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Listening Impressions
My informal listening impressions. I am not a reviewer or contributor, so this will be amateur hour. I will keep it terse to minimize wasting your time
I purchased the NW-A55 to replace my NWZ-A17. From a listening standpoint, I am mainly interested in not having to pair my Walkman with an outboard DAC/amp. In my case, it’s either a Sony PHA-1A or a PHA-3. Both outboard DAC/amps sound great, but neither of them have a battery life much over 6 hours. So, charging is a concern, as well as size of the combined DAP + DAC/amp.
I primarily use one of two sets of ‘phones when traveling or at work:
1. Shure SE535LTD - 36 ohm, 119 dB SPL/mW IEMs w/ an upgraded cabled from Moon Audio (Silver Dragon)
2. Sony MDR-Z7 - 70 ohm, 102 dB SPL/mW semi-closed ‘phones w/ an upgraded cable from Kimber Kable (the Sony co-branded model).
Recently I acquired a Google Pixel 2 and I went through the (very real) pain of uploading most of my collection to Google Play Music, after transcoding to MP3/320. I have some Apple AirPods and I even tried the Pixel Buds but, to be honest, am not satisfied with the sound from either via bluetooth from my Pixel 2.
That said, I’ve been listening to a lot of Spotify lately, so I’ve been using my phone for music more than anything else in my signature.
When I read about the bluetooth capabilities of the Pixel 2 (i.e. aptX HD and LDAC), I was thrilled to read that the new Sony Walkman would support a bluetooth receiver function. Maybe I could have my cake and eat it too: streaming music from Spotify, Google Play and SiriusXM on-the-go, but with the superior sound quality of a wired DAC/amp with my favorite travel ‘phones.
I will cover bluetooth receiver functions, as well as how the NW-A55 works with my library (browsing smoothness, metadata handling, searching, et al.) in a follow-on post. Right now, I want to get straight to my FLAC collection on a microSD card and see how well the new Walkman can drive my ‘phones.
SHURE SE535LTD
I started with a playlist that is a mixer of tracks from The Doors (ripped from a DVD-Audio collection). I know this music extremely well and anything unusual will “pop” for me, instantly. Things I listen for:
Riders on the Storm - the opening keyboard and bass track
The Crystal Ship - the lush vocals throughout the track
Then, I moved on to softer, modern recordings:
London Grammar - If You Wait
Julia Holter - In The Same Room
Gillian Welch - Revival
Some classical: Hilary Hanh - Hilary Hahn plays Bach: Sonatas 1 & 2 Partita 1 (2018 release)
OBSERVATIONS:
These are just initial impressions. The sound is clean and pleasing, with detailed highs that are a little thin-sounding. Classical strings can become a little fatiguing. I found myself turning up the volume to “add weight” to the sound (e.g. opening part of Riders on the Storm needed volume set to 80 / 120). Percussion and vocals sound better (clear and a little forward) than I am used to hearing with the SE535. Big improvement over the A17, so mission accomplished. Does it outperform the PHA-3? I don’t know; I have to listen more...
SONY MDR-Z7
Carl A. Finlow - Introspective (this is one of my bass test albums)
Opeth - Sorceress
Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
OBSERVATIONS
This is the music that makes me reach for MDR-Z7s. When played on the NW-A55, I turned up the volume to 120 / 120 (full) for some tracks. So, no, the A55 does not outperform the PHA-3.
But it’s not bad. With the PHA-3 on the Finlow tracks, I was up to 75% (low gain) before it started getting too loud for my taste. Even at 120 / 120 on the A55, I never felt like it was “too loud”. The PHA-3 had a warmer sound, which makes me think the A55 is on the bright side of neutral.
One last test: I flipped over to my desk rig (choosing the Lehmann Rhinelander, Bel Canto DAC, Bryston Streamer chain). I played the same FLAC tracks from Pantera. The NW-A55 sounds a little “congested” in comparison and, obviously, no where near the volume output level. But Throes of Rejection still sounded good.
SENNHEISER HD-650
Just for completeness sake, I tried a few tracks with the Sennheiser HD-650. These are my go-to ‘phones, when using the Woo WA3 - probably my favorite pairing.
Best of the Grateful Dead and ...Live
Everything But The Girl - Amplified Heart.
Well, I had to crank the volume to 120 / 120 (full) for the Dead tracks. Acceptable sound, but simply not enough power for these ‘phones. The Woo, et al., + HD-650 w/ the Dead is an engaging sound. IMO, the NW-A55 is unacceptable with the HD-650, if you’ve heard them with a better playback chain.
OK, next post will be on Feature and Usability Impressions.