[psikey]

Shipping turned out to be DHL Express. Scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I ordered on Jan 29 and package consolidation added an extra day...

Well, mines left Japan via EMS then hits Parcelforce in UK. See what VAT/Duty damage is maybe ~ Wednesday.

 

[FenderP]

Look what arrived today from Japan. I have listened to it yet, but it's super cute. I love the blue color. It's very well made. I had a much older A series from Japan 10+ years ago and it was not as nice as this.

As an FYI, the OS and default stuff takes up about 13 - 14GB of space. I plan on putting music on an SD card but if you got the 32GB A306, you're not going to have a ton of room. There are four sample songs but that isn't going to free up more than ~600MB.

The boxes


How it looks in the protective paper


Front


Left side


Back




Top


Bottom


Paperwork and USB-C cable


Size comparison with the NW-WM1A - front


Size comparison with the NW-WM1A - Back


Back in case


Front in case


Left side in case


Top in case


Bottom in case

 

[FenderP]

Setting it up for English is easy. Just tap the language pop down (currently set to Japanese) and select English.

 

[psikey]

I've got the Grey coming with the soft flip case.

Setting it up for English is easy. Just tap the language pop down (currently set to Japanese) and select English.

Yep, same as with my A105, ZX507, 1AM2.

 

[Shane D]

Look what arrived today from Japan. I have listened to it yet, but it's super cute. I love the blue color. It's very well made. I had a much older A series from Japan 10+ years ago and it was not as nice as this.

As an FYI, the OS and default stuff takes up about 13 - 14GB of space. I plan on putting music on an SD card but if you got the 32GB A306, you're not going to have a ton of room. There are four sample songs but that isn't going to free up more than ~600MB.

The boxes


How it looks in the protective paper


Front


Left side


Back




Top


Bottom


Paperwork and USB-C cable


Size comparison with the NW-WM1A - front


Size comparison with the NW-WM1A - Back


Back in case


Front in case


Left side in case


Top in case


Bottom in case

Very nice looking!

 

[FenderP]

Quick initial impressions of the NW-A307 including a comparison to the NW-WM1A. I used the recent 2022 192/24 hi-rez remaster of Journey's Escape album. It's not one of the best sounding albums ever but that version is arguably the best it will get. I find it a good test since it's hard to make it sound reasonable in a lot of environments. Kick drum and such can get swallowed up easily.

• Using Android is definitely a bit of a different experience than the Sony Walkman OS. The Walkman app is similar yet different. One noteable, but understandable different: on the A307, EQ settings can apply to bluetooth connections. They do not on the WM1A (or at least I've never been able to get that to work). This is actually a plus for the A307.
• The sound is a bit different via bluetooth and the headphone jack. Again, not a shock here but how it was different surprised me a bit. The sound is less bright through the headphone jack and the soundstage is a bit smaller through the same headphones (I'm using the Technics EAH-A800 which have LDAC). Through bluetooth the soundstage is nice and wide what I would expect. Things like a kick drum sound more natural. Being honest, that is disappointing and says to me Sony prioritized bluetooth over the internal headphone jack. Being blunt: it sounds better via bluetooth to me.
• Volume is no issue on the Japanese A307. Through the headphone jack, I had mine ~50 and it seemed to be similar to that of the WM1A which is also from Japan.
• Given that bluetooth sounds better than the headphone jack, it's not a straightforward comparison with the WM1A. The soundstage of the bluetooth connection on the A307 is pretty much the same as I used the WM1A with a cable. I would say the A307 is a touch wider (but similar to the WM1A) but the WM1A sounds more "natural" for lack of a better word. The A307 does not sound bad at all; it's a more relaxed sound (also not the best word but you get the idea). Things like kick drum and toms sound open and natural via bluetooth on the A307. Vocals sound good. No complaints. All the instruments are easily discernable. The A307 is a touch brighter but not in a bad way. That can be EQ'd to your taste since EQ applies to the bluetooth connection. With the soundstage being smaller through the headphone jack, while it's not bad, the WM1A definitely sounds better. It's also a more open and natural. I would also expect that given the difference in electronics.
• EDIT: For grins and yucks, I tried Apple Music. You can enable lossless but you cannot enable Spatial Audio. Spatial Audio is also not an option in the Android Settings under Sound, either.

