SRSNWGU50 Walkman Speaker Dock

I recently bought myself a Sony S-544 MP3 player and have almost every song I've ever heard loaded on it. I wanted a speaker/docking station to use out on the patio and in the house, so I thought I'd give this one a try (even though I did read a review that this speaker would not work with my player). I just received this speaker dock, and I absolutely love it! Plugged it in and stuck my MP3 player in and we had music!! It works great with my player and sounds great! Of course, it's a small speaker and doesn't have the sound of a larger one, but for the size...it's awesome! Made well, doesn't look (or feel) cheap, and it was so easy to set up...just plug it in and pop in your player and turn it on...that's it! And of course, the player charges as it sits in the dock and automatically shuts down after it's done. I'm very happy with this purchase :)

In a market full of I-Pod offerings, I'm glad to see that Sony finally made a quality speaker dock for the Walkman series MP3 players. The unit really does fill an entire room with clear, well-balanced sound. I placed the speaker in my kitchen, which shares a common layout with the dining area and a front room (add a 13'ceiling too). No matter what type of music I play, the sound is carries beautifully throughout the entire space. True, this isn't built to shake the windows, but there's plenty of volume and bass to go around even without the bass boost feature. I also like the fact that the dock charges my X series Walkman while I listen. In short, this speaker dock is a bargain at the current price, and the sound quality is tremendous for a unit this size. As previous reviewers have noted, it is advisable to check compatibility on the Sony website before you buy. That caveat aside, this is a must have for any Walkman owner.

Unlike one angry reviewer, I already knew this unit would work with certain Walkman before I bought it. Nevertheless, I agree with that person that it is not made obvious that there are exclusions. Now, the unit: I had bought my parents (late 70's) a Walkman last year, and they bought the first unit (SRSNWGM30) and were pretty happy with it. I had honestly tried to convince them to buy a Bose because of the superior sound and power output, but they went with the Sony anyway, until they ended up getting a BOSE just a few months later lol. Why am I telling you this? Because if I had just noticed the launch of this newer Sony sooner I would have told them to buy the Sony instead of the Bose! This Sony is 10x the power output (which equals approx twice the volume) of their M30. This makes a huge difference. To pour more salt in their wounds, this newer unit is already priced $20+ less than their previous inferior model. Bottom line: This unit is well made, sounds great and is exactly what I'd hoped for. You have to have realistic expectations though. I own some fairly high line audio equipment and only wanted this for my workout room for some background sound. Well, this unit exceeded my expectations for richness of sound in a 12x26 room. Trying to impart audio related nuances to the masses via a medium like this review is difficult at best. I will still tell you that I believe the Bose units ($260-$400)give better performance. But for around a $100 difference, the performance level disappears for ME. Though somewhat snobbish about sound quality, I'm also realistic in expectations and cost benefit. To be able to get this Sony for only $100 as compared to Bose....the Sony is a no-brainer winner for me.

Given the fact that this appears to be the only option for a Walkman Docking Station, it's definately better than having nothing. However, I think that Sony could have really made this quite a bit better for maybe just a $50 bump in price. On the plus side, it's a snap to set up... literally had it up and running in about 1 minute with my X-series touch-screen Walkman. Asthetically, I have no complaints either... all black and pretty sleek looking. The only real potential issue with this unit (other than if you're not smart enough to check compatibility before purchasing) is the sound quality. The reason I use the "potential" qualifier is this... if you're an audiophile type who can only be satisfied with high-end speaker systems, you will absolutely NOT accept the sound quality of this unit. If you're mainly looking for functionality and affordability, and don't necessarily need the best sound quality, this unit will likely be a good fit for you. Personally, I fall somewhere in betweem the two, though I definately would fall on the higher end preference-wise. When I first started playing this unit, my initial impression was that I'd have to return it. However, after about 5-10 minutes playing around with my Walkman's Surround and EQ settings, I was able to improve the sound quite a bit. Like other user's comments, I concur wholeheartedly that the high-end is sorely missing here. Bass is decent for a non-sub-woofer-based unit and mids are passable... but yeah, the highs just aren't as clean and crisp as they could be. I'm listening primarily to dance music on this, so highs are really essential. If you're listening mainly to classical or maybe some types of rock, the highs may not be as important for you. So, this is how I tweaked my settings to get the best highs and therefore best all around sound out of this unit (at least based on my preferences): Play Mode: Nornmal (didnt change this) EQ: .4, 1.0, 2.5 all at flat or 0, 6.3 & 16khz at +2 VPT Surround: Matrix (changed from using Club with my headphones) DSEE Sound Enhance: On (no change) Clear Stereo: On (no change) I don't agree with some previous comments saying that you could not improve the sound by tweaking the EQ (or maybe the EQ on their Walkman is different than mine) because I most definately improved it about 30% by using the setting above. In conclusion, I'd say that this is a decent unit but probably not for the super high-end user, which I would assume wouldn't be looking in this price range anyway. The thing that kind of frustrates me is that Sony could have made this unit so much better and still kept it under $200. It's a bit sad that hard-core Walkman dedicated users (or iPod boycotters) like myself don't have a higher end option for a docking station.

Expected better sound quality for the purchasing price ( $300.00). Has the sound quality of a $20.00 speaker. Don't waste your money on it.