[phosfiend]

I bought the silver 20gb yesterday - I wanted the black, but its not coming to canada (atleast not on the 20gb version). The silver is good, I don't plan on seeing the player much - that's what decent remotes are for!

I bought it at a Maison Sony outside of Montreal - after haggling 50$ off the 350$ price and scoring a discount on a 3 year warranty the salesperson rang it up and some new pricing just came into effect! The player now sells for $269.95 - that or one hell of a lucky glitch.

So far I'm liking the player - I haven't used any of the intelligent shuffling and grouping features yet, as they are not compatible with the current version of SonicStage (3.4). But I have transfered a bunch of tracks, and compared various bitrates from 265kbps all the way to ATRAC lossless. And the player sounds good. SonicStage CP 4.0 is out on May 25th with full support for a A3000's features - so no need to mess with Connect in the meantime.

Some have said that It's a consumer oriented sound - I wouldn't argue with that as it's quite warm and thicker in the low end. It has a decent EQ which could use smaller incremental steps - but does the job well enough.

One thing I don't like is the hiss. I've come to realize that this is something common to many MP3 players. I've heard it on every generation of ipod ive tried, a few Irivers, and few others that don't come to mind. I have been spoiled by the absolute lovely digital amps in my Sharp MiniDisc players. Truthfully, my Sharp IM-DR80S sounds noticably better than the SONY NW-A3000 but I just can't stand lugging around half a dozen MD's only to have the urge to hear something I left at home... Higher bitrates on the A3000 are more revealing than the DR80, but the hiss keeps it out of the same league. With time I'm sure I will become immune to it.


So far so good.

 

[Kasp3r]

you should post some pics!

I looks slim

 

[TheSeru]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kasp3r you should post some pics! I looks slim

Do you...

 

[Kasp3r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSeru Do you...

opps I mean It* haha..

 

[phosfiend]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kasp3r you should post some pics! I looks slim

I'll post some pics when I'm back on Monday. It's a slick unit, I'll be sure to take some measurements by then. It's a comfortable size, totally pocketable, and feels well built.

 

[peter312]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phosfiend But I have transfered a bunch of tracks, and compared various bitrates from 265kbps all the way to ATRAC lossless.

My understanding of the way the Sony works is that when you save an ATRAC lossless file on your PC, you have to choose a bit rate eg 256kbps. The lossless file is then saved in 2 parts - a lossy file (256kbps) and the rest separately. When you transfer the file to your player, only the lossy 256kbps file is transferred, not the whole lossless file.

I believe that the lossless element is only used when playing the files on the PC or burning audio (not ATRAC) CD's.

Cheers
Peter

 

[Sparky191]

The files are not in two parts but one. So you burn a 256kps lossless atrac file the file contains an 256kps and a lossless part. On the HiMD only the lossy (256kps) part is transferred. Maybe the A3000 is different?

Due to a bug if you try to rip another different bitrate file from the lossless file like 352 or 128 it will not rip from the lossless part but the lossy (256kps) part resulting in transcoding. I assume they'll fix this eventually though. But it means at the moment ATRAC lossless is pretty much useless.

 

[The_Duke_Of_Eli]

The hiss is because of your music being at too low of a bitrate or the crappy internal amp.

 

[Sparky191]

Why do both of those cause hiss?

 

[h-man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Duke_Of_Eli The hiss is because of your music being at too low of a bitrate or the crappy internal amp.

All of the recent Sony units I have heard (NW HD1,HD5,A3000 and several MD players) have had some degree of hiss, which isn't at all present on the Sharp MD unit I own (IM-DR580). The NH900 HiMD doesn't have it either, but it has the so-called HD-digital amp. Maybe it is something in the headphone amp that Sony uses in most of their portables. However, as the initial comments suggested, you also het this hiss in 5G ipods. Note, this hiss is only noticeable to me at either low music volumes or using IEMs.

 

[The_Duke_Of_Eli]

Quote:

Originally Posted by h-man All of the recent Sony units I have heard (NW HD1,HD5,A3000 and several MD players) have had some degree of hiss, which isn't at all present on the Sharp MD unit I own (IM-DR580). The NH900 HiMD doesn't have it either, but it has the so-called HD-digital amp. Maybe it is something in the headphone amp that Sony uses in most of their portables. However, as the initial comments suggested, you also het this hiss in 5G ipods. Note, this hiss is only noticeable to me at either low music volumes or using IEMs.

Well, with the ipod you can almost entirely remove the hiss with a lineout which bypasses the ipod's internal amp. There's no way to do such with any other player really, so when you buy a non ipod-dock mp3 player, you better be sure that the static hiss is low or ignoreable at regular listening levels.

 

[bangraman]

The lineout doesn't bypass the internal amp (whatever that means... does anyone who posts this actually know?). It doesn't on any DAP I've ever seen. It's simply a fixed volume output. The iPod's headphone (and line) out plays nice and hiss-free with line-level loads, as does the NW-A3000 when put into Line mode. The Sony's Line mode is specifically dedicated to a line-level load, but sonically it doesn't seem to give it much advantage.


An attenuator on the headphone out will cure hiss. Something like the Ety ER-4P > S cable for example. Don't use too high a value though (and even the P>S cable may be too high) as a) it changes the behaviour of the phone and b) especially on the Sony you may have trouble reaching an acceptable volume level. Try doubling the impedance of the phone... that may be more than enough in many cases.

 

[phosfiend]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Duke_Of_Eli The hiss is because of your music being at too low of a bitrate or the crappy internal amp.

Well as far as other players I've tried, Including EVERY gen of ipod (as I really wanted to like them, especially with rockbox compatability now available) They all have hiss, every bloody one of them. I've spent time with a few Irivers, Archos's and Rio's - and none of them are perfect. I ultimately settled (yes, settled) on the SONY because I liked the rest of the sound around the hiss - it was the best compromise for my ears. I was very dissapointed with the ipods' lineup utter lack of the lowest octave - otherwise I would have definitely gone for an apple product.

Everyone's approach to portable listening is different - some strive for absolute accuracy and are more than pleased lugging around DAP+lineout_subpack+portableamp and even external DAC's for the hardcore lot. My portable listening however, is not quite that critical (home listening is another story). Also, Sony service and repairs are amazing, especially when they rope you into an extended warranty. If this player is still kicking in 2.9 years, I'll strap a couple big magnets to it and leave it in a paint mixer for a few hours, walk into the sony store with what looks like an unscathed A3000 and score a new one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by peter312 I believe that the lossless element is only used when playing the files on the PC or burning audio (not ATRAC) CD's.

I'll look into that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman An attenuator on the headphone out will cure hiss. Something like the Ety ER-4P > S cable for example.

That thought came to mind if I can't get become immune.