Customer Reviews

Sony D-NS921F Atrac3/MP3 CD Sports Walkman

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read some silly things on the other reviews....
First of all, this is also a real mp3 cd player... you are not forced to use Sonic Stage with all your files. Personally I made several MP3 cds with all my mp3s (5 gigs), and some cds using Sonic Stage: I can store 20 hours of music in a single 700 mb cd-rw using 64kbs atrac 3 plus... amazing!
The sound is really acceptable: far better than mp3s or wmas at 64kbs... I prefer to have a lot of music in a portable device... even if sound quality is not totally awesome. If I want GOOD sound quality I'd rather stay at home and use my hi-fi ;)
Another thing: no chirps or birdies in my unit :)
This player is GREAT!

When my walkman that I used while jogging broke, I looked for a replacement. My choice came down to the Sony D-NS921F and the Nike Philips mp3 cd player. I went with Sony and I'm glad I did. Although the Sony D-NS921F was $50 more, it had much more features than the Nike/Philips and had a more sporty design.

I've been using the D-NS921F while jogging for 3 weeks now, and I've not heard one single skip nor replaced any batteries. Battery life and sound quality are dependent on what kind of format you're listening to. So far all my mp3s work (128-192kbps) and the quality is no different from when I use headphones on my computer. All the features (shuffle, repeat, programmable playlists, etc) that any athlete could want are there. I also love the design; it comes with a hand strap that allows for a comfortable grip, where you control playback and volume using a mini-joystick with your thumb.

This is a perfect companion for any runner or athlete. Highly recommended!

This is the first time that I have bought myself a CD walkman. Being from Sony, this player lives up to its name and the sound quality is amazing. My main considerations before buying this player was that it plays MP3s too. Surprisingly though they do not mention the fact that this unit can also be used as a recharger unit for the NiMH batteries (Batteries are not supplied with the unit though). An AC adapter is also supplied although the sonystyle website does not indicate that. The radio part (AM/FM/TV/Weather band) all works great. The unit is great to handle and the design is pretty ergonomic. I just tried out some sample ATRAC tracks on a CD-RW disc and the quality is decent. All in all this unit rocks! I'd definitely recommend it.

My family is really into music. We currently use about a dozen different players and have experience with 6 different brands of burners. IMHO, the chirping reported by some reviewers is an artifact of the recording process that is probably the result of disk defect or an underpowered computer housing the burner(either memory or less than state of the art operating system). Having said that, given a perfect disk, this player is capable of superior sound for a PORTABLE unit. It is well made and durable. Of course, it could weigh less. Of course, the sound can be improved by upgrading the ear buds. Sonny could also give these away free. The Sonicstage software is buggy -- ditch it and use MusicMatch or other time tested ripper/burner software to make your MP3 disks.

This is the finest and most durable CD/MP3 Player I have ever found. The buffering is very good. I tested mine by playing Indigo Girls while banging the Player on my Dash Board. HARD! The Player did not miss a beat.

It is water resistant enough for rain. I would not scuba with it. But, You could Rock Climb with it and take a leader fall.

I am buying two more.

I bought this CD-player about 2 months ago and Im really happy with it.Sony Mexico doesnt have this product for selling in Mexico, and i dont know why, thats why i bought it via deremate.com(like ebay.com) because I liked all the features of it.

Now, I havent realized of that "chirping" until today i read these reviews.So, I put my dns921f on test: I put a MP3-full CD with songs at different constant bitrate.There I have a 3:59 duration classical guitar song recorded @ 192kbps and 44.1Khz, so I played it at the medium , and I realized that there were strange sounds (not exactly chirping, its like a quiet "ffsss" sound of 0.7 secs aprox., like the sound when you change the frequency on a radio when looking for a radio station) The sounds appeared 3 times:
@ G-protection 1:
1:13
2:17
3:21
@G-protection 2:
1:14
2:17
3:22

But then I heard the entire album of that song while surfing the web and I didnt realize the sounds were there...

that's the only "but" i found for this anyway GREAT CDplayer!
i have even walked outdoor with it under heavy rain, dropped it when i was driving and I braked hard and the player flew away due to the centrifuge, hit the dashboard and fell to the floor, but the music didn't have any skip!!!!.

Considering that I am a college student who walks and rides the bus, I needed a player with lasting battery usage, easy controls, and can take a beating. I knew that a Sony could do, after all, my first one was not a sports player that it went through every thing. Technically that player still works. I would recommended the simple S2 Sports Walkman, but this one absolutely blows my mind. I love the fact that I can use mp3s from the collection on my computer (hey, I paid for those CDs and then ripped them on my computer -- I obey the copywrite laws) and use play lists, directories. Unlike the regular S2 Spots CD Walkman, this one brings back the pause button and programing features. This player is excellent. I don't record paying the money I paid.

