The Sony 40th Anniversary Walkman Thread
Sep 8, 2019 at 7:59 AM Post #406 of 3,003
I think the A100 is over priced, first, power output is too low. Secondly, built-in 16GB is a joke. Most competitors offer at least 32GB built-in for this price. Put it simply formatted + android, perhaps 11 to 13GB remain. A full DSD 11MHz album is 13GB in size
 
Sep 8, 2019 at 10:32 AM Post #407 of 3,003
I think the A100 is over priced, first, power output is too low. Secondly, built-in 16GB is a joke. Most competitors offer at least 32GB built-in for this price. Put it simply formatted + android, perhaps 11 to 13GB remain. A full DSD 11MHz album is 13GB in size

To which competition are you referring to? Can you give me some examples?
 
Sep 9, 2019 at 1:15 AM Post #410 of 3,003
The fiio M11 and some.oferings by cayin or hiby if I.am right

Yeah I looked at the M11 briefly but it is simply to big to be real portable. To be honest I think the M9 might be closer in price at least here. The M11 is $629 CDN and I am guessing the A105 will be closer to $450 to $500 CDN. That is assuming we ever see it hear which from Sony's past history is not a given.

Cayin is intriguing but they are taking forever to update the N3 which I really liked for sound quality. I am guessing I will be holding onto my M7 until next years models come out. Nothing else out there that tempts me to upgrade at the moment. It will be nice to read some actual reviews on the A105 though, the ZX500 simply isn't in my budget range.
 
Sep 9, 2019 at 2:32 AM Post #411 of 3,003
Yeah I looked at the M11 briefly but it is simply to big to be real portable. To be honest I think the M9 might be closer in price at least here. The M11 is $629 CDN and I am guessing the A105 will be closer to $450 to $500 CDN. That is assuming we ever see it hear which from Sony's past history is not a given.

Cayin is intriguing but they are taking forever to update the N3 which I really liked for sound quality. I am guessing I will be holding onto my M7 until next years models come out. Nothing else out there that tempts me to upgrade at the moment. It will be nice to read some actual reviews on the A105 though, the ZX500 simply isn't in my budget range.
The hiby r5 looks promising. I have one coming in tomorrow to test. It has lots of power, not terrible battery (11hrs balanced, 18 single ended), is very portable, and fluid for the most part. People in the thread seem to be liking it, though it has a couple kinks that are needed to sort out. Also, as a side note, it apparently has a more neutral presentation vs sony daps. Priced at $400 usd.
 
Sep 9, 2019 at 2:48 AM Post #412 of 3,003
The hiby r5 looks promising. I have one coming in tomorrow to test. It has lots of power, not terrible battery (11hrs balanced, 18 single ended), is very portable, and fluid for the most part. People in the thread seem to be liking it, though it has a couple kinks that are needed to sort out. Also, as a side note, it apparently has a more neutral presentation vs sony daps. Priced at $400 usd.

So that would be about $600 CDN so again more than I want to spend on a DAP. The A105 will likely be cheaper and even that might to much for me as well. A DAP has to blow me away in all areas to get me to spend over $300 CDN. I don't believe in spending that much on battery powered electronics. I prefer to spend the big bucks on home gear since it will last a lot longer and tends to be more capable feature wise.
 
Sep 9, 2019 at 2:57 AM Post #413 of 3,003
It will be interesting to see Sony's position on installing 3rd party apps,if they will even allow it on the A100 or even the ZX500. Not exactly known for being an open minded company for sure. This is one area where possibly Chinese DAP makers, especially Fiio may hold a big advantage. Fiio has whitelisted quite a few 3rd party apps for their M6/M9/M11 DAPs.
 
Sep 9, 2019 at 3:26 AM Post #414 of 3,003
It will be interesting to see Sony's position on installing 3rd party apps,if they will even allow it on the A100 or even the ZX500. Not exactly known for being an open minded company for sure. This is one area where possibly Chinese DAP makers, especially Fiio may hold a big advantage. Fiio has whitelisted quite a few 3rd party apps for their M6/M9/M11 DAPs.

If it's anything link the NW-ZX1 you can download any app you want (with the limitation of Android 4.1.1 in the case of the ZX1). So I have Neutron player (down sampled I presume), Sports Tracker app for running using GPS and Audible for audio books!

Doesn't look like ZX507 has a GPS chip so sports apps wouldn't work on that front.
 
Sep 9, 2019 at 3:29 AM Post #415 of 3,003
It will be interesting to see Sony's position on installing 3rd party apps,if they will even allow it on the A100 or even the ZX500. Not exactly known for being an open minded company for sure. This is one area where possibly Chinese DAP makers, especially Fiio may hold a big advantage. Fiio has whitelisted quite a few 3rd party apps for their M6/M9/M11 DAPs.
If you look at their phones, they allow bootloader unlocking and even helping you do so. I don't see why they wouldn't be open with their DAPs like their phones. Also, someone with experience may be able to say how open they were with the zx2. That would be where to draw conclusions from.

Also, isn't the A100 going to also be 400 usd?
 
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Sep 9, 2019 at 4:43 AM Post #416 of 3,003
It will be interesting to see Sony's position on installing 3rd party apps,if they will even allow it on the A100 or even the ZX500. Not exactly known for being an open minded company for sure. This is one area where possibly Chinese DAP makers, especially Fiio may hold a big advantage. Fiio has whitelisted quite a few 3rd party apps for their M6/M9/M11 DAPs.

You've got it completely backwards, the Sony Walkmans had always been very open with their Android based Walkmans. The promo video already shows the inclusion Google Play Store - so just like the ZX1 and ZX2 you'll be able to download directly from the Google Play Store. So none of the APK or firmware flashing nonsense of Chinese DAPs - well because Play Store is banned in China! The Walkmans has the advantage and will be much more user friendly and more stand alone with the inclusion of the Play Store in the device itself, also getting the Walkmans to be certified for Google Play Store adds cost to these devices so that has to be factored in as well.

My issue with having a fully certified Android build with Google Services included means that getting updates can be a lot more cumbersome - so unless their music playing app has all the functionality which can then be updated more easily via the Play Store, huge firmware related bugs will take a lot longer to rectify.
 
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Sep 9, 2019 at 5:07 AM Post #417 of 3,003
Sep 9, 2019 at 7:12 AM Post #418 of 3,003
I think the A100 is over priced, first, power output is too low. Secondly, built-in 16GB is a joke. Most competitors offer at least 32GB built-in for this price. Put it simply formatted + android, perhaps 11 to 13GB remain. A full DSD 11MHz album is 13GB in size
True enough. HiBy, FiiO et al provide way better bang for your buck (hell, the M11 is so powerful that my friend uses his old phone to set up a hotspot and just uses his M11 as his daily driver). Sony is pulling the nostalgia card to double the price of what the A100 should cost (the A105 TPS is even worse)
 
Sep 9, 2019 at 11:17 AM Post #419 of 3,003
I am hoping for more driving power from their DAPs as well but the ZX300 is enough to drive HD800. I think if you are trying to drive very hard to drive orthos phones then u may want to look else where. However, power isn’t everything right. It is all about the sound quality IMO and not the loudness.
 

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