Sony Walkman NWZ-A828K (8GB, black)

Manufacturer: Sony Part number: NWZ-A828KBLK

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CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 1 review

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

Bottom Line:: The Sony NWZ-A820 is the best sounding, best-looking Walkman series yet, and the inclusion of Bluetooth audio makes it a top choice for cable-hating audio enthusiasts.

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CNET editors' review

Sony Walkman NWZ-A828K (8GB, black)

price range: $249.95 - $299.98

Reviewed by: Donald Bell
Reviewed on: 04/04/2008
Released on: 03/28/2008

The good: The Sony NWZ-A820 Walkman MP3 player series offers high-quality music, photo, and video playback, along with built-in Bluetooth audio streaming, EX-style earphones, and phenomenal battery life.

The bad: The Sony NWZ-A820 series doesn't come cheap, and it lacks an FM radio, voice recording, memory expansion, and a standard USB connection.

The bottom line: The Sony NWZ-A820 is the best sounding, best-looking Walkman series yet, and the inclusion of Bluetooth audio makes it a top choice for cable-hating audio enthusiasts.

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Photo gallery:
Sony NWZ-A810

The Sony NWZ-A820 Walkman series is a subtle evolution of the NWZ-A810 series we enjoyed in 2007. This year, Sony is treating us with a larger screen, built-in Bluetooth, and a more assertive design, offered in 8GB ($270) and 16GB ($320).

Design
Given Sony's track record with curvy, rounded designs, the Sony NWZ-A820 is refreshingly square. Measuring 2 inches by 3.75 inches by 0.4 inch, it has a metallic body and a 2.4-inch screen. The NWZ-A820 is a little larger than its predecessor, but it maintains a slim, pocketable profile. The circular four-way navigation pad found on last year's Sony NWZ-A810 has turned into a more solid-feeling square on the A820, flanked by two small option and menu buttons. All other buttons are confined to the right side of the player, including a rocker switch for volume control, a Bluetooth activation button, and a hold switch. The bottom of the A820 Walkman features a headphone output and proprietary USB connection.

One little design detail that distinguishes the Sony NWZ-A820 from last year's model is the inclusion of a detachable kickstand for hands-free video playback.

Features
The Sony NWZ-A820 is stocked with features, including music, photo, and video playback, and built-in Bluetooth audio streaming. On the audio end of things, Sony is continuing its support for MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV, and DRM-protected subscription music files. In typical Sony style, the restrained design of the music playback screen betrays the awe-inspiring music enhancement technology working behind the scenes, such as a 5-band EQ, Clear Bass, Clear Stereo, DSEE high-frequency restoration, and dynamic normalization.

With its 2.4-inch QVGA LCD and excellent video battery life, the Sony NWZ-A820 is the most video-worthy Walkman we've seen. Sony offers limited video format compatibility, however, including MPEG-4 and H.264 sized at a strict 320x240 ratio. Fortunately, the popularity of the iPod and video podcasts has made the QVGA MPEG-4 file format one of the most abundant on the Web.

The Sony NWZ-A820 is a solid player with plenty to brag about, but the exclusion of features such as an FM radio, voice recording, and memory expansion, is worth keeping in mind as you compare the Walkman with its competition.

Bluetooth
Sony makes the whole Bluetooth pairing process exceptionally elegant on the NWZ-A820, both functionally and aesthetically. A push of a button sends the Sony NWZ-A820 into Bluetooth discovery mode and activates a blinking blue light on the top-right edge of the player. Once the Sony NWZ-A820 has been successfully paired with a Bluetooth device (headphones, stereo) the indicator light changes from a frantic flash to a slow pulse. During our informal testing, we were able to get a useful range of about 30 unobstructed feet between the NWZ-A820 and our Logitech Freepulse Bluetooth headphones. Access keys for previously paired devices are conveniently stored in the Sony NWZ-A820's memory, allowing you to pair your various Bluetooth accessories with a minimum of fuss. If you're just dipping your toe into the world of wireless Bluetooth audio, the 8GB version of the NWZ-A820 (the NWZ-A828K) comes bundled with pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones.

If you could care less about Bluetooth, the Sony NWZ-A720 series offers all of the features found in the NWZ-A820 series, with the exception of Bluetooth, at a reduced price.

The Sony EX earphones included with the NWZ-A820 Walkman series put Apple's white iPod earbuds to shame.

Performance
Year after year, Sony's MP3 players demonstrate some of the highest standards for audio quality. Even at its factory setting, the Sony NWZ-A820 radiates with fidelity that just gets better as each one of its many sound-enhancement features activate. Listening through the excellent pair of included Sony EX in-ear headphones, the rattling saxophones of Moondog's "Dog Trot" were vibrant and easy to pick out in the stereo soundstage. Renowned for its buttery bass performance, the Clear Bass enhancement EQ feature perfectly sweetened the rolling dub synth notes of Squarepusher's "Port Rhombus" with no noticeable distortion.

