reasons to upgrade hd5h to NW-A3000?

micks_address

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2001
Messages
5,191
Reaction score
362
Points
1,120
Age
45
Location
Dublin
Hi folks,

Like many the gadget freak I'm tempted to go look at the new NW-A3000 in the shops and maybe upgrade my HD5H but apart from just getting a new look player are there any realy benefits?

I think i'd be tempted more if the NW-A3000 was available in a 30GB version and had a built in radio.. was thinking of selling my hd5 but I've a nice vaja leather case coming today so hopfully that will keep my upgraditis at bay...

after all my hd5 does all i want it to do - so will the NW-A3000 do anything better?

Cheers,
Mick
 
likewise, i'm tempted to sell my hd5 to buy the a3000.

There's already a cradle for it, plus they say there's better software. Plus a better search tool to make it easier to find what you want.
 
but apart from the 'link' button.. couldnt everything else be added as a firmware update to the hd5? i know there's a long thread on the firmware... guess sony know there's little to differentiate the players apart from looks so they dont want to hurt their new players chance by making the older player equally as good.. minus the looks...
 
I'm staying with my HD5 for the moment, maybe the A3000 series will be worth considering if they'll bring out one with more than 30GB. Otherwise for me theres no point changing and take a hit in capacity. Besides, the UK version will most likely be volume crippled, and who knows if that will be easily defeatable...
 
New Sony's aren't out yet, so I'd err on the side of caution

Of course you can all be guinea pigs for me and report the failings with your money :D

My iaudio X5L should turn up today/tomorrow - then I'll sell my HD3. Sony be damned. SS be damned. And if the universal opinion online is true - finally; decent SQ
 
micks_address said:
but apart from the 'link' button.. couldnt everything else be added as a firmware update to the hd5? i know there's a long thread on the firmware... guess sony know there's little to differentiate the players apart from looks so they dont want to hurt their new players chance by making the older player equally as good.. minus the looks...

Thats right, all the hd5 needs is a firmware and it would be better than the A3000, thats probably why they wont update it.

The link button sound like a joke. i wouldnt want an extra button on the player just to show artists on the same genre.

Its also bigger, if the 20 gig was the size of the A1000 then yeah thats an excellent upgrade, but no, how can something get bigger???

The software, connect player, sounds worse than the latest versions of SS.

Its oddly shaped and not that pretty. Just the holographic look, which could just be put on the HD5. And the OLED screen sounds crappy, it powers down and you cant read it, why cant they just put a nice colour screen like the iPod and psp. I know people dont 'need' a colour screen but its absolutely beautiful and irresistible. The ipod may not be that great in some respects, but its just so tempting and attractive, it just looks excellent, and the website makes it look even better. Its like a drug.

Anyway i would wait till more people get it and review it. So far doesnt sound like anything worth upgrading over the HD5, perhaps a downgrade.
 
Been reading these forums occasionally....wondered if you'd be able to satisfy a little curiosity....

Why exactly did Sony discontinue the NW-HD5?

It seemed to me that with decent promotion and advertising (and needless to say, better software than the notorious SonicStage), they really could have provided a credible rival to the iPod, as in my opinion, the hardware itself is much better. As it is, I'm left with an MP3 player that I'm very happy with, but commercially speaking is essentially obsolete. Now I hear they're releasing this new NWA300B as a replacement. I won't be buying it (no way can I afford to shell out again, in the space of just a few months), so I was just curious as to what, if anything, is superior about it?

It really seems like Sony are repeatedly shooting themselves in the proverbial foot here. Rather than taking their time and producing a good solid digital music player accompanied by reliable, simple and adaptable software, they're just releasing ever new versions of things with very little apparent difference between them. Well I won't be falling for it. To me it just seems very cynical and even counter to their own interests, as if they got their act together they could probably usurp the iPod as the populist's choice.
 
Lessee.... Larger form factor, no removable battery, shorter battery life... so what was the motivation for 'upgrading' again? If you are a person who always wants the latest toy, or thinks shiny is cool, then go for it. If you want a reliable and convenient DAP, I see no reason to change.
 
I meant no one has had an in depth look at the new line yet...

Remember it was about a week or two before the first murmurs of the HD5 'cracking buttons' issue

And a whole month before Sony admitted a whole batch of HD3's had a dodgy connector from the d-pad to the CPU thingy
 
Ah but the HD5 cracking buttons and HD3 connector dodgyness is something that happens over time. Assumably the actual specs of the new A3000 wont change, and they themselves already say that its worse, just the numbers and the facts. And now already problems with the software. Its already got a bad start.

The most talked about things that attracted people to the HD5, firstly was its small size, its long battery life, and the fact that the battery is removable. Why on earth would sony take away the most important things that attract customers? The A3000 is much bigger (last time i checked new technology usually makes things smaller), the A3000 does not have a removable battery (why on earth not, a little door like the HD5 is fine, as if Sony are going to do a good a job as apple in battery replacement, they arn't even helpful when troubleshooting), and the battery specs have decreased (This may not be true, they probably inflated the HD5's specs to sell more. They should not be using atrac 48 for all their measurements, nobody uses 48 and there is no way it sounds like 128mp3, sony should be fully promoting atrac3+64kbps, that would take off, advertise its advantages including gapless and they have a winner)
The sound was another but hopefully the sound isn't any worse on the A3000.

Another reason sony shouldnt use 48 to measure everything is because people looking in the shops see the 20gig one (possibly not knowing what that means) and see 13000 songs on it, then think, "there is no way I have 13000 songs or will ever need it" and then get turned off it, then look at another player like ipod and see the 5000 songs, "thats what i need" and buy that.
Now that there is the A1000, how many songs is it? 5000? when they see this in the shop they will either think that its too much, then buy a nano, amazed at its size and beauty, or they will get the A1000, find that they cant get 5000 songs on there because 48kbps sounds like shat and need to use 64.

Sony dont use what they have over the others to promote their players. Promote Gapless, explain simply what it is and why its important, ridicule the other players for not having it and use it to sell more players. (then maybe the other companies make their players gapless so we can buy them if sony are still peeing off people)
 
it just doesnt stack up why Sony brought out the new players.. its if as two separate divisions in Sony were working on players and the hd5 camp lost out for some reason... and the hw camp got more attention for the shiny new player.. things like sound quality/capacity/size/battery replacement are all selling points for the hd5...

i just got a new vaja case for mine and it looks cool - so that will fulfill my need to upgrade to the latest shiny toy for now....
 
Well, if there's no need to upgrade, don't upgrade. Simple as that, isn't it, especially as the A3000 doesn't seem to be any sort of 'upgrade' on the HD5. It's just different - possibly worse.
 
The firmware is what we want from it. Hey maybe we can install the firmware on our HD5's. Anyone game enough to try? I prolly would, just before i take it to service, just in case. We have to wait for a firmware to come out first though.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom