Sony NWZE454B E Series 8GB Walkman MP3/Video with Clear Audio - Black

I really like this walkman, so easy to operate but when i tried playing the music i downloaded from my own cds through windows media player, all it kept saying on the screen was connect to compliant software and update liscence info. I called Sony helpline who werent very helpful. I finally found out that I needed to turn off "copy protected music" before I should have ripped my cds, so if anyone has the same problem, you now know what to do.

I bought NWZ-E454B to replace my excellent Sony NWZ-A728 player which I accidentally broke.

Dislikes
The first thing that struck me was it is made from plastic, I was expecting it to be made from metal like my last Sony player, though it does look nice and still has a quality build feel about it.
The screen scratches easily.
The ear phones the old fashioned cheaper solid plastic type, like the ones you get with iPods, I find they keep dropping out of my ears. My last Sony came with some really great rubber cupped earphones that fitted snugly in the ears and had much better sound quality.
The maximum volume was too low for comfort though there is a solution to overcome the volume cap which can be found by searching the internet.

Likes
Thankfully the sound quality is just as good and still comes with different options to adjust the music. The graphic equaliser has four decent presets: Heavy; Pop; Jazz; Unique; as well as a None option and two custom slots to save your own settings, the GE also has a Clear Bass option which can be used to boost the bass.

There are also VPT (Surround) settings; None; Studio; Live; Club; Arena; Matrix. I don't use these much.

Also there are DSEE (Sound Enhance) and Clear Stereo options which both just have on off settings.
The DSEE option makes the playback quality a little less dull, acoustic guitar strumming seems to ring out a little clearer.
The clear stereo option just widens the stereo effect a little, personally I prefer it off when using ear phones, I haven't tried it through a dock yet though.

The player also has a Dynamic Normaliser option which makes each track playback at a similar level, setting this on also boosts the maximum volume a little.

There is a Karaoke option too but I haven't used this feature so can't say anything about it.

One fun feature I like is the DPC (Speed Control) feature that allows you to slow down or speed up the playback speed without getting a slow deep voice or the chipmunk effect. The slow speeds are x0.5; x0.75; x0.9 and the fast speeds are x1.1; x1.25; x1.5; x1.75; x2. The slow x0.75 and x0.9 speeds are great for playing along to if you are learning the guitar.

The player also has setting options for video, podcasts; photos; FM Radio; Recording; Common; Language. I just use this as a music player so don't have much to say about the other settings since I haven't used them, though it is nice to have an FM Radio and Voice Recorder since they may be useful in the future.

The screen is basic but sharp and clear, navigation will be familiar if you have owned a Sony player before, if not you navigate from left and right in alphabetical order then when you reach the appropriate letter you navigate up and down where all the content beginning with the selected letter is listed in alphabetical order.

The player comes with the software loaded in the memory which also creates a backup on your computer so that you can format the player's memory and free up the space the software occupied. The software includes Content Transfer which is an app that allows you to transfer music, or you can simply drag and drop content into the relevant folders in the player if you prefer. The software also includes a more in depth manual, the printed manual included is only a quick start guide. Unfortunately the software is not Mac compatible but you can still drag and drop with a Mac and the player still charges when connected.

The sound quality and up to 50 hour battery life make this player a winner for me, and the array of music settings allow you to tweak the playback to how you like it. Unfortunately, for me, the supplied earphones are a let down, especially after Sony used to spoil us with excellent earphones previously, but I already owned some decent ones which I use so maybe you might feel let down too if you are fussy about earphones.

I purchased the E454B to replace my rather battered Archos 3 Vision.

Firstly, battery life can only be described as exceptional. I tend to use mine at work and I only charge once a week.

The screen quality is really good too - sharp, clear and flicker-free on video playback.

Audio quality is the slight letdown on the Sony, there is no bass boost feature (though I compensated for this with bass-enhancing headphones). On the upside, there's a good selection of equalizer settings with a couple of slots to define your own. Volume is somewhat quieter than other players I've had, but using a quality set of headphones seems to overcome most problems.

Video quality is great, no problems at all with the .mp4 format, and it's possible to squeeze video into some pretty small file sizes. I can currently get two hours of video into 375Mb without loss of quality.

The controls feel solid and are generally well placed, but might be a little sensitive to some. The menu options seem to work well too, it's not too hard to find what you're looking for.

The E454B has some interesting extras for audio playback. The Mood feature can analyze your collection and determine what type of music it is - Calm, Energetic, Dance, Lounge, etc. I was dubious at first, but it seems to work surprisingly well.

Clear Audio seems to add an extra layer of quality control to your audio. It's not perfect, sometimes you can lose some sounds in a track, but the overall experience is good.

My only real gripe, apart from the audio, is the strength of the screen. It would have been nice to see a scratch-resistant screen on this player. I purchased a leather cover for the player to compensate.

Overall, a great player with some decent sound quality, fun features, and an incredible battery life, only let down by the missing bass boost and weak screen build.