Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is a challenging product to review. It is only one a few and is the best design I have found to date with a reasonable price. That being said there is still room for improvement. The sound quality with the non-swimming buds installed is very good. Nice and clear with reasonable bass and soundstage. It also goes plenty loud. Sound quality with the swimming buds on is still in the good range, compared to others I have heard. It's not as loud or clear as the non-swimming buds, but you can't really compare the two. Why does it sound different? Sony's design is simple but effective, a thin membrane over the opening in the ear bud which goes inside your ear. The non-swim bud is a clear shot to the speaker. This is why the sound quality drops with the swim buds but allows you to not worry about them under water. Considering you can go down 6 feet it's rather impressive. Most competitors I only claim 3 feet and don't sound better. I think you need to keep in mind the purpose of this player, you are not sitting in your favorite chair listening critically to music, you are running, lifting or swimming. With all that out of the way it's probably easier for me to do a pro/con list. Pros: -Fits my ears well. They supply plenty of different sized tips to use. I use the medium tip on the left and large on the right. -I don't have to fuss with them once seated. I only need to adjust every 500 meters or so while doing laps. -No wires hanging, or remote player to worry about. The entire unit is compact and easy to operate. -The buttons are good sized and easy to find. -Volume is loud enough to enjoy the music. You can't blast it with the swim tips, but you shouldn't be blasting it anyway. - Best bang for the buck. Yes there are slightly better sounding ones but at 3x the price and only waterproof to 3 feet I give the nod to Sony here Cons: - The way you load music reminds me of 1995. The mac app is rudimentary to say the least. It works but lacks any polish. Its old school drag and drop. - The ambient noise is not very useful. If I used it running I could see the value. In the pool it adds a lot of strange noises to the music. Easy enough to turn off though. - Buttons could be more distinct. Maybe some square, etc. You will need to memorize which does what and the more different they are the easier to remember what they do. - No included carry case. I know it's not an expensive mp3 player but a case would of been nice UPDATE AS OF 9/4/17 Unfortunately tonight the player broke only after 2 months! I am rather shocked since its been well treated and only used in the pool. I will update and adjust stars accordingly after talking to Sony tomorrow. It literally came apart when putting it in my ear. Hopefully they make this right! UPDATE 9/5/17 After speaking with Sony I would strongly suggest that you not purchase this product. They do NOT stand behind their product and will not replace this shotty made product. I could understand refusing to cover it if I had been rough or abusive to the product but this was not the case as you can see from the pics it looks brand new.. except for where it failed on a plastic seam that shouldn't be there.