[kova4a]

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.

It's not the class D amplification as previous walkmans I heard didn't sound like that. Honestly, just find an a35 or a45. There's really no need to go for the a55 and you can use the ported MrWalkman's firmware on the previous models.

Personally, at the Sony Center the a105 seemed nice but now that I have one, it's meh. I intended to give my a35 to my dad and upgrade with the a105, but now I'm doing the opposite and keeping the a35 as the zx300 firmware did breathe new life into it. Overall, the a35 boots faster than a105, sounds better and the battery lasts a lot longer. I don't mind the proprietary cable - just bought a few third-party for spares. And the tech behind it is still viable as pretty often the usb-c on my phone can't keep up with Sony's transfer speed.

 

[fish1050]

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.

I think the issue with the Q1 is it has an unusual screen size (2.7") and Shanling probably had limited screen options to choose from. Don't forget the A105 costs 3x more than the Q1 so really not a fair comparison. Shanling had to cut corners for sure pricing the Q1 so close to the M0.

Yeah USB-C on the A55 and I would snap one up for sure. To bad Sony doesn't follow these sites and take input from forum users. Seems silly for Sony to stick with the WM-Port on just one currently available model. From what I have seen the A55 is selling quite well and has good reviews. Perhaps that would be enough for Sony to bring out an A55X or A65 with USB-C.

 

[fish1050]

It's not the class D amplification as previous walkmans I heard didn't sound like that. Honestly, just find an a35 or a45. There's really no need to go for the a55 and you can use the ported MrWalkman's firmware on the previous models.

Personally, at the Sony Center the a105 seemed nice but now that I have one, it's meh. I intended to give my a35 to my dad and upgrade with the a105, but now I'm doing the opposite and keeping the a35 as the zx300 firmware did breathe new life into it. Overall, the a35 boots faster than a105, sounds better and the battery lasts a lot longer. I don't mind the proprietary cable - just bought a few third-party for spares. And the tech behind it is still viable as pretty often the usb-c on my phone can't keep up with Sony's transfer speed.

Wait so you were able to flash the A35 with ZX300 firmware? What exactly did the ZX300 firmware change for the A35?

If I am going to buy the A35/45/55 I would want to go for the latest model. Also reviews I have read say the A55 does sound better than the A45. In Canada for some stupid reason the A35, A45 and A55 all sell for the same price. It does frustrate me that Sony never drops the price on their DAP's in Canada no matter how old they are.

 

[Roland P]

I'm very happy with the WM-Port. With the dock (BCR-NWH10) allows me to connect the PHA-3 while charging (the NW-ZX1 in my case). Does USB-C also allow connecting an external dac while charging?

 

[kova4a]

Wait so you were able to flash the A35 with ZX300 firmware? What exactly did the ZX300 firmware change for the A35?

If I am going to buy the A35/45/55 I would want to go for the latest model. Also reviews I have read say the A55 does sound better than the A45. In Canada for some stupid reason the A35, A45 and A55 all sell for the same price. It does frustrate me that Sony never drops the price on their DAP's in Canada no matter how old they are.

Yes, you can. also a version with modified sound. You can actually also flash the WM1Z/A firmware (and a version with modified sound) on it too but some things get a bit cut off. You can also flash the zx300 firmware on a45, but not the wm1z/a one. So far there isn't anything for a55 and chances are there won't really be an option to fully install another firmware, but MrWalkman said that he might be able to make some sound improvement at some point. There is also a possibility of dmp-z1's software being ported to the earlier models, but we'll see with all the turmoil from the past day and the wm1z/a thread getting locked.

I personally preferred the stock zx300. It makes the a35 snappier, the database creates faster, so it boots faster (faster than a105 too), the sound is more neutral and smoother, bass is reduced but it has better control. You also get a bunch of the newer sound setting, tone control, vinyl processor, dsee hx ai, aptx hd, direct source instead of clear audio+, etc.

I don't mind the wm-port. You can find third-party cables for the price of a usb-c cable, transfer speeds are comparable to usb-c. Don't look too much into which models is newer as Sony is pretty much using the exact same components in all of them, with the nwa55 having a touch nicer case and more responsive screen.

They never drop the price anywhere, it's amazon and other sites that do. I got my a35 3 years or so ago for 99 euro during a sweet amazon sale and have never ever seen it come this low ever since. Now a105 is dropping like crazy almost everywhere as no one is buying it. Last week a local store was selling it for 160 euro, but instead I got a used unit because it was Japanese so no volume cap.

 

[bachankas]

Is this ZX300 port available only for A35? I consider A45 due to Best battery life.

 

[fish1050]

Yes, you can. also a version with modified sound. You can actually also flash the WM1Z/A firmware (and a version with modified sound) on it too but some things get a bit cut off. You can also flash the zx300 firmware on a45, but not the wm1z/a one. So far there isn't anything for a55 and chances are there won't really be an option to fully install another firmware, but MrWalkman said that he might be able to make some sound improvement at some point. There is also a possibility of dmp-z1's software being ported to the earlier models, but we'll see with all the turmoil from the past day and the wm1z/a thread getting locked.

