[bwhat]

is there someone in the UK with the bass issue that can post here and ask Sony for an update?
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Today I tested again and eventually disabled all the apps to make it look like it did for @rlw6534 but it didn't work. A flowchart is not ideal to represent this, maybe a sequence diagram but just for fun I tried to represent this as a flow chart (and failed) but as I did it I'm posting it


I also tried a variation in which the last "no" instead of going through disabling apps went to "factory reset" and then disabling the apps. None of them worked, just for the record. JPN nw-a306

Hi gh0sty - I bought my A306 from a Japanese eBay seller. And, after looking at your flowchart, I'm feeling a little sheepish - when I set up my Japanese A306 I don't recall seeing language selection. I suffered through initial setup (no wifi, no sign- in, but I set a PIN) using Google Translate on my phone for Japanese. Once at the home screen, only then did I change language to English from settings. Build 1.00.12. I don't have bass issue, though not verified with REW.

 

[Vamp898]

Hi gh0sty - I bought my A306 from a Japanese eBay seller. And, after looking at your flowchart, I'm feeling a little sheepish - when I set up my Japanese A306 I don't recall seeing language selection. I suffered through initial setup (no wifi, no sign- in, but I set a PIN) using Google Translate on my phone for Japanese. Once at the home screen, only then did I change language to English from settings. Build 1.00.12. I don't have bass issue, though not verified with REW.

My Japanese WM1ZM2 did ask for the language before anything else.

Are you sure your unit was new? I personally don't trust anyone on eBay, especially not people who export anything. I often bought things that said they are from Japan but I could see afterwards they really came from Singapore or somewhere and were just re-imported or stolen or whatever.

I can not recommend importing expensive products via eBay

 

[bwhat]

My Japanese WM1ZM2 did ask for the language before anything else.

Are you sure your unit was new? I personally don't trust anyone on eBay, especially not people who export anything. I often bought things that said they are from Japan but I could see afterwards they really came from Singapore or somewhere and were just re-imported or stolen or whatever.

I can not recommend importing expensive products via eBay

Re: setup; It's also possible I missed the language prompt. It came up in Japanese, so I just went ahead with Google Translate. Navigating that was interesting in its own right.

Re: eBay; Yeah, that's good advice, to be honest. eBay is always a gamble. Also, exporting from Japan, the warranty is only valid in Japan - so no warranty, unless the importer could work with the eBay seller, such as with the current bass issue. Hearing from others about their eBay experiences could have quite the chilling effect.

And, agreed there's no way to be sure about the provenance - but that's a risk no matter what marketplace. Amazon marketplace is just as bad, perhaps worse in some ways - even for sellers. The risk/reward of the warranty/provenance vis à vis availability/unhindered function (i.e., uncapped in my case) is, at the end, an emotional decision.

 

[Psymon69]

No configuration needed when I tried myself. The device may or may not give you a pop up asking if you want to connect to the usb Dac. It does for the Walkman player app but it did not for Qobuz. At first I got no volume when I tried Qobuz but I simply did a disconnect of the usb cable then reconnected and then it worked just fine.

thanks jrod; do you reckona noticeable improvement can be made for the sound quality of the a306 using an external DAC AMP ? I'm on the cusp of buying a chord mojo 2 or ifi gryphon or an earman st or similar to partner the a306 and my Meze pro 109's...... all advice and recommendations welcomed... desk use mostly

 

[richramo]

thanks jrod; do you reckona noticeable improvement can be made for the sound quality of the a306 using an external DAC AMP ? I'm on the cusp of buying a chord mojo 2 or ifi gryphon or an earman st or similar to partner the a306 and my Meze pro 109's...... all advice and recommendations welcomed... desk use mostly

I've used my Questyle M15 and Lotoo S1 as external DACs on my A306, which sound great, especially with UAPP. I plan on testing the original Mojo and ifi xdsd over the next few days. I'm just playing around with the A306 until the firmware fix is released from Sony.

