SONY NWZ-WH303 & 505 'WIRELESS WALKMAN"
Oct 7, 2013 at 8:08 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 12

AUDIOBREEDER

Headphoneus Supremus
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Posts
1,596
Likes
92
Sony's 'ON FIRE'... wireless walkmans with Surround Sound.
 
As if the new  yet to be released ZX1 & F886 walkman were not enough.
 
WH505 -16 GB
WH303 - 4 GB
 
More info here:
http://www.slashgear.com/sony-walkman-nwz-wh303-and-nwz-wh505-integrate-speakers-headphones-and-music-player-12297564/
 
Oct 21, 2013 at 7:27 AM Post #3 of 12
I purchased a pair last week, I like the concept of the product as I love going "cordless" and have owned plenty of bluetooth / kleer headphones in the past but probably am overall a bit disappointed with the new Sony's
 
- Bought the 16gb, don't know why, should have got the 4gb at half the price, as although you can scroll ("click") playlists to then scroll individually click by click when looking for songs is a bit silly if you have 4000+ songs on it. I would normally only put podcasts or 100 to 200 songs on it and continually change / rotate, which is easy enough to do. 
 
- External speakers are a bit gimmicky imho, sound not clear or loud enough to be worthwhile, would use JBL Flip for such a need.
 
- Comfort is fine, they are quite lightweight, much lighter than my Parrot Zik's. I couldn't see wearing them for an extended period to be an issue, not that I have tried that yet, max. 1 hr approx. so far.
 
- Most disappointing for me, and this is only my opinion is the sound, I find it a bit "bassy" and much prefer to wear the smaller Sony NWZ-W273, both for convenience, portability and sound quality in comparison. Of course both of these are not meant to replace or be compared to higher spec corded earphones, just the convenience / size of the 273's suits my needs at times.
 
Not a "bad" product, just wasn't quite as good as I had hoped. 
 
Oct 21, 2013 at 4:17 PM Post #4 of 12
You brought up a really wise point of having too many songs and going click by click without seeing whats going on. I want to try these out cause they really look cool.
 
Does it come with any case?
 
Quote:
should have got the 4gb at half the price, as although you can scroll ("click") playlists to then scroll individually click by click when looking for songs is a bit silly if you have 4000+ songs on it.

 
Nov 14, 2013 at 9:31 PM Post #7 of 12
I just got the silver 16GB model if anyone is interested. Nice concept, I can see Beats going down this path in the future.
Doesn't have a lick on the sound quality you get out of a traditional Walkman with the SONY PHA-1 amp, but that's kinda the extreme. 
 
Sounds decent enough to me.
 
Nov 15, 2013 at 7:15 AM Post #8 of 12
These looked great in Sony's promo clip, but in reality the shape didn't jibe with my head and looked very bulky. This is mainly due to my shaved head, so YMMV, and you should be fine if you've got one of those anime hairstyles I hate so much.
 
Sound quality on the WH303 is sub-optimal, it seems Sony may have just dropped their standard 30mm driver into the product. To me personally it's just not worth it over the W273. The WH505 has much more clarity with its 40mm driver, but Sony wants $200 from me for the WH505. For that money I can get the MDR-10RC, the Bose AE2, and many other products that may not be "wireless" but are way better value. So thumbs down from me on both WH models and I'd recommend the W273 (and the more watertight W274S) over them.
 
Nov 17, 2013 at 6:03 AM Post #10 of 12
I found it absurd not to include some kind of visual pairing device or even software for scrolling through songs. I cant live with a digital player without a display!

 


A display isn't exactly needed, you can flick through folders pretty easily. If you know what folder you're on choosing a song off that album shouldn't be too hard from there.
I strictly listen to albums so having various artists isn't really an issue for me.
 
Jan 5, 2014 at 8:09 PM Post #11 of 12
I have a pair of the WH-303 and I have to admit that they work better than expected (speakers and MP3 player function) but as headphones (or MP3 player via earphones) I am a bit dissappointed. Using the cans (with either inbuilt MP3 player or via 3.5mm), everything sounds distant and very soft. I was expecting them to be at least as good as the Sony MDR-ZX300 (both have 30mm drivers in a closed back design) which I have (I am not expecting ATH-M50 or HD-25-II quality). Directly comparing the WH303 and the ZX300 (plugged into a computer or Galaxy Nexus) playing the same files the WH303 seems to lack clarity and is a big volume disadvantage, the WH303 does seem to have slightly deeper bass. Understandably the WH303 has better isolation, and are heavier as well. I cannot say that the WH303 is not comfortable but the weight is noticable.

Whilst the inbuilt speakers are not brilliant, they dont seem to have the suppressed/distant sound that the cans have.

Interesting concept, maybe the WH505's with the bigger drivers will be better.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top