Sony NW-A306 - New generation Walkman

Sony's new portable music player, part of the Walkman range, appears at first glance to be a lower-priced version of the higher-end NW-WM1ZM2 and NW-WM1AM2.

The Sony NW-A306 (€399) has an aluminium alloy body. The gently rounded edges have a surprisingly large number of physical buttons, especially considering that the device also carries a 3.6-inch TFT touchscreen. The player also features WiFi connectivity and, of course, Bluetooth transmission, with an unknown capacity lithium-ion battery that can provide up to twenty-two hours of battery life depending on the volume and transmission selected. The operating time may also vary depending on the use of native streaming services.

The device runs Android 12, comes with a range of pre-installed apps and customisation options. A number of dedicated processes (DSEE Ultimate, DC Phase Linearizer, Dynamic Normalizer, ClearAudio+) help to enhance the audio experience, and a ten-band EQ is available for individual sound enhancement. With Edge-AI and DSEE Ultimate (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) technologies, the system can upscale compressed files in real time, promising to make even lower-quality files sound audibly better.

As is common with portable players, you get the best sound experience with a wired headset. Sony's proprietary S-Master HX digital amplifier handles DSD files natively, with MQA stream playback also available, according to the spec sheet. The built-in storage (32GB) can be expanded using microSD cards, the latter of which will most likely be needed as half of the internal storage is eaten up by the Android system. There are some question marks about the latter, as the brand generally (based on the practice used for smartphones) only guarantees security updates for two years, which seems rather slim. Sony's new product could be a good alternative for those who do not want or cannot afford to pay a large sum for a dedicated player.

Source: www.sztereomagazin.hu, www.sony.com