The player's volume can be changed by pressing the two buttons either side of the jog-wheel. It seems like Sony has packed a lot of intricate controls into a very small space. This could have been a disastrous move, but the designers have managed to keep everything just the right side of overwhelming.
We found the Sony could store approximately 700 random songs. The NW-E507's screen is clear, but in bright sunlight you might find the glare from the glossy gold casing makes it impossible to read. Joggers and other sporty types won't be spending much time looking at the display, though.
When you switch the player on, the screen appears as if by magic in the middle of the Sony's large gold fascia. It's a seamless effect and wowed everyone we showed it to. There's something extremely futuristic about the design and it wouldn't look out of place in The Matrix or Minority Report.
As well as playing MP3s, the Sony receives FM radio, using the headphone lead as an extended aerial. Reception on the player is as good as we'd expect from a device of this size. If you're in a basement or thick-walled environment, you won't hear much but static.
Performance
MP3 players only respect one form of testing, and that's the downhill mountain biking challenge. Until you've fallen off a bike while catching 3m of air with the player in your pocket, how can you be sure it's any good? The answer is: you can't.
We took the NW-E507 to a downhill run in Guildford and gave it all we had down steep runs leading into sharp banked turns and a jump. Falling off and smashing our faces into the ground seemed to have no effect whatsoever on playback. Occasionally the headphones fell out of our ears, but once enough blood had built up, they essentially glued themselves in.
Battery life on the Sony is an astonishing 50 hours, which absolutely trounces the iPod. We couldn't stay awake long enough to check Sony's battery-life claims, but suffice to say we didn't recharge it a single time during a whole week of testing.
In our informal tests, sound quality on the Sony was comparable to the iPod. We ran both players through flat-response studio monitors to compare the sound and found the Sony and iPod equally vibrant on tracks like Wild World by Cat Stevens. Auditioning heavier material, the differences were even more negligible: Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana sounded tight and controlled on both players. Although the Sony was noticeably quieter than the iPod, this is not an issue when a powerful hi-fi amplifer is thrown into the mix.
Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Nick Hide
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User reviews3
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Joan Jankowski 5 December 2006
Good: Sleek look, superb sound quality, battery life
Bad: Plastic is easily scratched, would like to be able to buy replacement plastic
Comment: The sound quality of this unit is superb even when transferring Atrac 3plus files at only 128 Kbs - It sounds the same as CD. I think I imagine the differences since I couldn't tell the difference in a blind test. I have a pretty good ear and play violin and viola. My primary listening is classical music. For me, a single work would be the equivalent of up to 20 pop songs (Mahler's 2nd is 80 minutes long, for example) and a work will typically group four individual files, one for each movement, together. So not having drag and drop is not really an issue for me. I find navigating to a specific work fairly easy with the clear three-line display. My major complaint is that I can't buy a replacement plastic display cover. Since this model has different colours, it would be really nice to be able to switch colours - after all only two screws anchor the plastic screen cover.
Anirudh Jaitly 13 August 2006
Good: Great sound quality, amazing display, easy to carry
Bad: Left earphone is about one foot shorter than the other, can't create subfolders, no microphone for recording
Comment: Good unit but can be more advanced with some updates
Rex Chan 12 July 2005
Good: Bass boost! OLED Display, Battery Life
Bad: It's not loud enough sometimes. but that's all I can think of honest!
Comment: This is the best MP3 player I've used. I used to own an iPod Mini which is really what you should compare it to as I have more songs on this now than I do on my Ipod Mini. My iPod Mini was bought in August 2004 when the first batches arrived at amazon.co.uk. Dissapointingly the battery life deteriorated to a measly two hours. I decided to chuck the Ipod Mini to one side and invest in the NWE507 which is expensive compared to the pods but one can only begin to understand how wicked this player is when you listen to it. The bass boost is like a Sony Discman circa 1997 (think D-777). This is the D-777 of Network Walkmen and it's difficult to think of how they will be able to improve it with its next model. Well done Sony, now we're talking!
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