A solid entry-level portable music player

Verdict

A stable moveable music participant, however the Sony NW-A306 can’t fairly escape the sensation that it might have been higher. Its pocketable dimension is appreciated and the audio efficiency is sweet, however there are occasions the place it tries to be an excessive amount of like a smartphone.

Introduction

It’s been 35 years because the Sony Walkman TPS-L2, which modified moveable listening without end, and the NW-A306 is likely one of the newest additions to the Walkman’s lengthy lineage.

Loads has modified because the iPhone emerged, although should you’re a music lover you’ll all the time need a devoted participant that isn’t compromised within the methods a smartphone is.

Whereas the Walkman isn’t as in style because it was, it nonetheless has loads to supply, although the affect of smartphones appears to have put the NW-A306 into an ungainly place.

Design

• Compact dimension
• Effectively constructed
• Contact display and bodily buttons

Sony describes the NW-A306 as compact and, even in comparison with the very moveable Astell & Kern SR35, the Sony is smaller nonetheless with a depth of 11.8mm, a top of 98.4mm and weighing 113g. It might simply slip into your pocket together with no matter else is in there.

The aesthetic matches the NW-A55L I reviewed again in 2020 with buttons positioned on the right-hand facet – barely small for somebody with digits as huge as mine, however simple sufficient to seek out. Suggestions could possibly be barely higher, and so might the responsiveness of presses. Maintain the facility button and that brings up a display of choices for both turning it off, restarting or taking screenshots.

The bottom of the unit has a rippled wave design, which provides it a grippier floor to carry onto, whereas the display is 3.6-inches in dimension with a 720p decision. The show is unremarkable: element, sharpness and hues are positive, however received’t seize your consideration. Construct high quality is assured, as you’d anticipate from Sony.

The display additionally helps contact gestures, so like an Android smartphone, you’ll be able to swipe left to proper; swipe right down to see notifications or swipe as much as see the library of apps on the system, and even drag and drop icons. In a pleasant nod to its previous, you’ll be able to go into the menu and set the screensaver to a picture of the TPS-L2.

There’s the one 3.5mm socket, plus a USB-C enter, and microSD slot. There are solely two colors to select from in black and blue, which is disappointing. From a sustainability perspective no plastics are included within the packaging.

Options

• Android 12 OS
• Extensive file compatibility
• 32GB of storage

The Sony NW-A306 helps Android 13 and its implementation could be grating at instances. It’s as if it tries too laborious to behave like a smartphone.

Logging into my Google account, I’m inundated with notifications as soon as the A306 is powered up. It turns into relatively distracting after some time.

And the participant is none too intuitive or responsive in dismissing notifications. Making an attempt to flick the display as much as see the ‘clear all’ is surprisingly difficult, however most of all, the interface could be very sluggish.

There’s lag with button presses and swipes throughout the display with telltale stutter. Powering up the NW-A306 and ready for the lock display takes round 40 seconds, and loading an app to play music feels prefer it takes an age as effectively on prime of that too.

There’s entry to Google Play retailer and different Google apps, however like with the FiiO gamers, I ponder how helpful it’s to have these apps within the first place? I’m not going to make use of Gmail on the Sony NW-A306 over my smartphone.

You possibly can obtain all of the music apps you want like Deezer, Tidal, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Qobuz. You can too obtain the Reserving.com app should you fancy that too. That is one other facet the place the Google integration feels extreme for this explicit system.

File playback consists of DSD, MP3, FLAC, AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, APE, WMV, WMA, and MQA; although there’s a restrict, because the Sony couldn’t play a 24-bit WMA file. Bluetooth 5.0 help covers SBC, AAC, aptX HD and LDAC streaming. You additionally get Sony’s 360 Actuality Audio playback with appropriate providers.

Storage is simply 32GB (18GB in actuality). That doesn’t depart a lot should you’ve bought huge recordsdata. This may be bypassed with a microSD, and the NW-A306 accepts as much as 2TB however the card must be formatted with the participant earlier than it may be used. That’s annoying should you’ve bought a card stuffed with music able to go.

Sony gives a number of completely different figures on battery life relying on the recordsdata you’re enjoying. 44.1Hz FLAC takes up 36 hours and 96kHz FLAC recordsdata equals 32 hours, whereas streaming is alleged to take up 26 hours. Having performed a combination of FLAC and MP3 recordsdata for about two hours at 60% quantity, the Sony NW-A306 fell to 93%, which might be round 33 hours in complete. It’s within the ballpark for what Sony’s A306 can obtain.

Efficiency

• Two EQ modes
• Detailed, clear sound
• Not the largest bass

There are two methods of approaching the Sony NW-A306’s audio efficiency. One with the ClearAudio+ filter on, and the opposite with it off. I’ll begin first with the EQ characteristic off.

Partnered with a pair of Austrian Audio Hello-X65 headphones, the Sony goes for a clean, clear description on 4 Non-Blondes What’s Going On, with first rate ranges of element in describing the devices. With Benjamin Clementine’s London, I like the main focus and readability directed to his vocals, however the smoothness of the A306’s tone implies that cymbal crashes don’t register with as a lot crispness.

It doesn’t summon a very huge bass efficiency with Child Cudi’s Usually I Have These Goals. It’s a observe that might profit from extra energy, slam, and bass extension that the NW-A306 can’t or isn’t enthusiastic about offering. Excessive frequencies aren’t the brightest, however they do come via with readability. General it provides to a transparent, if barely cautious, efficiency.

With ClearAudio+ disabled, the Sony goes for a impartial, delicate, and flat efficiency. Bass sounds reserved, there’s not a lot dynamism both on a small or bigger scale, resembling flat floor relatively than mountainous peaks. In its default mode the A306 isn’t including a lot to the sign, however in doing so it lacks a little bit flavour and pomp.

Change the ClearAudio+ EQ on and it generates a little bit extra power and vitality with the low frequencies, though bass nonetheless isn’t as huge or as highly effective as I’d like. It does sound greater, bigger and reaches a little bit additional with ClearAudio+ on than with out.

There’s a hotter tone with ClearAudio+ on and vocals have a much bigger focus. Gregory Porter’s vocals in Concorde have larger presence, his singing infused with extra vitality and there’s extra dynamism evident. There’s a extra assured sense of expression than there was with out ClearAudio+ on, and it makes for a extra partaking hear.

Turning ClearAudio+ off and music is flatter and lacks depth, however it does sound a little bit extra outlined and clearer. The vitality, expression, elevated width of the soundstage and higher sense of depth with the ClearAudio+ filter on makes me marvel why it’s not on by default. On the very least I’d suggest switching between ClearAudio+ toggled on and off and seeing what you assume. To me, the advantages of getting it on are larger than leaving it off.

You can additionally use the Sony NW-A306 as a DAC to spice up songs in your PC or Mac. Whereas it’s an enchancment on plugging your headphones in instantly, when evaluating Isfar Sarabski’s Planet album in a WMV file on my laptop computer with a streaming model on Qobuz on the A306, I used to be anticipating to listen to a efficiency leap however couldn’t hear a lot of a distinction. Given one is a top quality file and the opposite is a stream, I’m undecided if that’s an excellent factor or not.

Newest offers