The BEST Sony mp3 Player in 2023 | Sony NW-A306 Walkman Review
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- The best value Sony Audio Player is here! The NWA306!
DSD, DSEE, VINYL PROCESSING, 360 AUDIO and much more!
Aaaaand, yes, you can read ebooks on it.
Check it out and let us know what you think!
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/ @sushi_cars - Věda a technologie
There's currently a huge issue that Sony isn't acknowledging that appears to be hardware based where a a very very large number of units are shipping with insufficient power delivery, the result is a massive reduction in bass output of 10 dB at the low end. It's been reported and physically validated by countless users. Sony have so far not addressed the issue or offered any solutions. A quick Google of NW-A306 will quickly tell you everything you need to know. The issue prevalent across all serial numbers and geographical locations.
YES NO BASS , Sounds AWFULL
This has been fixed via software update
@@unforsaken552 did they fix the volume cap on American units?
@@DG-lh6vc I think all models have been since it was just a software update.
@MangKanorTech I am trying to figure out if I want the 306 or the m11 ess plus . I had the nwa 55 but the charger port just went out so I am going to have to upgrade. I seen everyone complaining about the volume and bass .
It’s cool that Sony are still committed to these types of devices. I have a pair of Sony noise cancelling headphones that have got good reviews, and they sound really nice connected to my regular iPhone and Apple TV; so I’m not in the target audience of audiophiles for this, but I’m happy for those who do want the absolute best sound that they have this option.
The size is still very big.... For me the best size is the ipod.
@@imohbalu Yeah. I used to use an iPod Nano touchscreen version at work where we were banned from having our phones in the office for several years, and it was great. But I think the type of audiophiles who would buy this are unlikely to be bothered by it being slightly chunky.
@@christill I want it smaller because I will use it most of the time for biking or running
@@imohbalu That’s fair. But I would question if you’re likely to get an audiophile experience while running or cycling. I think I’d want to be in a quiet room with no distractions if I wanted to hear every tiny detail in the music; rather than on a bike with distractions and wind noise.
@@christill good for you... But I Listen to music or FM radio news.. Act only when I am exercising..
I just replaced my ipod classic with one of these and I'm never looking back.
The only upside and reason why I still used the ipod was repairability.
But now i got 1tb instead of 512gb and I can just download for offline use with tidal ❤
So no more hours of waiting when shoveling music onto my ipod 🎉
And the audio quality has ofc improved leaps and bounds. 😊
I like the idea that this could not only be a really good music player, but you could read an ebook while you listen. I think that aside from price, this seems like something I'd buy. Great review!
I got my Sony ZX707 Walkman about a week ago and LOVE IT. The sound it produces is AMAZING and it’s so much fun just listening to old music and discovering new sounds/voices. It’s like rediscovering little details in all my old music. The only thing I hate is the battery life with Qobuz, the default Sony app is the advertised battery life of 20+ hours. With third party apps like qobuz I only get about 10hrs and that’s with Bluetooth and WiFi turned off. I think one thing you forgot to mention in this video is the aw306 is all aluminum (not plastic). Sony also has a 307 in Japan which is the same model with double the storage. One thing to note for people who want one of the new walkmans is that Sony has limited the volume (no high gain) in US/UK models. If you want the most from these Walkmans you’ll have to get the Japan model. I thankfully got one from eBay for less than MSRP with no VAT charge
driving power is way too low
What if you want to use it at the gym? Does it have to stay on wifi for CZcams music/Spotify ?
@@xHoangTran I’m not sure about CZcams music but it works just like any other device on airplane mode. If you have the music already downloaded to the device/sd card you can disconnect from WiFi and still keep playing music locally. I don’t know if I would use this at the gym since it’s so expensive and kinda thick, but it does sound excellent
Out of curiosity what Micro sd size can this take and is it bluetooth headphone compatible?
i love my 306, sound is amazing great for when im working out
Is it possible to use a headphone with integrated microphone or alternatively use a USB-C to AudioJack-Adapter with Microphone support?
