[Malevolent]

I was holding out hope that the Fiio X3-III might be an option to waiting for the A45 to be released. But having plowed through the 25 pages in the X3-III thread it is clear to me now that the only DAP worth considering in this price range is the A45.

Like you, I am also debating between the A45 and the X3 iii for my next DAP purchase. Both are within the same price range, and offer similar features. Would you mind sharing your reasons for choosing the Sony over the FiiO? Much appreciated!

 

[castleofargh]

what usually makes me pick sony instead of fiio are all non audio reasons ^_^. for pure audio fidelity, fiio tends to have the upper hand
but I add myself to the small worried bunch about podcasts. it seems like this is the same as the a30(plus the usual BS about how this time they really learned how to solder a battery wire and it will change everything... I swear, Sony, your DAP marketing is terrible). no podcast means I will probably hang on to my old sony DAPs and android cellphone for another year. bad Sony!!! Aibo's not a good boy! bring back the cool podcast stuff. pleeeaase. I want to be a fanboy, but you make it really hard.

 

[PierreC]

For my fellow Canadians

The NW-A45 and ZX300 are now on the Sony Canada website although no pricing as yet. If you go to Electronics/ MP3 Players you will see the new lineup which includes the WM1A/Z, ZX300, A45 and A30 series. If you go to High Resolution Audio/Electronics/Walkman you see the currently available lineup which still includes the ZX100, A20 and yes the A10 series, the A17 can still be found selling for the CDN full retail price believe it or not.

I will be in Canada in December, during one year at least.
So hopefully I will be able to buy the NW-A45 in Canada before it reaches the European continent later.

 

[Raketen]

oops

 

[fish1050]

Like you, I am also debating between the A45 and the X3 iii for my next DAP purchase. Both are within the same price range, and offer similar features. Would you mind sharing your reasons for choosing the Sony over the FiiO? Much appreciated!

I read through the entire X3-III thread and it appears at least initially it suffers from the same issues as the X1-II. Apparently replaygain is broken and won't be fixed until a later firmware update according to Fiio and gapless does not work yet. A post on the Fiio site forum from a customer claims the first second of every song gets cutoff and reports are bluetooth performance is only marginally better than the X1-II which is said to be quite poor and no AptX support.

Personally if I wasn't sold on Sony or prepared to wait for the A45 I would probably buy the Cayin N3 over the X3-III. It is about $50.00 cheaper at least in Canada and spec wise is very close to the X3-III with better battery life. Having demoed the N3 twice bluetooth is very good and it has better features overall than the X3-III. But don't take my word for it check it out.

As for the A45 vs the X3-III I have demoed the A35 and used a friends extensively and it is a really good DAP. Just because the A45 and the X3-III have the same features doesn't mean they will work as well on both. Based on previous track records my money is on Sony being the better performing DAP. Unfortunately Fiio continues to release their DAP's with broken or missing features and tries to patch them later with firmware updates. Their customers basically become unpaid beta testers having to constantly install firmware updates that may or may not fix the problems.

 

[Vladimir_F1]

This audio player is good.
But i do not see any point in purchasing it while i have LG G6 ( and later LG V30 ).
SQ is good enough for me.

Player without access to Google Play Music or other online services in 2017?
Sounds funny.

 

[Bepli]

This audio player is good.
But i do not see any point in purchasing it while i have LG G6 ( and later LG V30 ).
SQ is good enough for me.

Who needs player in 2017 which do not have access to Google Play Music or else?

I prefer it alot since I can just focus on the music and I do not get disturb by other stuff, also the quality out if this will be better than out of phones no mettar what fancy stuff they put in it. There are alot of components in a phone that makes it not a good source since there will be noise, I do not say phones sound bad or anything but this little player will sound better than pretty much all phones even stuff like LG V30 and later released stuff

 

[Vladimir_F1]

I prefer it alot since I can just focus on the music and I do not get disturb by other stuff, also the quality out if this will be better than out of phones no mettar what fancy stuff they put in it. There are alot of components in a phone that makes it not a good source since there will be noise, I do not say phones sound bad or anything but this little player will sound better than pretty much all phones even stuff like LG V30 and later released stuff

You're right about disturbing by other staff ( but you can go to flight mode or do not disturb mode ).

