Sony NW-A35 16GB Walkman - Digital Music Player with Hi-Res Audio, Charcoal Black (2017 model)
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Product Specifications
- Enjoy the stylish simplicity of a clean, minimal design
- An intuitive touchscreen
- Hear music at its best with Hi-Res Audio
- Enjoy high-quality DSD playback
- S-Master HX digital amplifier for pure sound quality
- DSEE HX upscaling restores quality to compressed files
- Easy connectivity and high quality Bluetooth streaming
- Listen longer with up to 45 hours of battery life
16 GB of storage with microSD slot for expanded storage
Product Description
Color:Black | Size:16 GB Enjoy endless playlists of your favorite tunes with the latest Walkman. With high-resolution audio and a striking design, the nw-a30 Series looks as good as it sounds.
Product Reviews
good value for the money, very good relative to its main competitors (at least as of May 2017)
The below is of May 2016 and examines the product with all software patches available as of that date installedUp until a few months ago to be able to listen to high resolution music files (i.e., FLAC, etc.) one had to spend at least $300 to buy or commercially available and easily useable high definition music player. Audiophiles could go with a low end FIIO product ($100) if they were willing to tinker and manage with a relatively poor clunky interface. Now, however, this product has come out and, at $200, fills this niche gap. And it fills it quite well. Each of the main characteristics of the product is described below. Based on an aggregate rating of these qualities this reviewer would give the product a 4 star rating.a) music quality.The products most important distinguishing feature is its ability to play a variety of lossless sound formats. Assumingly this is why anyone would be interested in this product. It has the ability to play a number of commonly used high resolution audio files (i.e., FLAC, etc.) with an unbelievabley high quality (assuming of course that one has a decent set of earbuds – using a cheap set defeats the purpose of owning this device). The sound quality of the high resolution files played, especially jazz, classical or opera is unbelievable. Listening to well mastered Jazz albums it is almost like being in a club and listening to that music in person.On the other hand if you plan on listening to MP3 files or audiobooks the product is not worth owning. One would be better off buying one of Sony’s (or any other manufacturer’s) lower end MP3 players (i.e, decent ones, like Sony’s, go for about $70 - $100). It should be noted, naturally, that high definition music costs more than regular CDs or MP3s. For typical prices this reviewer recommends going to HDTRACKS COM and having a look. This is also an excellent site to purchase and download HD tracks.It is highly recommended one purchase a large SD card as this device has low internal memory and high resolution files are gigantic.One last point, high resolution files are intended to be listened to via wired earbuds to get the quality. This sony device has wireless capacity but the quality, using wireless, is not high resolution quality. This is true of just about all wireless music devices of any brand though. Using wireless, whether NFC or Bluetooth, defeats the purpose for audiophiles. At this point of time wireless, whether NFC or Bluetooth simply does not have the bandwith to facilitate large HD files. One last point on wireless on this device, this reviewer has tried the device with both NFC and Bluetooth and both work as advertised. It should be noted that they were tried on Sony devices. The NFC was tried on a Sony external speaker and the Bluetooth on a set of sony headphones.Five stars on music quality.b) build qualityThis is the weak point of the product. Unlike its FIIO competitors that are all metal (i.e., FIIO x1), this product is all plastic. One can drop the FIIO and it will survive. Dropping this sony will probably lead to a crack. This is not a product for Indiana Jones. Another pet peeve I have is that the battery cannot be replaced. Hence when it eventually dies (and it will) this thing needs to go into the garbage can as it will probably not be worth it to send it to Sony (or other technician to replace the battery). Unfortunately too many manufacturers of portable electronic devices, especially cell phones, have adopted this wasteful mentality.3 stars here.c) interface.The electronic screen is color, decent resolution, of acceptable size and hence the buttons are relatively easy to navigate for all but giants. One does not have to be a hobbit to use the buttons. In addition, thanks to the decent size screen one does not have to go through a million interface windows to get to what one wants. This is Unlike the fiios X1 and X2. Those products, with their small screens, require a million