The modern portable player Sony Walkman NWZ-E443 cannot be called simply an MP3-player. In addition to playing music files, this media player can play videos and images, can act as a voice recorder, and can also record radio broadcasts. In terms of sound quality, this device is able to satisfy even the most demanding users.
Equipment:
• Compact playerSony NWZ-E443;
• Wired headphones;
• Small stand;
• CD with software;
• User's Manual.
Appearance and ergonomics
Sony Walkman NWZ-E443 is equipped with a medium-sized display, due to which it managed to keep the device's modest dimensions. The thickness of the case is only 9.3 mm. The player fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. As for the management, everything is simple and convenient here.
The player is supplied in black-gray and black-red colors. The black plastic in both solutions is glossy, while the underside looks like painted aluminum. I was surprised that the glossy surface is not too susceptible to scratches, so it collects fingerprints instantly. Parts of the case that imitate a metal surface are difficult to scratch, and besides, fingerprints are not visible on them.
By tradition, the manufacturer Sony paid special attention to the build quality: we did not find any backlash or squeaks. The player's screen is protected by a rather thick layer of plastic, so you don't have to worry about excessive pressure on the display (for example, when the player is in a narrow jeans pocket).
The main control unit is located under the display. This block consists of a four-position button located in the center and two buttons: the first button (Back) - go one position back, the second (Option) - calls the menu, and when pressed for a long time - turns off the player. On the back panel you can see a tiny forced reset button, which, by the way, we did not need during the testing of the device.
On the right side face there is a 2-way swing button that adjusts the volume level. There is a block slider (Hold) next to this key. At the bottom of the player, several functional elements are concentrated at once: a 22-pin cable connector, a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, a small microphone hole and an eyelet for attaching the cord.
Everything is quiet and calm on the top and left sides - there are no connectors and keys.
Display
The screen diagonal is small by modern standards - only 2 inches. For convenient work with the player, such a screen is enough, but if you watch videos, you feel discomfort. There are no complaints about brightness and contrast. Color rendition is also normal. In the sun, the display turns into a "mirror".
Music player
Not many audio formats are supported, more precisely there are only three of them: MP3, WMA and WAV. In fact, these formats are the most popular, so they will be sufficient for most users. Well, as a last resort, you can resort to using audio file converters.
You can download songs using Walkman Media Manager or Content Transfer. Synchronization can be done using WMPlayer or iTunes. But playlists cannot be synchronized.
Files can be sorted by artist, album, genre, etc. There are several playback modes typical of Sony players. You cannot create playlists in the player itself, which is definitely a minus. To create a playlist, you need the bundled software.
As usual, there are 6 equalizer settings, of which two are custom and 4 are unique, pop, jazz, heavy. There is a proprietary function ClearBass (very useful for fans of heavy music).There are a couple more sound settings, but they don't affect playback as noticeably. The equalizer itself is five-band.
The display during playback of a song shows its name, as well as the name of the artist, genre, album. Using the displayed progress bar, you can quickly navigate to the desired position on the track. In short, the interface is implemented quite conveniently and, most importantly, is intuitively understandable, so it won't be a problem to deal with the main functions.
Of the features, we note the automatic shutdown timer for 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes. By the way, the user can set any favorite composition as an alarm melody. Although the function of the alarm clock itself is highly questionable, there is no speaker. The benefits of this function can be felt in the headphones, which is not entirely logical. Well, okay, let's move on.
Video playback
MPEG4, WMV9 and H.264 are the three formats supported by the Sony player. All other formats will have to be converted, otherwise the device will refuse to play them. In the video file menu, small previews are shown indicating the recording duration. As in other similar models, in the NWZ-E443 the user will have to create these "previews" on their own. Otherwise, you will see the Walkman branded logo instead. How convenient is this solution? The question is rhetorical.
During video playback, some information is shown on the display of the unit. First of all, this is the name of the file itself, the duration of the recording, plus there is a progress indicator. Rewinding is available inside the video. But in order to go to the next file, you need to return to the list and only there select the required video. In other words, there is no fast transition between video files.
