[keenears]

1) does anyone have a specs on the A105 DAC? Even basic things, I assume it’s Delta Sigma?
2) has anyone successfully upgraded their battery? It has been a couple years, surely a better battery exists that we can install?

 

[vext01]

Has the battery life improved much on the nw-a105 with newer firmwares?

A few months back I tried a nw-a105, but ended up returning it because I could only get about 4 hours out of it (playing ogg vorbis using a different player).

That was with airplane mode on and a bunch of apps disabled.

It's a shame because I loved everything else about it. I currently use a Hiby R3, but find it miserable to use due to bugs and UI quirks. By comparison, the UI on the a105 was fantastic.

I do wonder if I got one with a dud battery...

 

[rlw6534]

Has the battery life improved much on the nw-a105 with newer firmwares?

A few months back I tried a nw-a105, but ended up returning it because I could only get about 4 hours out of it (playing ogg vorbis using a different player).

That was with airplane mode on and a bunch of apps disabled.

It's a shame because I loved everything else about it. I currently use a Hiby R3, but find it miserable to use due to bugs and UI quirks. By comparison, the UI on the a105 was fantastic.

I do wonder if I got one with a dud battery...

I haven't noticed any improvement over the updates on my A105. It is certainly the weakest point of the device, but it is small. I'm sure you know the best performance is with built-in walkman player with no audio enhancements. And of course my R3 Pro also has the longest battery life of all of my DAPs. I do wish they would fix some of the bugs as well.

 

[vext01]

I do wish they would fix some of the bugs as well.

I'm not holding my breath, to be honest.

It's frustrating.

 

[fish1050]

Has the battery life improved much on the nw-a105 with newer firmwares?

A few months back I tried a nw-a105, but ended up returning it because I could only get about 4 hours out of it (playing ogg vorbis using a different player).

That was with airplane mode on and a bunch of apps disabled.

It's a shame because I loved everything else about it. I currently use a Hiby R3, but find it miserable to use due to bugs and UI quirks. By comparison, the UI on the a105 was fantastic.

I do wonder if I got one with a dud battery...

Yeah Sony will not fix this issue in firmware, they already have your money. You won't see this issue fixed until they release a newer version. Why lose money on R&D now fixing a problem when you can sell a newer version later and make money in the process. I will bet my life that the people who have bought the A105 will jump on the next version if it offers better battery life. Sony had to know the battery life would be a big issue and quite frankly Sony needs a reason to release a newer version down the road. Not much else you can add to these DAP's at this point. Sony has already indicated they can't increase the power output, so add battery life (bigger battery) and newer version of android and call it the A205 or whatever they decide to call it.

Why do you think they released the A10/20/30/40/50 every year with very little difference between them? It is how the retail audio market has always worked. My guess is the delay in releasing new models at least partly coincides with the decision to close their plant in Malaysia. They had to retool in another factory in Kuala Lumpur or China with the WM models which took time and delayed production. Now that they seem to be up and running maybe we will see more frequent model updates. I wouldn't be surprised if an update to the A105 is released next year or at least announced late this year as sales will likely drop sharply on the A105 by then.

 

[vext01]

I wouldn't be surprised if an update to the A105 is released next year

I hope so.

I returned my A105 anyway.

 

[fish1050]

I hope so.

I returned my A105 anyway.

Glad to hear it, companies like Sony won't change their tactics unless the consumer forces them to. If enough people do what you did and return their A105's it might force Sony to release and updated model sooner rather than later.

 

[Anthony9]

Glad to hear it, companies like Sony won't change their tactics unless the consumer forces them to. If enough people do what you did and return their A105's it might force Sony to release and updated model sooner rather than later.

I've reached the point whereby the A105 is my very last DAP. With the massive improvement in Bluetooth earphones I see little point in investing in a DAP to use as a mere transport. A mobile phone with good codec implementation and support is all I need into the future.

 

[vext01]

I've reached the point whereby the A105 is my very last DAP. With the massive improvement in Bluetooth earphones I see little point in investing in a DAP to use as a mere transport. A mobile phone with good codec implementation and support is all I need into the future.

