[JimiMack]

Hi,

Curious about the NW A306 to use as a transport source (with dongles like the hiby FC6), how long does the battery last? (for local files (without wifi)).

Thanks

This was just answered on Jan 11th a half dozen posts before yours.... Yes.

 

[joydivisionnewdawnfades]

i've not seen it , thanks for the precision!

 

[thr4]

Hi,

Curious about the NW A306 to use as a transport source (with dongles like the hiby FC6), how long does the battery last? (for local files (without wifi)).

Thanks

Regarding battery life when using USB-C dongle - a completely unscientific test: pushing a 45 minute hi-res FLAC album to my HiBy FC3 at indoor listening levels reduced battery life from 84% to 77% (~9%/hr). Screen, BT, wifi was off all the time, I was using stock Walkman app.

 

[Vamp898]

Yeah Android phone I mean. Thanks for your reply. I got my queries cleared! I would rather invest in good IEM. Just that I wanted a wireless mode but again, I cant utilize A306's full potential

You can turn every Earphone into wireless ones. You could either use earhooks like the UTWS3, UTWS5 or similar products (there are tons on the market)

https://fiio.com/utws5

Or just an wireless receiver (my recommendation)

https://fiio.com/btr1k

With the receiver, you have the advantage that you can turn them from wireless to wired on the fly without changing any cables or whatever

 

[joydivisionnewdawnfades]

Regarding battery life when using USB-C dongle - a completely unscientific test: pushing a 45 minute hi-res FLAC album to my HiBy FC3 at indoor listening levels reduced battery life from 84% to 77% (~9%/hr). Screen, BT, wifi was off all the time, I was using stock Walkman app.

Thanks!That's a really good score

 

[Daniel Johnston]

The WF-1000X M5 are consumer oriented earphones. They key points are features and comfort, not sound quality. There are wired earphones for less than 50$ that easily beat the WF-1000X M5, so even if the A300 Series would have an advantage, you would not be able to hear it, as the earphone are just not good enough.

You can turn every Earphone into wireless ones. You could either use earhooks like the UTWS3, UTWS5 or similar products (there are tons on the market)

You're being a bit harsh on the XM5. They are remarkably good for a TWS IEM. A large upgrade from the XM4. I go between the Denon Perl Pro and XM5. I like the Massimo tuning technology of the Denon, but ultimately, the XM5 sounds better. A $50 IEM may have have some technical advantages being non BT, but wouldn't necessarily handily beat XM5.

The UTWS series are lackluster. I have the UTWS5 and am thoroughly unimpressed. They need the right IEM to sound good IMHO. Plus the fact that they're bulky, I'd pass unless you have a specific use.

I'm unsure if the A306 has better LDAC transmission stability than my Z flip5. That would be a point in the A306 favor given 660 an 990kbs should be sonically superior then the 330kbs LDAC. But I agree, the XM5 will sound no differnt being fed the same LDAC rate regardless of the source device.

I'm currently happy with the 7hz Timeless and A306 as an ultra portable solution.

 

[psikey]

You're being a bit harsh on the XM5. They are remarkably good for a TWS IEM. A large upgrade from the XM4. I go between the Denon Perl Pro and XM5. I like the Massimo tuning technology of the Denon, but ultimately, the XM5 sounds better. A $50 IEM may have have some technical advantages being non BT, but wouldn't necessarily handily beat XM5.

The UTWS series are lackluster. I have the UTWS5 and am thoroughly unimpressed. They need the right IEM to sound good IMHO. Plus the fact that they're bulky, I'd pass unless you have a specific use.

I'm unsure if the A306 has better LDAC transmission stability than my Z flip5. That would be a point in the A306 favor given 660 an 990kbs should be sonically superior then the 330kbs LDAC. But I agree, the XM5 will sound no differnt being fed the same LDAC rate regardless of the source device.

I'm currently happy with the 7hz Timeless and A306 as an ultra portable solution.

They can sound different though as I believe the Sony Sound Options/EQ have an effect over BT too.

I use my A307 in Direct mode and for BT I use my S23+ instead as sounds same at same codec/bitrate and more stable on my S23+.

 

[cliffjnr]

hi the fat bear case in grey came after a long wait from ali express. ive had it a few days now. anyway i really like it. prefer it to the miter. makes the player a little chunky boy and feels more secure and much nicer in the hand, especially considering the sony is tiny anyway.

the fat bear has some grooves in the side which ur thumb fits nicely too when holding. also and mainly why i got it, the buttons on the side and now easily defined in my pocket and have the same little dimples the actual buttons have so i can use them without looking. the buttons are easy to push and also have nice resistance.

finally inside the fat bear it has like a grid pattern. ive seen this before with phone cases where the pattern has over time etched into the phone, so to prevent this with the walkman ive but a little piece of folded toilet paper in there for protection.

anyway i recommend it over the miter. cheers

 

[captblaze]

hi the fat bear case in grey came after a long wait from ali express. ive had it a few days now. anyway i really like it. prefer it to the miter. makes the player a little chunky boy and feels more secure and much nicer in the hand, especially considering the sony is tiny anyway.

