Broke MP3 player, replace with which one?

Sean_UK

Sean_UK

Sean_UK

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As per title, my Creative Zen managed a back flip out my pocket and off the side of a building site to certain doom upon impact. :( Now I’d had the Zen since retail and was still happy it, but of course tech moves along etc. So enquiring with you guys as to what in your opinion is the player to have around £60 to £90 price range?

Prefer decent screen, 4 to 8gb storage, high quality audio, decent vid playback, size no bigger than Zen, care not about quality of the supplied headphones since I already own a couple of decent phones, but most of all no hidden costs. Friend of mine suggested an IPod, but tbh unless they are 'that good' I don’t want to be a sheep. ;)

Opinions and input appreciated. :)
 
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I received a Sony NWZA818 today and I'm very happy with it, it's my first MP3 player and it's a nice solid piece of kit, all metal body, nice screen, excellent sound quality and very good supplied headphones. It's around £83.
 
Broken Hope said:
I received a Sony NWZA818 today and I'm very happy with it, it's my first MP3 player and it's a nice solid piece of kit, all metal body, nice screen, excellent sound quality and very good supplied headphones. It's around £83.
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That's the one I recommended to my old man and he loves it, especially the sound quality, which is widely regarded as just about the best there is at the moment, overall, a steal at the price mate.:)
 
Sony NWZA818 looks interesting thanks, anyone else care to add other player suggestions? :) I'll be looking around shops on Sunday with intent to purchase.
 
People on the Head-fi forums are saying good things about the SanDisk Sansa Fuze, the 4GB version can be had for £64 and the 8GB for £90. The Sony NWZ-A818 is a fantastic player too, the headphones it comes with are not too bad either :)
 
Sony is the best by far - it just sounds right! Samsung, apple and creative just dont cut it... They sound cheap and nasty - hollow and thin, compressed and dull. Thru headphones the sony sounds as good as my £1500 hifi.
 
Vegetarian said:
Sony is the best by far - it just sounds right! Samsung, apple and creative just dont cut it... They sound cheap and nasty - hollow and thin, compressed and dull. Thru headphones the sony sounds as good as my £1500 hifi.
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In your opinion, yes. The problem with choosing an MP3 player is that everyone has different tastes! The Samsung (imo) has just as good SQ as the Sony, while the Apple and Creative's dont sound as good (yet again, imo) I certainly wouldn't call them cheap and nasty.

(imo) You really cant go wrong if you buy either of these;

Sony NWZ-A8**
Cowon D2
Cowon iAudio 7
Sandisk Sansa Fuze
iRiver Clix2
Samsung YP-P2

Craig
 
Had a look at the Sony NWZA818B 8GB yesterday, sound is very good, however salesman told me it can be a bit fussy with some vid playback? Also im now tempted by the 16GB Zen as one shop has it for a very decent price at present, my old Zen was 4GB.

Checking out some more today since i run out of time yesterday, these will include Cowon and Samsung range.
 
i never used video on mine. its a bit of a useless feature for me - the players neither have the space or th screen size id want from a portable player. i didnt bother with video on my D2, either.
 
I went through lots of M3 players over the past few years until eventually I caved in and bought the current generation of 8GB iPOD Nano.

you can tell why these things are the market leader....

Nice all metal body (needs protecting though but a cheap silicon sleeve is fine)

Sound quality is fine for headphones and volume is up from the previous gen, by quite a bit.

The interface though is a work of genius. Previous players I used all had clunky, slow interfaces (Philips, a few "generic" players, Creative Zen) that just got annoying, the iPod is just sublime.

For me, it simply cannot be beaten as an MP3 device overall, sure its sound quality and amping probably isnt as good as say a Cowan or maybe even some of the Sony's, but it is well priced, its battery literally lasts me nearly a full week of ~ 6 hours a day usage, its extremely well made and its a joy to use.

Sometimes things are the most popular for a reason...
 
james.miller said:
marketing would be that reason lol. the sonys have them beat in all but the unser interface, which is far from hard to use as it is.
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Which for me is THE most important part of a portable music player.

HiFi seperate etc, absolutely not, but for a device to listen to already compressed, thus inferior, music on, I want the interface to be as good as possible, the quality comes second as even the best canal phones can't match a proper pair of speakers, the iPod's sound quality is more than good enough when combined with some reasonable cans.

The battery life and the interface are for me easily enough to justify becoming one of the "sheep." You can market something till the cows come home, if people pick it up and hate it, it won't sell. People pick up the iPod and love it, thats a good product.
 
i have different priorities. sound quality is number one but of course the experience is ruined if the UI isnt up to scratch. fortunately, the sonys are so easy to use anyway.

While my iphone is great and swanky and has that wow factor and easy of use, the sound quality isnt up to that of my sony. So its the sony that gets used for music:)
 
Had a look at many of the models mentioned above today, top 3 for me: Sony NWZA818, Samsung YP-P2 and Cowon D2. Took my Senn 300's along so got an equal level of phones sound instead of the varying quality you get from supplied headphones, have not purchased one yet as I’m going to check websites for some price comparisons, which will probably be the deciding factor in the end...

manic_man said:
Sometimes things are the most popular for a reason...
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As for the IPod Nano, had a listen to friends Nano yesterday and the sound to my ears was not as good when compared to others, imo. So I'd have to agree with james.miller, sales are top via the great marketing drive.

Cheers for advice etc, of course happy to hear more opinions :)
 
Well I’ve played around with all the recommended MP3 players and I’m down to just these two: Sony NWZ-A828K or Sony NWZ-A818. Am I correct in thinking the only real diff is just screen size and Bluetooth or did I missing something, because sound wise they seemed equal quality to my ears.
 
yeah they are equal. the 828k has a bigger screen, bluetooth and bundled BT headphone (the 829 does not have the 'phones). other than that there is really nothing in it.
 
Cheers for clearing that up :) Seen the Sony NWZ-A818 priced between £89.99 to £109.99, and Sony NWZ-A828K anything from £129.99 to high as £169.00! Well its final decision time, thanks for all your help and advice people. :D
 
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