Yeah, as long as we can still find a phone with an SD card slot. The ones that do, tend to be ones that don't get regular monthly security updates (Google no longer put SD slots in their phones).

 

[myromeo]

Off topic a little - I had a really random dream last night that Sony had released the ‘new’ A series, called it an A109 (no idea?!), it was literally the A105 with a larger battery and android 11.

Woke up thinking actually, I would be happy with that

 

[Anthony9]

Off topic a little - I had a really random dream last night that Sony had released the ‘new’ A series, called it an A109 (no idea?!), it was literally the A105 with a larger battery and android 11.

Woke up thinking actually, I would be happy with that

I've had weird dreams but Sony never featured in them

 

[rlw6534]

Off topic a little - I had a really random dream last night that Sony had released the ‘new’ A series, called it an A109 (no idea?!), it was literally the A105 with a larger battery and android 11.

Woke up thinking actually, I would be happy with that

You never know, it has been a while since the A100 and ZX500 were released (over two years ago). They used to update the NW-A series every year previously...

 

[tradyblix]

No battery breakthrough needed, Sony always puts small batteries in their DAP's. Sony's DAP designs are probably the most power efficient on the market. At such a low power output Sony needs to offer much better battery life as the tradeoff and that means larger batteries, especially using the power hungry android OS. Until that happens I won't be buying another Sony DAP.

Well, maybe. I dunno, I've had some sony things with decent battery life in them in a smaller form factor. Not THAT small tho. Not as small as this DAP.

Although I have run into volume issues with multiple sony tech items, I actually felt like this thing has an adequate volume with most IEMs you're likely to use with it, depending on their technology that is. I mean it's fine around 90-100 with blessing 2s. I haven't tried any multi-driver tech IEMs like the Monarch's with it tho so I don't know if it can handle more power hungry IEMs. I know It couldn't drive a Tin P1 a few years ago before I lost it.

The problem I'd been having with Tidal went away after an app update. I forgot how stupid old Android (hell even Android 12) is about automatic updates. you still don't timely updates even if you ask the apps to keep themselves updated. It's nothing like how it happens on iOS which seems like how things should work with regard to updates.

I'm still ready to get off this DAP tho and find something that checks all the boxes for me and it's in the "enthusiast" price range, well, at least not too far in there. Just no longer feel like spending 2,000 on a good DAP is sensible (thinking of Sony's higher end models just announced)

 

[tradyblix]

I haven't noticed any improvement over the updates on my A105. It is certainly the weakest point of the device, but it is small. I'm sure you know the best performance is with built-in walkman player with no audio enhancements. And of course my R3 Pro also has the longest battery life of all of my DAPs. I do wish they would fix some of the bugs as well.

If you use high-res streaming, just have it turn off automatically after an hour, that helps, from keeping you finding it totally dead (it doesn't support any kind of fast charging sadly). Also try downloading music ahead of time and listening in offline mode with wifi and bluetooth off if possible. then you get the best battery life, which will work for a couple of 2-3 hour music sessions.

Otherwise it's really only good for one long listening sesh before recharging it. If Sony continues this line, they need to ship it with a cradle or give it wireless charging support, that would help

 

[tradyblix]

Yeah, as long as we can still find a phone with an SD card slot. The ones that do, tend to be ones that don't get regular monthly security updates (Google no longer put SD slots in their phones).

Bluetooth headphones are better that they were, and they are better for sports applications, but none of them can hold a candle to the wired enthusiast market so for me that day will be further off. Also, BT headphones that require a pod are a major annoyance for me. I can never find the headphones, or the pod, or have them both be charged (sometimes one will not charge in the pod correctly) and wired headphones don't have ANY of those issues. And there there is the issue of using non-lossless or non-high fs streams, which is not a big deal, but having whatever DAC is on the headphone and is tiny enough (and cheap enough) to work to produce sound IS... so... yeah. not yet. One day tho. I and don't use my enthusiast models when I go for a walk or run.