4.12.2019

This is a very capable little player that's marketed at HD audio users, but anyone with a collection high-quality digital audio will appreciate the sound quality and broad format support on offer. The big caveat is that most of these features are already included in the previous A45 model, which is still available as of writing. Unless the specific features of the A55 speak to you (which are the bluetooth receiver function and the vinyl simulator, I think), be sure to check that and weigh up whether it's really worth the extra expense.I've got to commend Sony on their response to the baffling array of file types available in high-end digital music.Once upon a time we'd use some proprietary syncing software to translate our tunes in to whatever language our MP3 player understood, but this Walkman will merrily accept nearly every file format under the sun from the horribly-compressed WMA music I ripped in Windows XP 15 years ago to studio-quality DSD I downloaded this week. (Ogg is the one notable exception.)That all-encompassing compatibility is paired with a high quality DAC and a decent headphone amplifier to make sure you can actually hear the benefits of higher-quality audio standards or simply higher bit-rates. If you want to send that spiffy music to wireless speakers or headphones, the player also supports a wide range of high-bit-rate bluetooth standards like Aptx, so as much quality is retained as possible. The only real limitation is that the amplifier is a little underpowered for large headphones; for earbuds it's fine, but it struggles a bit with bass when driving my big over-ear headphones at high volume. I suspect this is the European/Korean volume limit at work.Sony's generous approach to the player's design extends to the ability to use it as a bluetooth or USB amp for other devices. Leave your headphones plugged in, switch the player to the appropriate mode and plug in the USB cord, and you get the benefits of the nice hardware when listening to your PC or Mac. There's a night-and-day difference between this player and my laptop's built-in headphone socket when listening to HD audio files, meaning, I suppose, that I don't have to shell out for more hardware to take advantage of HD audio. Using it with my PC makes everything else a bit nicer too, of course, but the benefits are very subtle.The bluetooth receiver function could be better implemented. Although you can use the mechanical buttons on the Walkman to remote-control the volume, skip tracks etc., there are no on-screen controls to do the same, and no metadata as far as I can tell. The receiver function can also only pair with one bluetooth device at a time, according to the manual, which I can imagine being inconvenient. And, to be honest, the whole apparatus of iPhone, Walkman, and wired speakers is a bit cumbersome for my purposes. However it won't surprise you to learn that the Walkman will receive audio in plenty of high-bit-rate bluetooth standards, again to avoid any quality bottlenecks. If you have high-end wired headphones you want to occasionally turn in to high-end bluetooth headphones, for free, it's a feature not to be sneezed at.The user interface is simple, and audiophiles will be pleased to know that it informs you of the formats being used at every turn, from file selection to bluetooth streaming. You get music on the player by just dragging the files on over USB (I got about 30 MB/s whether transferring to the internal storage or microSD card), after which you can browse by metadata or folder structure. The microSD card slot means you can boost the storage space for a pittance. There's even an NFC pairing function for bluetooth devices which saved me the ten minutes it usually takes to remember how to put my speakers in to the pairing mode.My few quality-of-life complaints are that the player is a bit finicky about showing embedded album art, and there's no option to delete an entire album or artist that I can see. It also can't control the volume on my Philips bluetooth speakers (which is a longstanding issue with the Walkman range). Also, contrary to the product description, this doesn't use USB type C, but continues to use Sony's proprietary M-port connector. Unless you're already in that ecosystem, you'll have a new type of cable to keep track of, and I have yet to plug it in the right way up on the first attempt.Is it worth getting in to HD audio specifically? I downloaded a sampler, and that all sounded phenomenal, but I then had a frustrating time finding HD versions of music I personally liked. The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack (which is fine) is available at the kind of sky-high bit-rates that might justify a £20 price tag. Interstellar's, which is far better and more audibly limited by CD quality, is only available in "HD" at slightly-over-CD-quality. At least the discrepancy in quality is reflected in prices of both albums on the store I tried. I got neither and wrote it off as a lost cause; despite plunging storage costs and soaring broadband speeds, this approach to music simply hasn't broken out of its audiophile, listen-to-the-device-not-the-music niche. Unless you're already invested in HD audio I'd say that you should treat it as a nice bonus, and that the player's main job is getting the best out of your 320 kbps MP3s or FLAC rips.The player's one genuinely weird aspect is the suite of inauthentic audio processing modes that can be applied to your music when using wired headphones. The upscaling function seems to just throw in some imagined high-end above the exiting high-end which doesn't sound the like it belongs. The simulated concert hall function is good as those things go but superfluous. The vinyl and analogue amp simulators are very subtle, and if you're fixated on either of those particular approaches to audio reproduction they might be welcome, but I honestly don't see the point of simulating authenticity. Last and least, the Clear Audio+ function which automatically combines all of the functions to supposedly enhance your listening experience reminds me of nothing so much as the bass-and-treble-boosting "LOUD" button on our family car's stereo in the 1990s. It's awful.A quick word on headphones: the product description for this item listed a specific model of earphones and an earphone clip as included items, and one of the Vine reviewers claims these were in the box, but the Sony product page and some of the Q&As said these weren't included. Therefore I wasn't sure if it came with Sony's Hi-res audio headphones when I requested it. To settle the matter, it doesn't come with the earphones; I requested that the product page be corrected, although your guess is as good as mine about that other review. Alas those earphones aren't available separately in Europe as far as I can tell, and nor is the specific bundle that includes them with the player, so the noise cancelling features are basically moot and I've not been able to test them.I've been testing this player using a pair of QC35 earphones in wired and bluetooth mode and a pair of wired B&O earbuds. I'm not convinced either of those has the high-frequency response to really take advantage of what this player can do with HD audio files. However they're good headphones and they were still sufficient to show that the player can do some things my iPhone and PC can't when it came to high-bit-rate files.