That way you could use this device for Recording.
Love mine, look forward to listening to music each day when working
I think “audio” player suits better since MP3 in a lossless format, although given its popularity it gives a “good” idea about its functionality
Yes, we very well know what it is called. But if you Google MP3 player, it is an extremely common terminology for these type of digital audio players
@yuriha1977 mp3 is lossy format
@@goodereader No, such devices are called DAPs for short. Digital Audio Player.
@@pmcmalec That's the phrase that I use since most digital audio players play more than just MP3s. I have a Sony Walkman NW-A55 and it plays 11 different formats including MP3, FLAC, WMA, AAC, and Apple Lossless (my preferred formats at MP3 and FLAC).
Cool video. Thanks for giving an overview of the new Walkman 😃
This is very basic review for the people who have no idea about this "hi-res" thingy and don't care. At the same time it is absolutely useless for the potential buyers...
nobody forced you to watch it 😅
@@LocutusOfWarborgOneOfOne your logic is phenomenal...
@@LocutusOfWarborgOneOfOne lol well I think most people came here knowing already what it is. I wanted to watch a good review and this wasn't it....
any idea what kind of screen this device has? is it acrylic, glass? is it scratch resistant to any length? thanks
One question. Will the FM Radio app be in there?
Does this bypass android src (android resample processing) if I use Apple music app? Or do I have to use uapp?
What are the main differences between the two models sony offers on their website.
Hi, does this player rescan your music database every time you power on? I have an old model where it rescans for 2-3 minutes. It’s kind of irritating. I tried to put it on standby mode but it depletes the battery within a day.
I haven't had a problem with time it takes for my player (an A55) to scan the database. The saving in battery power makes it worth it. However, to reduce the number of times I need to do it, I set it to automatically power off after about an hour.
How good is the output to bluetooth in ear ear buds i use the jabra elite active 7.
Thank you for that honest review. I'll be honest, if I did not own the latest Galaxy Flagship I'd probably give this a try. I am no 'audiophile' person though I am an ardent music lover and the audio that comes from my S23 Ultra is more than sufficient for me, not to mention the Google-Playbooks which gives me a good reading experience. Great review though. Thank you.
I think the galaxy flagship will sound crap compared to this.
so this is basically my old sony ericsson after tunning and runnnig on adroid nice i want that piece of hardware
I don't know about these new Sony Walkmans, but the old school their old school cassette Walkmans had a nice sound profile. It's similar to how cameras are tuned differently. I use a generic no name MP3 player to listen audio while working or during sleep. It sounds better than with my smartphone and because of the small size it's easier to attach or hang around the neck. it was around $10 at that time, so don't worry much about it falling down, even if it fell, it's not going get damaged because of it's weight. Only feature lacking is there is no audio book capabilities.
This will sound a lot better than all those devices. It sounds amazing.
It would have been nice if you compared the Sony to a smartphone audio playback with Spotify.😮
This unit does way more than I expected. MicroSD slot up to 1TB, I can use PowerAmp, Pocketcasts, Google Home and output to get full hi-res audio out to my Google Home speakers at home. I can also install Plex on it to have it offline sync videos from my Synology box from ATSC OTA broadcasts for shows I watch.... and purchased movies I put on there also. It does great on all those things. I wasn't expecting it to be like a phone here.... sadly it doesn't do ethernet but it will cast to my Google Home without stuttering when playing stored FLACs 192/24 audio files on it.
Plus... :).... Dropsync support so I can synchronize the folders on it to the folders on my PC for my entire audio library.... all that makes it a great purchase and worth the $350 I paid for it.
Also shrink the font sizes so the text is easier to have more content on it... it helps. And I'm 50.... I can still read the text on it. If I can, you likely can too.
I have the NW - A105, is that any good compared to this NW-A306?
