[steakikan]

Hm I didn’t try this… I think I would have sensed something off in the mids if this were the case but they sounded coherent and normal

Yeah it usually affect the mids too but who knows, any easier troubleshooting could be an easy return to Sony. The sweep is too clean to be summing issue and more like tuning problem. If only my unit is here I could try to test it with RMAA, but so far it is estimated mid to end of March.

 

[JerryHead]

Someone probably already mentioned this, but interesting that not only do the Japanese versions have no volume cap (AVL), but the AVL doesn't even work when you enable the setting. I'm in the habit of often trying to enable it at first for preventative purposes, although usually find myself disabling it due to the limitations it places on my volume level which I don't always want. It would be nice to at least have it as an option.

 

[psikey]

Been A-B testing across a range of my familiar tracks today including some DSD, 96 & 192 FLAC and some MQA.

I've concentrated today on just using Walkman app with own files with my Sony IER-M9 which I consider currently my best, most revealing IEM's. I have only been using 3.5mm, not comparing to 1AM2 4.4mm balanced.

• To volume match my Japanese A307 & WM1AM2 the 1AM2 had to be 4-5 volume steps higher.
• To me the A307 is a bit brighter but also has a bit more bass impact & forward mids.
• Listening to song below for 1st 10s or so repeatedly, instrument placement/distinction/clarity seems same but 1AM2 sounds like its in a slightly bigger, more expansive space with a bit more decay of instruments, more lingering echo.
• In Walkman music app, both are snappy in operation, but the A300 OS/SOC is noticeably faster with third party streaming apps and faster USB & wireless speeds. ZX700 series should be even faster operation with its 8 cores vs 4 cores of the A300 series (but also lower battery life).
• A300 series battery life is much better than A100 & ZX500 series and I'd say will satisfy most people now, but of course any Sony Sound tweaks & live streaming a music service by third party app over Wi-Fi will maybe give you 10hrs (was about 5-6 from my experience with older series (I use only Direct mode).

I can honestly say if I lost my 1AM2 I'd be perfectly happy sticking with just the A307 using my M9's via 3.5mm.

The 1AM2 is going to handle more demanding ear/headphones with its much higher output 4.4mm balanced and having high gain too. And as you would expect for price difference, audio quality is that bit better with 1AM2. The 1AM2 via balanced has no real stereo crosstalk if your sensitive to that, I'm not noticing via 3.5mm with either DAP.

If your on a budget or want a small player with the Sony house sound/great Sound Quality, with decent battery life for the size of the player using Android, this is fabulous.

I suspect if your happy with lower battery life, the ZX700 series is best of all worlds being faster & having balanced but in a less pocket friendly size/weight than the A300 series, yet having near same components as WM MK2 series and bit smaller/lighter and cheaper than that.

I've not tried any BT audio yet, but Wi-Fi streaming stability seems fine for me at home.

NOTE: Those more hardcore audiophiles with Golden/Younger ears may be able to hear difference better than I can so as always, have to listen for yourself.

 

[abitdeef]

Really sounds good!

 

[casper98]

Is it capped? Are you getting a volume warning and the volume being turned down to 50? I can say for sure the an uncapped a55 would sound better than my capped a306. And I had the a55 several times. At least with my gear, which I consider to be easy to drive it sucked. It just couldn't get loud enough and didn't have enough power for bass and body.

Maybe yours isn't capped or you've got super easy stuff to power. I do listen loud too.

I do get volume warning but only once. The bass on mine sounds great tho also it’s definitely capped as I bought it locally in SG. But yeah I really hope someone will be able to find a way to root it so i can hear the difference.

 

[goody]

Been A-B testing across a range of my familiar tracks today including some DSD, 96 & 192 FLAC and some MQA.

I've concentrated today on just using Walkman app with own files with my Sony IER-M9 which I consider currently my best, most revealing IEM's. I have only been using 3.5mm, not comparing to 1AM2 4.4mm balanced.

• To volume match my Japanese A307 & WM1AM2 the 1AM2 had to be 4-5 volume steps higher.
• To me the A307 is a bit brighter but also has a bit more bass impact & forward mids.
• Listening to song below for 1st 10s or so repeatedly, instrument placement/distinction/clarity seems same but 1AM2 sounds like its in a slightly bigger, more expansive space with a bit more decay of instruments, more lingering echo.
• In Walkman music app, both are snappy in operation, but the A300 OS/SOC is noticeably faster with third party streaming apps and faster USB & wireless speeds. ZX700 series should be even faster operation with its 8 cores vs 4 cores of the A300 series (but also lower battery life).
• A300 series battery life is much better than A100 & ZX500 series and I'd say will satisfy most people now, but of course any Sony Sound tweaks & live streaming a music service by third party app over Wi-Fi will maybe give you 10hrs (was about 5-6 from my experience with older series (I use only Direct mode).

I can honestly say if I lost my 1AM2 I'd be perfectly happy sticking with just the A307 using my M9's via 3.5mm.

The 1AM2 is going to handle more demanding ear/headphones with its much higher output 4.4mm balanced and having high gain too. And as you would expect for price difference, audio quality is that bit better with 1AM2. The 1AM2 via balanced has no real stereo crosstalk if your sensitive to that, I'm not noticing via 3.5mm with either DAP.

If your on a budget or want a small player with the Sony house sound/great Sound Quality, with decent battery life for the size of the player using Android, this is fabulous.

I suspect if your happy with lower battery life, the ZX700 series is best of all worlds being faster & having balanced but in a less pocket friendly size/weight than the A300 series, yet having near same components as WM MK2 series and bit smaller/lighter and cheaper than that.

I've not tried any BT audio yet, but Wi-Fi streaming stability seems fine for me at home.