23.12.2019

The title says it all, and if you are in a hurry, that’s about all you need to know.There’s some quite contradictory reviews of the new, all digital Sony Walkmans.Some will tell you that it is difficult to add images to your record collection because the software only recognises certain image types (not true as long as you download and use the Sony application ‘Music Center’, a very competent application that allows you to add images to your music, plus can turn a large CD collection into high quality FLAC files in a couple of hours (large for me was 120 CD albums).Some reviews tell you the Walkman lacks output power. I think this is because Sony limited the gain to 75% on ear protection concerns.The firmware version I have goes to 120%, which is enough to power large headphones (in my case, Sennheiser HD25) enough for them to just peak into distortion. (You can see the output level dial in one of the screenshots, and it clearly goes to 120%)Others will tell you that the sound coming out of the Walkman is nothing to write home about, or that the EQ and other sound enhancements don’t work. The enhancements in question are Equalizer, DSEE HX, DC Phase Linearizer, VPT (surround), Dynamic Normalizer, Vinyl Processor, ClearAudio+ (you may have to Google some of those!).The problem is that, like many devices, the Walkman does not apply sound presets over Bluetooth. You have to be using a wired device for the presets to work. Something that may be fixed via a firmware patch in the future, but if it is a problem (i.e. you will be using non-Sony Bluetooth headphones) then don’t buy because you will be disappointed. Bit of a shame really because the Walkman does support all the latest Bluetooth enhancements (APTX, etc).So, on my Jabra Bluetooth headphones, the Walkman is a disappointment.However, once I plugged it into my Sennheiser HD25 wired headphones, it was an absolute revelation!The HD25’s are an old product but still an industry standard – you still see them in recording studios and many club DJs swear by them… but to get the most of them I previously had to plug them into my massive separates audio stack (yes, I’m old; I also own a massive DSLR!).You slowly make do with Spotify on a phone, listened over Bluetooth. Everyone does it, and you get used to it. It’s easy. But that one time you actually listen to real audiophile gear brings you back into the fold, and listening to the Walkman with the HD25 was that moment. Never again will I settle for less!Turn on ClearAudio+ and… well, that’s all you have to do. Sound is perfect out of the box. ClearAudio is a combination of most of the sound enhancements turned on, plus a pleasing EQ curve. You can’t tweak clearAudio, but its fairly easy to work out what the EQ curve is by comparison and copy it to a preset. I’ve included a screenshot of my preferred EQ curve; I got this by approximating the ClearAudio+ EQ curve by ear, then tweaking it.Storage space. The device comes with 16GB memory, but I don’t use any of it. I just plugged in a 64GB SD card and saved to that. All my music collection (as high quality FLACs) comes to 30GB. I’m 52. If I live to be 100, I might fill the full 64GB.Its all backed up on my PC via Music Center for PC, so all good. I suppose if I was extra careful, I might also back up to a second 64GB SD. Side note; yes, Sony Music Center allows you to rip your CDs straight to highest quality FLACs to the Walkman. Strange that we should be talking about something that does this, produced by Sony!So what about those of us who don’t have a CD collection to convert to FLACs, and rely on Spotify on a phone or PC? You can use your Walkman either as a DAC or a Bluetooth receiver. You get all the enhancements of the Walkman, applied to your music stream. It shouldn’t work (most audiophiles say less is more; start with high quality sound and a simple, minimal path to your ears), but in this case it works really well. Your ears will thank you!Finally, ergonomics and battery life. All good, no problems at all.The screenshots show the device after I have used it for about an hour a day for a week. You can see the battery level indicator has hardly moved!The menu system takes about 10 minutes to get your head around (Sony tend to have idiosyncratic menus, as any Sony e-mount camera user will tell you!), but its not at all difficult.Downsides?The Walkman runs on Android, but it is effectively locked (because it can't access the web and therefore can't access Google Play Store). You