[Raketen]

During the time I used qobuz, the battery % dropped pretty quickly.

Was it online listening? I think Wifi's inventors secretly resented batteries.

 

[burkerg]

What’s the general consensus on ClearAudio+? Do you use it?

 

[Seed0]

What’s the general consensus on ClearAudio+? Do you use it?

I use it with FLACs and streaming, I leave it on most of the time I'm shuffling tracks. It may be a gimmick, but it makes some noisy tracks more enjoyable to listen to. I'll say this though, the vinyl processor is 100% gimmicky and I really couldn't tell you if it works or not lol.

 

[antdroid]

I am not a fan of ClearAudio+, seems like it just boosts treble to artificially add clarity.

 

[-kent-]

I am not a fan of ClearAudio+, seems like it just boosts treble to artificially add clarity.

Same here. I think that pretty much does exactly that.

Say... Does anyone ever figured out how android works properly with a DAC? A few posts earlier someone said how much energy a DAC consumes / how fast the current charge of the walkman dies.

After a million threads around the web and a ton of unanswered questions, I'm also at a loss. It seems that not the NW-A105 is the bad boy, but android in general, since it tries to always charge the usb device connected to it.

I tried it with some different Y cables and even bought an adapter today, but there seems to be no way to either stop android from charging another device or at least let it charge and exchange data at the same time. I'm using an OPPO HA2, but the walkman dies in like 30 minutes and the DAC always shows it's charging...

With the DAC the volume problem is at least gone, but a new one emerged :/

 

[dflame57]

Are people getting hiss or static when using theirs?

I just bought one and I'm getting hiss/static when the screen is on with my UE 7s. I'm pretty new to the audiophile game but I don't get any hiss with my Fiio M6. I wanted an android DAP and this looked like a great option but the hiss is a bit annoying. I tried with my UE 400s but I don't hear it. Not sure if it's because of the good isolation on the customs tho.

My theory is that the andriod system is sending a signal through the earbuds when the screen is on, even if no music is playing.

 

[numberoneconsumer]

SenseMe Channels Gone
​

SenseMe channels were a feature that really set Sony apart from other DAPs, and which I liked to tame my large library. Load up your walkman with songs, then just click to SenseMe channels to jump directly into a custom mix according to the time of day and selected "mood," according to Sony's proprietary analysis of track characteristics (including tempo etc). Turn it on at midnight and you have a slow midnight mix playing, allowing you to use a large library without need to navigate through 100s of artist/album/folder names. Very cool that it would start in the middle of a track, as if you had just tuned into a radio station.

I own the NWA-25, NWA-35 and the NWA-100TPS.

The NWA-25 would handle SenseMe analysis on-board. That means you can just load songs on the NWA-25 and go with SenseMe Channels, no other steps with external software.

By the NWA-35 you had to pre-analyze all the tracks using Sony's (frankly terrible) PC application, leaving unanalyzed tracks out of the shuffle of SenseMe channels.

Now the NWA-100 has totally lost SenseMe. Now if you just want to listen to a certain mood of music, you must either tediously create your own playlists or turn to whatever is on offer from a streaming service.

No Simultaneous Charging and Data-Transfer
​

The NWA-100 has also lost the WM-port in favor of USB-C. This means that you can no longer use the Sony BCR-NWH10 dock to output to an external DAC while simultaneously charging. The earlier walkmans with WM-ports would make quite elegant desktop sources, interfacing with a dedicated DAC.

Some USB-C android devices can simultaneously charge and interface with a peripheral (like a USB DAC) using a powered hub. (Samsung devices are hardwired to facilitate simultaneous data/charge with certain hubs by method of shorting out certain pins.) I believe this is a matter of hardware implementation, rather than simply software. Some devices can manage simultaneous charge and data only with certain hubs and after some finicky plugging/unplugging handshake procedures.