Videos appeared bright, crisp, and colorful on the Sony NWZ-A820. The Walkman's screen is 0.4 inch larger than the screen found on the third-generation iPod Nano, and it shares a similarly impressive pixel density and sharp picture quality. Videos can be rotated between landscape and portrait view on the Sony NWZ-A820, and audio and video files are automatically bookmarked when the player is stopped or shut down.

Sony rates the NWZ-A820's battery life at an impressive 36 hours of audio playback and 10 hours of video. We'll update this review with our CNET Labs battery results once testing is complete.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 1 review
My rating: 0 stars

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9 stars

Probably the best audio quality you can get on a portable player

by R. Trampe on April 24, 2008

Pros: High audio quality with settings available, great video play back, user friendly interface and sleek design!

Cons: Proprietry cable, laballing of song title, artist, etc. very un-user friendly, batery life not as good as the A810 series (predecesor)

Summary: The main reason why I bought the Sony A820 series is for its high audio quality. I am definitely critical of audio quality and Ipods just do not do the ...

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Summary: The main reason why I bought the Sony A820 series is for its high audio quality. I am definitely critical of audio quality and Ipods just do not do the trick for me. Sony, with its new audio enhancement functions, makes Ipod sound like a tin can. Only the VPT (surround) function has no added value. The rest really improves your listening experience without distortion on the EQ bands.

The video playback is great. The larger screen makes a big difference compared to the A810 (formerly owned the A810). It is very easy to convert any type of video to the correct mp4 320*240 format (I use Nero Recode - included in Nero 7). Again, the sound is great providing you a cinema experience on hand held format.

I find the Sony A820 series very user friendly. It provides good overview of your music collection and allows for easy search. However, since Sony does not use a software package to manage the player, it is hard to keep to player well organized. For transferring and editing files the normal functions of windows explorer are used. While this is very convenient for data transfer, when trying to organize all artists on your player it is a hassle. Windows does not discriminate in caps and small letters, but player does resulting in one artist being listed several times. This is difficult when you for instance want to play all songs from one artist. You have to delete the name first and then re-enter in exact format since windows ignores changes of caps to small letters (v.v.) when spelling remains the same.

So far, I have found that the battery life, while good, is not as good as the A810. This is probably due to the larger screen. Every time you touch a button more energy is required to light the screen again. This is why in practice I think its battery life is not as good as with its predecessor.

The EX headphones are good. They are a class apart from anything standard you would buy in the store and they are no match for Ipod earphones by far! However, I am going to match this player with the Shure SE530 in ear monitors for the ultimate quality sound experience.

Conclusion:

The Sony A820 offer high quality in all aspects. Getting your track lists organized may be a bit of a hassle, which is my main draw back on this product. The price is perhaps a bit high but in my opinion is definitely worth the while.

I would certainly recommend this product to anyone who enjoys the best audio quality for his ears!

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Sony
Part number: NWZ-A828KBLK
Description: Go wireless with the 8 GB Walkman video MP3 player. Just slide the player in your pocket, put on the headphones and you've just added music to your activity - with no wires to get in your way. If you love watching videos, a high-resolution 2.4" QVGA LCD beautifully presents them in portrait or landscape mode. The attractive, slim-line player also supports multiple file types so you're never locked into one format. Small and light enough to fit almost anywhere, the 8 GB built-in memory can store up to 1,850 songs or up to 30 hours of video for an expansive mobile multimedia collection that fits in the palm of your hand.

General
Width 2 in
Depth 0.4 in
Product type Digital player
Height 3.7 in
PC interface(s) supported Hi-Speed USB, Bluetooth
Amplifier total output power 10 mW
Weight 2 oz
Color Black
Flash memory installed 8 GB Integrated
Digital storage None
Dimensions (W x D x H) 2 in x 0.4 in x 3.7 in
Included accessories Bluetooth wireless headphones
Packaged quantity 1
Digital storage media type None
Digital Player / Recorder
Digital player supported digital audio standards WMA, Protected WMA (DRM), PCM, MP3, AAC
Digital player response bandwidth 20 - 20000 Hz
Digital player playback modes Repeat all, One track repeat, Repeat shuffle
Digital player additional features JPEG photo playback
Carrying Case
Case type None
Battery
Rechargeable Battery Rechargeable
Battery Enclosure Type Integrated
Recharge Time 3 hour(s)
Battery Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated
Mfr estimated battery life 36 hour(s)
Battery Life Details Video playback 9.5 hour(s), MP3 playback 36 hour(s)
Audio System
Sound output mode Stereo
System Requirements
Min Operating system Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later
Connections
Connector type 1 x Bluetooth, 1 x Headphones Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x USB

Built-in Display
Audio system built-in display LCD
Diagonal size 2.4 in
Resolution 240 x 320
Power
Power Supply / Device None
Audio Features
Amplifier output channel qty 2
Sound effects Clear Bass
Built-in clock Digital clock
Equalizer
Equalizer factory presets Heavy, Club, Custom, Jazz, Unique, Live, Studio, Arena, 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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Sony Walkman NWZ-A828K (8GB, black)

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Digital Player / Recorder

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Audio System

System Requirements

Connections

Built-in Display

Power

Audio Features

Equalizer

Remote Control

Headphones

Battery / Power

Product series

Manufacturer info

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