[yorosello]

Oh please don't bother looking for your box, it's not that urgent i'll have a look into the DAP once i'll have all my 340GB and something files on the SD card
Thank for your help

Edit: Double thank then i guess for checking the box
I think i'll be able to check the region only a little later because files transfer is saying more than 2 hours of transferring...
God i'm stupid! There's a big E in the left corner of the label at the exact opposite of the NW-A55/BM
am i blessed or my mind is playing Elliott Alderson's tricks on me?

Hahaha I didn't notice it either even thought the E is printed so big on the box than the BM

 

[BroncoVA]

So, i've played with my new toy and i really love it.
First impression: it's really tinier than i thought, but perfect for music on the go.
Until now i really don't see the benefit of ClearAudio, it distorts too much the music.
I've put DSEE HX, DC Phase Linearizer and Dynamic Normalizer on.

VPT surround is fun and particularly interesting when set on matrix.
Vinyl can be a great implementation when listening to some old funk with groovy bass lines (and the original Beatles album).

For 168€ (on Ebay) i'm very happy with the quality and ease of use (it's already on E region so i can create playlists on the go, a tad slow though...), definitely an upgrade from the Cayin N3 when it comes to software, browsing your library and battery life (around 14 hours the first 15 months with the N3 and suddenly the battery died on me).

edit: And i can't hear any difference just by selecting a flat EQ vs the EQ off, so it looks like a psychologic impression.

 

[yorosello]

ClearAudio+ does benefit some songs but not all.

The features that I use frequently was the DSEE HX & VPT Surround as they definitely make the soundstage feel bigger & clearer sounding. For others, they doesn't change the sound much except the vinyl, which I rarely use since most of my songs are modern music.

 

[gerelmx1986]

NW-A50 Review

A little about me
​

I'm an audiophile but not the Graphs and number ones, more of a music lover type of audiophile who seeks the best true sound quality. My Genre of choice is Classical music from renaissance to Classism and abit of nationalism like Grieg, Dvorak.

Unboxing & Accessories
​

The unboxing experience for this walkman is rather a simple white cardboard withe the image of the player enlarged at front, sides has the color, model name, technologies and monikers used by sony. At the back has some specifications.

Opening it reveals a simple cardboard tray holding the A50 (i'm residing in germany so I got the NW-A55L, which is the model for europe). Behind the tray there is some user Guides and the USB cable of type WM-Port.

Sadly no screen protector nor a case (tho sony does sell these for separate).

User Interface & Usability, Build quality
​

The Build quality for an entry-level offering is quite outstanding, almost all of the body is made of aluminum. In hand feels hefty with nice weight. Screen appears to be made of glass, but i am not sure.

The Ui is like other walkman made after 2016, however, contrasted to the WM1A/Z the UI is more reatricted and the A55L has other handy features such as FM-radio (unlocked with the NWDestTool) and language learning mode.

Here we see the main screen with 2 pages, on the very top of the main screen we see the short-cuts for (from left to right):
*FM-Radio
*Language learning mode
*USB DAC
*Bluetooth Receiving mode

On first page we see the Icons for: All songs, Artist, a
Albums, release year, playlists, Composer, and Hi-res . Scroll to 2nd page and we have: Recent transfers, File explorer view and SensMe channels.


Home screen of language learning mode, showing All songs, Artist, Album, Playliata and Recent transfers.

Playback screen for language learning: at the very top play or paused indicator, volume level and Battery status.
Then we have the speed indicator and modes to play the audio slower, normal or faster (from 0.5x slowest, to 2x as the fastest).
A-B point repeat, set start point A and end point B to start an "infinite loop" repeating for the section chosen. The the rewind -10 or -3 seconds or advance +5 secs.
Then we have track title, artist and album. Below the playback controls.

This section is useful for language learning or studying purposes (for example here the preparation CDs for my upcoming Deutschtest fuer Zuwanderer).

Here we have the Bluetooth receiving mode, where you pair your mobile device and stream music from it to the A55L.

Here I show the FM-radio (works only if a headphone cord is connected, as the HP cord is the antenna). In the upper section shows the frequency tuner and below the preset stations saved.

Here the USB DAC, below "USB DAC" is the codec being sent (either PCM drom 16/24 bit 44.1 to 384kHz and DSD from 2.8 to 11.2MHz). Below this the channel level meter and a huge old-school volume control.