 

[MacroOrganisim]

Just got a call from Sony HK repair regarding my bassless A306. The technician still insisted that he can't found anything wrong with my Walkman, stating that it sound exactly the same as the other ones he has access to.

He did offer to replace the whole motherboard as a kind of "preventative maintenance"(His exact word), which will be done in another week. I am a bit concerned about that, as at this point it's simply another lucky draw on whether I will get another faulty one. The guy refused to promise another replacement in that case and said that there will be no more replacement unless there is clearly an issue that they can identify.

So, for you guys who imported from HK and were hoping to see if you can send yours to repair - good luck but my personal experience with the repair service hasn't been good.

 

[Psymon69]

I've used my Questyle M15 and Lotoo S1 as external DACs on my A306, which sound great, especially with UAPP. I plan on testing the original Mojo and ifi xdsd over the next few days. I'm just playing around with the A306 until the firmware fix is released from Sony.

Will I need to install UAPP to send output from the A306 from its usbc to an external DAC AMP ?

 

[rlw6534]

Will I need to install UAPP to send output from the A306 from its usbc to an external DAC AMP ?

No you don't need to. You might want to though as UAPP is a favorite player for many and does have extra features such as PEQ, etc...

 

[abitdeef]

Just got a call from Sony HK repair regarding my bassless A306. The technician still insisted that he can't found anything wrong with my Walkman, stating that it sound exactly the same as the other ones he has access to.

He did offer to replace the whole motherboard as a kind of "preventative maintenance"(His exact word), which will be done in another week. I am a bit concerned about that, as at this point it's simply another lucky draw on whether I will get another faulty one. The guy refused to promise another replacement in that case and said that there will be no more replacement unless there is clearly an issue that they can identify.

So, for you guys who imported from HK and were hoping to see if you can send yours to repair - good luck but my personal experience with the repair service hasn't been good.

That sounds fishy, this is an official Sony repair center? How are you supposed to know if they even changed it. In my experience working with electronic repairs, it's easier and more efficient to send a new unit. Go up the chain and point out all the frequency graphs showing -10 db or yours specifically if you graphed it. Of course a new unit might have the problem too.

This isn't going to be region specific, I'm sure lots of repair centers are going to act the same, if someone tries to send one for repair. I talked to accessory jack and they said they'd send out new units from the distributor if it turned out to be hardware.

It seems to be software anyways, and that 'tech' seems clueless. Yes it sucks, but at this point in time. Well even if they sent a new unit, unless they Graphed it you might end up with the same thing.

 

[abitdeef]

thanks jrod; do you reckona noticeable improvement can be made for the sound quality of the a306 using an external DAC AMP ? I'm on the cusp of buying a chord mojo 2 or ifi gryphon or an earman st or similar to partner the a306 and my Meze pro 109's...... all advice and recommendations welcomed... desk use mostly

I used several dongles and a306 works like a champ with them.. So if you need more power of want a different sound sig it's easy peasy. Oh wait did have some weirdness with ibasso dco3 pro with switching between bit perfect and android. Lost volume then bass.

But no problems with hiby fc6. I suggest checking out Andy's dongle madness site to see alot of dongles together ratings also. The little a306 battery held up surprisingly well.

 

[Jrod33084]

thanks jrod; do you reckona noticeable improvement can be made for the sound quality of the a306 using an external DAC AMP ? I'm on the cusp of buying a chord mojo 2 or ifi gryphon or an earman st or similar to partner the a306 and my Meze pro 109's...... all advice and recommendations welcomed... desk use mostly

