Sony NW-A808 review

Sony NW-A808 Review

Reviewed by: Nate Lanxon

Reviewed on: 26 March 2007

Battery life is better than the nano -- Sony claims 30 hours of audio playback, which isn't too far off the 27 hours we got from our continuous MP3 playback test from a full charge. What's really good, though, is that the battery can be fully recharged in just 3 hours. Video played for an impressive 7 continuous hours in our test.

Video playback is incredibly crisp and a pleasure to watch

Transferring our 1.5GB test library of MP3s to the A808 took 22 minutes. This isn't too bad when compared to the 26 minutes it took to transfer the same files to our Creative Zen V Plus, but is vastly more time consuming than the Samsung YP-K3, which took a mere 12 minutes and 30 seconds.

Sadly, the supplied SonicStage software is still not as good as those provided by rival manufacturers. SonicStage has had a rough history and we were disappointed to see no noticeable advancement has been made to accompany the superb hardware. However, once you get used to the interface and its clunky methods of operation, managing a library and transferring it to your device isn't backbreaking. You're able to re-encode tracks, rip CDs, buy music from Sony's Connect store and manage both your computer's library and your device's library from one screen.

Conclusion
The Sony NW-A808 is the most stunning flash MP3 player we've seen since the iPod nano -- if anything, it's better in many significant areas. It's one of the only MP3 players around to make music sound great out of the box -- plus video clips look lush and the battery life is superb.

The only drawbacks are the SonicStage software, as ever, and the relatively high recommended price. You'll have to learn to live with the awkward software, but the nice people at Advanced MP3 Players tell us they're planning to sell the NW-A808 for less than the price of a nano -- if this happens, it's well worth snapping up.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide