bangraman
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2002
- Posts
- 10,305
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- 65
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.
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.