And maybe there is noice during playback but i don't care as long as i cannot hear it.

Not every phone is just a phone.
Modern phones may include good DAC as well as other audio quality enhancements.
Like G6 and V30 does.

 

[Malevolent]

I read through the entire X3-III thread and it appears at least initially it suffers from the same issues as the X1-II. Apparently replaygain is broken and won't be fixed until a later firmware update according to Fiio and gapless does not work yet. A post on the Fiio site forum from a customer claims the first second of every song gets cutoff and reports are bluetooth performance is only marginally better than the X1-II which is said to be quite poor and no AptX support.

Personally if I wasn't sold on Sony or prepared to wait for the A45 I would probably buy the Cayin N3 over the X3-III. It is about $50.00 cheaper at least in Canada and spec wise is very close to the X3-III with better battery life. Having demoed the N3 twice bluetooth is very good and it has better features overall than the X3-III. But don't take my word for it check it out.

As for the A45 vs the X3-III I have demoed the A35 and used a friends extensively and it is a really good DAP. Just because the A45 and the X3-III have the same features doesn't mean they will work as well on both. Based on previous track records my money is on Sony being the better performing DAP. Unfortunately Fiio continues to release their DAP's with broken or missing features and tries to patch them later with firmware updates. Their customers basically become unpaid beta testers having to constantly install firmware updates that may or may not fix the problems.

Thanks for the reply.

Like you, I'm a little leery of FiiO's initial batches of their new products. They have quite an (unfortunate) reputation of releasing buggy DAPs. Case in point - I was part of the global review tour for their X5 iii. While it was a decent player, I did encounter some issues that affected playback. I would have been annoyed if the DAP was obtained as a purchase, as opposed to a loaner.

In any case, I'm just looking for a relatively small, lightweight DAP that sounds decent enough, and has a great UI. The Sony ticks most of the boxes, so I'm leaning towards the A45 at the moment.

 

[Bepli]

You're right about disturbing by other staff ( but you can go to flight mode or do not disturb mode ).

And maybe there is noice during playback but i don't care as long as i cannot hear it.

Not every phone is just a phone.
Modern phones may include good DAC as well as other audio quality enhancements.
Like G6 and V30 does.

Well you don't get my point. First every phone has a dac, thats the electronic component that turns digital into analog lines. Obvsly this part is better on the player. And second you say you can't hear a difference, but did you actually try the player? Or other players? In terms of pure sound quality sony is way better compared to phones and other players. You have to try multiple devices in a short time to hear some stuff but there is a difference.

 

[Francisk]

but this little player will sound better than pretty much all phones even stuff like LG V30 and later released stuff

Btw do you have the V30 to compare yet? If not, it's as good as your "own" baseless assumption. Never give your comments until you've actually done a thorough comparison to save yourself the embarrassment! Who are you to make a definite judgement on future unreleased stuff...some kind of Audio God are you???

 

[Bepli]

Btw do you have the V30 to compare yet? If not, it's as good as your "own" baseless assumption. Never give your comments until you've actually done a thorough comparison to save yourself the embarrassment! Who are you to make a definite judgement on future unreleased stuff...some kind of Audio God are you???

I got to test it a bit at IFA so yeah I know what I speak about.

 

[Francisk]

I got to test it a bit at IFA so yeah I know what I speak about.

I guess you get to test all the future unreleased phones too??? You must be an Audio God...lol...or just a Sony fanboy

 

[Bepli]

Even for future unreleased phones...you must be an Audio God...lol

Do you wanna blame me for having actually heard both devices already ? I tested a lot of stuff at IFA and the new Sony stuff sounds better than the V30 lol You do not understand that there are limits and important stuff in a phone that reduces audio quality.

 

[Bepli]

I guess you get to test all the future unreleased phones too??? You must be an Audio God...lol...or a Sony fanboy

Editing your comment does not help you. I am not a Sony fanboy, they put out a lot of bad stuff but also some good products, but Its not directly about Sony. Other companies like FiiO also put out a lot of products that are really nice. I do not speak about any company in particular, but phones will never sound as good as players can since its just not possible with tech that is used at the moment.