can’t add any apps.The issue with ‘no audio enhancements applied to a Bluetooth stream’. Spotify and PowerAmp do it. So why doesn’t the Walkman firmware?Proprietary cable. USB on the PC side, but some weird Sony concoction on the other end. Typical Sony… don’t lose that cable!Audiophile equipment should last years. My HD25’s were bought in 2007 and are still going strong. The battery in the Walkman may not last anywhere near as long, and given even the USB cable is proprietary, I have a feeling I will be paying through the nose for a new battery in 3 years!Overall, a perfect companion for someone with audiophile wired headphones. I’ve had a collection of CDs that have basically collected dust for years, but am now really enjoying them again; I’m in my own world at work! (I’m a web application developer). Even when I’m listening to Spotify through the Phone and into the Walkman, it’s a world of difference; phones have awful audio outputs, and the Walkman has both excellent sound enhancements and a good output driver stage.For someone with Bluetooth headphones and only a streaming audio app, you might drop one or two stars, or wait for a firmware upgrade to fix the problem with audio enhancements over Bluetooth.

9.12.2019

For the last few years, I have vainly searched for something to replace my beloved but deceased iPod Classic.My phone has done an admirable job and this Sony device is lovely but, somehow, nothing can replicate the simple joy of scrolling through tracks using that lovely circular button. But anyway...This is a real box of tricks. The high-ish price point reflects this and, as such, will exclude a great many buyers who won't need the more niche features.It beautifully designed and made, the body is very solid brushed metal which feels lovely and robust in the hand. The small size also makes it great for joggers/gym fiends as the trend for mobile devices seems to be for the to get bigger and bigger!As a straight mp3 player,this is marvellous. I WOULD recommend that you read the instructions before plunging in and filling it with music directly from your PC (as I did). The reason for this is so can benefit from downloading the Sony Music Centre software first. This will scan all your music tracks, analyse them for genre grouping (and so on) and even find album art and correct any filenames that aren't spot on. THEN you can connect the device with the supplied cable and transfer away.First things first, you'll probably want to charge it fully first, This takes quite a while but the battery is alleged to be god for 46 hours of playback which seems pretty amazing.Annoyingly, and this is a real bugbear of mine, it comes with a propriety charging cable so lose this and you're doomed (or, at least, will have to hunt down and pay for a replacement. Why this couldn't have been a USB C charge I am not sure.So you'll want to keep this small cable very safe!It DOESN'T come with headphones so you'll have to use existing ones. Even through standard headphones, this sounds great and well balanced. There are equaliser options but I haven't felt any need to use them.Navigation is super simple with the crisp and clear touchscreen. A nice touch is also having physical buttons on the side of the device (these can be locked with a slider at any point),As for the "fancy" features, well...this is essentially a music upscaler. In the same way a PS4 will upscale a DVD to HD levels, this will make the most of your music files.You can even Bluetooth of NFC it through your phone's music as a sort of quality booster.To really benefit from this though you'll need two things. Firstly some high quality music files with little to no compression AND a really expensive set of headphones that will make sense of all that musical data.Though I lack such wonder at the moment, in theory this will open up a whole new level of audio wonder for some of your favourite music.It is this technology (all crammed into a very small unit) that gives it the higher price point. Ultimately this is a device for your true audio snob and, as such, is a rather niche item. You can undoubtedly buy a very nice straight simple player for less than half this but you won't get all the bells and whistles.So if a DAC player that will handle most files and produce great sound is what your after and you have the headphones to support it, then this could be a great investment.For the casual listener though, you may find the same amount of joy to be had at a far lower price point.

