Sony Walkman NWZ-A845 media player
Thinnest Walkman yet
Review If you can live without support for FLAC or Ogg Vorbis, then Sony's Walkman PMPs have long been the obvious choice for anyone concerned about sound quality but not wanting to chance lesser known players from Cowon or iRiver.
Thin sound? Sony's NWZ-A845 Walkman
Sony also tends to bundle decent earphones which is another reason I rated the S Series Walkman so highly. Sony boasts that the NWZ-A845 – the 16GB model in a range that runs from the 8GB A844 to the 64GB A847 – is the thinnest Walkman to date at only 7.2mm. It's also the nicest looking.
Previous Walkmans have been plain to the point of deliberate perversity but the 845 is altogether more attractive. Serious thought has clearly gone into the control bezel that, while following the traditional Walkman layout, is now finished in a two tone brushed metallic effect rather than dull old plastic. Away from the fascia the only controls are the volume rocker and lock slider on the right hand side.
Sony claims the new A series are the first MP3 players to support the BBC iPlayer’s full 720 x 404 resolution downloads rather than the mobile 320 x180 sort. I'll take its word about it being the first but it certainly works, BBC Alba's coverage of the Hebridean Music Festival looked superb on the 400 x 240 2.8in OLED screen.
As well as WMV the 845 also supports H.264 video, MP3, AAC, WMA audio and JPEG image files. iPlayer downloads aside, all other video files must be at or below the screen's native resolution to play. As with all Walkman players Windows users can drag content directly from iTunes using the extremely handy Music Transfer Tool but playlists can only be set up using an MTP media player. There is no facility to compile even a simple favourites list on-board.
Noise-cancelling headphones are part of the package
Once your media is in place, navigation follows the well worn Sony path of access from nine menu icons – a classic case of, if it ain't broke don't fix it. In fact the only changes are a much improved menu colour scheme with equally improved fonts making the UI far more pleasant to the eye and the option to scroll through video files using scene thumbnails.
COMMENTS
@PugRallye
FLAC is a minority format, ask consumers and I bet almost every single one won't even know what it is.
They care about MP3, AAC and WMA, and that's really about it.
You OpenSource Nutters and Sony Haters really need to get a grip on reality.
The downside to the ultra thin Walkman
Is feeding the tape into it after cracking the cassette open.
Volume Cap
Anyone thinking of getting this Walkman should have a look at the below thread on AVForums:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/portable-music-mp3-ipod-etc/1196882-sony-nwz-a845-low-volume.html
Waiting for the 32GB model..
I REALLY want one of these. I have never liked the sound of the iPod, it's frankly abysmal, and always preferred build and audio quality over gimmicks and street cred that the iPods offer.
What is missing is the 32GB and 64GB models from the Euro range. They are out soon however, and I will be snapping one up (the 64GB if my wallet will stretch...)
I'm surprised it only got a 85%, as there was very little negative in the article, it was almost totally positive. Reading the review it sounded much more like a 95%
I too wish Sony would use FLAC in it's Walkman and PS3 products, but the Open Source licensing may be a problem...
Err you're wrong I'm afriad
You do not need to buy tracks from Apple to get Gapless playback on a IPlod. I've been ripping my own substantial CD collection using ITunes for years and get gapless playback on the cd's which are continued mixes like DJ mixes, Pink Floyd albums and the like.
Rob
