[fish1050]

In preparation for my 4th impressions post (My Workflow w/ Walkman), I've been doing more experimentation with the NW-A55 and my "codec diverse" collection.

To really stress the device, I bought a 400GB SanDisk microSD card. I am loading it up...

Positives: I am impressed that I can dump AIFF, FLAC, MP3, ALAC, AAC onto the device and the album art and tags just work.

More on how I am doing that, later...

Negative: I am running into a small number of albums that do not display ANY metadata - they show up as Unknown. So far, this is 3 albums (50 tracks) out of 2,206 tracks I've copied from my iTunes collection. The bad news: these albums are ALL recent iTunes purchases (Purchased AAC). I have about 4K of these in my collection. In the short term, I've transcoded in-place with Doug's Scripts to ALAC to move on, but I haven't gotten to the bottom of why the Walkman cannot read the metadata from these tracks.

Yeah I had issues with metadata for alot of songs I converted to AAC playing on my A17 and had to redo them as mp3. A friend has the A35 and same thing which is funny because I think the Sony Music Centre software defaults to AAC when converting file formats. You would hope Sony DAP's would handle AAC files well because of this but maybe not.

 

[Krutsch]

Yeah I had issues with metadata for alot of songs I converted to AAC playing on my A17 and had to redo them as mp3. A friend has the A35 and same thing which is funny because I think the Sony Music Centre software defaults to AAC when converting file formats. You would hope Sony DAP's would handle AAC files well because of this but maybe not.

I ended up converting AAC tracks to ALAC to preserve fidelity and gapless playback.

 

[fish1050]

I ended up converting AAC tracks to ALAC to preserve fidelity and gapless playback.

If the tracks are AAC aren't they already compress in which case converting to ALAC will just create bigger file sizes but not restore the lost resolution from compressing the files? I ended up converting my oldies from flac to ogg to play on my Shanling M0 with no issues.

 

[Krutsch]

If the tracks are AAC aren't they already compress in which case converting to ALAC will just create bigger file sizes but not restore the lost resolution from compressing the files? I ended up converting my oldies from flac to ogg to play on my Shanling M0 with no issues.

Yes, I know they are bigger files with no change in resolution. I am simply preserving gapless playback information - MP3 won't do that, in general - and I don't really care about a small number of files being bigger.

Very frustrating that Sony can't figure out AAC tracks purchased from iTunes.

 

[MUG3NHC]

Creating a new thread for the NW-A50 Series DAP.

Looks like a popular update is coming for the Sony Walkman.

So far, here is what is available on the web for specs, et al.:

https://www.sony-asia.com/electronics/walkman/nw-a50-series/specifications

EDIT: Adding links to the online help guide and my product impressions:

> Online Help Guide

https://helpguide.sony.net/dmp/nwa50/v1/en/index.html

> Unboxing Impressions

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sony-nw-a50-series.888101/page-5#post-14537286

> Listening Impressions

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sony-nw-a50-series.888101/page-5#post-14537844

> Feature Impressions

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sony-nw-a50-series.888101/page-5#post-14538620

Hi,
Quick question. I'm based in the UK and I'm looking to buy this player, but unfortunately i can't find it anywhere with shipping to the UK.
Where did you get yours?
Thanks in advance.

 

[470221]

Look on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Walkm...h=item1cbeba4c6e:g:wyIAAOSwY2Jb19Zx:rk:2:pf:0

 

[fish1050]

Yes, I know they are bigger files with no change in resolution. I am simply preserving gapless playback information - MP3 won't do that, in general - and I don't really care about a small number of files being bigger.

Very frustrating that Sony can't figure out AAC tracks purchased from iTunes.

Yeah funny, it seems the two companies that still insist on being proprietary refuse to get their products to work together. Makes me want to support the smaller DAP makers even more and let the big dumb ones do their own thing.

Shame you have to waste space with bigger files just to support gapless playback. Seems Sony prefers clueless playback instead.

 

[MUG3NHC]

Look on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Walkm...h=item1cbeba4c6e:g:wyIAAOSwY2Jb19Zx:rk:2:pf:0

Thanks, i checked on eBay.
Unfortunately this seller does not ship to the UK.

 

[470221]

Thanks, i checked on eBay.
Unfortunately this seller does not ship to the UK.

Maybe he got scared of Brexit

 

[JohnCKent]

Hi,
Quick question. I'm based in the UK and I'm looking to buy this player, but unfortunately i can't find it anywhere with shipping to the UK.
Where did you get yours?
Thanks in advance.

I got mine from Accessory Jack. They're based in Hong Kong and take about a week to deliver to the UK. You should also avoid having to pay any customs fees as they declare the value at much less than it should be. I've had my A55 for a couple of weeks now and absolutely love it

 

[MUG3NHC]

I got mine from Accessory Jack. They're based in Hong Kong and take about a week to deliver to the UK. You should also avoid having to pay any customs fees as they declare the value at much less than it should be. I've had my A55 for a couple of weeks now and absolutely love it

Cool. Thanks. My only concern is the volume output. I do like to crank the volume up every now and then and I'm not sure if A55 has enough power. I don't use very demanding or power hungry headphones tho. Is the player fairly loud?

 

[JohnCKent]

Cool. Thanks. My only concern is the volume output. I do like to crank the volume up every now and then and I'm not sure if A55 has enough power. I don't use very demanding or power hungry headphones tho. Is the player fairly loud?

I've been using mine with Bowers & Wilkins P5 wireless, both over Bluetooth and wired and it plays very loud. Accessory Jack sell Asian models that don't have the EU sound limit which probably makes a difference as well

 

[MUG3NHC]

I've been using mine with Bowers & Wilkins P5 wireless, both over Bluetooth and wired and it plays very loud. Accessory Jack sell Asian models that don't have the EU sound limit which probably makes a difference as well

Thanks. Good to know.
Looking forward to receiving the player

 

[drag0nslayer]

How does a55 compare with hiby r3? a55 output power seems to be looking very low and please describe its sound signature with reference to ZX300?

 

[Chocobo4]

Hi,
I live in Germany and would like to get the Walkman too. A friend of mine will fly to Thailand soon and would bring it to me. Therefore I have two questions:
1) Do I need a voltage converter to charge the device?
2) Can I change the language to German or English?
Thank you