Music UI

Now i'll show the screens of the music UI.

Main screen showing at the very rop the indicators of playback status, battery status and volume level.
Next the cover picture, below this the current playing track/ total. Elapsed time Progress bar (draggable), track title, (album) artist and album name as well the HR indicator is displayed when a Hi-res audio track is played.

Sifferent menu options to see further setup, view lyrics or song info as well as.to add a song to a playlist or Bookmark list (OTG playlist).

Slide from left to right and you have access to the play queue

Slide on main screen or twice from play queue from right to left amd tou get the OTG playlist editor (up to 10 playliata with 999 songs each)

Slide from main screen from bottom to top and you access the sound effects/ enhancements, this walkman does not have a Source direct switch, inatead has a sony DSP called ClearAudio+. Which IMHO, destroys the sound by making it hollow sounding. The only good effects for me is the EQ custom mode, DSEE HX (upsamples to 32 bit 384kHz). The others destroy the SQ.
Overall usability is excellent, the only downside is thr device's small form factor causing mis-pressings on the side buttons and UI elements, deiving me nuts.

Sound Quality Analysis
​

My source files are only lossless:
* PCM sources are FLAC (i hate MQA as it applies truncation to the last 7 bits) ranging from 16 and 24 bit from 44.1 to 352.8KHz
* PDM sources are DSD in tag-friendly .dsf format, ranging from 2.8224 to 11.296MHz

My listening rigs
* Sony MDR-Z1R - 70mm, 64 onm HP
* Sony IER-Z1R - triple driver hybrid 2 DD (12mm with magnesium dome for bass/mids? And a 5mm for ultra highs) + a BA for mids /low highs
" Sony IER-M7 - a quad BA iem

REFERENCE-POINT DAP: Sony NW-WM1A

The Bass hits a bit deeper than my reference DAP, but has an elevated bass to it, feeling like typical consumer oriented DAP at times. The MDR-Z1R Has a.nice bass rumble but weak most of times due to lack of driving power. IER-Z1R has.more bass but it can get a lil' boomy amd wooly. Seems at this point the best match is the IER-M7 with nice rumble of a DD but fast decay from a pure BA serup helpung in controlling the bass.

Mids are not as detailed as my WM1A lacking a bit of macro detailing, wvwn for HI-RES and DSD. Mdr and IER-Z1R struggle to shine to their potential, not being able to portray the musicality of the wm1a. The IER-M7 can to a degree extract some setails but also falls short.

Highs are a bit of a mixed bag, while they sound not harsh they're rolled in ff as the IER-Z1R struggles to sound as detailed as it does with the wm1a. In complex organ or orchestral pieces you see a lack of micro detailing such as lack of reverb tails or high pitch harmonics get blended way too fast.

DSD playback at times sounds digital and hollow
Soundstage is average while inatriment separation is good to pin-point.level of accuracy.

In summary i consider the NW-A50 to be a pretty excellent entry level dap being.almost there in terms of technicalities.

Pros
Support of 1TB micro SD
Easy to use UI
Handy features such as FM radio and language study mode
Pocket size, yet durable
Support of q wide selection of music formats such as FLAC, APE, WMA, MQA, MP3, AAC etc
Good SQ for the non-discerming ear

Cons
Rather small inboard memory (16GB)
Avg SQ for the audiophile easmall form factor prone to wrong pressing of buttons and UI elements
No USB-C
Pretty low driving power 35mW @16ohm)
No balanced port
DSD playback downsampled to PCM

 

[MetalWarrior]

Wow, nice detailed review!

I thought the L model got USB-C...?

 

[gerelmx1986]

Wow, nice detailed review!

I thought the L model got USB-C...?

Sadly no, only the new android-powered ones and the uber expensive DMP-Z1 are USB C ready

 

[BroncoVA]

I tried the EQ a Youtuber recommended : +6 at 60hz +3 at 1KHz -3 at 6.3KHz +6 at 16KHz
to imitate some W shaped EQ.
It's not bad: the instruments (while listening to some CAN Peel Session) seem playing more in a choral, they are more binding; with EQ=OFF the instruments are much more isolated lacking on that stream of music sensation, it's more "cold".