It does not currently seem like the Sony Walkman NWA-100 supports simultaneous charging and data transfer over USB-C. This means that there is a (pretty short) battery drain time limit by which you can use any external DAC, making it impractical as a regular source for desktop system. Someone please prove this wrong. (I do hope that Sony issues a new desktop cradle and remote control, so as to smoothly pair the device to use an external DAC in a stationary desktop system.)

There is also some degree of non-standard software interfacing between the hardware buttons and the android system volume control. This means that the hardware volume buttons only seem to interface with the on-board DAC as reflected in android by the "Volume" parameter, and do not control the android "Media volume" parameter. This means that the hardware volume buttons will not adjust the volume within Spotify or Amazon Music when you are casting/remote-controlling to another output device.

I have not been able to successfully use a bluetooth remote control to control volume or other media functions on the NWA-100. Prior A-series walkmans did not accept generic bluetooth remotes either, however the NWA-35 and later models did work well with Sony's proprietary RMT-NWS20 remote. The NWA-100 does not seem to work with the RMT-NWS20.

Hopefully Sony shall issue more USB-C/android accessories. In the meantime, I find that cassette styled external power banks are a necessity with the retro-styled NWA-100TPS.

Many android devices do not handle external DACs very well, particularly when switching between audio applications. The NWA-100 does an excellent job interfacing with my Chord Hugo 2 via micro-usb to usb-c cable, (though sometimes needing a close-app, plug/unplug routine).

HiRes Streaming Apps are NOT limited by Android OS
​

I reject the apparent rumor that the Sony NWA-100 does not output "Hi-Res" music beyond 48khz from streaming apps, due to some supposed stock android OS limitation. My experience indicates that the NWA-100TPS is capable of hi-res output from streaming music apps, at least with an external DAC, and is not capped to 48khz. My Hugo2 lights up a steady green when I switch to either Spotify or Amazon Music HD, indicating that it is interfacing at a fixed 96khz sample frequency (regardless of the actual source material sample rate). Other third-party apps switch the external DAC sample rate to match the original source sample. (It seems unlikely that android is picking up a 96khz source, chopping off some bits by downsampling at 48khz at the internal mixer, and then upsampling it all back to feed 96khz to an external DAC.)

Notably, Sony's proprietary Walkman music app seems to fix the external DAC interface sample rate at 48khz, even if the source material sample rate is 96khz.
(I am not sure what sample rates are making it to the on-board S-Master DAC and out the analog 3.5mm output. Though one would trust Sony to output 96khz out of its own DAC using its own player application, the software's 48khz ceiling to external DAC is somewhat troubling).

While the walkman's S-Master DAC is competent enough, (particularly when you are on the go or listening to lower bitrate sources), the Hugo 2 of course sounds significantly better. The walkman's noise floor is noticeable with IEMs such as the Shure se535, particularly due to rf interference chatter from the wifi radio and perhaps the processor. This "beep chatter" was not apparent in the prior, non-wifi non-android walkmans. (The noise is not discernable on the NWA-100 with higher impedance/lower-sensitivity headphones.)

Can anyone prove that third-party apps (streaming or otherwise) are not capable of outputting hi-res music at 96khz due to an android OS limitation?

(Sidenote re: android mixer -- can anyone recommend a method to mix simultaneous audio streams onboard android from two different apps -- e.g. so I can hear spotify in the background while listening to the audible app?)

 

[AlfredoDG]

Same here. I think that pretty much does exactly that.

Say... Does anyone ever figured out how android works properly with a DAC? A few posts earlier someone said how much energy a DAC consumes / how fast the current charge of the walkman dies.

After a million threads around the web and a ton of unanswered questions, I'm also at a loss. It seems that not the NW-A105 is the bad boy, but android in general, since it tries to always charge the usb device connected to it.

I tried it with some different Y cables and even bought an adapter today, but there seems to be no way to either stop android from charging another device or at least let it charge and exchange data at the same time. I'm using an OPPO HA2, but the walkman dies in like 30 minutes and the DAC always shows it's charging...

