As the old saying goes, "You can buy better but you can't pay more!" Oh well, the last time I bought anything from Sony was in the 90's and I don't expect that to change anytime soon. My son bought the Playstation so that don't count!
Confession time: I'm a SONY owner. I own and use the following Sony products:
PS2
PS3
PS4
Sony Blu-Ray player
KDL-55W829B
KDL-40w5500
MDR-1000x
MDR-1a (1:st gen)
And I totally agree about Sony loosing it's way. Just think about all the faults with the Sony stuff I own:
PS2, The original didn't survive long. Really crappy quality. The Controllers as well. Now I use a slim PS2 and a converter with an ergonomic PS4 controller wirelessly.
PS3, this is the second one. The first one died 4 times, the last time I couldn't revive it with re-flowing the chips. The second PS3 wasn't much better, the laser diod died 2 months after the warranty expired and had to be replaced. So Why keep that? Well first of all the games, and then the simple fact that it is the best upscaler I have for DVD and the best Blu-ray player in the house hold despite having a much recent dedicated player.
PS4 is used 90% as a streaming media player. Things like Netflix, Youtube, Prime Video and from time to time used for games by me (When I can lure the wife away from it) But I have to say it works perfectly.
The
KDL-40w5500 is my low-latency gaming TV. PS2 with component video, PS3 on HDMI for gaming (have to "borrow" it from the our living room when I want to play games) Is it perfect? No, lots and lots of black uniformity problem, all thanks to the old crappy CCFL backlight is. But the lag and response is top of the line still.
KDL-55W829B Our current living room TV, nothing to say about it really, price/performance ratio perfect. Old, no 4K, HDR. The thing I miss the most is the HDR. But the Smart-tv function is so bad and slow it's embarrassing. Just another example of good hardware and sup-par software implementation. Typical Sony.
MDR-1000x First gen NC headphone from Sony, really good sound, great battery-life, surprisingly good ANC. But what the hell were they thinking?
First, the microphones is so good that the slightest sound, wind makes it impssoble to talk to anyone one over the phone, had to get a V-moda mic cable to able to talk to anyone. (No, the MK3-4 is no better) Secondly, who thought that using then as a headset (mic and headphone) in windows degrades the sound to 8-bit 8 kHz audio is a good thing? Third, if you use the 3.5mm you loose all control over things like volume, but you can still use the ANC Settings? Forth, why can't you use anything DAC/AMP when charging them?
MDR-1a (1:st gen) My absolute favorite headphone, I love the sound and comfort. But, I'm on number two. Why? Crappy quality and engineering. The first set had two be repaired twice before the laws in my country forced them to exchange them for a new set. But no, the item is out of stock so we will replace them them this MDR-1a Mk2 (So not the same sound...). I finally got my money back and bought a new pair of the old stock.
End of story, no no no. The quality is still bad, the paint is flaking off. I'm scared to death that the hinges will brake (as the old ones). But the sound, suit me like a glove and the comfort is unreal. New pads and the sound is even better. A good Sony product, no. The execution is so bad. But you will have to pry them from my dead cold hands.
Sorry for the rant. I still want my old Sony back. All those fantastic Walkmans, amps... Still miss my DD2, to bad that it didn't survive the 10:th crash to the hard floor. I was young and clumsy, ok?