the fat bear has some grooves in the side which ur thumb fits nicely too when holding. also and mainly why i got it, the buttons on the side and now easily defined in my pocket and have the same little dimples the actual buttons have so i can use them without looking. the buttons are easy to push and also have nice resistance.

finally inside the fat bear it has like a grid pattern. ive seen this before with phone cases where the pattern has over time etched into the phone, so to prevent this with the walkman ive but a little piece of folded toilet paper in there for protection.

anyway i recommend it over the miter. cheers

I like that the case has a raised edge that protects the screen when you place it face down

 

[Lillie]

hi the fat bear case in grey came after a long wait from ali express. ive had it a few days now. anyway i really like it. prefer it to the miter. makes the player a little chunky boy and feels more secure and much nicer in the hand, especially considering the sony is tiny anyway.

the fat bear has some grooves in the side which ur thumb fits nicely too when holding. also and mainly why i got it, the buttons on the side and now easily defined in my pocket and have the same little dimples the actual buttons have so i can use them without looking. the buttons are easy to push and also have nice resistance.

finally inside the fat bear it has like a grid pattern. ive seen this before with phone cases where the pattern has over time etched into the phone, so to prevent this with the walkman ive but a little piece of folded toilet paper in there for protection.

anyway i recommend it over the miter. cheers

Looks good . Do you have a screen protector on with that case?

 

[cliffjnr]

Looks good . Do you have a screen protector on with that case?

yes i use a very light film protector by brotect. i recommend them I use the same ones on my cameras.

give a very muted matte sheen to the screen and protects from scratches.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B083ZXPLD2?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

u can see the edges on this photo

 

[Hinomotocho]

I returned from Japan a week ago and got to finally get an SD card in, and also got to use the 3.5mm. I swapped from the FatBear back to the silicon - I forgot how stiff those cases are, I fear the stress on such a small device when removing. Mostly I'll be using Bluetooth for convenient daily use but got the Fiio JD7 as a wired option and found a local secondhand LC-RC upgrade cable with the swappable plugs.

 

[kjwrites]

Usage update...

I have about 5,000 flacs on this player that are sort of my boilerplate favorite artist tracks that I use with the built in sony music player app. But I was finding that finding, adding new tracks, and keeping a synced/curated library was taking a bit too much time than I preferred.

Enter Apple Music. I was using a combo of Spotify, Apple Music, and other (ahem) sources to locate and add music to this player, but after really seeing how fast and easy Apple Music is to add new content, I have primarily switched to it as my new tracks engine. You can either do hi res lossless downloads or high quality. I blind A/B'd them and found I couldn't really tell a difference, so I opted to use High Quality downloads which take up way less space and sound just as good over my IEMs and XM5s. Plus, they download very fast!

I curate my library in one place to use with mac, iPhone and now this player. Then, from time to time, I turn on wifi and download 3 playlists:
1. Favorite Songs
2. Favorite Albums
3. Favorite Playlists

Then, I turn off WIFI and enjoy it as an offline player. Highly recommend it. I laughed at myself because the question would be -- well, if you're using Apple Music and you own an iPhone, why get the walkman at all? The answers are simple: better sound using better earphones, no draining of my iPhone battery, and physical media control buttons that I don't need to look at to use. Chef's kiss.

 

[Vamp898]

You're being a bit harsh on the XM5. They are remarkably good for a TWS IEM. A large upgrade from the XM4. I go between the Denon Perl Pro and XM5. I like the Massimo tuning technology of the Denon, but ultimately, the XM5 sounds better. A $50 IEM may have have some technical advantages being non BT, but wouldn't necessarily handily beat XM5.

The UTWS series are lackluster. I have the UTWS5 and am thoroughly unimpressed. They need the right IEM to sound good IMHO. Plus the fact that they're bulky, I'd pass unless you have a specific use.

I'm unsure if the A306 has better LDAC transmission stability than my Z flip5. That would be a point in the A306 favor given 660 an 990kbs should be sonically superior then the 330kbs LDAC. But I agree, the XM5 will sound no differnt being fed the same LDAC rate regardless of the source device.

I'm currently happy with the 7hz Timeless and A306 as an ultra portable solution.

They are better than the M4, yes, but that is not that good of an argument imho.

For an TWS, the M5 are okay, but nothing more. I don't think i am that hard because you can absolutely get 80$ Cable In-Ear that are significantly better in all areas. Not just a bit, good enough to be an day and night difference.

Yes, for an TWS in the TWS World, they are okay. But in the End you're paying an price where you could get an 6-Driver BA Monitor.

 

[thr4]

I spent some time yesterday tinkering with Syncthing (https://syncthing.net/) - a robust, actively developed cross-platform open source synchronisation tool.

With my music collection being on a NAS and being 500GB+, installing and configuring Syncthing on my Walkman enables me to keep my collection always in sync across devices (and, rather importantly, allows me to manage it wirelessly, bypassing Sony's clunky app and File explorer).

I was pleased to discover that the Android Syncthing app can be set to only run when Wifi is on and/or only when the walkman is charging so it looks like there won't be any significant battery hit. The sync is set as one-way, so there's no risk of the Walkman corrupting my "master" collection.

With a collection of the size of hundreds of GBs the initial configuration takes a bit of time, happy to share my experience and learnings if anyone is interested.