CNET Editor's rating: 8.0 out of 10
Reviewed by
Jasmine France
Review date: 09/25/07
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.
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.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Welcome back SONY,..
This walkman player could easily represent sonys comeback. It shows some steps forward in the companiess lost incentive to bring ...
This walkman player could easily represent sonys comeback. It shows some steps forward in the companiess lost incentive to bring competitive products to the mp3 player marker, onces dominated by their walkmans. This tiny player will offer you good storage for its size at 8gb and what we've come to expect from the company, 30 hours of battery life. it has a great design overall taking away that hold button and a nice user interface. The videos in the screen look really sharp to my amazement given the fact it is their first video walkman and has sufficient buttons to not want to scroll wheel through it. One plus about this walkman that isn't a tradition of many companies is its headphones. It brings high quality headphones that make it by far the best sounding player out of the box. Its also pocket-friendly player and best of all open source. You can just drag your music from many computers and have them come to you with no restrictions unlike that friend of ours Ipod. Personally though, I would have liked for them to just come out with a really nice software for it as it would make your music better organized and easier to manage. All in all, a great player and definitively something to consider over a fat nano. Choose wisely..
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by lil-yankee (see profile) -
September 27, 2007
19 out of 19 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Excellent MP3 Player
What a great job Sony has done. I am so used to walking in a Sony store and quickly viewing ...
What a great job Sony has done. I am so used to walking in a Sony store and quickly viewing the MP3 player selection and feeling slight stomach pains when I see that darn Sonic Stage software advertised with each and every one. You see I was a big Sony guy back when MD players were the new thing. I absolutely have never heard any portable device sound as flawless and clear as that good ol' Network MD player until now. Thing is back then, it used to take me hours upon hours to get the music encoded correctly in ATRAC format. I would have to re-encode all the MP3's and to my surprise, when I would come back to the computer, one track would sometimes have an error, and I would have to re encode the remaining songs. I'm sure you Sony people know what I'm talking about.
Imagine my surprise when I walk in the Sony Store once again and gracefully step up to the shiny glass counter and see some rather attractive players. What's this? Drag and drop? hmmmm... Can't be! No software required? Liars! At about this point, I feel a little dumb because a week previous I picked up my first true mp3 player.... "The Mighty Ipod Classic (80GB)" I know I know but hey, I figured I bought 3 of them for different family members over the years and I may as well give it a try since the price was good and it is the #1 MP3 player. Well to put it bluntly, the Ipod is a beautiful player, has a nice interface, lots of storage, nice screen, and has a great price. But when I turned this thing on, and synced my music, it left me wondering, is it defective? Why do all of the songs sound crackly, flat, and dull. There wasn't one sound preset I could select that would make me feel like it sounded remotely like my old Sony MD Player.
Oh sorry I'm all over the place. Well I ended up returning the Ipod the day after I went to the Sony Store... to Walmart, which put me in the awkward position of stretching the truth due to their Ipod return policy of only returning the device back to an official Apple Store. I went back to the Sony Store and picked up the 8GB player and hot damn. This is what a music player is supposed to sound like. Punchy sound, great bass without the crackling sounds or weird thumps, clear, brilliant highs, and just provides the listener with a phenomenal sound stage. When I'm spending $200-300 on a piece of equipment, based around audio, it has got to bring my music library to life and make me eager to hear the things the musicians intended the listener to hear and experience. Great Job Sony. We can go on and talk about the lack of fm tuner and the weird placement of the hold button, but I'm giving this player a 9 just because it really defines what a great listening experience, on the go, is all about.
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by ScottieinToronto (see profile) -
November 3, 2007
7 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 out of 10 - Excellent Solid purchase! Welcome back Sony!
It's really is annoying when you have this great MP3 device in your pants pocket and the stupid cable ...
It's really is annoying when you have this great MP3 device in your pants pocket and the stupid cable to your earbuds pulls them out because it is a foot too short! All-in- all this was a very worth while purchase. Good pick Jasmine/CNet.