I'm replying late but I don't think you will notice much difference in the quality as both players use similar high quality components.
Is that volume cap still there?
I have a PK signed picture. Got to meet him at the Adidas store in NYC
(4:50) That reminded me: I've been planning to get one*, and when I do, I plan to install stuff like Storytel, Kobo, and Libby, just for their audiobook features, like I already do on my phone where I have those apps just for audiobooks and read the on-screen content on my tablet or laptop.
*I didn't know about the power delivery issues until someone else here mentioned it
Kevin, we are always very appreciative of you commenting on everything :-)
@@goodereader
🥰
When I saw this I thought Sony made a audio player with an e-ink display. And now I want one...
It's unfortunate that they didn't do that as an option. They could have had an e-ink screen for items that don't change while playing the song (like the name, artist and album) while combining it with an LCD display for items that change like the playing time. It would have been a great power savings because with e-ink you don't have to power the screen to maintain the image.
The only thing that bothers me is that Europe wants that there is an volume limitation on such devices. I like it loud 😉 and that cannot on these devices if you buy them here.
Are u sure it supports 360degree audio? Plz reply.. I wana buy one
Yes it does
It is one of the selling points
pretty sure that USB port stopper is just part of the packaging you can toss.
the usb cover is not a cover its a temporary plug to protect the port during shipping there's noneed for a USB cover that makes no sense
Whether you care about hi res audio or not, ditch Sony’s on board music app and switch to VLC. It works infinitely better and just looks cleaner. After using the default music app for months and then remembering VLC existed, immediately it felt so much better and looks infinitely more lively than the super clinical Sony music app
Can it play Dolby Atmos files?
Quien me ayuda?
Que tipo de micro sd funciona bien con este reproductor?
Why does the media continue to refer to DAPs as MP3 players? I don't know anyone with a DAP who listens to MP3 files. If that is all a listener wants to hear then they might as well just use a smart phone. DAPs are created for Hi-Res audio files. At least CD quality, or better.
Minus the price I can totally see this for some people who just want to listen to music and read like an ipod touch maybe it can play emulators well too
Good video, but it seems odd to me that Sony sent this to a website/YT channel about e-book readers. Sort of like Sony just isn't paying attention to what they're doing when they could easily have found a site dedicated to audiophiles to review it.
That said, I do like listening to music when I read and write, so I guess. . ..
Hey there, if you haven't been keeping up with good e-reader recently, you'll know that we are the last Sony distributor of epaper products left in the world
We sell Sony devices like the smart watches, the home remotes, and devices they don't even sell themselves anymore
Yes, we found it peculiar that they sent us an audio player, but they send us samples all the time, so I guess we just respected the process and did our due diligence :-)
Thanks for watching
Wow I just got this new smartphone and look how high it can bounce when I throw it. It doesn't bounce as high as a ball, but it does a pretty good job. It also has these 3 buttons on the side for some reason; whose gonna use that? Overall, it's a pretty cool phone.
so you said its a plastic body, but the website claims its primarily aluminum?
Well the back is plastic and you can take the entire panel off, actually.
It's held on with push clips
And the side is plastic too
It's aluminum frame, which is hidden inside the plastic body.
The sides are metal. The back is plastic
subbed
Much appreciated!
Seriously
Hi, could you play and download spotify music on this device please?
yes, this is an android tablet, essentially
This is why I prefer a compact phone. Either android or ios I don't mind.
is their blue tooth speaker?
No
I’m saddened it’s one of the only brands that build mp3 players left. With the departure of Apple and their iPod Touch in 2022. Things have been pretty obscure.