I personally preferred the stock zx300. It makes the a35 snappier, the database creates faster, so it boots faster (faster than a105 too), the sound is more neutral and smoother, bass is reduced but it has better control. You also get a bunch of the newer sound setting, tone control, vinyl processor, dsee hx ai, aptx hd, direct source instead of clear audio+, etc.

I don't mind the wm-port. You can find third-party cables for the price of a usb-c cable, transfer speeds are comparable to usb-c. Don't look too much into which models is newer as Sony is pretty much using the exact same components in all of them, with the nwa55 having a touch nicer case and more responsive screen.

They never drop the price anywhere, it's amazon and other sites that do. I got my a35 3 years or so ago for 99 euro during a sweet amazon sale and have never ever seen it come this low ever since. Now a105 is dropping like crazy almost everywhere as no one is buying it. Last week a local store was selling it for 160 euro, but instead I got a used unit because it was Japanese so no volume cap.

Thanks for the information, very interesting. I tried looking for the link for the ZX300 firmware but is says the firmware is no longer available to download. The A45 isn't available anywhere in Canada right now that I can see including amazon.ca. So it looks like the market has finally dropped the A45 and A35 in Canada. I hope this means that the dealers who were carrying the A45 will carry the A55. I would prefer to buy in Canada to get the warranty as Sony Canada head office is only 19 km from me. Turnaround on my A17 replacement unit under warranty was only 10 days from the day I shipped it to Sony Canada. Sony does not repair their DAP's in Canada so warranty is a straight unit replacement. Usually they ship you a refurbished unit but they didn't have any A17's so I got a brand new replacement unit (retail box and accessories).

 

[nanaholic]

https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1280063.html

New update for A105 and NW-ZX500. Takes the firmware version to v3.0
The major addition is "DSEE Ultimate" - which is the newest version of Sony's upsampling algorithm to replace the current DSEE HX.
Also major update to Bluetooth - now EQ and dynamic normaliser will work over Bluetooth. A105's unique Clear Audio+ feature will also work over Bluetooth now. Bluetooth volume steps is also increased from the current 16 steps to 32 steps for better volume control.
Search features is also updated, when you are listening to a song, you can now find songs associated with the album of the song or the artist of the song.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

If you tap on the song name on top of the play/pause button, you can search for songs by the same artist or songs on the same album.

 

[gurbina93]

If you tap on the song name on top of the play/pause button, you can search for songs by the same artist or songs on the same album.

Doesn't work for me. Double tap, single tap, long press but nada. From the album cover, song name, artist name, album name but it doesn't do a thing.
The only controls are the visible buttons (shuttle, rewind, play/pause, fast forward, repeat, favorite the song) and swiping left, right, up or down.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Doesn't work for me. Double tap, single tap, long press but nada. From the album cover, song name, artist name, album name but it doesn't do a thing.
The only controls are the visible buttons (shuttle, rewind, play/pause, fast forward, repeat, favorite the song) and swiping left, right, up or down.

This is after the latest V3 firmware. Your walkman music app should be Version 1.2.0 after this firmware update.

 

[povidlo]

Just received my Walkman the other day. First impressions are very positive!

Glad to see Sony still making meaningful firmware updates.

Imported from Amazon Italy. The supposed EU volume cap is a non-issue to me: comfortably running Tape on 90-100/120 volume, so plenty of headroom.

Tape on Tape!

 

[Kal El]

I'd like to understand what does exactly the DSEE and the DC Phase Linearizer options in the Walkman eq app.
Clearaudio+ seems to make all worse, but I can't judge what those options do exactly.

 

[tradyblix]

I'd like to understand what does exactly the DSEE and the DC Phase Linearizer options in the Walkman eq app.
Clearaudio+ seems to make all worse, but I can't judge what those options do exactly.

DC Phase Linearizer tries to make your audio sound more like it came from an analog amp in terms of it's bass characteristics.

Vinyl is self explanatory - a curio for those in the mood for certain tracks to sound like their only vinyl copy

DSEE HX refers to way to "upsample" non HD files to HD files...it is designed to make older mp3s sound more like modern high res tracks.

The implementation here is somewhat mixed compared to the versions of this tech found on high end amps in the ES range Sony does so I see it
as more marketing across products than being that useful, but you should determine that for yourself. it's nice to have sound options.

 

[raif71]

DC Phase Linearizer tries to make your audio sound more like it came from an analog amp in terms of it's bass characteristics.

Vinyl is self explanatory - a curio for those in the mood for certain tracks to sound like their only vinyl copy

DSEE HX refers to way to "upsample" non HD files to HD files...it is designed to make older mp3s sound more like modern high res tracks.

The implementation here is somewhat mixed compared to the versions of this tech found on high end amps in the ES range Sony does so I see it
as more marketing across products than being that useful, but you should determine that for yourself. it's nice to have sound options.

Thanks for the concise explanation and what you say about sound options is a sound opinion.