[davidcotton]

For new users I would recommend draining the battery first and then doing a full charge up.  I seem to last about two days with listening to about 6 hours all in per day.  I charge it over night just to make sure I don't run out during the day.

 

[Aternam]

So how does this player compare to the fiio x3ii? I was originally looking into the a25 when i chose the fiio instead because of the hiss with iems with the a25 and i am hoping it isn't the case for this one.

 

[slimcha0s]

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.

As other Sony products I don't think there are much more firmware updates Sony will release.

 

[KarloMatuguinas]

hope sony update the fw... i want EQ to work with bluetooth mode!!!... the dap pretty useless when using there bluetooth headphones or any bluetooth earphones

 

[davidcotton]

I'd settle for podcast updates tbh.

 

[Partlys4int]

This player got a warm welcome, but if you look now at all these varying complaints... It's like the player has no clear focus. A little bit of this and a little bit of that but no hard selling points aside of price (but if you are already willing to pay 200+ for a standalone DAP, I don't think that's the hard selling point).

 

[fish1050]

   
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.

I am not telling you to turn off sound enhancements, simply pointing out that having them on could reduce battery life.

 

[fish1050]

As other Sony products I don't think there are much more firmware updates Sony will release.

I don't know, this is a new operating system for Sony so I think we might see more firmware updates than previous models to address issues

 

[fish1050]

  This player got a warm welcome, but if you look now at all these varying complaints... It's like the player has no clear focus. A little bit of this and a little bit of that but no hard selling points aside of price (but if you are already willing to pay 200+ for a standalone DAP, I don't think that's the hard selling point).

The A30 series is a pretty big departure from the previous A10/A20 series.  Especially with the touchscreen and new OS so you have to expect some issues.  Just look at the Fiio X1-II with its new OS and all the issues it has.  I suspect we will need to wait until next years model to see a good fully functional A series

 

[slimcha0s]

I don't know, this is a new operating system for Sony so I think we might see more firmware updates than previous models to address issues

Comparing with wm1a the operating systems both models using is quite similar. So I think the new models since wm1a will have the same os might be with slightly customizing

 

[hay2014]

  This player got a warm welcome, but if you look now at all these varying complaints... It's like the player has no clear focus. A little bit of this and a little bit of that but no hard selling points aside of price (but if you are already willing to pay 200+ for a standalone DAP, I don't think that's the hard selling point).

 
No doubt there are some teething issues - but I think the biggest plus for this little player is that it has really great sound - better than previous models, and not too far off some of Sony's higher end models like the ZX100 and the ZX1 (I have both)  In fact, I would say that this is quite close to the ZX1 soundwise and that is a pretty big plus for the money being asked.......

 

[Jonathan-Mac]

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

 
Thanks for that, I hadn't noticed it at all.
 
Yesterday I updated the firmware and loaded absolutely all the music I have onto the player, with everything from CD in VBR zero quality.  I have around 20 gigs left to add new stuff.
 
The player now takes much longer to create the database but the screen and buttons are more responsive (about half the delay compared to before).  The volume hack was not affected by the firmware update.

 

[gobb]

What is the point of LDAC? I own the NW-A35 and the MDR-E750BT supposed to support LDAC over bluetooth, but the quality is over bluetooth using these headphones is horrible even when configuring the LDAC settings (quality, speed) within the WM menu. Is this working only for Hi-Res audio (which by the way none of my FLAC library is considered to be in the WM...) or am I missing something? Quality is great when connected through cable.

 

[ravdo]

  What is the point of LDAC? I own the NW-A35 and the MDR-E750BT supposed to support LDAC over bluetooth, but the quality is over bluetooth using these headphones is horrible even when configuring the LDAC settings (quality, speed) within the WM menu. Is this working only for Hi-Res audio (which by the way none of my FLAC library is considered to be in the WM...) or am I missing something? Quality is great when connected through cable.

I have MDR-1ABT and LDAC sounds great to me

 

[tackytiger]

What is the point of LDAC?

At the root, it's probably so they don't have to pay licensing fees for AptX.