[fish1050]

   
 
Ah, I meant the XBA-A3 not the Sony DAC, I normally use a Teac HA-P50 when wired and I just got in a Q1 as it's smaller and easier to carry around but now that I'm ordering the A30, I may sell that as I would use the A30 as my main music player instead of my iPhone 6 while on the go.

Okey wait, when you said LDAC I assumed you meant Sony's LDAC bluetooth codec.  But now I think you mean the DAC inside the A30 series?  Is that correct or am I still confused 

 

[Wiz33]

  The main difference between the A35/36/37 besides the amount of internal memory is the A36/A37 are HN models.  So you are paying for Sony's noise canceling earbuds and as far as I can find if you don't want the earbuds the A35 is your only option.
 
As far as the difference between internal and microsd you might find it a little faster copying tracks to the internal memory.  Personally I would get the A35 as I don't want the Sony noise canceling earbuds and would put the money saved towards a 200GB microsd card.
 
I am strictly a headphone guy as I have very sensitive ears and don't like putting things in them.  My A17 at 10mW per channel double amped with my Q1 provides more than enough power for my overear B&W P5S2 headphones.  I can't imagine with the 35 mW from the A30 series that you would need external amplification with your XBA-A3's.  

Thanks again. Just placed an order for the A35.

 

[fish1050]

  Thanks again. Just placed an order for the A35.

Glad to hear it, looking forward to your impressions

 

[Bepli]

  I use Media Go with my A17 and when I rip my CD's through Media Go it automatically downloads the artwork and sizes it to fit.  For a Sony software product it actually works really well and does a great job with playlists as well.

Jeah Its actually really nice, if they would add WASAPI It would even be a very good player just standalone The tagging and metadata services (gracenote) works very well too, for me it got only one CD wrong and it just took another version so it was very easy to change.

 

[Wiz33]

  Okey wait, when you said LDAC I assumed you meant Sony's LDAC bluetooth codec.  But now I think you mean the DAC inside the A30 series?  Is that correct or am I still confused 

 
When you said that you swapped a A3 for a Q1 I thought you meant a Sony PHA3. Guess you meant a Fiio A3? The A30 suppose to have 35wm/ch vs the 15mw/ch of the older A series or the ZX100. Do you think that's enough for wired playback (like if I'm out of battery on MUC-M2BT1)? or would running it through a Q1 still gives better sound?

 

[fish1050]

   
When you said that you swapped a A3 for a Q1 I thought you meant a Sony PHA3. Guess you meant a Fiio A3? The A30 suppose to have 35wm/ch vs the 15mw/ch of the older A series or the ZX100. Do you think that's enough for wired playback (like if I'm out of battery on MUC-M2BT1)? or would running it through a Q1 still gives better sound?

Actually I am pretty sure the A10 series is only 10 mW per channel.  The ZX series is 15 mW per channel.  Yes I meant the Fiio A3 actually when I bought it is was still the E11K.  I have not heard the A30 series yet so I can't say if the Q1 will improve the sound quality.  From the reviews I have read the A30 series has a sound very similar to what the Q1 gives me with my A17 so maybe not much if at all.
 
Now in terms of power that is a different story.  According to reviews the 35 mW per channel is a little misleading.  Comparing it to the A17 it only increases the volume by a couple of notches.  I assume this would mean if the A17 volume is at say 20/30 the A30 series would be 18/30 at the same volume level.  Perhaps the redesign of the A30 led to a less efficient amp section.  So I suspect if I did get the A35 I would still use my Q1 for the added power.  But again I don't use iem's and only use headphones so I can't speak to whether the A30 will be enough power for your iem's.  Maybe someone else can answer that question better.

 

[Wiz33]

  Actually I am pretty sure the A10 series is only 10 mW per channel.  The ZX series is 15 mW per channel.  Yes I meant the Fiio A3 actually when I bought it is was still the E11K.  I have not heard the A30 series yet so I can't say if the Q1 will improve the sound quality.  From the reviews I have read the A30 series has a sound very similar to what the Q1 gives me with my A17 so maybe not much if at all.
 
