Can you recommend the way to sync music files via home network?
I do not want to use en external cloud service. I have music on my PC and through WiFi I would like to mirror the folder on my Sony.
Hi. I've posted this on other threads related to the DAP I'm considering. I'm planning to buy one DAP as I've bricked my iRiver H120 after attempting to change it's battery and I've done some small research on some of the DAPs.
I'm not an audiophile but rather just someone who loves music so correct me if I get my terms wrong. Most of my collection is in physical form but I've some collection of digital files which I've accumulated throughout the years. Seems like it's better for me to continue my music collection in digital format rather than in physical form for convenience and mostly due to cost so I'm thinking of investing in a DAP for long terms. Wish that I could get some input from this forum.:
My criteria
1. Streaming App
2. WiFi
3. Ample battery life.
4. USB DAC (not compulsory but good to have)
5. Price below USD 300
6. Neutral sound but not being too analytical. More to musical.
7. To keep for long term thus parts such as battery preferably replaceable.
My current headphone/IEM :
1. AKG Y50
2. Soundmagic E10
3. TIN T4
DAPs I'm considering :
Sony NW A105
1. Streaming app available but apparently it's downsampled?
2. Wifi & BT functional
3. Battery poor. Require daily charging.
4. Need input on the sound quality. Most reviews mentioned only good sq better than phone, but how much better? And the sound signature, tone, etc.
5. USB DAC not available. Any possibility new firmware could make this available?
6. Priced below USD 300
7. Need input if battery is replaceable.
Hiby R5
1. Streaming app available.
2. Wifi & BT functional
3. Battery sufficient
4. From reviews, seems like the sound is neutral but slightly warmer than DX160.
5. USB DAC function available.
6. Retail price above USD 300 but could get below 300 on sale
7. No visible screw for disassembly. Battery not replaceable?
Ibasso DX160
1. Streaming app available.
2. Wifi & BT available but poor reception/coverage
3. Battery sufficient
4. From reviews, seems like the sound is neutral with slightly warm tone but less warm than R5
5. USB DAC function available
6. Retail price above USD 300 but hoping to get below 300 on sale.
7. Battery replaceable?
I couldn't test any of it from any shop yet thus I mainly rely on reviews. Appreciate if I could get some feedback. Also if there's is other suggestion on other DAP that I should consider?
In A105 battery provides 20+ hours but only using Walkman App. With streaming you'll get a few hours.
From these three I would consider HiBy due to the best CPU, should be the most responsive.
A105 is nice to use local files, not streaming in my opinion.
I have had the iBasso DX160 (twice), and I can confirm very poor Wifi/BT connection.
I have the A105 and I love it: strong connection and works fine with streaming apps (but they drain the battery a bit fast). Sony has the best construction quality imho, btw it lacks some features like balanced output and power that yiu can find in the Hiby R5.
To save the battery of the A105 I use the auto-off mode. To get full MQA from Tidal and a lot more power I use the Ifi Hip Dac.
Obviously the A105 is asian version (uncapped).
Hi. I've posted this on other threads related to the DAP I'm considering. I'm planning to buy one DAP as I've bricked my iRiver H120 after attempting to change it's battery and I've done some small research on some of the DAPs.
I'm not an audiophile but rather just someone who loves music so correct me if I get my terms wrong. Most of my collection is in physical form but I've some collection of digital files which I've accumulated throughout the years. Seems like it's better for me to continue my music collection in digital format rather than in physical form for convenience and mostly due to cost so I'm thinking of investing in a DAP for long terms. Wish that I could get some input from this forum.:
My criteria
1. Streaming App
2. WiFi
3. Ample battery life.
4. USB DAC (not compulsory but good to have)
5. Price below USD 300
6. Neutral sound but not being too analytical. More to musical.
7. To keep for long term thus parts such as battery preferably replaceable.
My current headphone/IEM :
1. AKG Y50
2. Soundmagic E10
3. TIN T4
DAPs I'm considering :
Sony NW A105
1. Streaming app available but apparently it's downsampled?
2. Wifi & BT functional
3. Battery poor. Require daily charging.
4. Need input on the sound quality. Most reviews mentioned only good sq better than phone, but how much better? And the sound signature, tone, etc.
