Best Walkman Phone? (Sound Quality)

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

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Im a bit of an audiophile and always listen to my MP3 player in the gym. I own a Cowon I7 which is a very, very loud player with sound quality that surpasses the better known commercial brands such as Ipod and Creative.

However, I do like the idea of having my mobile that can double as a walkman. Whats currently considered the best walkman phone out there, Im open to several suggestions so I can make my own mind up :)

I listen mainly to full length DJ mix sets as opposed to single tracks, so the actual track management side of things doesnt need to be as complex as an Ipod for instance.

Budget: Its only for throwing about and using in the gym, lets say £100 (+/-20% of course).
 
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i dont think anything will come close to a dedicated mp3 player like your's m8.

why would you want another mp3 player when your Cowon I7 is a top notch player ?
 
Just for the benefit of a 2-in-1 mate to be honest.

Though I think you may be right, if paid £130 for my MP3 player, I cant imagine a sub-£100 mobile being any better :rolleyes:
 
Problem is size and battery life really. I have a 8GB W980i SE walkman phone and that has pretty much identical sound quality to my 4GB Sony MP3 player.

However the phone, whilst small as phones go, feels many times bigger than my MP3 player down the gym (I have tried it) and the battery life just doesn't compare. I get 40 hours on my MP3 player.

If I am on the train or at work etc then I just take the phone and transfer songs across. The battery life of the phone is a killer though as if I end up using the phone for internet and calls in the day, then there is no battery left for MP3s when I need it.

Whilst you can combine both, nothing beats a dedicated MP3 player for the gym or being out and about.

You can by the SE W980i new on Pay as you Go for £109 (was a £300 phone last year) from the CPW at the moment so that has to be the best value walkman phone. It is also a brilliant phone.
 
Agreed with the above post. Can't be W980 for value. Quality phone, and got everything you need, including FM transmitter which you don't get much on phones.

However, if you can spend a little more, go for the W995. SMART!
 
I forgot to mention, I would have preffered a 3.5mm jack, does the W980 have one? If not, are you limited to using SE branded headphones? :(
 
G4ORCE said:
I forgot to mention, I would have preffered a 3.5mm jack, does the W980 have one? If not, are you limited to using SE branded headphones? :(
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Most decent SE phones come with an adaptor which has a 3.5mm jack on the other end, you can buy one cheap if not but i would be surprised if it didnt have one. As far as i know none of the SE phones have a 3.5mm jack on the casing itself which is a bit of a shame
 
5800 is head and shoulders above the rest in terms of sound quality. Its 8GB out of the box which is handy, the sound quality is epic with fullly adjustable EQ and I had mine on for over 12 hours on holiday. Looked at the battery and it was one bar down. One bar!

Oh, its 3.5mm OTB too
 
I have a Nokia 5800, Sony NWZ A818 and used to have a Zen Vision M, iPod and an iRiver (should still have it somewhere)

The Nokia can stand up with the best... I can safely say it has beter sound quality than the iPod, zen vision m and the iRiver. I think it is a shade less than the Sony which is simply outstanding... EQ'ed there is no MP3 player out there that is beter IMO (includes the cowen). Sony Walkman phones are nothing like the real walkmans for SQ.

Go for the Nokia :)

EDIT: The sound is quite bassy but not boomy... however I do use mine now with a sony bluetooth adaptor and Sony EX85 headphones. This combo works well and makes the nokia sound quite similar to my NWZ A818 as the adaptor seems to give a bit more punch ,bass grunt and treble zing (think the internal amplifier is quite a bit more powerfull than the amp in the nokia). Im suprised bluetooth sounds this good as I always heard they sound bad!
 
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I use my Sony W705 and its great for mp3. Only annoying thing is it doesn't have a standard 3.5mm jack, it has one of those gay Sony connectors.

Other than that, can't fault it. Great battery life, simple to use and excellent sound quality.
 
I have 5800 (coming from a se w760) and there are many things about the music software on se phones that i prefer, the nokia one feels a bit basic.

For instance you could search for an album or track by using a-z on the numpad or queue songs up so that a different album started after the first has finished. These are things i no longer got on the 5800 and i used them quite frequently and it made it a lot faster to use, i never even needed to take the w760 out of my pocket as all the buttons i needed to press were easily available.

The battery life on the nokia is also decieving it will have near full charge for days then....boom its got 2 bars, my previous phones battery seemed to last longer that that.

Im not saying the nokia doesnt have its advantages but for me sony ericsson phones take the crown for music player phones. I wouldnt have replaced my old phone for this but the buttons in the corners stopped working which made it quite time consuming to text someone and i figured i would try something different while i waited for it to be repaired
 
Reeve : maybe you are just getting used to Nokia OS? The music Player on the Nokia is very similar set up to most mp3 Players today. I find it no slower use than lets say an iPod. Only thing I dont like is that if you are playing something and start looking at other music it can be a bit fiddly to get back to the now playing screen (esp if you need to quickly turn off the music).
 
james.miller said:
Veg, have you had a play with a sony x-series yet? i caved and bought one on saturday:o


edit: id probably go with the 5800 as well, tbh.
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Not Veg but I picked up the 16GB X-series to replace my 818 and I'm liking it a lot more, the screen is so nice and the touch interface is also very nice.
 
James.m I would by Sony X but Im skint at the moment. What do you think? My only concern is I have heard its a "warm" player... The 818 at times can be a bit cold and has gritty treble that suits my Westone UM2's well. Many People think the 818 is a warm player but I dont think so as people confuse Bass with warmth.
 
i dont think its warm at all, actually its quite the opposite ive found it to be more neutral than my 816 is, especially when clear bass is used. i found my 816 had a tendancy to accentuate the upper bass a little too much at times - the x doesnt do that. there's more depth and detail and the imaging is better as well. The earphone are better than the ex85's - halfway between modded and unmodded, but again with an extra level of detail that isnt there and none of the colouring that is there with the ex85's, with the added noise cancelling which works suprisingly well in some situations. Ive been doing some comparing between both players with both sets or earphones and the x is definately the more balanced of the two players with either 'phones. the x is the best player ive heard to date no doubt about it, though i do have some issues with the UI.... As with everything sony, the UI just isnt there but the sound quality... outstanding and thats what really matters.
 
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What issues do you have with the UI? I've found it really easy to use, the only thing I really miss is the song titles scrolling if they are longer than it can display.
 
Over on headfi they reckon the iPhone 3gs has the best sq of any current phone. And the new Sony x series the best sounding mp3 player.

While I had a Sony w810i and it was ok for music I still used a sony a818 mp3 player as it sounded much better. battery life was vastly better and transferring music was much, much faster.

Really Annoying is that they both had different non standard cables and the phone had no 3.5 jack.

Currently I also have a iPod touch which is great but personally I still prefer the real buttons on the Sony a818 for music playback.
 
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Vegetarian said:
Reeve : maybe you are just getting used to Nokia OS? The music Player on the Nokia is very similar set up to most mp3 Players today. I find it no slower use than lets say an iPod. Only thing I dont like is that if you are playing something and start looking at other music it can be a bit fiddly to get back to the now playing screen (esp if you need to quickly turn off the music).
Click to expand...

I've had it a few months now. The nokia probably does have the same interface as most mp3 players but i just got a bit too used to using the little extra features the se phone had.

I've got this phone on a 2 year contract and i dont plan to replace it before that(got a bad habit of buying stuff i dont need, dont earn a lot but i have some money to play around with every month). But i suspect i will replace it with a sony ericsson phone after that period is up even if they're still using those naff earphone sockets :D
 
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