[cn11]

I'm trying to decide between these two players. My priorities are 1) sound quality 2) customizable eq 3) ability to do playlists (my Kenwood HD10GB7 lacks this most necessary feature apparently, or I haven't figured it out yet) 4) storage- above 8G.

Thanks for any thoughts..... other suggestions welcomed too.
-Cheers, Chris.

 

[RubenNYC]

I don't know anything about the Sony player, but I can't express enough how happy I've been with my Vibez. SQ, heavily customizable EQ (including the ability to save multiple named EQ presets), gapless, and codecs supported, among other things make me very happy.

 

[Aevum]

sony has always had good SQ on the walkman series, the problem is more towards the propietary cables and sonicstage,

sonicstage is like itunes on acid, take itunes and make it worst and crash every X minutes, you get sonicstage

 

[antonyfirst]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cn11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm trying to decide between these two players. My priorities are 1) sound quality 2) customizable eq 3) ability to do playlists (my Kenwood HD10GB7 lacks this most necessary feature apparently, or I haven't figured it out yet) 4) storage- above 8G. Thanks for any thoughts..... other suggestions welcomed too. -Cheers, Chris.

You can make playlists with your kenwood, but you have to use the Kenwood Media Application software on your computer. It's really annoying.

 

[fredman22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cn11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm trying to decide between these two players. My priorities are 1) sound quality 2) customizable eq 3) ability to do playlists (my Kenwood HD10GB7 lacks this most necessary feature apparently, or I haven't figured it out yet) 4) storage- above 8G. Thanks for any thoughts..... other suggestions welcomed too. -Cheers, Chris.

I believe the A808 still does ATRAC/SonicStage, so unless you source solely from CD/WAV you should probably go with the other device for the convenience. They do 1, 2, and 3 quite well, but current Sony devices are now only reaching 8GB (HD/flash - and I think HDs are over) so if you need more - again, go elswhere. Good luck.

 

[RubenNYC]

I should mention that the playlist options on the Vibez are not quite what they were on the Karma. The main piece that's missing is the ability to create and edit a saved playlist while listening to something else. With the Vibez, you have to build your playlist using Now Playing and saving that as a playlist. On the plus side, Now Playing does still have the Insert, Append and Reorder options that the Karma did, plus a new one called "Enqueue".

(The first time you select Enqueue, it inserts a track/album/artist/genre/playlist/folder immediately after whatever song is currently playing. Each subsequent consecutive Enqueue from there will insert a track/album/artist/genre/playlist/folder immediately after the last thing you Enqueued.)

I'm still optimistic that the Sigmatel dev team will add that separate Playlist creation & editing function back in. I really miss it.

 

[Jemsic]

I know it's popular to hate on SonicStage, but I've never had any problems with it. It's never froze on me. That being said, it still isn't as good as a simple drag and drop onto the drive (like I want ).

I'm not sure what kind of cable the NW-A808 uses, but the Walkman series didn't use proprietary cables (at least mine didn't). I've got an NW-HD1, and it plugs into the cradle; the cradle has a disconnectable mini-usb --> usb cable to connect it to the PC.

I don't know what a Vibez is, but I have only good things to say about my NW-HD1. Sony really impressed me, the line-out is great!

 

[Zappa74]

I've only had serious issues with sonic stage when it deleted a recording I made on my HI-MD after I tried to upload it.

Thank god they've fixed that ridiculous issue.

 

[Musicdiddy]

I'm with Ruben on this, IMO its hard to beat the SQ of the Vibez at the moment & it doesn't need am amp to achieve this.

 

[The Boatman]

The NWA808 doesn't have a line out, which isn't great if you want to amp it.

 

[cn11]

Quote:

Originally Posted by antonyfirst /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can make playlists with your kenwood, but you have to use the Kenwood Media Application software on your computer. It's really annoying.

Hi, thanks for the info on the Kenwood... I'm going to hijack my own thread for a bit; do you know where I can get the kenwood media app? It didn't come with my HD10GB7 player. I have an email in to Kenwood Japan to see if they can send me a cd, or link to a download. Is there an install file you can send me possibly too?

(I wouldn't even be looking at these two players if I could better utilize this one)

Thanks, Chris.

 

[budx3385]

thanks for posting this thread !!!

I've tried the iMod and the Kenwood, and I decided I'd like a flash player with great sound quality and easy battery charging / replacement to replace my aging vintage pcdp, and the Vibez looks like a real no-brainer. I'd still like to know how the sound quality for WAV files is on the A808, though - anybody heard it yet?

 

[Sparky191]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aevum /img/forum/go_quote.gif sony has always had good SQ on the walkman series, the problem is more towards the propietary cables and sonicstage, sonicstage is like itunes on acid, take itunes and make it worst and crash every X minutes, you get sonicstage

I take it you haven't actually used SonicStage in the past few years. In the last few years I've been using HiMD and on the MD forums I don't think I've ever heard of anyone complaining that from v3.4 to the latest 4.2 and 4.3 crashing. If they do its very rare. Its not slick, but it works reliably enough. Its a bit more awkward than it needs to be, but its not a show stopper for me.


Theres a good review here.
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/digitalmus...88721-1,00.htm

Looks a niceplayer.

 

[Weaves]

cn11,

Can you hold off for a few weeks?

1) Vibez is supposed to release a 15GB flash unit any day now.

2) Big rumours that something is coming from Sony soon. They will be releasing China only units that will allow drag and drop and no ATRAC. That might not be all. Check out the following for news soon:

www.atraclife.com

 

[plywood99]

Vibez for sure...


Ply