Sony NWZ-E436F

Full Review

Sony’s NWZ E436F, despite the overly complicated name, emerges as an excellent player. It delivered the basics and then some in a simple and highly effective manner. The Sony sports a clean and well-organized main menu which puts all of the player’s functions within immediate reach. Although, the round central button might deceptively resemble a click-wheel, it is actually comprised of four tactile navigation buttons and a central Enter/Play/Pause button.

All buttons are well-placed and blind navigation is a cinch. We thoroughly enjoyed the Sony’s sound output on our test Sennheiser CX300 earphones and AKG k141 Studio headphones. The bass-lines were heralded in with resounding thumps without compromising on the highs. This meant an overall rich sound quality that was tight in all the right areas.

The Sony sports a clean and well-organized main menu which puts all of the player’s functions within immediate reach.

The earphones bundled with the player also gave decent output although it was nothing to write home about. Although the bundled CD has Windows Media Player 11 and Sony’s Media Manager, the player also supports drag-and-drop for files. The FM Radio is also an adequate addition.

Despite the 2-inch screen, the screen quality could have been better. As a result, watching videos on the player left us dissatisfied. At the end of the day, the Sony asks Rs. 4,990 for 4 GB of storage space and also delivers a totally memorable music experience.

Bottom Line

The E436F is one of the better sounding players in the top 5. The player uses a simple and good looking interface and has phenomenal battery life.