I always owned iPods from 2006 onwards - one with a wheel in 2006, a 2009 Touch, a Shuffle for the gym. I've always loved having a dedicated music player. My final 2019 256GB iPod Touch stopped syncing with my Mac about a year ago. It wouldn't appear over wifi and, when I connected with a cable, it came up with errors. After countless restarts and factory resets, it fleetingly started working again when I moved to Sonoma on the Mac, but soon went wrong again. I bought an NW-A306 Walkman the other day. I've had to make a few adaptations in the Apple Music app to the file data, such as assigning something like ''Various Artists' to compilation albums in the 'Album Artist' field, but it's been a pretty smooth transition. Doing the drag and drop to the Micro-SD card was easy. On the Walkman, I just wish there was an option in 'Albums' box for listing the albums in artist order rather than only alphabetical order of album names. The sound was a little lacking on the wired headphones, but great on the Bluetooth ones. I also wish there was a decent case. I'm wondering about buying an NW-A55 case, which wraps over the screen and seeing if I can squeeze the 306 in there, given it's only about 1mm difference in length and width! It now runs Android 13, btw.
This is it! I have been searching for a middle ground device, I've been wanting to switch to a dumb phone but don't want to lose some basic apps and things like music and spotify.
@@LeYuzer While my collection is mostly in 320 mp3, Spotify is missing so much music that it's not my main way of listening, just a supplement, maining for sharing mixtapes/playlists. For example my entire bandcamp library isn't on Spotify. Nor are most hiphop mixtapes.
If you plug in earphones with a mic can you have a call on something like FB messenger?
Most of them - no. That is what phones are for. DAPs are dedicated music listening devices that just happen to bear a resemblance to smartphones.
@@shorne1111 Thanks. I'm aware of its intended use and wouldn't use it for any other reason. Just out of curiosity I ask the question? 😅
I've got this and it is fantastic. I'm surprised how much better it is than my Sony NW A45. That one had terrible sound quality and is the worst music player I've ever owned. The quality of the components in the music player matter a lot. Also the DSEE function seems to work well. Vinyl was always the best imo, but for the first time i think MP3 and FLAC now sound as good as vinyl when you listen with the A306.
Is this a DAP
Or Ebook review?
A review with no comparisons ?
Reviews aren't about comparisons they're about reviews. Comparisons are about comparisons. And it's very clearly a review on a Walkman if you bothered to watch the review, and this isn't an ebook
@@goodereader
So review it mainly as a Dap .. not as an ebook reader.
Because sony walkmans were built for music and not for reading ebooks. And with no comparisons.
That's a big no no.
Nice review. A shame about the usb c cover. Doing Soho’s make this a C phone like their old mini series. And include a speaker.
Ok I will buy this but increase the size to sansung mega 6.3 , at least I get a mini tablet with my music player . Otherwise a big NO . My phone sounds great . Almost as good as my old s series walkman
they put speaker on it i buy
Price?
Link
i lost my rubber usb cover, can I have yours?
See?!
I did as well the first day luckily the a1000 series came with an extra one
Hmm.. My unit doesn't come with one, can't find it in the box too..
@@ooi1600 I bought 20pcs from Amazon
I purchased this but was shocked at how low the volume output is for the US version. I had to use max volume to drive 150 ohm headphones. My unit also suffers from the sound issue where it has almost no bass and sounds terrible. If you buy one of these please test it out during the return period. I was very disappointed in this DAP. You are better off buying an old LG phone with a Quad DAC. It blows this device away in sound quality and is much cheaper.
Happened to me too
All DAP doesnt have built in speaker.. We are talking about hi res music means high quality music output.... How can you hear every beautiful detail of every music if you are going to put a small tiny speaker on a dap? Built in speaker on a dap is a big NO NO....
Yes, we clearly said that. We said that it would be nice if they gave you one
My current audio set ups:
mobile Samsung Zfold4 and sony Wireless WF-1000XM4
Sounds really good
Desktop setup
Dell G5 and Sennheiser hd overears with headphone pre amp, passthrough my Yamaha mx49 . . . Intense
I want it
Maybe crazy here but this is my dream size smartphone!!!!!!
