Sony Walkman NZW-WH303 review

When used in speaker mode with the headphones slung around your neck, the speakers on the headband effectively produce a bubble of sound around your head, and sounded better than we expected. There’s a great sense of space to the sound, and a nice, clean treble. There’s not much bass detail, but you can at least hear it, and it’s certainly a fun way to listen to your music if you don’t need to keep it to yourself. Despite the somewhat limited detail, we actually prefer this sound to that of the NZW-WH303 in headphone mode.

GO MEDIA GO

The MP3 player’s internal storage comes pre-loaded with the installer for Sony’s Media Go software for Windows and Mac OS X. Media Go’s a simple media player and organiser that’s not too dissimilar to Apple’s iTunes. There’s even a store where you can buy music. Transferring files to the MP3 player is a simple matter of dragging them to its icon. It’s worth noting that files in formats such as FLAC and OGG will be transcoded to MP3 when you copy them to the player. Sadly, Media Go doesn’t support the popular Audible audiobook format.

Using Media Go to transfer your music will ensure that everything is neatly filed in clearly labelled folders, but you can just as easily copy files to the player with your computer’s file manager. Recent versions of Windows will even prompt you to convert incompatible files to MP3 format.

We really wanted to like the NZW-WH303 and it deserves credit for innovation if nothing else, particularly for its speaker mode. However, although our favourite electronica sounded good on these headphones they’re not versatile when it comes to other musical genres, particularly live instrumental recordings. If you want a device that provides a great deal of convenience and you’re prepared to compromise on sound quality then you should check out the NZW-WH303s. Otherwise, you may be better off with the Sandisk Sansa Clip Zip MP3 player and a pair of Soundmagic E10 in-ear headphones.