5. USB DAC not available. Any possibility new firmware could make this available?
6. Priced below USD 300
7. Need input if battery is replaceable.
Hiby R5
1. Streaming app available.
2. Wifi & BT functional
3. Battery sufficient
4. From reviews, seems like the sound is neutral but slightly warmer than DX160.
5. USB DAC function available.
6. Retail price above USD 300 but could get below 300 on sale
7. No visible screw for disassembly. Battery not replaceable?
Ibasso DX160
1. Streaming app available.
2. Wifi & BT available but poor reception/coverage
3. Battery sufficient
4. From reviews, seems like the sound is neutral with slightly warm tone but less warm than R5
5. USB DAC function available
6. Retail price above USD 300 but hoping to get below 300 on sale.
7. Battery replaceable?
I couldn't test any of it from any shop yet thus I mainly rely on reviews. Appreciate if I could get some feedback. Also if there's is other suggestion on other DAP that I should consider?
I have had the iBasso DX160 (twice), and I can confirm very poor Wifi/BT connection.
I have the A105 and I love it: strong connection and works fine with streaming apps (but they drain the battery a bit fast). Sony has the best construction quality imho, btw it lacks some features like balanced output and power that yiu can find in the Hiby R5.
To save the battery of the A105 I use the auto-off mode. To get full MQA from Tidal and a lot more power I use the Ifi Hip Dac.
Obviously the A105 is asian version (uncapped).
Thanks for the input. I think I could live with SE output but the comment on battery life is putting me down. How much you could get with battery life when running streaming app?
How could you describe the sound of A105 in comparison with DX160 & R5?
Is it possible to turn the A105 as USB DAC by firmware updates?
I've seen a lot of Sony DAC could be dismantled to replace the battery. Could anyone confirm if it's also possible on A105?
Well, I've had the a105 since yesterday and now that I've spent some time with it I'm not impressed. Battery life aside, as I've turned everything off and don't stream, but this is the most digitally sounding DAP I've heard. Yeah, Sony made the bass deeper and the notes weightier, but they got carried away at some point and kinda turned the entire thing into a beauty mode. It's essentially breaking down the music and recreating it as an oil painting - everything is smoothed out, so out with the texture, natural reverb and instrument separation. Like seriously, even my old a35 is making this sound bad. Granted I'm using MrWalkman's zx300 software, but I'm 100% sure the a35 sounded better than the a105 even on stock firmware.
IMO with all enhacements off it sounds nice, a little warm, but Nothing Digital like most Fiio DAPs for example.
Maybe it's a matter of synergy. I like my Sony with Earsonics ES3.
IMO with all enhacements off it sounds nice, a little warm, but Nothing Digital like most Fiio DAPs for example.
Maybe it's a matter of synergy. I like my Sony with Earsonics ES3.
Nah, everything is off. It's not a matter of being a little warm or synergy (I tried it with several iems, including the sony ier-nw510n which is made for it). To be fair, it's not awful but its sq is more in line with a smartphone than a dedicated DAP in this price range.
IMO with all enhacements off it sounds nice, a little warm, but Nothing Digital like most Fiio DAPs for example.
Maybe it's a matter of synergy. I like my Sony with Earsonics ES3.
Nah, everything is off. It's not a matter of being a little warm or synergy (I tried it with several iems, including the sony ier-nw510n which is made for it). To be fair, it's not awful but its sq is more in line with a smartphone than a dedicated DAP in this price range.
I don't think I've seen/read any reviews detailing sound quality (ie: tonality, lows, mids, highs, etc) of A105 or did I miss it? Anyone could describe it in detail?
Honestly if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't have bought this DAP.
It's underpowered in every possible way.... On most Android apps it will lag quite a fair bit.
It's very weak so it can't drive any power hungry headphones.
It's 2020, nearly 300 bucks and they could only put 16GB on it. Basically you'll run out of space just by installing some apps if it doesn't slow down to a crawl. Hopefully it still has enough space for future updates with the leftover space.
