[Mr Trev]

My experience. If anything, I'd say my A55 will "soft pause". It isn't a harsh sudden stop of the music. I really wouldn't call it a fade either - just too subtle IMO. Personally it doesn't bother me one bit, and it's way better than some of the other DAPs that will truncate the first second or so of a song on startup

 

[Vamp898]

My experience. If anything, I'd say my A55 will "soft pause". It isn't a harsh sudden stop of the music. I really wouldn't call it a fade either - just too subtle IMO. Personally it doesn't bother me one bit, and it's way better than some of the other DAPs that will truncate the first second or so of a song on startup

Yes. I have some songs I have to start twice with the M11 Plus due to that.

 

[Vamp898]

Just so we are on the same page: All of my music is flac, 99.5% ripped by me + a few Hi-Def downloads. When playing in folder mode, no shuffle, there is no fading. I have albums that have tracks with no defining end and with no defining start on the next track- music straight through and there is no fading or dipping in volume. I have an NW-A45 also - no fading.

This is not what he means.

He means that if you pause the music, wait until power save kicks in (like 10 seconds or so) and discharges the capacitors and when you then press play, it doesn't just start the music, but you can hear the capacitors charge up.

So the music fades in instead of just starting

 

[J Kelley]

This is not what he means.

He means that if you pause the music, wait until power save kicks in (like 10 seconds or so) and discharges the capacitors and when you then press play, it doesn't just start the music, but you can hear the capacitors charge up.

So the music fades in instead of just starting

This is the most inane conversation I've ever had about audio reproduction, ever.

 

[fish1050]

After some more listening, while (anecdotally) less, the fade-in is still present. Oh well, I might have to move on to another player. Even my old CD Walkman doesn't have any similar problem. What a shame, the player is otherwise perfect.

Absolutely no issue for me, it could be production batch dependent. Mine looks to be from a very recent production batch. If Sony discovered the issue at some point it may have been fixed on later batches. Could explain why some have the issue and some don't. I remember from my A17 I had one of the first released in North America. When I had a battery issue and had it replaced under warranty the replacement was from the latest batch. I noticed that the build seemed more solid the case front and back fit better (old one had a bigger gap) and the screen looked to be of better quality. It isn't uncommon for Sony to fix production issues on the fly over time.

 

[Mr Trev]

Absolutely no issue for me, it could be production batch dependent. Mine looks to be from a very recent production batch. If Sony discovered the issue at some point it may have been fixed on later batches. Could explain why some have the issue and some don't. I remember from my A17 I had one of the first released in North America. When I had a battery issue and had it replaced under warranty the replacement was from the latest batch. I noticed that the build seemed more solid the case front and back fit better (old one had a bigger gap) and the screen looked to be of better quality. It isn't uncommon for Sony to fix production issues on the fly over time.

Maybe its something that only applies to specific regions? I'd thinking something like this would be a firmware design, but I'd assume the Mr. Walkman firmware would level the field out if that was the case.

 

[Kamen555]

Do u guys have any quirkiness in Bluetooth connections with d Mr Walkman firmware? Send or receive mode?

I've paired with a few BT hps, n most of them work fine. Sony, Fiio dongle, Edifier tws n headphones. From SBC to LDAC.

I've enjoyed d AptXHD connection d best I think with d Creative Labs Jam V2 (a mouthful).

D BT enable option could b easier in d menus I think.

 

[nc8000]

I’ve used BT ldac with various Sony headphones and BT receiver from my iPhone and iPad with A55 and 1Z with no problems

 

[fish1050]

Maybe its something that only applies to specific regions? I'd thinking something like this would be a firmware design, but I'd assume the Mr. Walkman firmware would level the field out if that was the case.

They could make minor changes to components over time due to parts availability and tweaking during manufacturing from batch to batch. I would think the base firmware would be the same with minor changes made by region, don't know how much that should affect things. If it has to do with capacitors charging and discharging as speculated then capacitor variances might change slightly with component batches but hard to know for sure.