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by Arby44 (see profile) -
October 15, 2007
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular WOW Sony NWZ-A818 is awesome.........
It's an awesome move by sony and it's right on time. I think sony offering so much more ...
It's an awesome move by sony and it's right on time. I think sony offering so much more than ipods and zune. First high quality earphones with better battery life and easy of use. Also sound quality is realy awesome, must buy.
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by shehzad (see profile) -
September 27, 2007
5 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Intense listening experience...
This MP3 player is phenomenal...the sound is amazing. I mostly listen to progressive house/trance and dance music and ...
This MP3 player is phenomenal...the sound is amazing. I mostly listen to progressive house/trance and dance music and let me tell you, with the sound on this thing, it feels like your live right in the club next to the speaker. It's even good for future hearing loss from listening to loud music because it's toned down and not a sharp loud sound. It's a very comfortable yet deep sounding tone. I wanted something different since everyone and their brother has an IPod and boy am I more than happy with this. If your looking for a real-to-life sounding music player, this is the one for you. I am very critical and selective so you can count on this review. Only problem with an accesory that I have come across was that there was no armband for the gym (which is mainly what I need this for). But, sure enough I found one (Made by DLO for the Samsung T10 MP3 model # of the case is 005-2425) at Best Buy that fits this thing perfect (except for the volume control and hold button, which is easily pressed through the case and the hold button is at the bottom so you can easily slip finger through and switch it). Just make sure this is the correct fit when your at the store because I threw the box out and I am getting all the case info from BB website. Im sure it's this one, but if it's not find the ones that look most similar to this because one of them will fit this player perfectly, I should know cause I have it. Go for it guys!
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by jjett77 (see profile) -
January 2, 2008
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Excellent quality all around
I've had this unit for a couple of weeks now and its the best MP3 player I've ever ...
I've had this unit for a couple of weeks now and its the best MP3 player I've ever owned. It has great sound quality and comes with really nice earbuds, unlike the crap earbuds you get with other MP3 players. Its easy to use with an intuitive interface, and since Sonicstage has been ditched transferring songs over is as simple as can be. The battery life is great, its well built, and amazingly has really good image quality on that tiny screen. I've been using an 8 GB up until recently and this unit pretty much blows it away; better sound quality, better battery life, and a better interface. I will miss iTunes, however.
My one real complaint is that it seems to only support WMP playlists. I'm not a big fan of WMP so this is a con for me, but its really just a personal preference. Hopefully the upcoming Sony Media Manager will fix this for me.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Absolutely fantastic!!
Just purchased this unit a few days ago after months of researching mp3 players. This is my first mp3 player ...
Just purchased this unit a few days ago after months of researching mp3 players. This is my first mp3 player so I really had nothing to compare. So far, the unit has exceeded my expectations. The feel of the unit, including the controls, is very solid. Nothing cheap about it whatsoever. I was also looking at the new Creative ZEN. It had more features for the money, but the case and controls were no where near the quality of the Sony. All lightweight plastic. Now for the sound and video quality. WOW and WOW!!! The sound quality is simply amazing. There are also several audio configuration settings you can mess with to really fine tune the audio to your liking. The interface is nothing fancy, but hey, when you are listening to music, who cares about flashy UI's. As for the video, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to watch a video on this player. I could easily watch a half hour show, but maybe not a 2 hour show. All in all, this is a fantastic player. No regrets at all. I feel this is a much better value than the iPod Nano.
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by jmkunstman (see profile) -
October 13, 2007
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular The Best MP3 Player Ever
This MP3 player is the best I have had so far. I have had 3 iPods and a Zune, and ...
