The Sony NWS 703 part of the 700 series measures 88 x 27 x 17mm and tips the scales at a featherweight 4.7 grams. This model is a 1gb player and priced just under the £100 mark which gives a lot of player for the money. The 1gb NW-S703 should store almost 700 tracks when compressed using Sony's Atrac and around half that for 128kbit MP3 files which is just about enough for a daily commute, larger models in the NW-S series go up to 4gb.

The 703f boasts a 1.7cm OLED full colour screen which can show up to 3 lines of text plus display symbols that represent status. The screen really is stunning and another step on from the already impressive Sony bean MP3 player. Controls are simplistic with a push and slide type rocker at the right hand edge of the screen this rotary control when combined with the pause play button allows you to navigate through the functions menu and also through the track lists. The rear houses a hold key which is vital when placing the NW-S703 in your pocket and in pocket use is even possible without looking at the screen although it takes a bit of practice.

The screen wins first prize in attractive design, the pen shape silvered finish may look cool but the screen screams out quality, especially when viewing thumbnails of album art, you can scroll through these horizontally in order to choose music. They are also visible during track playback alongside text information on the track title, artist and duration. The user experience is typically Sony with that suggestion of Vaio style and ease of use that many far eastern devices fail to even get close too. Build quality is top notch with all the moving parts of the rotary control feel very safe and like they'll last for years to come.

Supported formats are not as plentiful as many micro MP3 players and Sony still push their own Atrac proprietary system but also support  Mp3, AAC and WMA not DRM enabled. The decision to support ACC is a good one and means tracks from and iPod or iTunes will work fine on the little 700 series, sadly the lack of DRM support for Windows Audio makes most other download stores off limits.

Getting audio files onto the player is achieved over USB 2.0 which is nice and fast, Sony have decided to use their own plug and supply a flat plug lead which has a USB connector at the other end, so no way to stick the pen like device straight into a PC. Although Sony ship the NW-S703 with a cradle adaptor they do not go as far to include the cradle, this is a shame as with most Sony kit the cradle is a really nice add on but you'll need to stump up another £30 to get it!

Audio quality is very good and that is with a normal set of earphones. We thought we'd test with a set of Shure E2C's a cheaper pair of Soundwise units and the Sony noise cancelling set supplied with the player, that way we can see not only how the earphones work but the raw performance of the player. With the Soundwise earphones the NWS703 sounds pretty good with a nice deep and yet crisp bass response, clear midrange and a slightly toppy treble, we did notice a slight amount of sibilance but the playback was otherwise free of weird noises or hiss. Switching to the Shure E2C's we found that their own in ear isolating effect perhaps over did the bass reproduction leading to the sound being a bit boomy and over bearing on some Fatboy slim tracks.

The Sony earphones are a main selling point of the NWS700 series and they are a little different looking with an unusual angled in ear design and outside grill which presumably allows the earphone to pick up the background noise it needs to cancel. They are quite comfy despite the weird looks and have a certain element of background noise suppression just from the tight fit. However the inline adaptor and the noise suppression technology do have a further part to play in reducing background noise and filtering out low level hum, like that on an aeroplane journey.

Throughout our tests we found that the Sony system does not entirely isolate you from background noise it seems to dull it down, which for a total price of £99 is probably all it was reasonable to expect. However it does also seem to shift the balance in the audio image and made the bass a little weaker compared to the Soundwise earphones. It does do an Ok job of killing the high noise levels on the London underground but it is not the best at this the Shures win this round. Sony's decision to ship the 700 series with noise cancelling earphones is a bit of a gimmick and not one that they actually needed as the player is pretty good on its own, however for those occasional journeys with severe background hum they can be effective.

Battery life is an impressive 50 hours (based on low bit rate ATrac3) we managed nearer 40 with MP3 and the charge time is fast with a basic 3 hour playback change taking a matter of minutes with a full charge complete in under 2 hours. The NWS700 series also packs an FM tuner, a cool time / date screensaver something that Apple still haven't endowed the iPod with as standard.

priced at £99 the Sony NW-S703 is a very good small MP3 player, ideal for a commute or the gym and it'll certainly get you some knowing looks of appreciation for the OLED screen and overall design. Our only advice would be to use the noise cancelling earphones only when needed and keep a basic set nor normal use.

Published - 26/11/2006

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