3.5.2020

Out of the box this is a good device, however the volume is heavily capped by default and with no way around it from within the device. This would not be a bad thing, but somehow I felt the audio quality was not quite as expected. I had heard of a mod that could be done to the A45 that removes restrictions imposed on the device, and with fingers crossed decided to try it on my A55.Well it was a success and actually easier than I thought when I followed the instructions carefully. Now my A55 is unlocked and uncrippled! Not only does the device now go to a volume that I prefer not to reach due to how loud it is, but the quality of sound at even low volumes is amazing! The difference is night and day!Before the mod,

5.12.2019

This player is made from very high-quality materials and is very well-finished. It is compact and feels solid in the hand.For what it does, it really is impressive. It gives you the option of button or touch screen control, which is handy when it’s in your pockets. It has excellent screen resolution. The audio quality is outstanding, with crisp highs, solid mids and deep lows (not many portable players tick all three of these boxes. The sound quality across all supported formats is great assuming they have a good compression rate. The graphic equaliser is easy to use giving high sound customisation potential. The volume is limited (quieter than an iPhone on max volume),

9.12.2019

On initial inspection, this latest incarnation of a type of ‘Walkman’ is around the same size as a credit card, the Sony NW-A55L is exceedingly portable. If its 16GB built-in storage seems disappointing, its microSD slot means you can add in an extra memory card. It comes with the supplied charger, which is Sony’s wider WM port for charging, not to my liking to be honest. Sadly, headphones do not come in the box, and that is a real pity! I found the device’s home screen is acceptable, but then again a lot is going on in such a small space. Besides, the addition of unusual small buttons here does appear, in my humble opinion, somewhat untidy and fiddly if you have large fingers.To access the Bluetooth you click on a toolbox via the home screen menu,

30.11.2019

Delivered in an Amazon branded cardboard envelope by an Amazon driver .I eagerly opened the box inside the contents were all neatly packaged and everything that was meant to be included was there .The Walkman player , a USB cable ,earbuds ,headphone clip and instruction manual .I couldn't be called tech minded by any stretch of the imagination but this Digital music player is a breeze to use .This music player fits easily in the palm of my hand .The player has a touch screen on the front , but you can also adjust using the touch buttons located on the right hand side .Transferring music from my pc to the player was simple using the provided USB cable .

27.1.2020

I really needed something to listen to when travelling (I travel a lot, I was killing my iphone battery and it was dead when I landed). I looked and demo'd some of the Chinese DAPs on the Market and as nice and as well built as many of them are, they nearly all fail on my criteria battery life >20 hours, I wanted something that I did not have to recharge, half-way through my journey. The only DAPs, in my budget <£200 (that met my criteria) were the Sony NW-A45 and NW-A55. I decided to buy the newer A55, as it ticked all of my boxes (pretty much).I have to say my purchase did not disappoint. The size is great (it is small), battery life is excellent,

