Sony NWZ-A816 (4GB, white)

Manufacturer: Sony Part number: NWZ-A816WHI

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$119.88 - $139.98 at 2 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 2 reviews

Sep 2007

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Product series; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: The Sony NWZ-A810 offers a fantastic display, a sleek design and interface, and a stellar battery life--plus, it's one of the few MP3 players that sound great right out of the box. Users looking for the whole package (sans radio) will be pleased.

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Authorized store	Rate this store See store profile	In stock	Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price	$119.88 Shop now as of 10/13/2008
Authorized store	Rate this store See store profile	In stock	$139.98 Shop now as of 10/13/2008

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CNET editors' review

Sony NWZ-A816 (4GB, white)

price range: $119.88 - $139.98

Reviewed by: Jasmine France
Reviewed on: 09/25/2007

The good: The Sony NWZ-A810 offers a slim design with a lovely, ample screen. It's also easy to use and comes with high-quality earphones. Audio quality is excellent, and there are plenty of sound enhancement options and two custom EQs. The player supports photo and video playback as well as subscription WMA files, and it has a fantastic battery life.

The bad: Even with the included extender, the Sony NWZ-A810's earphone cable is very short. The placement of the hold button on the back of the player is neither convenient nor ergonomic. There's no FM tuner, voice recorder, or memory expansion slot.

The bottom line: The Sony NWZ-A810 offers a fantastic display, a sleek design and interface, and a stellar battery life--plus, it's one of the few MP3 players that sound great right out of the box. Users looking for the whole package (sans radio) will be pleased.

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Sony NWZ-A810

Here in the CNET offices, there's no doubt that the death of SonicStage will allow Sony's Walkmans to move a significant step up in the MP3 player market share competition. The company's new devices support AAC and protected WMA, offer excellent battery life, and sound fantastic. The latest Walkman to cross the review desk is the NWZ-A810, a video-friendly flash player available in 2GB ($119.95), 4GB ($149.95), and 8GB ($199.95) flavors. We're pretty impressed with this model, and we think you will be too.

The Sony NWZ-A810 is a pretty slick player. It has a high-quality, metallic build with the main body decked out in the brushed color of your choosing--black, pink, white, or silver. A chrome-like strip surrounds the edge of the device, and accenting of the same style surrounds the buttons and makes up the logos on the front. The overall look is more elegant than flashy, so it may not turn heads, but users with an appreciation for understatement will like the style. Actually, the most eye-catching feature is the excellent, 2-inch QVGA display (320x240)--it's bright and crisp and can be used in landscape orientation for viewing photos and videos. The main menu screen is well-organized, with icons that highlight and magnify as you scroll through them, and the playback screen displays album art and a wealth of information. You can even set a screensaver to display the time and date while you're not actively using the player.

Luckily, Sony has learned its lesson about emphasizing form over function and the NWZ-A810 is as easy to use as it is pleasant to look at. Of course, getting rid of SonicStage was a major help, as you can now use all the new Walkmans with WMA jukeboxes, such as Windows Media Player (WMP) and Rhapsody. Once you get some content onto the NWZ-A810, navigation is handled via three circular controls on the front of the player: a power/option key, a back/home button, and a four-way control pad surrounding a central play/pause key. A dedicated volume rocker--always a nice touch--sits on the right edge of the player. The only two design aspects we're not too keen on are the proprietary dock connection and the hold switch, which is placed inconveniently on the back of the device.

Somewhat surprisingly, this Sony Walkman doesn't have some key features we expect at this price point. Namely, there's no FM tuner or voice recorder--no memory expansion, either. Still, the NWZ-A810 has several desirable extras, not the least of which is a pair of MDR-EX082 headphones in the package, making this one of the few players that sounds great right out of the box--no earbud replacement required. On the downside, the headphone cable is extremely short--even with the extender attached--so unless you always keep the player in a pocket (it can just reach comfortably to a pants pocket), plan on supplying another extender. Other features include photo (JPEG and slide shows) and video (MPEG4 and M4V) playback, as well as support for protected WMA files. The NWZ-A810 also plays MP3 and AAC tracks, and it offers a plethora of EQ options and sound enhancements for tweaking the sound. Finally, there's the unique and fun Time Machine Shuffle, which plays all songs from a randomly selected year.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Sony NWZ-A810 is its performance. Not only is the battery life of 35.3 hours for audio and 8 hours (rated) for video exceptional, but the processor speed is snappy and photos and videos look very good on the bright color screen, with nice detail and excellent color saturation. But, as should be the case for any music player, sound quality steals the show--namely because you don't even need to replace the headphones to enjoy good audio playback. Still, we decided we might as well pop in a pair of Shure SE530s to really put the player to the test. We were not disappointed. Although bass was impressively present through the MDR-EX082s, it really thumps with the SE530s. Similarly, mids were warm and enveloping, and the clarity on the high end was not sacrificed. Sound really sparkles--if excellent sound quality is a must for you, definitely give the NWZ-A810 a try.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 2 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 2 out of 2

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9 stars

Near perfection

by sweetadeleine on March 20, 2008

Pros: durable body, beautiful player, organizer's dream, drag and drop, super long battery life

Cons: no fm radio, no on-the-go

Summary: Snatch one of these up before they are all gone, as Sony discontinued them about two weeks ago. You'll be hard pressed to find any bad reviews (I couldn'...

