[castleofargh]

@Krutsch sorry to mention it but the sound settings are also there with BT for the A45 but as the A55 manual states they are "invalid" so you can change them but they don't do anything.

it's almost sure that the DAP's DSPs are going to work when used as a receiver as it really doesn't cost much with modern BT protocols. it's to output the signal in BT where you may find some DSP restrictions which I'm guessing have to do with how some DSPs only works at high sample rate so the DAP would need to oversample the signal, apply DSP, then convert back to 48khz and encode that into whatever format the BT protocol is using. which could be a little much for a tiny CPU and a tiny battery(again just my guess).

 

[jant71]

Yep, I read it as just under BT. Of course I would expect EQ to work playing through the HO as a receiver.

Though they still should have brought back the EQ over BT from the earlier A series. And the buttons controlling the FM radio. Not enough change to warrant buying one. Buttons are better though but should have done that from the A30 to A40.

 

[fish1050]

Yep, I read it as just under BT. Of course I would expect EQ to work playing through the HO as a receiver.

Though they still should have brought back the EQ over BT from the earlier A series. And the buttons controlling the FM radio. Not enough change to warrant buying one. Buttons are better though but should have done that from the A30 to A40.

Honestly with other DAP makers adding more and more to their cheaper DAP's Sony is struggling a little to still innovate and keep costs down to compete. Hence no major redesign from the A30/A40 series. Any features left out are probably to reduce R&D and production costs.

Just look at what Shanling was able to pack into the $110.00 M0 and just added more features today with a new firmware update. I for one am finding it harder and harder to justify spending 2 x more for a Sony A series DAP.

 

[zamuz]

BLUETOOTH USAGE

Super easy to setup. You tap on the little icon on the top-right (phone with waves), you tap on OK and it reconnects. Done. On the first connect, you pair it with your phone, just like you would with any other speaker or headphones. Best of all, the NW-A55 DSP settings are all available while playing back bluetooth audio from your phone.

My Pixel 2 and the NW-A55 both report an LDAC connection. I am pleasantly surprised that it all works. Again, mission accomplished, as this was the second use case that drove my purchase of the NW-A55 (first being a DAP that does a better job driving my Shure SE535 IEMs).

Hey one more question: if you get a call on your phone while connected to the Walkman in Receiver mode, does the call also get routed to the Walkman?

 

[Krutsch]

Hey one more question: if you get a call on your phone while connected to the Walkman in Receiver mode, does the call also get routed to the Walkman?

The incoming call does ring in the Walkman in receiver mode.

However, as soon as I answer a call, my Pixel 2 flips back to the handset. Because, of course, the A55 doesn't support a handsfree profile (there is no microphone).

So, I have to yank out my IEMs and pickup the phone. But, at least you hear it ring.

 

[zamuz]

The incoming call does ring in the Walkman in receiver mode.

However, as soon as I answer a call, my Pixel 2 flips back to the handset. Because, of course, the A55 doesn't support a handsfree profile (there is no microphone).

So, I have to yank out my IEMs and pickup the phone. But, at least you hear it ring.

I see. This is not a deal breaker at all, though I would've been ok with just the audio going through the Walkman and speaking into the phone.

Thanks again, and by the way it looks amazing in red! I'm so jealous.

 

[Krutsch]

I see. This is not a deal breaker at all, though I would've been ok with just the audio going through the Walkman and speaking into the phone.

Thanks again, and by the way it looks amazing in red! I'm so jealous.

Yeah, I agree, but that's not how bluetooth works. For phone calls, it's an all or nothing thing (i.e. Hands-Free and Headset Profiles). If you allowed audio to route to something else (e.g. an A2DP receiver), but used the HFP microphone for incoming audio, you would have echo canceling problems. I've never seen a phone that allows this.

Thanks! Yes, the red color is very cool looking. Goes great with my red Shure SE535LTD IEMs.

 

[god-bluff]

Honestly with other DAP makers adding more and more to their cheaper DAP's Sony is struggling a little to still innovate and keep costs down to compete. Hence no major redesign from the A30/A40 series. Any features left out are probably to reduce R&D and production costs.

Just look at what Shanling was able to pack into the $110.00 M0 and just added more features today with a new firmware update. I for one am finding it harder and harder to justify spending 2 x more for a Sony A series DAP.

15 hours vs 40.

Sony design and quality (these things last a long, long time)

Not THAT hard

 

[fish1050]

15 hours vs 40.