Personally, I think sound quality or tonality will depend on the dac you are using. I can only speak for my Fiio. I have not tried other dacs. I also feel the a306 does a pretty awesome job on its own with sound quality at its price point and small compact size! But I understand if you may need one to drive your Meze headphones. I will say the dac will definitely give you that extra needed power boost overall. Plenty of extra volume and power when using one. If you are set on getting a Dac but unsure about the a306, then maybe purchase your Dac first and pair it with your pc, if possible, to get an idea on how it will sound. My only other suggestion is if you are considering using the combination of a DAP and a DAC to drive your Meze headphones, have you thought about just upgrading to something like the big brother DAP zx707? You may not even need a Dac with that one. I get it if it’s for convenience purposes because I do love the small size. I bought my Dac to use with my phone prior to getting my hands on the a306. Now I only use the Dac sometimes. I only use IEMs so I don’t need much power output. Anyways, Good luck and happy listening my friend.

 

[AtomicUK]

Just got a call from Sony HK repair regarding my bassless A306. The technician still insisted that he can't found anything wrong with my Walkman, stating that it sound exactly the same as the other ones he has access to.

He did offer to replace the whole motherboard as a kind of "preventative maintenance"(His exact word), which will be done in another week. I am a bit concerned about that, as at this point it's simply another lucky draw on whether I will get another faulty one. The guy refused to promise another replacement in that case and said that there will be no more replacement unless there is clearly an issue that they can identify.

So, for you guys who imported from HK and were hoping to see if you can send yours to repair - good luck but my personal experience with the repair service hasn't been good.

Sorry to hear you are having these problems with Sony HK.

My A306 came from HK, but I honestly can't tell if it has the bass issue or not and my computer set up doesn't allow for an accurate test.
Sometimes I think it has the -10db issue, others not.

A lot of the music I listen to has not been released; Home demos, unmixed pre-release tracks and also recordings taken direct from the band's soundboard at shows, so they have an odd feel about them anyway.

The two sets of in-ears I am using at this stage are very different and one set has intentionally, very limited bass / high end but even on well known tracks that have been released, some sound great and some sound lifeless unless I take Direct off and add some EQ.

Bottom line, if mine does have the issue, that is a shame and frustrating, but I can make things sound as I want them to.

If a patch is forthcoming from Sony, I definitely look forward to it and no doubt like everyone else here, I will run a particular 'lifeless' track both before and after the install to hear what if any changes have been implemented.

 

[abitdeef]

Personally, I think sound quality or tonality will depend on the dac you are using. I can only speak for my Fiio. I have not tried other dacs. I also feel the a306 does a pretty awesome job on its own with sound quality at its price point and small compact size! But I understand if you may need one to drive your Meze headphones. I will say the dac will definitely give you that extra needed power boost overall. Plenty of extra volume and power when using one. If you are set on getting a Dac but unsure about the a306, then maybe purchase your Dac first and pair it with your pc, if possible, to get an idea on how it will sound. My only other suggestion is if you are considering using the combination of a DAP and a DAC to drive your Meze headphones, have you thought about just upgrading to something like the big brother DAP zx707? You may not even need a Dac with that one. I get it if it’s for convenience purposes because I do love the small size. I bought my Dac to use with my phone prior to getting my hands on the a306. Now I only use the Dac sometimes. I only use IEMs so I don’t need much power output. Anyways, Good luck and happy listening my friend.

Yes sound is great from the a306, I only use dongle rarely just for a different sound - like r2r dac or if I want a slightly wider stage and neutral approach. But stock sound is fantastic.

 

[Psymon69]

Yes sound is great from the a306, I only use dongle rarely just for a different sound - like r2r dac or if I want a slightly wider stage and neutral approach. But stock sound is fantastic.

My Mezes will benefit from the external amp DAC.
I’m going to buy the new Earmen ST

 

[Jrod33084]

Yes sound is great from the a306, I only use dongle rarely just for a different sound - like r2r dac or if I want a slightly wider stage and neutral approach. But stock sound is fantastic.

..and I have a capped version (no bass issue) and I am still very happy with the stock sound! I can only imagine how much more I would love a non-capped version lol a bit jealous of those that have one but I just did not want to deal with importing to the US.