button presses. Plus the small screen is hard to see. Additionally, the Sony interface it pretty intuitive and easy to use. Almost no time is needed to bet up to speed, unlike the FIIO X1 ($100) or X2 ($200). The interface is not quite Apple quality but for most users should more than suffice. Plus button size on lcd screen is decent. One does not have to be the dwarf from Game of Thrones to be able to use interface with the LCD screen (albeit those with giant hands may not find it that easy).With respect to actual physical buttons on the body itself (as opposed to LCD screen), it has the mandatory on/off but many other buttons such as volume, “hold” (locks your setting so do not accidently change anything if you accidently bump a button), and track changes (forward and backward). The buttons are also reasonably placed and of decent size (albeit for people with large fingers maybe a little too small).4 stars herec) battery.As stated previously, the battery is practically impossible to replace. There are no screws or any other way to access and replace it. You practically have to smash the back to get to it. That is the bad side. On the positive, assuming one uses earbuds instead of wireless, one can get the advertised playing time of around 40-45 hrs. This assumes that one does not use the screen a lot though too. If one uses wireless one will not get anywhere close to the advertised battery life. The reason is that both NFC and Bluetooth are transmitting technologies and, hence, use considerable more battery power. I used wireless headphones with this and can unequivacly tell you that you will get no where close to the advertised battery power with wireless. But that is the nature of the technology.Also, I recommend charging this from a USB wall socket instead of a computer USB port. It greatly speeds up the charging.4-5 stars here.d) instruction manual.Like most manufacturers Sony has to decided not to include a decent manual with the product. You get a very cheap and basic manual. You need to go to the Sony website to download the full manual. Most manufacturers need to learn that when a consumer spends $200 or so on a product they should dish out another $0.25 and include a real manual.It could be worse though. Other manufacturers like FIIO include a worthless “manual” of a page (not enough considering the complexity of the device and interface) and have almost as worthless manuals on their company websites. At least Sony’s manual is well written, detailed and lengthy. It can be downloaded in pdf format from Sony’s website with little difficulty.4 stars here.e) miscellaneoushighly recommend, as soon as you buy this product, going and downloading the patch for it from Sony’s website. Sony has made this very user friendly/idiot proof and it only takes about 5 minutes (5 minutes assuming you have high speed broadband as the file is about 100 megs [give or take 20]). After you download to your computer you hook up your Sony device, double click the sony file on your pc and then the computer goes through the process of updating the device. It takes about 5 minutes or so.The patches fixe quite a few problems. Sony has had enough of a brain to make this process easy, unlike FIIO where it takes quite a while to figure out how to do it thanks to poor interface and instructions.Also, it is easy to move files from a PC to the Sony device. Just drop and move from PC to device (the device is recognized by Windows as a hard disk).Summary:For its price range, the fact this plays a variety of lossless sound file formats (with quality), and its user friendly interface this is a pretty good product. Plus, at the moment, its price is very good relative to its competitors. The FIIO X2 (first generation) is about the same price and this Sony product is better. The FIIO X1 (second generation) is about half the price but you have to give up quite a bit to save that $100 (i.e, poor interface, small screen, poor Bluetooth and no NFC, poor instruction manual and pain to upload patches). For most people the extra $100 spent on the Sony device is money well spent.In short, this Sony device is a 4 star product.PS- sorry for all the comparisons with FIIO but as of the time this review was written this was by far its main competitor in this price range and market niche. Hopefully that will change soon and bring high resolution files to the masses instead of just audiophiles.
Great for HD music…
Have used this unit now for HD music files for about 4 months and I am extremely happy. I connect mine via digital output to a dedicated DAC/amplifier and HiFi headsets (both my Audeze) for superb sound or to regular aux inputs in car, home stereo,etc. I installed a 400 GB microchip and works like a charm. File management via Mac is clumsy, but, given the prize and size of the unit, great alternative to larger music servers.
