[madnanny1]

hello out there does anyone own or have any opinions about the sony nw-a806,its an old model  i know but have just bought one (used,very good condition).sound quality is very good to me of course.it uses sonic stage which is a pain,ie loading times.build quality is brilliant,usual sony

 

[paulypaul]

I have the A828 which is a newer model.
I think the Walkman DAPs are great value.

 

[madnanny1]

hello paulypaul,thanks for reply. i agree with you,have tried the cowan d2.sold it ,wasnt up to scratch,tried a sansa fuze but it had a white screen so returned it.dont know about the sony x range.not to keen on touch screens,have used the sennheiser px100 for many years.am tempted to try koss portapro    madnanny1

 

[paulypaul]

i used to have the px100s, but sold them after i got the IEMs (RE0s)
im sold on Hifiman IEMs now.
The "clearbass" feature on the A828 is great for bringing the bass out on the IEMs.
Ive tried the X series and they sound great to, but i found the touchscreen would probably get a bit of getting used to.

 

[madnanny1]

tried touch screen on cowan d2 and samsung r1,still prefer old method of buttons. what format are you using for your music and what bitrate?

 

[paulypaul]

i prefer buttons too.

i use "lame v0" & use the "itunes lame" program for mac.

 

[madnanny1]

hello paulypaul . dont know much about lame,have seen it mentioned in headfi.i download my music(legally) and drag and drop so most of my music is standard mp3 variable bitrate.so far had no problems with the quality.is this your only way of listening to music or are you a hifi buff. i myself used to be,had equipment costing a lot of money but got more enjoyment using phones so got rid of it all,best phones i ever had were a pair made by NAD.
 
 
my want would be a sony wm dc6 pro walkman,

 

[paulypaul]

are you using iTunes to convert to mp3 ?
If so lame will do a better quality encoding than iTunes.
"lame v0" is equivalent in sound quality to 320kbs., but it is VBR.
Typical file sizes are about 30% smaller than 320kb so instead of say 10Mb its 7Mb a song.
Good for a Walkman with not a huge amount of memory.

 

[madnanny1]

hello paulypaul i dont use itunes,the music i listen to is downloaded from an american site called cd baby.my taste in music is 100% new  age ie chuck wild.where would i find this lame site you are talking about,and is it easy to use?also have discovered that amazon uk are now selling a lod for sony,its made by fiio.can you get amazon where you live the model number is L5,but check out fiio.com     

 

[oyster]

Havent tried A80x series , but i own A726 & i ve been listening to it for about a year now.
 
Meanwhile came the Touch3g, Clipv2/rockboxed, Classic 7g, Nano4g, shuffle2g, Philips go gear (one with 2.4inch screen, dont remember model name), Samsung Wave, Nokia 5800/5233/5130, Sony Ericsson walkman 995/395/Aino.
 
AND you know what ........i am still listening to Sony A726
 
NONE of the above mentioned music sources posses the timbre, natural tone, bass depth\definition(but only in very low frequency notes), instrument placement, lower treble & finally the mighty impressive midrange of the A726.
The midrange on the Sony reaches to such amplitude levels that (sometimes my earphones literally give up reproducing them) is absolutely phenomenal.
 
What i dont like is the very flat & not as tight response to the upper bass( that is the sweet spot for most of the tracks) & also the lack of sparkle & extension in upper treble just as the Touch3g has.

 

[madnanny1]

hello have a a826/a638 and a806, am a committed sony user. what format do you use

 

[oyster]

Hi Madnanny1
 
Could you please elborate sq differences between A826 & S638. I really want  to get s639 but  havent heard any previously. If you could split hairs apart regarding A826 vs S638 SQ, that would be really helpful in deciding my next purchase. 

 

[oyster]

Generally i use 320kbps mp3 files, but for some tracks that i really like i use pcm.

 

[madnanny1]

hello i dont use the sq on the a826 or a638,but i think they both superb machines.the a638 is much smaller in size but sound wise i couldnt hear any difference between them.my favourite machine is my a805(attrac/sonicstage).i am selling my a826 because to me the a638 looks better and makes the a826 look bulky and dated. hoping to buy an  a815,i like the styling of the older machines. going back to the sq i listen to my mp3s flat,have sennheiser px100 and find i dont need the sq with these.sorry i couldnt be more helpful what other equipment do you use ie phones  i think you wont go wrong with the a639,buy it from a dealer who has a good refund policy

 

[paulypaul]

Hi madnanny1
 
here is a link to the lame site.
lame is only the encoder so you need to get a program which have the lame encoder in it.
down the page you will see "free closed source software"
 
http://lame.sourceforge.net/links.php
 
if you are using windows i think a lot of people use "foobar"
for mac i recommend "itunes lame"
Yes i have a LOD for my A828 i got from Ebay.

Quote:

hello paulypaul i dont use itunes,the music i listen to is downloaded from an american site called cd baby.my taste in music is 100% new  age ie chuck wild.where would i find this lame site you are talking about,and is it easy to use?also have discovered that amazon uk are now selling a lod for sony,its made by fiio.can you get amazon where you live the model number is L5,but check out fiio.com