With the DAC the volume problem is at least gone, but a new one emerged :/

I don't know if it's manageable on android side, but with some DAC models you can choose what to do with charging. For example, with ifi nano bl, if you turn on the DAC before connecting to the player, it works only on internal battery and there's no charge over USB. Fiio q5, instead, has two different USB port, one for data and one for charging

 

[Sp12er3]

Techmoan went to admit that the A100 has grown on him, enough that he got curious and went back and tried the A55.
This is his comparison of how he prefer the A100 more in sound (clearly).

His viewpoint is more of the layman side of things, and he mostly used WH/WF 1000XM3s for the test, Tho, he also have an old trusty Fidelio X2 that he used for the blind test.
Can we just say, as skeptics on modern audio snakeoils, he got surprised by the result.

To note his only other DAP before the Sonys is iRiver Activo CT10, same parent company as A&K for entry level player. He bought both it and the A100 for the novelty anniversary models it came in. One for a Sega Saturn the other for the TPS-L2 case.

 

[Beda]

What’s the general consensus on ClearAudio+? Do you use it?

Don't like it, so I don't use it.

 

[joemke]

Techmoan went to admit that the A100 has grown on him, enough that he got curious and went back and tried the A55.
This is his comparison of how he prefer the A100 more in sound (clearly).

His viewpoint is more of the layman side of things, and he mostly used WH/WF 1000XM3s for the test, Tho, he also have an old trusty Fidelio X2 that he used for the blind test.
Can we just say, as skeptics on modern audio snakeoils, he got surprised by the result.

To note his only other DAP before the Sonys is iRiver Activo CT10, same parent company as A&K for entry level player. He bought both it and the A100 for the novelty anniversary models it came in. One for a Sega Saturn the other for the TPS-L2 case.

I agree with the Tech Moan, some tracks I could hear the harshness of A45 (which I think is very similar to A55) . But there are tracks where it sounded better and I felt A105 had the vocals held back. Overall it was a matter of getting used to A105 since it was overall pleasant sounding. I ended up returning the A45 I had.

 

[Sp12er3]

On experience, ClearAudio+is only beneficial in super bass heavy cheap stuffs, like most Sony entry level buds are, on those the DSP help tremendously.

 

[Seed0]

My DAP crashed/turned off for the 2nd time within 12 hrs by itself just now while listening to HD tracks. Not OK.

 

[pnzr]

So...I'm kinda in the market for a new DAP and I loved the NW A45, but concerns over battery life have me worried a bit. Here's my situation: I have to pairs of IEM that I use. The Campfire Audio Polaris V2 and the Sony WF-1000XM3 true wireless. I only listen to downloaded flac files and don't use streaming services. Only time I need WiFi is to occasionally download new tracks from Bandcamp. I'm fine with turning off WiFi if I can get ca. 15 hours of listening via Bluetooth out of it.
Considering all of this, do you think this player is the right one for me?

Also will the EU version suffice for these IEM?

 

[davidcotton]

So...I'm kinda in the market for a new DAP and I loved the NW A45, but concerns over battery life have me worried a bit. Here's my situation: I have to pairs of IEM that I use. The Campfire Audio Polaris V2 and the Sony WF-1000XM3 true wireless. I only listen to downloaded flac files and don't use streaming services. Only time I need WiFi is to occasionally download new tracks from Bandcamp. https://m.soundcloud.com/staatsschauspiel-dresden/sets/dresdner-reden-2020I'm fine with turning off WiFi if I can get ca. 15 hours of listening via Bluetooth out of it.
Considering all of this, do you think this player is the right one for me?

Also will the EU version suffice for these IEM?

Antdroid on the previous page posted "Started at 100%, continuous flac playback except 15 mins of qobuz streaming for 7 hours and its at 44% with 1 hour screen on time " so looks like it may be more like 10-12 on rough estimates depending on how much of a hit the qobuz streaming hit and how much screen time you use.