[TripBitShooter]

i am wondering if this is gonna be better than the NWZ-F886, or something like the iBasso DX50.

 

[TripBitShooter]

If it can best the iBasso DX50, then we have a new competitor in the budget DAP segment, and it will no longer be just FiiO and iBasso.

Btw, does anyone know how the DX50 compares to the F886

 

[castleofargh]

just gave the demo at star house Hong Kong. Was using a Fidue A83 with 7N occ 8 wire cable.

Initial impression: the sound is clear n neutral (not bright nor warm just neutral), a bit of floor noise not as bad as hidizs ap100. Menu is smooth on a filled 32g sd card. Initial sd card scanning takes a few minutes.

UI gripes:
-Have to mount the sd card in menu in order to view it
-Cannot display some Asian languages or words
-Can format sd on the device and the option is place right next to the mounting and dismounting of sd card
-Cannot view folders on sd card, have to find songs via album, artist, genre but no the folders I stored my music in

thanks for the feedback, noise to some extent was anticipated as all sonys I've heard have more or less noise but always some. I suppose the fidue A83 is one of those IEMs super sensitive to hiss(se535/846, some fitear...), do you have a level of comparison with another sony for hiss, or a dx50, or some ipod? it would help to know what IEMs will be cleared of hissing better than the ap100. shigzeo did say the ap100 had a lot of noise and I stopped reading hiss review after that ^_^.
 
but no browsing by folder is strange to say the least. TBH when I saw the µSD icon on the screenshots I thought that the music icon would do just what you described(access only after mounting, and maybe no folder browsing), but I was confident that going through the µSD icon would allow the opposite(rapid folder access without scan and nothing more). I imagine you tried both?
 
I suppose the format action has a confirm pop up so it should avoid drama, but we can say it's lucky there is no touchscreen with that configuration ^_^.
 
anyway thanks again, I really appreciate your raw experience without sugar coating. if anything it makes your comment on clear and neutral sound very convincing

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

By the way, when the A17 is paired with pha-3, sounds like a dream, the sound is many times better, much warmer, richer, resolving, more body.

My wish from my previous post is just to make noted that such a problem exists and that Sony fixes it before my preordered a15 arrives.

 
That is exciting.  I'm hoping there will finally be a transport for a DAC/Amp that will have more battery life then 5 or 6 hours.  Since they say 30 hours playing hi-res, I'm hoping for 15 as a digital transport...

 

[gelocks]

Not sure if this had been posted:
 
http://www.whathifi.com/sony/nwz-a15/review

 

[waiveddreams]

  Not sure if this had been posted:
 
http://www.whathifi.com/sony/nwz-a15/review

There is not too much information in this review concerning sound.
Whathifi's review has some nice pics, the player itself looks really great, I think the UI is also convenient enough. Thanks!

 

[fxim]

Just a note, the place where I sampled the a17 was not that quiet.

The noise level is similar to the old f880 series Walkman but the dynamic range/resolution is better. Even with the super sensitive Fidue a83 with cable swap ~11 ohms it required around half of total volume to bring to reach the 80dB range.

Yes it uses micro sd but I usually write sd for short since most players us micro sd now.

After putting my sd into the a17, it actually created a few folders for pictures (dcim), video, etc.

Yes castleofargh I tried both methods and No, the micro sd icon described will show an error saying no files exist but I can then find all my files via album, artists, etc. btw my sd card is very full with only 1-2 mb to spare, not sure if this was the matter for a17

Seems to not come with case and at the moment, no dedicated pouch, case, nor sleeve for it.

The buttons of the a17 feels alright with reasonable dampening, and everything feels solid except the "hold" sliding switch which seemed a tad flimsy. Feels pretty good in hand and not slippery at all

 

[castleofargh]

Just a note, the place where I sampled the a17 was not that quiet.

The noise level is similar to the old f880 series Walkman but the dynamic range/resolution is better. Even with the super sensitive Fidue a83 with cable swap ~11 ohms it required around half of total volume to bring to reach the 80dB range.

Yes it uses micro sd but I usually write sd for short since most players us micro sd now.

After putting my sd into the a17, it actually created a few folders for pictures (dcim), video, etc.

Yes castleofargh I tried both methods and No, the micro sd icon described will show an error saying no files exist but I can then find all my files via album, artists, etc. btw my sd card is very full with only 1-2 mb to spare, not sure if this was the matter for a17

Seems to not come with case and at the moment, no dedicated pouch, case, nor sleeve for it.

The buttons of the a17 feels alright with reasonable dampening, and everything feels solid except the "hold" sliding switch which seemed a tad flimsy. Feels pretty good in hand and not slippery at all

 thanks

 

[personal2222]

subscribed. I am wonder how the sound would be like.
 