Durable, versatile, functional: three words that basically sum up the genius of this device. TV/FM/AM (the Weatherband thing is a little mystifying--why is it so important to be able to pick up radio broadcasts of a robotic automated voice reciting the weather forecast?), CD-R/RW playback, about a zillion presets and bookmarks, incredibly long battery life, and the fact that the thing is so rugged that it will NEVER DIE make it the last CD player you will ever need to buy.

Some hints for enhancing your ownership of this Walkman: throw out and replace the headphones Sony supplies with the player, they're utter garbage. Don't waste your time using the ATRAC3 format or attempting to master the awful ATRAC3 burning software--it's just an attempt by Sony to get in on a proprietary audio compression format. ATRAC3 doesn't play in your car CD player, it doesn't play in your stereo at home, it doesn't even play on your computer. It only works on Sony CD players. Just stick with burning good old-fashioned mp3 CDs, a universally supported format, since this Walkman plays them just fine.

That's the sound you'll hear about every fifteen seconds when listening to an audio CD in this player with the G-Protection set to position "1" and running off of two AA batteries. Switch to house current using the 4.5V AC adaptor and the chirps are less frequent because the CD drive motor no longer continually spins up and down (an energy saving feature when using batteries), but they still do occur. Although the interval of annoying chirps is longer with the G-Protection set to "2", sound quality may suffer. For some odd reason, there is no way to turn off this audio artifact of the antiskip algorithm. This regular electronic chirping is quite obvious on quieter pieces of music, and it can even sound like a badly played note. It totally interferes with the listening experience. If you have access to an audio test CD, play a track with all output bits set to zero, and you'll notice that the chirping is gone, suggesting that this audible artifact is the result of an engineering defect in the anti-skip implementation. Note that the chirp seems to occur when the G-Protection circuitry is buffering content, such as periodically or when the motor spins up and down, rather than due to DC motor noise or any disc surface defects such as scratches, dust, or fingerprints.

This unit's cheaper cousin, the D-NF610, suffers from a similar G-Protection artifact, although in that case the problem is continuous (albeit relatively subtle) noisy cackling primarily in the left channel that significantly reduces the sound quality of the material being played. Both units were promptly returned, as neither unit's unique antiskip circuitry artifact is something that the listener should have to endure. A four-year-old Sony Discman D-T405 sounds MUCH better than either unit and has no such CD playback problem, whether the Electronic Skip Protection is on or off.

The headphones used to test this unit were the rather nice sounding Sony MDR-E888 earbuds, which have a rather wide frequency response. Other headphones also allowed the chirping problem to be heard, although cheaper ones with less frequency response might not reveal the problem quite as well.

Pros:
- The specs on paper are GREAT! This _should_ have been one awesome piece of hardware!
- Includes AM/FM/TV/WB tuner, which is highly desirable to avoid having to carry two separate units
- Above average sound quality for the tuner; even the CD player sounds good when it's NOT chirping!

- Seems quite sturdy, although heavy
- Option to use rechargeable batteries, with recharging through the included AC adaptor

Cons:
- Free annoying electronic chirping bird included at no extra cost! :-(
- Although the specs state that MP3 files up to 320Kbps can be played, in practice this is very much hit and miss. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. 256Kbps is better, but also very unreliable. Presumably that's why the manual highly recommends that MP3 files be recorded at 128Kbps. Yes, the lower bit rate seems to work fine, but the sound quality is obviously compromised, although not as badly as one might think.
- The included wrist strap is totally impractical for many activities, not to mention this unit is rather heavy at 12.2 oz (w/o batteries). A belt strap is badly needed, but with this player's bulk and unique button location, you may be best off fashioning your own with a nylon luggage strap.
- No backlit display
- Most definitely not for audiophiles who expect decent quality sound

Other: At the time of this writing, if you call the toll-free Sony Network Portable Audio Support Line and enter the model number for this unit, your call will be disconnected. In order to speak to an agent, answer "I don't know" when prompted for the model number by the automated voice response system. Neither Tier I nor II technical support were aware of the sound quality problems of this unit, but that may be because of its recent arrival on the market.

Sony - Please fix this antiskip audio artifacting, and you'll have a very sweet product indeed!

This is an excellent mp3 walkman. There are three main pros to buying this walkman

1) Skip protection
2) Long Battery life
3) Durability

I can run, play basketball, and not miss a single beat. It's quite amazing. Equally impressive is the 60+ minutes of play time on two AA (rechargeable) batteries. The sound quality is excellent, but this should not be the main reason to buy this walkman. If you're an active person and want to listen to your CDs,mp3s,and radio, get this walkman ASAP. It's slightly pricey, but you will not regret it!

The main con of this walkman is the lack of an external control. Skipping to the exact song you want can be a slight pain if the walkman is inside a hip pack. It's not a big deal because the control knob is easy to find and to operate. I would definitely not give up any of the skip protection or battery life to get this feature.