Now in terms of power that is a different story.  According to reviews the 35 mW per channel is a little misleading.  Comparing it to the A17 it only increases the volume by a couple of notches.  I assume this would mean if the A17 volume is at say 20/30 the A30 series would be 18/30 at the same volume level.  Perhaps the redesign of the A30 led to a less efficient amp section.  So I suspect if I did get the A35 I would still use my Q1 for the added power.  But again I don't use iem's and only use headphones so I can't speak to whether the A30 will be enough power for your iem's.  Maybe someone else can answer that question better.

 Guess we'll find out in a couple days as the A35 should arrive on Monday. I'll try to post some impression after I have a chance to play with it.

 

[NhuQuynh]

Hello, I'm trying to decide which one to get, Sony NW-A30 or Aune M1s. I was wondering if someone could give me some advice.

 

[Jonathan-Mac]

Amplifier power output has never been something that was really comparable between different players.  The A35 is 35mW and it's only very slightly louder at maximum (if at all) than my NH1, which has 10mW (hacked to remove the European volume cap).
 
I'm about the install the 1.10 firmware version and I'm glad to read that it improves responsiveness of the screen as that bugs me, as does the slow response of pressing the side buttons.
 
What is also bothering me is the power management.  If I turn the player off completely it takes ages to start up and create the database (even if it hasn't been plugged into a computer and there is therefore no need to re-make the database).  If I leave it on but not playing then the battery dies.  The other day I had around 45 minutes before I left for work (a commute of a little over an hour) and by pure chance I decided to turn on the player and the battery bar was flashing!  I had left it with two bars the day before.  There is no way that the player has the battery life claimed by Sony and they really should make a firmware update to either add an idle mode that doesn't eat the battery power or to speed up the boot process.

 

[slimcha0s]

Amplifier power output has never been something that was really comparable between different players.  The A35 is 35mW and it's only very slightly louder at maximum (if at all) than my NH1, which has 10mW (hacked to remove the European volume cap).

I'm about the install the 1.10 firmware version and I'm glad to read that it improves responsiveness of the screen as that bugs me, as does the slow response of pressing the side buttons.

What is also bothering me is the power management.  If I turn the player off completely it takes ages to start up and create the database (even if it hasn't been plugged into a computer and there is therefore no need to re-make the database).  If I leave it on but not playing then the battery dies.  The other day I had around 45 minutes before I left for work (a commute of a little over an hour) and by pure chance I decided to turn on the player and the battery bar was flashing!  I had left it with two bars the day before.  There is no way that the player has the battery life claimed by Sony and they really should make a firmware update to either add an idle mode that doesn't eat the battery power or to speed up the boot process.

After two days using since updated to 1.10, I'd say the battery life is much better especially on standby mode.

 

[fish1050]

  Amplifier power output has never been something that was really comparable between different players.  The A35 is 35mW and it's only very slightly louder at maximum (if at all) than my NH1, which has 10mW (hacked to remove the European volume cap).
 
I'm about the install the 1.10 firmware version and I'm glad to read that it improves responsiveness of the screen as that bugs me, as does the slow response of pressing the side buttons.
 
What is also bothering me is the power management.  If I turn the player off completely it takes ages to start up and create the database (even if it hasn't been plugged into a computer and there is therefore no need to re-make the database).  If I leave it on but not playing then the battery dies.  The other day I had around 45 minutes before I left for work (a commute of a little over an hour) and by pure chance I decided to turn on the player and the battery bar was flashing!  I had left it with two bars the day before.  There is no way that the player has the battery life claimed by Sony and they really should make a firmware update to either add an idle mode that doesn't eat the battery power or to speed up the boot process.

