Hi everyone. I've read through more pages of this thread than I care to admit and I'm totally in awe of the knowledge on display here. It's humbling when you come across people that are such experts in their field/hobbies!
I'm a novice but I probably understand a bit more about audio stuff than your average person on the street, have learned so much by reading this thread too. I've never owned a high end system of any kind but some of my friends have over the years.
Anyway...I've recently bought a second hand Sony A45 that has only been used once or twice. It should arrive tomorrow and I'm looking forward to trying it out. My main aim was getting a simple, music only device that was good value for money, sounds great and can make use of my digital music collection. My library has had very little playtime over the past 2-3 years and Spotify has made me lazy. I'd like to get back to curating and enjoying my own library of music again. Currently in the process of replacing most of my favourite albums with flacs but unfortunately some of my rips are very poor quality from back in the day. Updating them will be an ongoing thing.
I actually stumbled across all the Mr Walkman fw stuff after I'd decided to buy the A45. A friend swore by his A35 and I'd read good things about the A45 in general, not even taking into account custom fw. All of this is a total bonus for me and I'm glad I went for the 45 instead of one of the newer budget players (Mechen M30 etc).
I have a few questions of course, if people don't mind! Any other tips or advice are more than welcome, thanks.
1. I plan on installing Walkman One fw but how long do you recommend running it on stock? Have read about burn in on devices, does this need considering?
2. Have ordered a SanDisk 512GB Ultra to go with it, hopefully this will be ok?
3. Running Walkman One, will I be able to connect the A45 to a Bluetooth speaker? Would it also be possible to connect to a car stereo via AUX cable or the likes?
Bought a pair of KZ ZS10 Pro Xs that were on sale. I realise they're entry level but they will still be a huge improvement over any I've used in the past. I've tried a friend's ZS10 Pros and liked them. Will come back to you guys for advice when the inevitable upgrade happens!