Sony S545 or A845?

[Paul W]

I am trying to decide between the Sony S545 and A845.

The A845 has the fantastic OLED screen and built-in noise cancelling, but the S545 is half the price, and has a better battery life, speakers and voice recording. So, it all comes down to sound quality.

Reviews of this aspect of the A845 have been mixed, which is a concern, and I have not found a direct comparison with the S545.

Is there anyone who has heard both players who is able to comment?

[CrowdAds]

[Marvin the Martian]

Not me....sorry!

[Ascariss]

The S series, at least the 540 version is a nice piece of kit but the speakers are useless and the voice recording although a nice feature, one must think, will I really use it that much?

The OLED on the A is amazing, I've seen it and it looks fantastic, a bit more contrast than the X OLED, but still nice, X's OLED is more natural imho. Sound for the A is actually great, but people have reported hiss and I can't confirm if it has it. My X has the hiss and if the A's hiss is louder, then I would be worried.

Still the A does have NC which Ive been using on my X and love it. The S-master amp is also a nice treat on the A. If you can go check out both players in store and see how they sound for you personally.

oh btw, when I was testing both the A and X, the X was much louder and supposedly the A is volume capped, but I cant verify this.

As for sound quality, I believe the A has the upper hand, the S is a good sound, but the A was slightly better for me.

[Paul W]

Thanks, yes the hiss is also a big unknown with the A845. A couple of people have said it is a problem, but most people do not mention it, so how bad is it?

I am sure that the S545 is a fine player and a safe choice, but I really like the idea of an OLED screen!

[Ascariss]

here is the thing you have to consider, if you will be watching videos on the device or many photos, then OLED is the way to go, otherwise if its just for music, the S is fine.

[h1a8]

Originally Posted by Ascariss

here is the thing you have to consider, if you will be watching videos on the device or many photos, then OLED is the way to go, otherwise if its just for music, the S is fine.

I agree as the S sounds fantastic. The best sounding walkman I had and I had the a818, s618, s728, s639, etc. The soundstage is unbelievable. Never heard the A845 though but hopefully I will soon.

[violamala]

There is some hissing (A846), but I noticed only when I was at a completely silent place. The OLED screen is really great, I'm watching Lost and the image is suberb. The whole player is also very beautiful, and everyone who saw me use was really amazed by it's design. The only drawback really is the price. Damn expensive.

[Ghibli]

With regards to the hiss, perhaps my ears aren't as fine-tuned as some of the bona fide audiophiles on these forums, but in the first place I only notice it when the noise-canceling is turned on and no music is playing. When something is playing, the hiss is only noticeable when there's alot of ambient noise (and thus alot of canceling soundwaves being sent out from the player).

[head2head]

I've just bought an A845 in the UK and while the volume is fine for me, I'm having a lot of issues with popping/crackling etc, which is a damn shame as the SQ is otherwise great using a pair of Goldring GX200's.

I'm considering sending it back and replacing with an S545 as I'm not bothered about video. Does anyone know of any hissing/crackling/popping issues with the S?

I'm beginning to lose hope of finding a decent replacement for my A818 - already sent a Sansa Clip + back

[rie-chan]

i was going through the questions before I finally decided on the A series, simply because it had the better sound.

A series is much prettier than the S series closeup, and slimmer. As for the hiss, it is noticeable only when there's no music playing and you're in a quiet room. once the music starts you can't hear it. Actually to me the hiss serves as a kind of ambient noise cancelling, so in noisy environments the hiss actually tunes out background noise and makes the music clearer.

using sony's bundled noise-cancelling earphones helps - the hiss is not as bad as when i use shure earphones.

oh and the noise cancelling is pretty awesome. tried and tested on a noisy plane =D