I will try it with more music later since I have other things to do, but that's the initial reaction. Since my use case is for travel (trains, planes), the A307 should be good enough. The WM1A is and always was overkill. I don't use headphones at home or a Walkman so I do not need a super duper expensive portable rig. I need good sounding but "good enough"; there's no critical listening on a plane.

That said, in my opinion, if your main use case is wired, while I've never heard it, the new NW-ZX707 (or the older WM1A or the newer WM1AM2) may be the better choice ... or it may not.

 

[abitdeef]

I almost got the blue but I whimped out and got black. I listened last night for about 5 hours and with the hiby music app with EQ which has a db boost I was able to get it to sound really good. Bass and mids were better, it sounded fuller and the sound stage sounded wider. I was really enjoying it.

And the battery life is really good, I had tons of screen usage and I started at 90% and it's only down to 76% I might have even played it 6 hours as I couldn't sleep. Maybe I'm tripping but I swear it sounds better than when I got it. The stage and imagining sounded better than ap80 pro and my dc03 sounded really 'warm' compared to the a306. But that extra db boost really helped.

I do think hiby music sounds better than the walkman app. Also it's very fast and smooth much better than a105. Like I said if you don't have demanding stuff I think you're going to love this. No it won't power stuff like an ibasso 240, but it's small and very competent. The treble energy is really nice, this isn't a warm dap.

 

[groupama3]

I almost got the blue but I whimped out and got black. I listened last night for about 5 hours and with the hiby music app with EQ which has a db boost I was able to get it to sound really good. Bass and mids were better, it sounded fuller and the sound stage sounded wider. I was really enjoying it.

And the battery life is really good, I had tons of screen usage and I started at 90% and it's only down to 76% I might have even played it 6 hours as I couldn't sleep. Maybe I'm tripping but I swear it sounds better than when I got it. The stage and imagining sounded better than ap80 pro and my dc03 sounded really 'warm' compared to the a306. But that extra db boost really helped.

I do think hiby music sounds better than the walkman app.

What are you using to copy your files across, just file explorer in Windows?
I've always used music center, it's pretty clunky though, so am just dragging and dropping now

 

[abitdeef]

What are you using to copy your files across, just file explorer in Windows?
I've always used music center, it's pretty clunky though, so am just dragging and dropping now

I had them on Micro sd.

 

[psikey]

Quick initial impressions of the NW-A307 including a comparison to the NW-WM1A. I used the recent 2022 192/24 hi-rez remaster of Journey's Escape album. It's not one of the best sounding albums ever but that version is arguably the best it will get. I find it a good test since it's hard to make it sound reasonable in a lot of environments. Kick drum and such can get swallowed up easily.

