Sony NW-A1000 Review

Overall Rating

Wonderfully Designed
Beautifully Crafted
Excellent Sound Quality
A Joy to Use

Hateful 'CONNECT player' Software

If I had to sum up the Sony NW-A1000 player in one word it would be 'quality'. Sony work very hard to make that first impression count. When opening the box you aren't so much tearing through flimsy cardboard and nasty plastic to get to what you want, but you open the box as though it were jewellery. Everything about it just oozes with quality from the word go. The construction of the player is flawless, absolutely flawless. When you held if feels heavier than most players - despite weighing only one gram more than a Zen Micro - and it just adds to the feeling that this things is going to be utterly unburstable. I can honestly say that I have no questions regarding the reliability. It feels so well screwed together I think I'll be able to pass it down to my grandchildren as a keepsake when the time comes.

As for the colour, I settled for sexy silver finish that is just not given justice by the shots on Sony's own website. It's not a metallic grey but rather a mirror finish. It looks wonderful and very expensive. The only drawback from having it in silver is that sometimes the screen is a little hard to read in direct light. Admittedly I would have preferred it in black but for some reason Sony held back on the release of that one until today and my patience didn't hold.

Sound quality is good and there was no discernable loss from using Sony's ATRAC3 codec over WMA. The headphones, while being somewhat tinny, are actually reasonable fair for bundled equipment although I would recommend writing to Santa for an ear piece upgrade to make the most of this player's abilities. The tracks included on the player are even rather funky, if a little bit cheesy. Still, considering the models designation number I was half expecting 'Strait Outta Compton' to be on there.

All in all this is one of the finest players that I have ever come across. Everyone I know thinks that it looks sexy, many of my less knowledgeable friends asking whether it was a new iPod. That, if anything, is the sign that Sony's product design team have gotten it right this time.

If only the same could be said about their programming team. Sony's 'CONNECT player' software is one of the most hateful pieces of software I believe that I have come across that wasn't malware. Sony's insistence that you rely on their own proprietary software to transfer music to the NW- A1000 is stubborn and a little conceited. I would much rather use WMP instead of CONNECT's slow and clunky interface.

But, as much as I despise it, not even that could put the dampers on owning this MP3 player. It's great sounding, beautifully designed and remarkable. The only MP3 Player on the market that makes a good case for spending an extra £20 on the PC Dock so that you can show it off on your desk! Not only that but it's amazingly priced for everything that you get. Although I paid £159.99 from a SonyCentre store you can easily order one from amazon.co.uk for less than that.

I can recommend this to everyone, you will not be disappointed.

Members' Comments onmrhappyholiday's Review

• budda666 on 5th Jan 2006

  True, it is a beautiful piece of kit but I just have a couple of tiny issues. Firstly I'm only getting about 4 - 5 hours battery life from a charge. Secondly on build quality, mine has just slipped off the top of my pc cabinet while charging onto carpet (all of 30cm?) and the back of the case looks to have become slightly detached!