4.6.2020

Bought to replace an old MP3 player, I compared this with the Cowon Plenue D2. Listening to FLAC files I could not discern any significant difference between the sound of the two players. (Younger ears than mine might discern a nuance of difference). I opted for the Sony because it is much more user-friendly and has a few more features. The phone-like shape of the Sony player is preferable to the Plenue D2, the screen is better and the interface much easier to navigate.It is a pity that the Sony does not play OGG files, but with storage limitations a thing of the past I shall probably use FLAC files most of the time. Of course,

12.1.2020

I've not had an Walkman for years and was interested to find out if they had changed much. The first thing I notice was that they now come with touch screen, This is certainly a great improvement. The start up take about 30 seconds, which seems a long time when your waiting. Transferring my albums from my laptop was a dream. I couldn't believe how simple this was. My last Walkman seemed very complicated compared with this new NW-A55L. The sound that comes through my new Christmas prezzie headphones is fantastic. The Walkman does not come with a set of headphones, and in all fairness the box doesn't state that there are any included, but I would recommend that these should come as standard in the box,

15.2.2020

Bought as a present for my son as I wanted my Sony NW-ZX300 back. The form factor and look isn't in the same league as the ZX300 which is just beautiful and it doesn't have quite as much volume which might be an issue for some hard to drive headphones but battery life is also excellent, the interface is the same and I really can't tell the difference in sound quality. They both sound great, noticably better than the average mobile phone or the iPhone/ipods I've had access to.Sound is not boomy but very precise and detailed. If you rate Beats Dr Dre headphones maybe you won't like but I think the sound is neutral and colored so you can get the tonal qualities you enjoy through choice of

10.7.2020

The Sony NW-A55L is excellent value for the price, if you make the most of its features. Here are some tips:Buy a micro SD card (maximum 128gb) to expand its 16gb memory.Use Sony's Music Centre for PC to rip from your CDs to FLAC files, to acquire album information, to create playlists and to transfer to the Sony NW-A55L.When on the main screen, tap the Settings icon and select items to display, e.g. select only Folder, Playlist and Recent Transfers for an uncluttered view.Change the settings on your amplifier to Source Direct so that your amplifier plays the bluetooth streamed music according to your preferred sound settings in the Sony NW-A55L.In the Device Settings:Change Auto Power Off to

4.6.2020

I bought this Walkman to replace my Cowon X7 purely because I wanted to use wireless headphones and the X7 was too old to support current versions of Bluetooth.I just wanted a dedicated music player which this is and bought some JBL reflect flow ear buds true wireless to go with it.However, I made the mistake of assuming Bluetooth is Bluetooth which it is not. The JBL ear buds lost volume control when paired with the Walkman due to the Bluetooth profile used which was not supported by the Walkman. Result was I had to buy replacement ear buds and am unable to get a refund on the JBL due to them being unboxed. In terms of the Walkman you have to use an app called music centre to transfer music via your laptop.

11.2.2020

I bought this to replace an ageing iPod Classic that was long past its best. I'm happy that I did. I paired this up with a Sandisk 200Gb MicroSD card and it provides plenty of room for all of my music. I mostly have mp3 files, but looking forward to trying FLAC or whatever files later on. The user interface is easy enough to use, and it won't take you long to familiarise yourself with it if you're coming from Apple's products. As it is a touchscreen interface, it's very intuitive and as I said, you'll pick up how to use it very quickly.The sound quality is excellent, and I particularly like that you don't have to use any "walled garden" software (iTunes, I'm looking at you!)

27.4.2020

I have some new IEM headphones and decided to upgrade my old Sony Walkman and chose this model. Sound quality is much improved. The user interface is okay, if you're used to smartphones etc, this should be a doddle. I read some reviews that said you need special Sony software to add music to the device - this is unnecessary for simply adding music files, just connect to a PC and drag/drop music files to the music folder. Unfortunately 16GB (actually 12GB) memory is woefully inadequate if you're loading it with FLAC files, which has the best sound quality, so thank goodness it allows for an SD card (128GB max for SD, 2TB max for SDXC according to the Sony website - if you can afford it).

Sony Walkman NW-A55L - Reviews

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