MP3 players forum: Sony NWZ-A818 vs Creative Zen

... and have never seen, used, or listened to the Sony in person although I have read CNET's reviews. I think you're statement of the Sony "kicking the crap" out of the Zen in terms of audio is way off though.

The CNET reviews for both players was very good. The Sony got an 'Editor's Choice' award but the Zen rated higher at 8.3 vs. Sony's 8.0. CNET called the Sony's audio quality 'Excellent' and raved about the high quality earbuds that come stock. Conversely, the Zen's audio quality was called "Fantastic" and "Stellar", no slouch. The Zen's earbuds were called just 'passable' so if that's what you mean when you say the Sony is better from an audio quality standpoint out of the box than I'll give you that. But assuming all things equal, ie: the same or at least similar quality earbuds, then the two are at the very least a tie with the Zen possibly even edging out the Sony.

Other things the Zen beats the Sony on: More memory as they have a 16 GB model - the Sony only has an 8; the Zen has an SD card slot to expand memory - the Sony does not; the Zen has an FM tuner and voice recorder - the Sony does not. The CNET review of the screen playback for video and photos seems to give an edge to the Zen.

On the Sony side, and again this is just from my looking at the review, the Sony has in my opinion a more attractive overall look of the player itself. The Sony seems better built and more rugged. The Zen has kind of a cheap plastic-y look and feel, especially with respect to the buttons. I do like the screen interface look better on the Zen, although the Sony is nice. CNET called the video and picture display on the Zen "Fabulous" and raved about it. In fact, overall, the Zen's writeup was twice as long and detailed over the Sony's. The Sony also has vastly superior battery life over the Zen.

So, as you see, there are many, many similarities and only a few differences between these two players. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Price point-wise they are comparable to each other so that's not a factor. Both support basically the same types of music files so that's not a dealbreaker either.

If you're looking for a better looking, more ruggedly built, great sounding right out of the box (assuming you like earbuds, I don't), with great battery life then the Sony is probably the way to go.

But if you want more memory (and the ability to expand if needed), a voice recorder, an FM tuner (comes in hand for sports games for me at least), and fantastic audio and video (assuming you replace the earbuds - I use Bose headphones because I hate earbuds no matter how good they are!) then the Zen might be the way to go.

Good luck and let us know which way you went and how it worked out.

M.

Are you happy with the Zen? As noted above he is happy with it and to be honest I had a Zen Xtra jukebox awhile back and had issues with it. Are there any issues like that with the Zen?

just to answer a few questions/obersvations from others after my post:

I love my Zen. The one issue I'm a little dissappointed with is the advertised battery life. CNET/Creative said 20 plus hours audio. I have yet to actually test this but based up the little battery indicator icon it would look like I would get no where near that amount of time. It's not too big a deal because for the most part I use the player while at work and even on an 8 hour shift (of which I use it maybe 4 or 5 hours) I still have plenty of batter time left. I read on the Creative forums that under the latest firmware the player never actually shuts down but rather goes into sleep mode and therefore the battery will drain. This seems true because if I do a full charge and then don't use the player for a couple of days, when I turn the player on and list for a short while I'm down to half a charge. If I needed to get 25 hours of the player I highly doubt I could. I don't know if this is something that will be addressed in a future firmware or not. Another issue with my battery drain is like the headphones I'm using. I use the Bose TriPorts, either the on-ear or over-ear models. Both are fantastic, high audiophile for the money. The volume has to be played at a higher rate using these headphones though, much more so than an in-ear bud type, so that likely uses more battery power. Again, it's not too big a deal because I can get more than enough time out of it for my needs.

As for short headphone cables, I actually prefer them. I wear the Zen in my shirt pocket so I find a very short headphone cable a huge plus. The Bose on-ear model has a very short cable with an extender and this works great for me. The over-ear model does not and it's not a huge pain as I just keep it tied up in wire twistie but it's always there to deal with. I agree that you're likely to just get a new set of headphones/buds anyway (unless you go with the Sony which are pretty good) so it's non-issue for most people. It's nice to see a company give out a nice set of earbuds for their MP3 player - kudos to Sony for that.

It's funny but as I'm typing this I'm listening to the most recent CNET MP3 Insider Podcast and Jasmine French is talking about four current flash-based MP3 players and rating them. The Zune, the Sony, the Nano, and the Zen - here is what she had to say:

She said the winner between these four players comes down to personal preference. She said the Nano is the most stylish, the Sony has the best battery life and overall sound quality, the Zen packs in the most features and has the best screen and the Zune had perhaps the best all-around combination of construction, sound quality and ease of use. So there, from the mouth of the woman who does this for a living. It looks like the Sony does indeed beat out the Zen, although that again might be because of the stock buds as she didn't elaborate.

Seems all four players offer something for everyone. This was from the 11/21/07 MP3 Insider podcast and was about halfway through when she discussed that. It's interesting that when looking for players to compare the new Zune flash player to she chose the two players on this discussion and the venerable iPod. Good company all the way around.