We will never know for sure what the story is as Sony will never give an answer. I guess if you have the issue can you live with or not?

Given the incredible value the custom firmware brings to the A55 it would have to be really annoying to give it up. Just glad I don't need to deal with it. The only issue I have is on a handful of mp3 tracks when the next track is flac it sometimes cuts off a split second of the mp3 track ending. I simply converted the few I have the issue with so far to flac and the problem is gone. Might need to convert 20 or so tracks as I hardly have any mp3's. That is another possibility, perhaps switching between track formats ie.. mp3 to flac from song to song could be an issue especially going from lossy (mp3) to lossless (flac) as the processing needed will vary between track formats. I read about this several years ago about how different formats require more processing than others. Ogg vorbis for example though lossy like mp3 is suppose to be a more efficient format than mp3. When I got my Shanling M0 I only had a 128 GB card so I converted all my tracks to ogg instead of mp3 because the algorithm was suppose to be more efficient and some claimed offered better sound quality with slightly better compression. Once I got my 512 GB card I went back to flac for all my lossless tracks and I had to convert my ogg files back to mp3 when I got my Fiio M7 as I had database issues with ogg files and artwork wouldn't always display. Of course Sony does not support ogg so not an option on the A55. I had some .aac and .wma tracks years ago but I have never messed with aiff or alac at all. My tracks are all mp3 and flac now (95% flac)

The processor used in the A series DAP's isn't that powerful so it could be an issue. I had issues with tracks getting cut off with the M0 which used a really weak ingenic X1000 processor if I remember correctly as does the Q1 and I doubt the A series processor is all that powerful. Rockbox was ported to the Sony A10/A20 and now the Q1 as they all used this processor. Not sure what Sony is using now in the A55 but it can't be all that powerful. I remember some people in the Q1 thread tried the Rockbox firmware but I couldn't be bothered trying it as it doesn't support bluetooth or wifi and the touchscreen functionality is not that good.

 

[J Kelley]

If any one understands the formula T=RxC, please continue talking about capacitors in audio circuits. Be they used as biasing, coupling or filtering capacitors, if you can hear the negative effect of a capacitor in an audio circuit, it is malfunctioning. Capacitors used in coupling or filtering charge at a rate, or frequency much higher that one would ever be able to perceive, like .0005 sec.

 

[supersonic395]

Are there any good Line Out cables for the Walkman?

Going one step further is there any way to connect the A55 to an external DAC? (I.e. effectively turning the Walkman into streamer - Guessing not..)

 

[Mr Trev]

Are there any good Line Out cables for the Walkman?

Going one step further is there any way to connect the A55 to an external DAC? (I.e. effectively turning the Walkman into streamer - Guessing not..)

I use one of these to connect to my Hipdac. https://www.amazon.com/Sony-WMC-NWH10-Conversion-Cable-Output/dp/B00FF086HE
Sadly, they are overpriced, and not exactly easy to find - I had to get mine from Amazon Japan.

A word of warning. I'm not sure if the A50 is the same as the A17, but using the walkman as a source for a dac (hipdac for example) seems to drain the battery stupid fast. IIRC my A17 could barely squeeze 6 hours feeding the dac

 

[mh1c]

Not to open another thread, I’ll ask here. Does anyone know where can I find an aux cable so I can play songs from NW-A55 through car’s speakers? WM to 3.5mm. Thank you

 

[nc8000]

Not to open another thread, I’ll ask here. Does anyone know where can I find an aux cable so I can play songs from NW-A55 through car’s speakers? WM to 3.5mm. Thank you

These on eBay and I’m sure others make them , most likely som on AliExpress. But why not just use a simple 3.5 to 3.5 cable from the headphone out ?

 

[mh1c]

Would a 3.5 to 3.5 work? That would be much easier to find.