• Using Android is definitely a bit of a different experience than the Sony Walkman OS. The Walkman app is similar yet different. One noteable, but understandable different: on the A307, EQ settings can apply to bluetooth connections. They do not on the WM1A (or at least I've never been able to get that to work). This is actually a plus for the A307.
• The sound is a bit different via bluetooth and the headphone jack. Again, not a shock here but how it was different surprised me a bit. The sound is less bright through the headphone jack and the soundstage is a bit smaller through the same headphones (I'm using the Technics EAH-A800 which have LDAC). Through bluetooth the soundstage is nice and wide what I would expect. Things like a kick drum sound more natural. Being honest, that is disappointing and says to me Sony prioritized bluetooth over the internal headphone jack. Being blunt: it sounds better via bluetooth to me.
• Volume is no issue on the Japanese A307. Through the headphone jack, I had mine ~50 and it seemed to be similar to that of the WM1A which is also from Japan.
• Given that bluetooth sounds better than the headphone jack, it's not a straightforward comparison with the WM1A. The soundstage of the bluetooth connection on the A307 is pretty much the same as I used the WM1A with a cable. I would say the A307 is a touch wider (but similar to the WM1A) but the WM1A sounds more "natural" for lack of a better word. The A307 does not sound bad at all; it's a more relaxed sound (also not the best word but you get the idea). Things like kick drum and toms sound open and natural via bluetooth on the A307. Vocals sound good. No complaints. All the instruments are easily discernable. The A307 is a touch brighter but not in a bad way. That can be EQ'd to your taste since EQ applies to the bluetooth connection. With the soundstage being smaller through the headphone jack, while it's not bad, the WM1A definitely sounds better. It's also a more open and natural. I would also expect that given the difference in electronics.
• EDIT: For grins and yucks, I tried Apple Music. You can enable lossless but you cannot enable Spatial Audio. Spatial Audio is also not an option in the Android Settings under Sound, either.

I will try it with more music later since I have other things to do, but that's the initial reaction. Since my use case is for travel (trains, planes), the A307 should be good enough. The WM1A is and always was overkill. I don't use headphones at home or a Walkman so I do not need a super duper expensive portable rig. I need good sounding but "good enough"; there's no critical listening on a plane.

That said, in my opinion, if your main use case is wired, while I've never heard it, the new NW-ZX707 (or the older WM1A or the newer WM1AM2) may be the better choice ... or it may not.

Well, with BT you're hearing the DAC/AMP of your wireless earphones or adapter so it will sound different.

 

[FenderP]

Well, with BT you're hearing the DAC/AMP of your wireless earphones or adapter so it will sound different.

I know how it all works but thanks for assuming I don't.

A big difference as I noted is that the EQ from the A307 is applicable across BT whereas it was not on the WM1A so you're not totally just hearing the DAC of the headphones per se. The BT signal is colored vs. the WM1A where it was not and you are purely hearing the headphones. Either way, the headphone out is meh compared to the WM1A on first blush. It's not a power issue, it's differences in sonics. The soundstage is very different. I also don't remember BT out of the WM1A being remarkable and I used wired.

For a comparison, I tried the Beoplay Portal cans with the A307 and it is not a match in any way, shape, or form wired or wireless.

 

[FenderP]

I had them on Micro sd.

Windows Explorer also works. However, it will barf if one of your files is corrupt or messed up.

 

[FenderP]

I do think hiby music sounds better than the walkman app. Also it's very fast and smooth much better than a105. Like I said if you don't have demanding stuff I think you're going to love this. No it won't power stuff like an ibasso 240, but it's small and very competent. The treble energy is really nice, this isn't a warm dap.

Based on your post, I looked at the EQ settings of Hiby Music. It's the same EQ bands as the Walkman itself with the only difference being the amp setting. So I'd say set EQ in the Settings app from Sony and maybe boost the amp for some punch. I found it's easy to overdrive it, though.

 

[psikey]

I know how it all works but thanks for assuming I don't.

A big difference as I noted is that the EQ from the A307 is applicable across BT whereas it was not on the WM1A so you're not totally just hearing the DAC of the headphones per se. The BT signal is colored vs. the WM1A where it was not and you are purely hearing the headphones. Either way, the headphone out is meh compared to the WM1A on first blush. It's not a power issue, it's differences in sonics. The soundstage is very different. I also don't remember BT out of the WM1A being remarkable and I used wired.

For a comparison, I tried the Beoplay Portal cans with the A307 and it is not a match in any way, shape, or form wired or wireless.

With direct mode, yes, my WM1AM2 can apply Sony tweaks over BT. I still prefer to just use direct mode wired or wireless.

 

[FenderP]

With direct mode, yes, my WM1AM2 can apply Sony tweaks over BT. I still prefer to just use direct mode wired or wireless.

It appears it is a difference in the Walkman OS vs. Android here if your WM1AM2 also transmits EQ over bluetooth.