Playing music on a speaker like that than saying you think it sounds better plugged into the 3.5 mm jack should be a crime. Go get some decent headphones, DAPS are meant for IEM's and bluetooth headphones with good DACS that support LDAC, APTx and APTX HD not bluetooth speakers if you want to use it that way go get a cheap music player for 30$ online.
The size is still very big.... For me the best size is the ipod
iPod will not sound as good as this.
@@dtz1000 you could be right about the sound .... but i like and prefer comfort and ease of use over loud or perfect sound as long its good enough... also for me the clip attachment is must
why can't they integrate this in their flagship phone?
How to turn my mp3 into flac
MP3 removes a lot of information from audio signals, so while you could convert mp3 to flac technically, it does not improve the audio quality but only increases the file size. So if you wanna enjoy the real FLAC expierience, you need to copy your original audio cd directly to flac with a tool like Exact Audio Copy (EAC) or get a high resolution audio streaming service like TIDAL or qobuz, when you mainly use streaming.
Some music management programs can convert audio formats from one to another. However, it is not recommended. This is because if you take an MP3 and convert it to AAC it will not be the same as if you ripped the song as AAC, more data will be lost.
The only type of on-the-fly file conversion I've done is when loading music on my player. If I have a lossy format that is not compatible with my player, I autoconvert it to FLAC so that no audio information is lost in the conversion. Usually, it involves podcasts and it is rare that it needs to be done but it has been needed on occasion.
Why isn’t this a phone too?
It does not have an earpiece or a microphone
So you could use it for WhatsApp tethered to a data communication device like a cell phone or a tablet, but in and of itself it can't be used as a phone
No FM or DAB+ radio. Bummer.
This is not an MP3 player, but a DAP.
Yes we know.
sony needs to use their own software, idk why they wont add the xmb to their player, android os is a no go for me
made of plastic instead of metal? At 350.$ shouldn't it be a nice serious metal body?
That's just producers' conspiracy forcing you to buy useless blsht. When the smartphones started even htc one m7 was able to deliver enough power for my at-m50x, all the next generations of htc and pixels have a very low audio power, so I bought fiio fq1222 and it's all okey except that there is another not really small brick in your pocket(
damn,to expensive..i am looking around $100? lol.
On the speaker front, if you want to "at least listen to something", you don't pay 350$ for a walkman. This device seems to be the replacement to the NW-A105 and as such, I have similar gripes with it (recently reported hardware faults notwithstanding). The price is very steep for a device that, like the A105, probably isn't designed to power high impedance headphones, leaving it with no significant sound quality improvements other than flac compatibility and some nifty software (the former doesn't even matter since it can only power low impedance headphones and earphones). Android for me is a massive turnoff, because I don't want power-hungry and complicated, not to mention privacy-compromised, software on a device that's specially made for music. The cheaper and simpler A55 is no more, which is a real shame as it was nearly half the price of the A105 and doesn't come with android, I would have sprang for one but sony has pulled it from my country. It seems that sony compromises their midrange offerings greatly to give their massively overpriced Z series some breathing room. My cheap and cheerful E393 has treated me excellently but I have been left with no path for an upgrade.
wrong display for us!
N.W.A.
I pre-ordered my ZX707 and received 4 weeks ago. Have to be honest here - the quality of it is fantastic. Nice to hold. Buttons feel good. Gold plating looks schmick.
This forced me to upload CD rips and play with all music streaming apps once again. It also made me rekindle with Apple Music and looks like I’m going to ditch Spotify.
But then you pickup your iPhone and use Apple Music and it makes it hard to go back to the Walkman. Nothing really stands out for me. In fact it just feels harder to use when streaming.
So I’m going to keep it as a trophy for now. It’s back in the box. I’m sticking with iPhone and Apple Music.
Your price is only about $200 over list.
Correct
Did not got this review. Having removed the hole for the lace makes no sense when I use that for the gym on my neck. You don't need. We do.
