Tiny but packs power (Sony Walkman NWZ-A828 8 GB)

Member Name: roktimdutta

Product:	Sony Walkman NWZ-A828 8 GB
Date:	27/10/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Mostly, read the revuew

Disadvantages: Hardly anything that is loud enougn

I have had never any doubts about the quality of Sony Audios. They can do lots of things but not a thing when quality is the watch word. I have been using a Creative Muvo for quite some time, it is very tiny the size of a USB flash drive but had no video play back for it and I was grumbling about it for a long time. I decided that enough was enough and I need something which is good enough for both and my priority was the quality of audio out put. So I decided to go for Sony NWZ-A828 (8 gig) now I rue the fact that I didn't go for 16 gig, since the price wise it was not really big deal compared to the 8 gig, the problem was its popularity, it sold so much that they go out of stock frequently and it would be one month, atleast, for that stuff to have fresh stocks again, they said. So I had to pay price for my impatience.

They are is no point giving you the technical specification because it speaks for it self and there are few deviations from what Sony claims to have staked in it. Beside excellent music quality, the video play back is reasonably good and the plus feature is it JPEG photo play back.

Although the bluetooth is definitely a welcome feature but it's performance is not above distrust, but never trust your bluetooth has become a proverb, for the simple reason it does act finicky sometimes. It's also true that it has got problems in playing certain file formats but then do you require all of them at this age when iPods are getting popular and popopular and the formats they support get the priority. the popularity of the iPod and video podcasts has made the QVGA MPEG-4 file format one of the most abundant on the Web. The Sony NWZ-A828 has got no problems with this particular format.

Writing about its video play back, the Sony NWZ-A828 has got a beautiful 2.4" LCD screen, which is a good .4" addition to the third generation iPod Nano, the play back is crisp, sharp, colorful and bright, in one word scintillating giving a resolution of 240x320 pixels and just think the videos can be rotated between landscape and portrait view!

It has got highest standards of audio quality, which is Sony trade mark. Listen to Louis Armostrong in this player, I'm sure you will re-discover him and be more convinced that he is great man, Pink Floyed's Dark side of the Moon will aptly make it clear why they have to delve into the darker side of moon, specially "Money" will make your head spin. Every detail is so musically highlighted, for that matter just put on "Gig in the sky", you will realize what a great piece of music work it is. You catch every thing a small tweak on the string, a bang on the piano and the booming bass is absolutely stunning. Even Yoko Ono will sound great. The band EQ is just great but never mind the default settings of the Sony NWZ-A828, it is enough to make you feel dizzy. Even the presets are great like you can set it to the genre of music you are playing, Pop, Club, Jazz, Arena, Heavy, Custom, Studio and Unique. Just a note the "Unique" mode fits great with all genre.

Probably it's best feature is the battery life, but I must say there is a deviation here from the technical specs, because it claims 36 hours audio play back but I had problems getting more than 28 hours for audio and about 7 and ½ for videos (it claims 10 hours) may be due to the conditions, possible. But at any standard it is excellent and the batteries charge in a just over 3 hours.
The bluetooth is exceptionally elegant, I've experienced a succeful pairing within an unobstructed distance of at least 22 feet, just bang in on the bluetooth button it send the NWZ A828 into discovery mode and the blue light on the top right edge comes alive and the moment it is paired it becomes less frantic and settles into slow pulse. It's functional. It's aesthetic. The technology is so good the pairing with various bluetooth accessories can be achieved with the minimum of fuss.

The headphone supplied is of superb quality, no boubt about that. I must say that Sony has become more democratic as far as designing is concerned because this stuff has square corners in place of Sony trade marked rounded corners.

Just fish out £138 and get it. Run my dear and dip yourself into wireless fantasy. Dizzy, mind-blowing little product. Tiny but powerful, have a bet.

Note of caution: I have not talked about wattage and stuff like that on purpose, so don't get swayed please. First check out. (Surprising it has no FM radio)

(This review is also available at ciao.co.uk under the same user name)

Summary: Be a proud owner

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