 

[Meshaboo]

Hey everyone, I got my Gold A55 today! Just wondering, do I reaaallyyy have to format my microsd card? That'll take me over a day probably to transfer my big folder to my Mac and then re-transfer to the sd card again it's currently in MS-DOS (FAT32) and I was using it for my Cayin N3.

Also, are there any other set-up adjustments I should make?

Thank you!

 

[Raketen]

Hey everyone, I got my Gold A55 today! Just wondering, do I reaaallyyy have to format my microsd card? That'll take me over a day probably to transfer my big folder to my Mac and then re-transfer to the sd card again it's currently in MS-DOS (FAT32) and I was using it for my Cayin N3.

Also, are there any other set-up adjustments I should make?

Thank you!

A few people commented recently they had luck just moving everything into a folder labeled Music in the root directory of the SD, so try that first.

 

[Meshaboo]

A few people commented recently they had luck just moving everything into a folder labeled Music in the root directory of the SD, so try that first.

Tried that, but I still get an error message saying it can't recognize the card.

 

[Meshaboo]

Tried that, but I still get an error message saying it can't recognize the card.

I ended up doing this anyway, copy/pasting the mass folder to my Mac and then formatting the 200 gb sd card in the Sony, and then drag n dropping the "MUSIC" folder back into the sd card. It took about 4 hours to do all of that and about 10 minutes for all of my music to load into the Sony. Luckily, I got to pass some time and test out the A55 with my 16gb sd card of music. I'm sooooo happy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM NEW JERSEY, USA!

 

[PointyFox]

Just pre-ordered the US version of the A55 with the USB-C port!

 

[Meshaboo]

I ended up doing this anyway, copy/pasting the mass folder to my Mac and then formatting the 200 gb sd card in the Sony, and then drag n dropping the "MUSIC" folder back into the sd card. It took about 4 hours to do all of that and about 10 minutes for all of my music to load into the Sony. Luckily, I got to pass some time and test out the A55 with my 16gb sd card of music. I'm sooooo happy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM NEW JERSEY, USA!

I have N3 but I haven't used it with R3 much, I think the A55 is a decent source for it but I might not be as particular as you are. SQ-wise IMO R3 from BAL is fine, SE is not so good. Personally I preferred A55 and would generally be content to use my phone (v30) vs R3 (a55 is not clearly "better" than v30 to me, but I seem to prefer it slightly). R3 is a handy device though- MSEB is good and the connectivity options can be very useful if you need a tiny transport etc... Unfortunately not tried Shanlings but seem to be very well regarded, probably can't go wrong either way.

As far as DAC chips go, I wouldn't put too much thought into it for this type of device especially & focus on the feature set/UI/power you want etc... - I have heard devices with the same DAC that seem to sound different at least in casual comparison and very often comments about DAC properties are based on assumptions made using devices where there is no way to distinguish DAC from AMP.

Sooo here are a few listens impressions: the music seems slightly more bloated compared to my Cayin N3. I can also very well hear the poor quality of my mp3s much more with the Sony than the N3. I love love love the UI and it's so much better than the N3, imo. I was also surprised that it was thinner and lighter than the N3. The problem, though: it takes about 10 minutes for all of my . music to load, just like how it was when I had the Fiio X1. The N3 was immediate with loading...

This is still a good buy for me because I was so tired of my N3. I can't wait to break it in some more!

 

[Raketen]

Sooo here are a few listens impressions: the music seems slightly more bloated compared to my Cayin N3. I can also very well hear the poor quality of my mp3s much more with the Sony than the N3. I love love love the UI and it's so much better than the N3, imo. I was also surprised that it was thinner and lighter than the N3. The problem, though: it takes about 10 minutes for all of my . music to load, just like how it was when I had the Fiio X1. The N3 was immediate with loading...

This is still a good buy for me because I was so tired of my N3. I can't wait to break it in some more!

Instead of shutting it down you can leave the player paused and it will go into standby mode instead, then it doesn't have to reload the database. This will drain the battery eventually but won't be an issue if you are using & charging it a few days a week.

 

[Meshaboo]

Instead of shutting it down you can leave the player paused and it will go into standby mode instead, then it doesn't have to reload the database. This will drain the battery eventually but won't be an issue if you are using & charging it a few days a week.

Got it, thank you!