I am surprised that Sony's only new walkman is the A10; and it doesn't looks like a high-level DAP

 

[qawsedrf]

Just a note, the place where I sampled the a17 was not that quiet.

The noise level is similar to the old f880 series Walkman but the dynamic range/resolution is better. Even with the super sensitive Fidue a83 with cable swap ~11 ohms it required around half of total volume to bring to reach the 80dB range.

Yes it uses micro sd but I usually write sd for short since most players us micro sd now.

After putting my sd into the a17, it actually created a few folders for pictures (dcim), video, etc.

Yes castleofargh I tried both methods and No, the micro sd icon described will show an error saying no files exist but I can then find all my files via album, artists, etc. btw my sd card is very full with only 1-2 mb to spare, not sure if this was the matter for a17

Seems to not come with case and at the moment, no dedicated pouch, case, nor sleeve for it.

The buttons of the a17 feels alright with reasonable dampening, and everything feels solid except the "hold" sliding switch which seemed a tad flimsy. Feels pretty good in hand and not slippery at all

That really sounds like a bug - Hopefully this is something which will be resolved moving forward.

 

[pietcux]

Maybe you need to fill the card using MediaGo. I found that just filling the F886 with copy and paste corrupted most of my album art. But on using MediaGo to import the files corrected most album art to be visible.
Btw. Did you try gapless??

 

[castleofargh]

Maybe you need to fill the card using MediaGo. I found that just filling the F886 with copy and paste corrupted most of my album art. But on using MediaGo to import the files corrected most album art to be visible.
Btw. Did you try gapless??

I think that is because media go, like say itune, will either convert or decide not to transfer files that don't work with the DAP(cover too big, not in jpg special flac compression setting, an old pdf that was on the µsd...).
anyway an error message obviously isn't the expected action of that button ^_^. so I'm confident there is hope for folder navigation. we'll just have to find out what causes the error.

 

[natebizzle]

i am wondering if this is gonna be better than the NWZ-F886, or something like the iBasso DX50.

I'd be interested to know this also... I'm looking to purchase my first DAP capable of 24/192, at the moment I don't have a dedicated DAP at all, I use my HTC One (M7) with the AIMP player to play FLAC files but would like a dedicated source with a better DAC and headphone amp. Since the announcement of the A10/15/17 my shortlist has grown and after reading through this thread and discovering the F886 for the first time it has grown again! Right now I'm tossing up between the cheaper albeit bulkier X1 purely for the fact that it is $100 and is available now, one of these new Sony A series players because of the slim form factor and the addition of Bluetooth which is perfect for the gym combined with some Bluetooth in ears, the 32gb F886 which is selling for a little under the price of the 16gb A15, or the Pono player which other than some glowing reviews from listeners on the official Pono page I don't really have much to go off, I do like it's design and if it sounds like everyone interviewed says it sounds like then I'm sold although it is also the most expensive out of the lot at $399... Hmmm... decisions decisions...

 

[whitelight1]

  I'd be interested to know this also... I'm looking to purchase my first DAP capable of 24/192, at the moment I don't have a dedicated DAP at all, I use my HTC One (M7) with the AIMP player to play FLAC files but would like a dedicated source with a better DAC and headphone amp. Since the announcement of the A10/15/17 my shortlist has grown and after reading through this thread and discovering the F886 for the first time it has grown again! Right now I'm tossing up between the cheaper albeit bulkier X1 purely for the fact that it is $100 and is available now, one of these new Sony A series players because of the slim form factor and the addition of Bluetooth which is perfect for the gym combined with some Bluetooth in ears, the 32gb F886 which is selling for a little under the price of the 16gb A15, or the Pono player which other than some glowing reviews from listeners on the official Pono page I don't really have much to go off, I do like it's design and if it sounds like everyone interviewed says it sounds like then I'm sold although it is also the most expensive out of the lot at $399... Hmmm... decisions decisions...

 
I am in exactly the same situation.   I have decided to buy a Fiio X1 just because it's so cheap and I think it will act as a good introduction to DAP players.  If I find I like having a DAP that can play FLAC etc. files, later this year, I will consider upgrading to either the Sony A10 or the Pono.  Both of the latter two devices seem to have great potential, for different reasons, but I'd like to see some objective opinions on both before deciding which one is right for me.

 

[davidcotton]

   
I am in exactly the same situation.   I have decided to buy a Fiio X1 just because it's so cheap and I think it will act as a good introduction to DAP players.  If I find I like having a DAP that can play FLAC etc. files, later this year, I will consider upgrading to either the Sony A10 or the Pono.  Both of the latter two devices seem to have great potential, for different reasons, but I'd like to see some objective opinions on both before deciding which one is right for me.

Welcome to headfi, sorry about your wallet.
 
If you want an mp3 player capable of playing flac files get a cheap sansa clip plus or zip and rockbox it.