Sony design and quality (these things last a long, long time)

Not THAT hard

You won't get 40 hours, trust me my A17 is rated for longer battery life than the A50 and I never got close to what Sony rated it at. Battery life dropped to less than half in a little over a year so about 16 hours and had to exchange it with Sony under warranty since they recommend replacing the unit or the battery once it drops to 50%. The A35 didn't have enough power to drive my headphones well and the A50 has the same power. With my M0 I never go about 60/100 on high gain and don't have to add a portable amp like I was doing with my A17.

M0 is less than half the price, it has more power and pretty much all the same features that matter. So far no quality issues at all with M0 and very stable firmware, not to mention it boots up in less than 10 seconds vs what a minute for the Sony A series DAP's. I assumed to that I would lose quality switching from Sony but that has not been the case and I prefer the more neutral sound of the M0 vs the warmer Sony sound. Not to mention the M0 is super portable. After all in the end if you don't like the sound then all the other stuff doesn't matter. I didn't mind the warm Sony sound but I love the neutral high detailed M0 sound.

Sony A50 less power more battery life

M0 less battery life but more power

Which is best really depends on your needs and headphones used. Plus the M0 is super available in Canada whereas the Sony A series is incredibly hard to find which makes no sense to me.

 

[god-bluff]

My experience differs from yours. I have an A15 and after a couple of years I get around 30 hours out if it. With the headphones I use 15 to 20/ 30 volume is plenty (EU limit removed)

Add FM radio, (for me) faultless sound, svelte form and physical controls and I'm happy.... for now, but I like to keep up to date with Sony's latest developments

As for Shanling they have many years of Hifi experience but are still new to portable audio so too early to tell how good they really are.

 

[pinkbecca]

to those who have played around with the A50, I have 2 questions, does browsing artists and scrolling faster than the A40 and second question, does it change the browsing speed depending on the type of microSD card?, for example, Sandisk has something labeled A1 cards and the new ones are A2, if I put the A2 type then will the browsing and scrolling be faster than the A1 cards?

 

[Krutsch]

to those who have played around with the A50, I have 2 questions, does browsing artists and scrolling faster than the A40 and second question, does it change the browsing speed depending on the type of microSD card?, for example, Sandisk has something labeled A1 cards and the new ones are A2, if I put the A2 type then will the browsing and scrolling be faster than the A1 cards?

I don't have an A40 for comparison; but, as I stated above, the scrolling/swiping speed on my large collection is as fast as you can flip your finger.

On the SD card: I have a relatively older 200 GB micro SD XC I card. Again, browsing is fast.

One more thing: battery life. I am not keeping a spreadsheet of hours of playback. But, I've been listening to my player at the office all week. Taking it home with me today (Friday) and the battery life looks like 50% with an estimated 20 hours of playback (I don't see a way to display exact values).

So, again, mission accomplished: I can keep this at work and not worry about charging during the week. As I use more of the Bluetooth receiver function, battery life may decrease... we shall see.

 

[pinkbecca]

I don't have an A40 for comparison; but, as I stated above, the scrolling/swiping speed on my large collection is as fast as you can flip your finger.

On the SD card: I have a relatively older 200 GB micro SD XC I card. Again, browsing is fast.

One more thing: battery life. I am not keeping a spreadsheet of hours of playback. But, I've been listening to my player at the office all week. Taking it home with me today (Friday) and the battery life looks like 50% with an estimated 20 hours of playback (I don't see a way to display exact values).

So, again, mission accomplished: I can keep this at work and not worry about charging during the week. As I use more of the Bluetooth receiver function, battery life may decrease... we shall see.

thank you so much for the info, on Sony's site it says there's the ability to search for a song, is that true?

 

[fish1050]

After no luck importing external playlists into my M0 started rethinking about the A55 as importing external playlists into my A17 is a breeze. Unfortunately after converting alot of my tracks to ogg as the quality is better than mp3 I was very disappointed to see Sony DAP's still don't support ogg vorbis files. To me in this day in age not supporting ogg is just plain dumb considering most other DAP's do. Seems every time I start to reconsider a Sony DAP they give me another reason not to.

 

[Krutsch]

thank you so much for the info, on Sony's site it says there's the ability to search for a song, is that true?

Can you share a link for where it says you can search for a song?

I must be missing something, because I looked at the specs link in the first post and I searched the online help guide (I added the link to the first post).

And, I looked through the UI again.

I don't see a search function anywhere.