To improve battery life make sure NFC is turned off when not using bluetooth.  Reduce screen brightness as much as possible.  Are you using any sound enhancement features?  All these things can reduce battery life per charge.    The slow startup and fast battery drain are not issues with my 2+ year old A17.  The more I hear about stuff like this along with features removed that are on my A17 the more I need to think twice about buying the A35.   I will be watching for more firmware updates that address these issues.

 

[fish1050]

  Amplifier power output has never been something that was really comparable between different players.  The A35 is 35mW and it's only very slightly louder at maximum (if at all) than my NH1, which has 10mW (hacked to remove the European volume cap).
 
I'm about the install the 1.10 firmware version and I'm glad to read that it improves responsiveness of the screen as that bugs me, as does the slow response of pressing the side buttons.
 
What is also bothering me is the power management.  If I turn the player off completely it takes ages to start up and create the database (even if it hasn't been plugged into a computer and there is therefore no need to re-make the database).  If I leave it on but not playing then the battery dies.  The other day I had around 45 minutes before I left for work (a commute of a little over an hour) and by pure chance I decided to turn on the player and the battery bar was flashing!  I had left it with two bars the day before.  There is no way that the player has the battery life claimed by Sony and they really should make a firmware update to either add an idle mode that doesn't eat the battery power or to speed up the boot process.

True it is hard to compare power between players especially when talking about the A30 series vs other DAP's.  Sony's amplifier design is very different than other manufacturers being much more efficient. 

 

[Jonathan-Mac]

  To improve battery life make sure NFC is turned off when not using bluetooth.  Reduce screen brightness as much as possible.  Are you using any sound enhancement features?  All these things can reduce battery life per charge.    The slow startup and fast battery drain are not issues with my 2+ year old A17.  The more I hear about stuff like this along with features removed that are on my A17 the more I need to think twice about buying the A35.   I will be watching for more firmware updates that address these issues.

 
Blutooth is a waste of space for me as I don't want to suffer the sound quality loss of using it, so I've had it turned off from day one.  There's no screen brightness setting that I can find - it's either automatic (doubtful) or pre-set to a very low level.  It hasn't been sunny since I got the player so I'm a bit worried if I'll be able to see the screen properly when it is.
 
I won't turn off sound enhancement that makes a difference as that would defeat the purpose of buying a good player in the first place.  The upscaling feature is off as it doesn't appear to do anything (unsurprisingly).
 
Hopefully firmware will improve things but you'd think that Sony with their wealth of experience would have pretty good firmware on release.
 

After two days using since updated to 1.10, I'd say the battery life is much better especially on standby mode.

 
I'm glad to hear it, I've installed the new firmware and will see how it fares over the next week or so.

 

[fish1050]

I have been following the Fiio X1-II thread even though I have decided not to buy it.  Just hoping to see some news on the X3-III.  I did notice users in that thread recommending stripping out embedded artwork from tracks and putting the artwork into the folder to speed up the player.  My question here is do you guys think it would speed up the start up time and operational speed of the A35 if you did the same thing?  I use embedded artwork on all my music files on my A17 and startup and operational speeds are great with no lag at all.

 

[ravdo]

   
Blutooth is a waste of space for me as I don't want to suffer the sound quality loss of using it, so I've had it turned off from day one.  There's no screen brightness setting that I can find - it's either automatic (doubtful) or pre-set to a very low level.  It hasn't been sunny since I got the player so I'm a bit worried if I'll be able to see the screen properly when it is.
 
I won't turn off sound enhancement that makes a difference as that would defeat the purpose of buying a good player in the first place.  The upscaling feature is off as it doesn't appear to do anything (unsurprisingly).
 
Hopefully firmware will improve things but you'd think that Sony with their wealth of experience would have pretty good firmware on release.
 
 
I'm glad to hear it, I've installed the new firmware and will see how it fares over the next week or so.

 
For Brightness settings, go to settings then tap the Sun Icon on the top left