Only the native music app and USB Player Pro with an external DAC can play files at their native resolution. I'm sure even TIDAL Masters isn't played in bit perfect mode which is required for MQA, so the only way to no lose details is for them to upsample everything to 32 bit 192 kHz for all apps when the hi-res streaming is enabled.
I'm not even sure how this works, because Android reports all Android apps being played at 16 bit 48 kHz so not sure if they're converted to that and then upsampled to 32 bit 192kHz which wouldn't make sense or just their implementation on Android showing it's playing at 16 bit 48 kHz but the actual hardware upsampling and playing to 32 bit 192 kHz (which seems to be way they have done it according to some external sources).
So technically it's impossible for any Android app to take advantage of the internal DAC to play at the native resolution due to their audio stack, so you're stuck with upsampling everything... this inherently drains the battery much faster, as it has been reported before on this thread when using hi-res streaming mode.
Battery is poor, basically it won't even last me a full work day when using PowerAmp or USB Audio Player Pro and bluetooth headphones. We're prob talking about 6-7 hours battery with minimal display time. This is prob due to Bluetooth and hi-res upsampling draining the battery, my WiFi is off, battery saver is off (as it becomes very slow with this last setting).
Wired headphones will make the battery last a lot longer if you're using the native music app. Maybe with the hi-res mode disabled you can get a few hours more of playback but everything converted to 16 bit 48 kHz.
At the end I ditched all music streaming, this thing can handle it but the experience is beyond poor specially on a small screen and with the lag.
I'm trying to stick to the native music app when using wired headphones and USB Audio Player Pro when using Bluetooth headphones or an external DAC as the Walkman won't let you use any EQ when using Bluetooth headphones or an external DAC.
Also reminder, this doesn't have USB DAC functionality.
So evaluate your case, for me this works awesome when you're using the native music player and IEMs. But in such cases the implementation of Android becomes pointless, so you might as well get a non-Android DAP which will be light years ahead in smoothness, load times and BATTERY. Android eats batteries for breakfast.
From a technical implementation, features and battery view.... it's overpriced IMO.
If you just go with your ears, it's fit for purpose... It sounds good, it plays music, it has Bluetooth/WiFi for the occasional music streaming and support other Android apps so when it's not being a DAP... I use it as a remote for my media center or JRiver.
I'm not qualified to criticize and describe the sound quality, as long as it doesn't suck I'll be happy but for everything else it's a poor value DAP in my personal opinion.
This battery life is a joke when Walkman app is not used. I tested it and I get 10-11 hours with any app and over 20h with Walkman app.
For playing your own music with default software it's a very nice DAP.
But when you want to use some streaming or other app it starts to be veeery bad for its price.
Frankly saying I would buy A55 if it would have USB-C for charging.
IMO with all enhacements off it sounds nice, a little warm, but Nothing Digital like most Fiio DAPs for example.
Maybe it's a matter of synergy. I like my Sony with Earsonics ES3.
I completely disagree with Fiio DAP's sounding digital. I had the M7 for several months and have owned the M9 for almost a year. Nothing digital sounding about either one, you must be referring to much older models. I just did a 45 minute demo of the A105 in a private listening room at a high end store. Comparing the A105 sound to the M9 the A105 has a more digital sound quality for sure. Not surprising since it uses a Class D digital amp. I actually liked the A105 for the most part, the sound was quite good and it has some really nice features. But I have to say I prefer the M9 still for sound quality overall, it just sounds more natural and lively to me. I found the A105 with no enhancements a little dry and lifeless in comparison to the M9's dynamic sound. Having alot more power on tap with the M9 really helps the sound dynamics.
I am sure I would adjust to the A105 sound after awhile and eventually enjoy it. The A105 did sound better with some enhancements turned on.
I spent some time scrolling through all of the features and apps installed. I found I would have likely turned off 80% of the features and uninstalled most of the apps (the ones that can be uninstalled). It really makes no sense to me to spend $480 CDN on a DAP and only use 20% of its features and apps.
I would like to get my hands on an A55 to demo though. I think its feature set is more in line with what I want and the really long battery life is a plus. I am happy to see that bhphotovideo is once again shipping Sony DAP's to Canada. If the A55 goes on sale on Black Friday or before then I might grab one if the sale price is good.
