Sony NWZ-S746 - Recieved today, a few impressions & some pics

[Girothefiro]

Hi guys,

Today I recieved my S746 and although being amazed at how beautiful it is and how much more functional it is than my old E445 I couldn't help feelign slightly disappointed.

Fortunately it's because I bought it from eBay, from a seller who must have purchased a bulk amount from Japan, and not because Sony has failed to deliver.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the plain white box which had replaced the retail packaging was that the gold 'W' logo on the bottom right of the device was not there which immediately concerned me. I then noticed the headphones were different to the ones pictured but whether they are any worse I couldn' tell you. I have a pair of Sennheiser cx-550's so never intended to use them.

The last problem i've got is that the sound recorder menu is still in Japanese and although I can use the feature still it's quite annoying.

The device itself is the best mp3 player I have ever owned and i've had around 15, 6 of which being Sony and I would recommend it to anyway.

I'll also add that if you have had the low volume problem like I have then you should really consider getting one of these as the sound is phenomenal.

If anyone can help with the menu problem or knows whether there is any new firmware for this device then I'd be pleased to here from you.

Giro

http://img294.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=1000274av.jpg

[Ascariss]

hmm something is not right here, the headphones are not the right ones, you should have received the MDR-MDR-NC33 not the odler NC22 which shipped with older walkman units such as the X and older A series.

Can I ask you, what does the model # in the back say?

nwz-s746

or nw-s746

[Girothefiro]

Theres no model number written on the back but in the device menu it says 'NW-S746'

[Ascariss]

hmm really nothing on the back? ok next question, how many gigs is it? and how does the menu look like? can you take a few photos of the menu and the different options in the menu?

[The DarkSide]

Could it be a bootleg Sony?!?!?!

[Ascariss]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Could it be a bootleg Sony?!?!?!

this is my thinking, but the fact that NC22 headphones were included makes it an interesting bootleg

[Girothefiro]

It's 32GB & definately not a bootleg.

The seller is just importing them and selling them in the UK from what I can tell.

[Ascariss]

hmm odd interesting nothing is written on the back, and if it is a Japanese model how did they get english firmware onto the device.

odd, never seen anything like this, well I still wonder why the headphones are different.

[Girothefiro]

I'm pretty sure the firmware is Japanese and the language has been changed to English just as you can do with any Sony device.

[Girothefiro]

And also, would I be correct in thinking the Canadian firmware would work on the device and maybe solve the problem?

[Ascariss]

nope the japanese versions have no english on them.

[Girothefiro]

I've just noticed that there isn't language menu in the settings so I guess you're right.

I'm baffled really as the seller has 100% positive and is trading on eBay.

Maybe, you can investigate further as I'm struggling to get the seller to acknowledge my problems let alone tell me how they've manage to get these with English text display.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

[Ascariss]

well there is no NWZ-S746 only NW-S746 so the seller already lied there.

you can also contact the seller and ask why the headphones are different if not then write on his ebay account, not negative feedback, but question the authenticity of this player.

btw can you check the fm radio and see to what frequency it goes up to.

[Girothefiro]

I've come across this person online in Malaysia, Maybe they are linked as they are supplying the same headphones and no retail box.

I wish I had found this before but I had been searching for NWZ rather than NW and didn't find many results.

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1538778/+0#entry35877327

The FM Radio frequency goes up to 108.0

[Ascariss]

ok the radio is fine, hmm, this is odd, the warranty should be 1 year no? not 1 month?

the headphones in that post are also wrong those do not have Noise cancellation even, lol plus the top brown model isn't even an official sony model unless there is some special edition I am unaware off, the brown one is only available for the larger A series.

also some of the models in that shot are also missing the small W logo in the corner. One thing is for sure if you took apart the device to see what CPU it has could help determine if it this is a knock off or not.

this is odd indeed.

[Ascariss]

maybe the device is real but damn I dont know now. does the USB cable have sony written on it? the part that plugs into the walkman?

btw can I ask how much you paid for it?

[Girothefiro]

Yes both the charging cable and headphones are genuine and certain the player is as well. No one is faking electronics this well to my knowledge.

I paid £165 including delivery which seemed good but if my calculations are right that link I posted is selling them for £75

[Ascariss]

you'd be surprised what some people can fake lol. still it looks more like it is real but these are my concerns

1. the missing W logo
2. there is no NWZ-S746 (currently)
3. the NW-S746 only ships in Japanese not english
4. headphones are wrong
5. packaging is not real
6. it is missing the model name and serial # from the back, there is a serial # on all walkmans.

If it works then that is good, keep using it until it dies once it does do take it apart to see its guts

also it is odd that person is selling it for so cheap, a 32gig player for 410RM or 100 euros. Some of the cheaper sony's in poland cost that much and you get what 8 gigs? lol don't trust that on that site.

forgot to mention, all new walkmans are made in malaysia so perhaps he has access to the suppliers and thus can make knockoffs for so cheap..hmm I dont get why he offers the new E series with NC headphones

[goody1]

i think these are genuine a few must have failed QC or maybe some defect in the production .if they are made in malaysia then it plausible someone must have picked these up and is selling them for cheap!! ..

[Girothefiro]

Originally Posted by goody1

i think these are genuine a few must have failed QC or maybe some defect in the production .if they are made in malaysia then it plausible someone must have picked these up and is selling them for cheap!! ..

Yes I think you could be right, I was thinking the item may be refurbished but then it would still have the gold 'W' intact.

I'm going to see if I can get a partial refund and least it won't be as bad. I don't know if I can trust the seller to send the item back for a full refund and I do need a mp3 player immediately.

I'm going to try and put the NWZ-S745 firmware on the device and I guess that should remove the remaining japanese menu.