Sony NWA3000 MP3 Player
Having seen the Sony NWA3000 on Techlounge recently, I could not wait to get my hands on one these, they really are one of the most sexyist designs to come from Sony and that’s saying something.
Following on from the success Sony NW-HD3, Sony have upped the aesthetics and quite frankly put some of the competition to shame. This little player is going to sell like hot cakes this christmas you mark my words. It is available in three colours, black, sliver and purple and weighs just 182 grams, and Sony claims battery life to be in the region of 36 hours. As with the NDW-HD3 it has a built in 20gb Hard Drive that will allow a maximum of 13,000 tracks to be stored. There is a 6GB version available as well, the Sony NWA3000. Recharging is through a standard USB connector and unlike other Sony walkmans, this player has a rather sleek silver plinth style docking bay and charger (the Sony BCR-NWU1 ) available as an optional extra. As a user of a mobile phone that syncs to my PC, I can safely say that these sorts of products really do come in very handy when using the product on a day to day basis.
Sound quaility was where its predecessor the Sony NW-HD3 really excelled and this walkman builds on that with a quality of sound that is much fuller and overall better than any other MP3 player I have listened too. The only problem I have is that the maimum volume level is fixed at a ridiculously low level in the EU (something to do with ear sound level pressure regulations from Brussels !). I have not tried with this model, but there was a fix for previous models where you could enter a secret engineers menu on the walkman and disable this feature as I would imagine most purchasers of this would want.
To sum up , I really think Sony have a winner on their hands this winter and I would be sure to get down to your local stockists straight away if you don’t want to be disappointed before christmas….Apple watch out !
This entry was posted on Tuesday December 13th, 2005 at 11:41 PM and is filed under MP3 Players. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
Leave a Reply
Hi-Fi-Insight News and Reviews
2 Responses to Sony NWA3000 MP3 Player
Gift girl Says:
December 5th, 2007 at 11:41 AM
It is rather a neat looking piece of kit and what's more it's great quality. Once we move past the must have an iProduct conditioning we'll discover that there is some pretty amazing high quality stuff out there.
The central scrutinizer Says:
October 1st, 2011 at 6:26 PM
I still have mine and it is a truly great machine and even now sounds better than Apple's latest iPods. The battery module is also far easier to replace than with iPods and there is less chance of causing damage (again unlike the fiddly iPods - designed to make sure you pay Apple £60 to do it for you).
The only real problem I have found is that as the hard disk fills with files the menus slow down and this gets tedius. Some have complained that they could not increase sound levels beyond the really low level set by the the AVLS limiter. However, on my unit this can be removed by entering the 'settings' menu then turning AVLS to 'Off'. But, if you must then there is also a volume limiter hack for this at;
http://www.techlounge.co.uk/96/sony-nwa3000-volume-limiter-hack.html
Other folk are unhappy with the Sony Connect and subsequent Sonic Stage interface software (they are both laborious and unsophisticated) but there are ways round this at;
http://poptunes.org/how-to-use-the-sony-nw-a3000-without-that-godawful-connect-software
Personally, after a little expetimentation I have found it easy to import files to Sonic Stage from iTunes, Juice and Windows Media Player etc so long as the file format if first converted to MP3. Manually adding album art is also far easier than with iTunes.
Of particular use is the fact that the headphone output jack can be switched between 'headphone' and 'line out' levels meaning that you can directly connect the unit to a hi-fi or other listening device without any compromise in sound qulaity. To make this easier Sony also have a dedicated docking station which charges it and has an output jack to connect to RCA devices etc. They call it a 'Cradle' and the model number is BCR-NWU1. I have even been abe to directly connect mine to a Bang & Olufsen system with DIN input.
The unit ships with decent geadphones but no remote control. A dedicated in-line remote control device is available; the RM-NWS1 which is a bog-standard switch with no display but controls Track +/-, Play/Stop & Volume +/- & Hold and can be picked up for around £20. Sony don't prescribe a dedicated LCD display remote for the NW-A series media layers but I have discovered that the following in-line LCD remotes work with them; RM-MC11EL, RM-MC33EL, RM-MC35ELK the previous all havingg one line LCDs and the three line LCD model; RM-MC40ELK.
ENJOY !!