I completely disagree with Fiio DAP's sounding digital. I had the M7 for several months and have owned the M9 for almost a year. Nothing digital sounding about either one, you must be referring to much older models. I just did a 45 minute demo of the A105 in a private listening room at a high end store. Comparing the A105 sound to the M9 the A105 has a more digital sound quality for sure. Not surprising since it uses a Class D digital amp. I actually liked the A105 for the most part, the sound was quite good and it has some really nice features. But I have to say I prefer the M9 still for sound quality overall, it just sounds more natural and lively to me. I found the A105 with no enhancements a little dry and lifeless in comparison to the M9's dynamic sound. Having alot more power on tap with the M9 really helps the sound dynamics.
I am sure I would adjust to the A105 sound after awhile and eventually enjoy it. The A105 did sound better with some enhancements turned on.
I spent some time scrolling through all of the features and apps installed. I found I would have likely turned off 80% of the features and uninstalled most of the apps (the ones that can be uninstalled). It really makes no sense to me to spend $480 CDN on a DAP and only use 20% of its features and apps.
I would like to get my hands on an A55 to demo though. I think its feature set is more in line with what I want and the really long battery life is a plus. I am happy to see that bhphotovideo is once again shipping Sony DAP's to Canada. If the A55 goes on sale on Black Friday or before then I might grab one if the sale price is good.
I have tried M6, M7 and M9 once and all of them had some strange and unpleasant, "digital" sounding highs, even with IEMs having rather smooth trebles.
I liked the sound of first X5, second X1 and M11/M11Pro.
A105 is closer to my Shanling Q1 than Fiios M series. Sony is a bit warmer than Q1 and has less power. I like the Q1 a little bit in terms of sound, but A105 is more comfortable to navigate.
Personally the only drawback of A55 for me is lack of USB-C, I do not like collecting all the cables. That's why I picked A105.
I agree that the power is rather low, but I'm ok with this since I do not have power demanding IEMs.
I have tried M6, M7 and M9 once and all of them had some strange and unpleasant, "digital" sounding highs, even with IEMs having rather smooth trebles.
I liked the sound of first X5, second X1 and M11/M11Pro.
A105 is closer to my Shanling Q1 than Fiios M series. Sony is a bit warmer than Q1 and has less power. I like the Q1 a little bit in terms of sound, but A105 is more comfortable to navigate.
Personally the only drawback of A55 for me is lack of USB-C, I do not like collecting all the cables. That's why I picked A105.
I agree that the power is rather low, but I'm ok with this since I do not have power demanding IEMs.
I have primarily used headphones and not iem's with the M7 and M9. With my B&W P5s2's and NAD Viso HP50's I don't experience the digital sounding highs you describe. Both are warmer sounding headphones with a smooth top end which may help. As far as the A55 yes the WM-Port is definitely a negative, hated it on my A17. But it if the positives outweigh that one negative I can live with it as I did with the A17.
The two DAP's I would like to demo most are the Q1 and the A55 because of my familiarity with Shanling and Sony DAP's. I had the A17 for 4 years and really liked it despite its issues. I also had the M0 for a few months and I liked it's sound signature but hated the tiny screen. The Q1 is what I wish the M0 had been when it was released.
I really love my M9 it sounds amazing with my HP50's but the battery life isn't great and I want something more portable with better battery life. I travel alot so having longer battery life would be really good and the Q1 and A55 have good and great battery life. In fact if I hadn't bought my M9 on Black Friday I probably would have jumped on the kickstarter campaign for the Q1.
I am still holding out hope that Sony will come out with say an A65 to replace the A55. I think Sony definitely needs a DAP in the market below the A105 and the A55 is outdated somewhat by today's standards.
If you like the M0 signature you will like the Q1 as well. It's similar, but I think it's slightly more dynamic and a bit less warm. However the screen of Q1 is of bad resultion, especially when you compare it to Sony.
For now I like my A105 but if somebody will want to buy it from me it's not a problem. I would love the A55 with USB-C.
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