A No Brainer Music Device
Purchased from Amazon for $150 (Aug 2017) along with a 128GB Micro SD making my total purchase just under $200. I’ve spent years listening to my music collection on apple devices from the very first iPod to the iPhone 7. After becoming completely fed up with how poor the Music app has become and having my music “stuck” in the cloud during my frequent air travel, I decided to give this dedicated player a shot. This was my first foray into a high definition audio player but the price was right so while I didn’t expect much, I didn’t think that I had much to lose at this price. I must say that I’m completely impressed with this little player. I’ve had it for several weeks now and have over 2000 tracks downloaded onto the device so far. The sound is extremely good whether listening through my Etymotic ER4’s or my B&W P7’s. Its absolutely brought life back into my old music files and inspired me to re-rip many of my favorite CDs into lossless files and purchase lots of CDs that had been on my “someday” list. Who would believe that you could grab the wonderfully remastered Dire Straits albums for around $5 each? Anyway - long story short is that this player definitely makes my music sound better than my apple devices and should be a no brainer for anyone who is remotely interested.Yes - startup time is slow, scrolling through albums/artists suffer from some hiccups and not every track transfers perfectly but these minor issues are easy to overlook given what you get in terms of sound quality and ease of use at this price point.
Good or bad… Not sure..
Here is my first detailed review for any product.. I have reviewed products in amazon when it failed to fulfil the expectations.. or when it exceeded my expectatations.However, its a tough call for me to decide on this player. I’m not an audiophile. So i won’t go much about the sound quality.Rather my review will be more on usage and handling aspect.– Bought this product last week– Loaded 128 GB memory card and copied 5000+ songs. All songs were copied quickly without much time. Having 20+ GB of songs onboard, player doesn’t lag at all. It’s quick and I’m impressed– Package was good. Device feels good to handle– However, the naming and specs printed on the back doesn’t have a great look– Battery- Its been good when connected to my headphone- When connected to bluetooth device it roughly lasted about 14 hours only– Playback- Another issue I noticed is, bluetooth doesn’t pair automatically whenever I get into my car even though the device and car bluetooth is already paired.- There were instances when the bluetooth connection b/w the car and the device was dropped frequently. So I had to do the pairing again to make it work- I also noticed one instance where the songs did break a lot even though it was connected thru aux cable– I know we have to setup date and time while setting up the device first time. But I wonder where will it be used? The device doesn’t have a screensaver. Status bar doesn’t display time/ date either. Not sure whats the purpose of date/ time in this player.– Would have been better if the charging plug was USB Type C model. Not a major concern thoughWill post more updates/ reviews in the days coming.
The Walkman itself is very good, but I found it unnecessarily complicated to transfer …
The Walkman itself is very good, but I found it unnecessarily complicated to transfer songs on to it, it wasn’t for my husbands assistance it would have been a more frustrating…
Exceptional Music Player
I hate apple products and.am exceptionally happy with the Sony. It will handle a 256fb micro sd card as well.
Too Much Brain, Not Enough Sense
Whereas I am a frequent Amazon customer I am not a verified purchaser of this product. However my sister did buy this item through Amazon and it has fallen upon me to load it with…
Extremely fickle
Charging this device is bizarrely difficult. It stops charging for no reason and will then drain its battery to 0% even if connected to a powered computer and not even being…
great gadget for a technophile but not a casual listener
This review is a tough one for me as I want to love this new take on a Sony Walkman, but I just don’t.
Awesome player with plenty of features and crystalk clear sound
Awesome player with plenty of features and crystalk clear sound. The touch screen is finicky and sometimes does not respond to your touch until you try two or three times.
Five Stars
It is excellent!
I don’t really know for sure. Mp3 player did …
I don’t really know for sure. Mp3 player did not sync with any of my bluetooth headphones. It felt wiser to return it then invest more money in another product that it still…
good.
good.fast shipping and good price!
… using this for a couple months now and I love it. I have an iphone and I really …
comments powered by DisqusI’ve been using this for a couple months now and I love it. I have an iphone and I really despise itunes. I love just throwing all my music on an SD card and going.