NOTE: Those more hardcore audiophiles with Golden/Younger ears may be able to hear difference better than I can so as always, have to listen for yourself.

psikey where did you get your Sony IER-M9 from? they seem interesting

 

[psikey]

psikey where did you get your Sony IER-M9 from? they seem interesting

ebay, Japanese import.

Were sold as used but look totally unused/new.

Cost me £706 and Mr Customs must have been sleeping

 

[supersonic395]

Anyone tried this as a transport with a Schiit DAC please?

 

[goody]

ebay, Japanese import.

Were sold as used but look totally unused/new.

Cost me £706 and Mr Customs must have been sleeping

Good you got one over customs they are so random sometimes they would have charged you a mint lol ...great will have a look

 

[psikey]

Good you got one over customs they are so random sometimes they would have charged you a mint lol ...great will have a look

I was tempted with the IER-1ZR but having small ears and having had the largish Noble K10U, coupled with the numerous fit concerns for the 1ZR and went IER-M9 instead and really lightweight and easy to wear.

 

[psikey]

A quick battery update. Only charged the once so far with initial play about using screen more as new. Also had BT on ~50% of time for use with Sony BT Remote.

Battery usage stats showing:

• 10hrs Sony Music Player
• 7hrs 56min Spotify (mostly download offline files, some Wi-Fi streamed). Synced tracks while it was charging
• 1hr 35min Screen time.

Initially charged to 98% and now showing 41%

Note: Less than 1hr streaming Amazon Music HD, but uninstalled so battery % not showing for that.

 

[goody]

A quick battery update. Only charged the once so far with initial play about using screen more as new. Also had BT on ~50% of time for use with Sony BT Remote.

Battery usage stats showing:

• 10hrs Sony Music Player
• 7hrs 56min Spotify (mostly download offline files, some Wi-Fi streamed). Synced tracks while it was charging
• 1hr 35min Screen time.

Initially charged to 98% and now showing 41%

This is great looking forward to getting my own by end of this week hopefully ...i had a play today with my BTR5 goes loud and sounds very good i need to be using it more ...selling my A55 now its pretty redundant now as i still have other daps to play with

 

[abitdeef]

Battery is vastly improved. The battery was so bad on a105 I could watch it drop in real time whilst streaming. I think it lost like 10% just sitting overnight one night. I mean when I used it for steaming or a longish listen I plugged the charger in. This one is great.

 

[AtomicUK]

Hi everyone.

As my first post, please can I say a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread.
I’ve been pulling my hair out since the A306 was announced trying to find out when and where I could get one without any help from Sony UK / US, so finding this thread has opened up so many things to me, thank you!

Cards on the table.
While I had the original Walkman before it was even released in the UK, the streaming and file players are all new to me, so please be gentle with me as an older guy and allow me some basic questions as I can’t be alone as a more senior newbie!

Having read every post, can ask / confirm the following please.

1) I’d not heard of the A307 before – is this to be a non-UK/US version and is the only difference it is 64GB rather than 32GB? ANSWERED

2) If I get the 32GB version, did I read I can’t use Spotify etc when not on Wi-Fi as I can’t download what they require due to lack of internal memory? ANSWERED

3) If I get a Hong Kong version – that comes without the capped sound output? ANSWERED

4) If I get the Hong Kong version, can I only charge it via USB and not a USB port on a UK plug?

5) Anyone used Accessory Jack to bring theirs in and did Customs take their piece?

6) What sub £500 in ear headphones can anyone recommend?
I was looking at these: Etymotic ER3-XR $149.99
https://www.etymotic.com/product/er3xr-earphones/
Any thoughts?

7) What is the best way of turning my CD collection into files – My laptop doesn’t have a CD capability.

8) Finally, any tips to someone who has not used this type of technology before?

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me and thank you once again, this is such a great thread.

 

[exile1973]

Hi everyone.

As my first post, please can I say a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread.
I’ve been pulling my hair out since the A306 was announced trying to find out when and where I could get one without any help from Sony UK / US, so finding this thread has opened up so many things to me, thank you!

Cards on the table.
While I had the original Walkman before it was even released in the UK, the streaming and file players are all new to me, so please be gentle with me as an older guy and allow me some basic questions as I can’t be alone as a more senior newbie!

Having read every post, can ask / confirm the following please.

1) I’d not heard of the A307 before – is this to be a non-UK/US version and is the only difference it is 64GB rather than 32GB?

2) If I get the 32GB version, did I read I can’t use Spotify etc when not on Wi-Fi as I can’t download what they require due to lack of internal memory?

3) If I get a Hong Kong version – that comes without the capped sound output?

4) If I get the Hong Kong version, can I only charge it via USB and not a USB port on a UK plug?

5) Anyone used Accessory Jack to bring theirs in and did Customs take their piece?

6) What sub £500 in ear headphones can anyone recommend?
I was looking at these: Etymotic ER3-XR $149.99
https://www.etymotic.com/product/er3xr-earphones/
Any thoughts?

7) What is the best way of turning my CD collection into files – My laptop doesn’t have a CD capability.

8) Finally, any tips to someone who has not used this type of technology before?

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me and thank you once again, this is such a great thread.

Hi there, and welcome. Can't help with most of these questions but for the CD collection I used one of these via USB to rip my collection to flac files.

Help me decide on this product: Rioddas External CD Drive, USB 3.0 Portable CD/DVD +/-RW Drive Slim DVD/CD ROM Rewriter Burner for Laptop Desktop PC Windows and Linux OS Apple Mac Macbook Pro https://amzn.eu/d/1V4F467

I used music bee to do the ripping, works really well and handy music collection interface as well.