This MP3 player is the best I have had so far. I have had 3 iPods and a Zune, and they can not be compared to the amazing sound delivered by this new Sony MP3 player. For those wanting a flash based player, this item is one of the smallest and more portable out there with an extremely bright and clear LCD display which allows for viewing videos on the go. To make it even better, Sony did not go cheap, the player features a nice durable and well designed metal body, thats a bit taller than the new Nano Videos, not as wide and thick though. Sony also includes a set of great ear buds, which are a lot better than those packed with any other player out there. I was tempted to go with the other Sony MP3 player,which has an FM tuner built in and is a bit smaller, but after comparing them, I think I rather have the one with the metal body, better sound and .2" bigger LCD. Those of you that buy either of the new Sony's will be amazed by the performance of this well built device, and will love it a whole lot more than any other device that has been introduced into the market. I got the Nano Video a few weeks ago, that went on eBay already. Compared to an iPod and iTunes, Sony has a nice user interface thats nicer than Apple's, you'll have no scroll wheel to deal with, you get better audio quality, a brighter LCD, and in my opinion a much nicer design. You can use Windows Media, but I highly recommend using Napster (which comes with the player). Napster is really close to the iTunes interface and will allow you to purchase albums and songs you like or you can pay $15 a month for unlimited downloads. Those of you buying this MP3 player over the others on the market as of now will be making a great choice and will absolutely love this machine.
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by ESUNintel (see profile) -
October 11, 2007
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular totally awesome and sweet
I love this new mp3 player from SONY. They really paid a lot of attention to sound quality. I have ...
I love this new mp3 player from SONY. They really paid a lot of attention to sound quality. I have heard the iPod Nano and they have an acceptable sound quality but this SONY blows them away in my opinion. You owe it to yourself to give this unit a listen. you'll be very surprized. I only wish that I had gotten the 4G version. Rock ON!
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by zahmbee (see profile) -
March 9, 2008
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Works with Rhapsody To Go
The number one reason I wanted to post a review was to clarify misinformation I found scattered around the web, ...
The number one reason I wanted to post a review was to clarify misinformation I found scattered around the web, even on Rhapsody's own compatible device list. The NWZ-A818 absolutely works with Rhapsody To Go service, just be sure that's what you're actually paying for and not just the Unlimited service. Extremely simple to transfer music to the device. Got to love the ability to add virtually any album you desire to your MP3 player all for about the price of one CD a month.
Overall, I think this is a fantastic player. I don't know what the complaint about the hold button being on the back really comes from. I'd say if anything that's a more logical place (at least the way I hold the player, my middle finger is right on the button).
Basically, this player has about everything one could want, and if you shop around, you can get a pretty good price on it. I paid $170 and that wasn't even the sale price. File transfers are a breeze, just drag and drop really. The screen is bright and sharp, and while the iTouch might be all the rage these days I like tactile feedback so I don't have to actually look at the player to control it. Personally, I'm very sensitive to sound quality, and this unit surpassed even my high expectations. Crisp highs, smooth lows, and with the EQ easy to tailor to your style.
On the downside, I very much wish Sony made an armband for this player so I wouldn't worry so much about it dropping out of my pocket while at the gym. Also, while I've transfered playlists from Rhapsody they don't seem to be acknowledged by the player, so I assume you have to recreate them internally (though I haven't tried to figure that one out yet). Lastly, the headphones, while great and definitely stay comfortably in place, even at the gym, the two-piece cable and different length earbud cables is slightly annoying. Granted, if they actually made an armband for this player the ability to shorten the cable length would play greatly in this units favor. But until then, it's kind of pointless.
Overall, I highly recommend this player to anyone looking for an alternative to trendy (iPod) players. This is flat out better than the Nano, hands down.
Lastly, and I'm repeating this here in hopes to help people like me who couldn't find reliable information on the web - this unit works with Rhapsody To Go, just don't forget to upgrade your Rhapsody account to that level of service first.
Good job Sony!
Updated The playlists in Rhapsody do work with this player, and quite easily. I overlooked the playlist function on the player (must have been a Monday). If anything this changes my review from a 9.0 to a 9.5. Amazing player all around.
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