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Summary: Snatch one of these up before they are all gone, as Sony discontinued them about two weeks ago. You'll be hard pressed to find any bad reviews (I couldn't), and you'll enjoy a great sound through spiffy earbuds that come with the player. The lack of FM radio is a small drag when you consider loading podcasts and skipping the commercials anyway. Also, I can't imagine putting up with some small time company who didn't want to deal with me when my mp3 player showed design faults; Sony is likely the better choice for customer service.

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9 stars

Overall great DAP

by munu9 on November 6, 2007

Pros: Great sounding, nice and compact, great battery life, great headphones

Cons: Headphone cables a little short, no FM tuner or voice recorder

Summary: It's a great MP3. The biggest improvement in this over other sony walkman is that you don't have to use any software, you can simply just drag and ...

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Summary: It's a great MP3. The biggest improvement in this over other sony walkman is that you don't have to use any software, you can simply just drag and drop! But if you want to you can use Windows media player. You don't have to use sonic stage.

The sound quality is excellent and the battery life is very good. It gives you many options such is a mini equalizer and many options to digitally make the music sound better. The battery life is really good, ~35 hours. Although, unlike the some other sony mp3 players, it's not 3 minutes for 3 hours. It actually takes 3 hours to fully charge. But it's not a big deal.

The only complaint I would have, like it said in the review, the cable for the headphones are very short. Even with the extender cable, it is only minimum length you would need. Plus the player has not bonuses such as FM tuner of voice recorder. But you didn't buy this mp3 player because you wanted an FM tuner or voice recorder. You bought it so you could... player mp3's!!! (or WMA, ACC)

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Sony
Part number: NWZ-A816WHI
Description: Incredibly versatile Windows Media compatible 4GB Walkman. Easily drag and drop most popular music formats, video downloads and photos.

General
Width 1.7 in
Depth 0.4 in
Product type Digital player
Height 3.5 in
PC interface(s) supported Hi-Speed USB
Amplifier total output power 10 mW
Weight 1.9 oz
Color White
Available body colors Pink, Balck, Silver
Flash memory installed 4 GB Integrated
Digital storage None
Dimensions (W x D x H) 1.7 in x 0.4 in x 3.5 in
Included accessories Docking station adapter
Packaged quantity 1
Software type Drivers & Utilities, Microsoft Windows Media Player 11
Digital storage media type None
Digital Player / Recorder
Digital player supported digital audio standards WMA, PCM, Protected WMA (DRM 10), MP3, AAC
Digital player response bandwidth 20 - 20000 Hz
Digital player playback modes Repeat all, Continuous, One track repeat
Digital player additional features JPEG photo playback
Carrying Case
Case type None
Video Playback Features
Video playback support MPEG-4, M4V
Still image format JPEG
Battery
Rechargeable Battery Rechargeable
Battery Enclosure Type Integrated
Technology Lithium ion
Recharge Time 3 hour(s)
Battery Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Mfr estimated battery life 33 hour(s)
Battery Life Details MP3 playback 33 hour(s), Video playback 8 hour(s)
Audio System
Sound output mode Stereo
Additional features Slide show, Time machine shuffle, 4 clear audio technologies
Cable(s) / Peripheral(s)
Cable(s) included External, 1 x Headphones extender -, 1 x USB cable -
System Requirements
Peripheral / Interface devices USB port
Min Operating system Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later
Connections
Connector type 1 x Headphones Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x USB

Built-in Display
Audio system built-in display TFT
Diagonal size 2 in
Resolution 240 x 320
Backlight display Yes
Display illumination color White
Power
Power Supply / Device None
Audio Features
Amplifier output channel qty 2
Sound effects Clear Bass
Amplifier response bandwidth 20 - 20000 Hz
CD System
Playback modes Repeat on/off, Continuous playback on/off
Digital audio standards supported WMA, AAC-LC, Linear PCM, MP3
Equalizer
Equalizer type Built-in
Equalizer factory preset qty 5
Equalizer factory presets Heavy, Custom, Jazz, Unique, Pop
Equalizer band qty 5 bands
Remote Control
Remote control None
Headphones
Headphones type Binaural In-ear ear-bud
Sound output mode Stereo
Connectivity technology Wired
Battery / Power
Power device type None

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Product series

Sony NWZ-A815 (2GB, black)

$89.96 - $125.82

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 2 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A815 (2GB, white)

$89.99 - $125.82

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 2 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A815 (2GB, pink)

$89.96 - $139.95

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 2 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A815 (2GB, silver)

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 2 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A816 (4GB, white)

$119.88 - $139.98

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 4 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A816 (4GB, pink)

$96.95 - $139.98

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 4 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A816 (4GB, black)

$96.95 - $139.98

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 4 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A816 (4GB, silver)

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 4 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A818 (8GB, black)

$229.99

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 8 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Sony NWZ-A818 (8GB, silver)

Manufacturer: Sony

Specs: Digital player, 8 GB, AAC, MP3, PCM, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM 10), Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated

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Manufacturer info

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Sony NWZ-A816 (4GB, white)

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Audio System

Cable(s) / Peripheral(s)

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Equalizer

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