Sorry to highjack this thread again with my oh-so-long points of view but I know when I'm looking for info before making big purchases I really like to get real-world, real-people feedback so I hope this helps.

M.

I've got a NW-A818 myself and I've heard the Zen personally. Sony's sounds way better, out of the box, but that's an unfair comparison since I couldn't test both with the same same buds. I can tell you, though, that this Sony has one of the best audio reproductions I've heard on mobile devices in my life. Highs are crisp, lows are clear and powerful, without being boomy, and mids are just right, without annoying nose-y accents (such as the one on iPods).

About the cord lenght, without the extender, it fits nicely a shirt pocket, totally tangle free. With the extender, it fits a pants pocket just nicely, thus, tangle free, also. I've got absolutely no qualms about it. And, by the way, not everyone will change the buds. Some people just aren't ALL that into audiophile stuff. I, myself, am a musician and since got myself better quality ones, E4gs, but I'm not taking they everywhere (especially since the cord is somewhat long and tangly), thus the bundled ones are quite the nice addition.

The interface of both players are quite nice and easy to use. I could get the A818 running in five minutes, with little to no reading. It all boils down to preference. As is the looks. The A818 indeed looks somewhat cellphone-ish, but I like it this way better. They've got a more "serious" tone to them. People tendo to ask less about it. It's just not for show-offy people.

One last thing I noticed is that the A818 has a better overall response time. Not a dazzling difference, but it's there.

In the end, it's a matter of personal taste. Zen got a few extras that are nice, like the FM tuner and the expansion slot, though, and I can see why some people would prefer it.

okay so we have votes for the zen and votes for the sony. i think the reason people are picking the sony is because of the ear phones that come with it. no one is saying anything positive other than get it cause it has $70 earphones. can someone tell me why else i would want the sony over the zen other than the headphones?

yeah i realize that. im just mainly going to be using it for music and the occasional movie or 2. i think the way to go when it comes to that is the zen?

I've been debating between the two as well. In the end end I asked my wife to buy me the Sony for Christmas. Both have so many great features, excellent audio quality, so I don't think a person could go wrong with either (I've owned a Creative before and it was great). The deciding factors for me:
- I can't find a bad review of the Sony - 5 stars across the board. Having a lock button on the back isn't enough to deter me. On the other hand, I've come across several complaints about the Zen crashing and feelings that the future firmware updates will make it better. But I'd rather have quality now.
- I think most critics agree that the Sony feels substantial while the Creative has cheap feeling buttons. I saw the Zen in person and it did seem cheap & plasticy. If I wanted a cheap, break-prone player, I'd keep using my iPod Nano.
- I have a Motorola Q and find that the 2" screen is adequate for watching a movie on the plane. Thus, the bigger screen on the Zen would be nice, but it's not essential.
- Battery Life on the Sony can't be beat
I also considered the Zune for the Wi-Fi features but audio quality is everything to me and Zune doesn't produce.

My two cents. Hope that helps. I'll chime in again once I get my Sony!

Creative Zen:
+ Bright/Large LCD (though still 320x240)
+ Greater Available Capacities
+ SDHC slot for Future Memory Expansion
+ Very Nice/Intuitive GUI
- Fingerprint Magnet
- Less Than Stellar Sound Quality
- Mediocre Build/Material Quality
- Mediocre Battery Life (By Today's Standards)

Sony NWZ-81x:
+ Stellar/Near-Audiophile Sound Quality
+ Outstanding Build Quality
+ Beautiful LCD/Video Quality (Indoors and Out)
+ 'Keeper'/High Quality IEM headphones
+ Excellent Battery Life
+ Very Nice GUI
- (Currently) Limited To 8gb
- No Expansion Slot

If I could only have one, it would be the Sony - Without a Doubt!

Do either of the players have volume controls on their headphone cables? And what are the volume controls like on the units? Easy to adjust on the move? Nice and loud?

The reason I ask is I use my players while running. I regularly need to adjust the volume due to different volume levels on recordings and changes in background noise.

Sorry I forgot to put the player I was speaking of.

And the decision is the Sony A818. I just bought this player this past weekend. And although its a little small for my hands the player is absolutely incredible. Now the only issue I have is I cant for the life of me figure out how to get album art on the player. I get the songs I want with no issues however when I click on album info on the menu while the song is playing it says "unknown album" even though it found it when I searched for it during the transfer process. I tried to use media monkey like someone suggested but again was met with utter confusion. Does anyone else have any idea as to what to use for transferring my music to this player?

So the only other thing that I have to worry is the capacity. Does Sony have plans to bring out an additional size? I think the largest size they offer now is what 8gb?

so it can be updated with an SD card? good to know. I have been at this forum for a long time and cant make my mind up. i am now leaning towards the sony just due to the fact that it seems like a more logical choice. anything else i should be aware of?

so the software is bad that it came with. is there anything else you can use in its place? trust me i dont think that will be a deal breaker.