your eyes to hunt back and forth. It's pretty fatiguing. This picture was taken from a more oblique angle to make the effect clearer, but what happens when you're looking at the display as per normal is that the reflections act like a fringing effect on the letters. If the OLED display offered something truly unique, it would be an acceptable compromise but the problem is that a backlit LCD is in practical terms far easier to look at in both daylight and at night in comparison to the Sony display.

Add that to the Nano-like battery life in normal usage conditions (actually less I think if you start to use really high-bitrate material), and the A1K is not something that I bother using on a regular basis. From my point of view, the primary attraction of the NW-A1/3000 is the looks. Once you get past that (and they are indeed very attractive pieces of gear), IMO there's not much going for these players in comparison to the current competition.

 

[panda]

which dap would you say sound quality is an outstanding aspect of? besides the karma.

i'm in search of a small sized thin player that i can just keep in my pocket and forget. don't need any fancy features like a high res color screen or video playback. i think the oled is pretty rad because of how simple it is, just displays the necessary info, not a fan of clutter.

it's unfortunate that you havent experienced a long battery life on it because i was under the impression that that was a strong point of the a1000. which format and bitrates were you using?

honestly, i haven't really seen any display that looks good under sunglight, i just cup my handover it and it doesn't bother me any.

 

[bangraman]

There's cluttered, there's simple, and there's legible. The display on the right for example is more 'cluttered'... but is it any less legible? The photo is not selectively tweaked for contrast, but the exposure is surely centered on the much brighter Nano screen. The example of what's on the right would apply more or less equally were it the Zen Micro, iRiver H10, etc (although the Nano display can be seen in daylight without the backlight)... it's just that I have the Nano as the comparable player right now. The A1000/A3000 flickers as well like an old-school television. Add that ghosting effect in dusk-y situations and it's a case of simpler is not always better.

Bitrates ~ an average of 256K. MP3 / ATRAC3+.


Soundwise, I'd have to say I haven't heard a small player which is outstanding at the moment. The Nano is arguably the worst by a whisker especially with the 'bad' old iPod EQ (the difference will not be as relevant if you don't use EQ), but any of the others should be a very similar choice.