You need a mic for calls we don't. We have the phone for that. You need a speaker when this is audio file. We dobtm We use iems or headphones. Simple. So. Yes. Great eq . Sony had rhe best. Warm tone. And it's not the best from sony bro.
I have this one, and none of the DSPs are great. Just a mouthful of acronyms.
Made in China. SD card slot will not last very long as one opens and closes continuously.
what is that? a player review or a lecture on hi res music formats? wtf is that?
they should make it like an apple ipad?
$299 expensive
Must be at most $199
Plastic? What the??
It shows that you know about digital readers but not about audio. The audio section of the video was ridiculously short, and it did not deal with the actual audio quality of the player. You did not even pull some headphones in this section. Granted you pulled a bluetooth mini speaker, but that is not how you use these devices, please. Use your phone, a cheap one.
I guess to each his own. But if you ignore how a device works and what it is meant for, avoid criticism of its design.
They might as well have given this thing to The Verge. 🤦♂️
Don't face palm, we have been reviewing sonys for a long time
@@goodereader Good luck! 😁
Good luck what?
How silly
@@goodereader I was saying good luck for the future. God.
Ok, um. What's the point of this? We have a device that's set up without a sim card, because this is apparently A Serious Dedicated Music Player and streaming (which is what most people do these days because it isn't 2002) isn't Serious. So we have a Serious Music Device that's for audiophiles.... that plays..... MP3s?
Aside from the previous wisecrack about 2002..... audiophiles..... don't listen to MP3s. Never have. They've always sneered at the format and refused to use it. I suppose with the other features it's got, including the dubious ones.... (or ESPECIALLY the dubious ones, like vinyl processing?) they could be marketing to rabid audiophiles that record directly from vinyl to a lossless format and...... yeah I'm not exactly sure what comes next but this can't be a very big market at all. Nowhere near enough for Sony to make up their costs.
It can most certainly play more than just mp3...
This is appealing to me because I often prefer to be without my phone, but never without my music. I do have a high quality digital download library from bandcamp and qobuz because I like to support artists when I can. I would mostly only stream audiobooks or podcasts, where I wouldnt care about sound quality at all. Qobuz and other streaming apps also stream CD quality as well as 24 bit hi res, so I think you just dont know what you are talking about lol. This is what the sd card is for. I understand this isnt for everyone, but I would love one.
I bought one of these just to play music through my IEMs. Beats the hassle of a dongle and iPhones are very restrictive when it comes to file types.
No, they just know mp3 and didnt know the existence of flac, dsd n others. Thats why the caption is just mp3 player
@@sippycup-lj2tk If this player is like my A55 it can play 11 different formats.
Android just ruins everything it touches 😒
Laggy
dude look at the headphone jack. clearly it isn't the best walkman of 2023.
Alright
We looked at it
if you care about sound quality, stay away from entry level Sony walkmans. They sound worse than iPod touch and Apple lightning-to-3.5mm dongle.
This is true. The NW A45 had the worst sound quality I ever heard from a player. But this A306 is not entry level. It sounds fantastic.
when bot making video ....
This must be a cheap model.
best? no
Definitely the best one I've heard.
@@dtz1000oh! that's different, how do you claim that something is the best if you are not heard the top models?
Just get the Xperia Pro. It has a high end audio chip inside ready.
Really bad review! Instead of comparing it to other DAPs like any normal reviewers, he's comparing it to smartphones and what not. I had to quit after the speaker thing, it was just unbearable.
Glad you quit :-) thanks
it's not even the best sony DAC
This is a super annoying review in that it covers nearly nothing that audio people want to hear....which is why this walkman exists primarily.
Yeah for sure
This is just advertisement.
No it isn't.
Did you just give a like to your own comment?
Are you seriously tryinh to sell a $350.00 dollar device for $500.00?
We don't decide the prices. We are not Sony