There are no video bookmarks, but there is an automatic position memory function (only for the last played file). The image can be rotated vertically or horizontally. In addition, there is a zoom function (full, off, automatic). Also, the user can view basic information about the file.
Viewing images
As in previous models, support for only one graphic format is declared - JPEG. Note also that neither side of the image should be larger than 4000 pixels. If you put a photo with a high resolution into the device, the player will naturally refuse to show it, although the snapshot will appear correctly in the thumbnail mode. Obviously, this limitation was artificially imposed by the developer.
You can zoom in on a portion of the image if you want. You can also rotate the picture by 90 degrees. Slideshow mode provides a choice of one of three delay values.
In terms of navigation, there are no problems. The structure of displaying files and folders is somewhat peculiar, but you quickly get used to it. The preview of the file shows the first 10 characters of its name. If there are more characters, then a creeping line appears. Everything seems to be clear with this point, let's move on to the radio function.
FM radio
The design of the radio is very simple. Nothing more - just the current frequency, radio station number and time. It is best to search for radio stations in automatic mode, and if necessary, simply adjust the frequency manually.
You can get rid of weak radio stations in a fairly simple way. It is enough to change the sensitivity of the scanner to a low one. One can not but rejoice in the radio recording function, with the help of which you can easily record in good quality, for example, a song you like. In the settings, you can select one of the bit rate values for the recorded file (MP3 format): 96 kbps, 128 kbps or 160 kbps.
Dictaphone
In voice recorder mode, the window is the same as for radio recording. Likewise, with FM recording, three bitrate options are available. The voice is recorded quite clearly. Subsequently, during playback, extraneous noise does not come to the fore. If necessary, this device can completely replace an inexpensive voice recorder.
Headphones
Unfortunately, this device comes with cheap headphones that must be replaced immediately with better ones (the same Sony, but at a price of 300 hryvnia). Only in this case you will be able to really assess the quality of the sound produced by the player. I don't see any point in dwelling on the complete headphones.
Computer connection and additional software
To connect to a laptop or desktop computer, a proprietary cable with a 22-pin connector => USB is used. This cable is non-standard, which is not very convenient, because to download media content, it should always be at hand. Media files can be downloaded through a file manager that supports MTP or using proprietary software supplied with the device. It is possible to synchronize with WMPlayer using the MTP protocol.
We found the following utilities on the disc supplied with the Sony Walkman NWZ-E443: Walkman MediaManager, MP3 Convertion Tools, WMPlayer v11, Quick Time Player, Acrobat Reader. Most of these utilities are familiar to the average user. Let's just note that Walkman MediaManager is a proprietary manager, and MP3 Convertion Tool is an application for converting music files.
Battery life
According to official statements, the battery life of the player is about 30 hours in audio playback mode and about 10 hours in video playback mode. 30 hours of autonomy is a serious statement, but in practice the figure is much less. The player worked for us in audio mode for almost 20 hours. Although the result is much less than the stated one, even this indicator is very good.
As expected, 10 hours in video mode is also an overpriced figure. In fact, the indicator of autonomy in this mode is half as much. Despite significant differences from the declared characteristics, this player has a very good battery reserve. For comparison, here's the iPod nano G4, which lasts 4 hours and 10 minutes in video mode.
Conclusion
The build quality of the Sony Walkman NWZ-E443 can be described as good. Ergonomics and controls are well developed. I also liked the display, which has good color rendition and brightness, although the diagonal could be slightly larger. In terms of sound quality, Sony players are an example to follow. Minor bugs in the form of a small number of supported graphic and video formats, I think, are not so critical. The only disappointment is the lack of a book reading mode. There are a few more minor flaws, but otherwise only advantages are seen.
Although the real indicators of autonomy differ from the official ones, this model will give odds to many in terms of battery capacity. In general, the main function of any media player is to play music files. The Sony NWZ-E443 copes with this 100%, and surpasses (subjectively) analogs from iRiver, Apple or Samsung in sound quality.
