Sony Walkman NW-A306 High Res MP3 Player

Sony Walkman NW-A306 High Res MP3 Player Review by Shak's Hacks

Price
£349.00 (incl. VAT)

What's in the box
USB Type-C®Cable(USB-A - USB-C) (1)
Operating Instructions
Reference Guide

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:11 Unboxing
0:47 Look and feel
2:27 Comparison with NW-A55L
3:24 Comparison with other devices
4:14 Setup
5:17 EQ and Sound optimization tools
7:44 Bluetooth pairing
8:45 LDAC
11:22 Conclusion

Size & Weight
Dimensions (W x H x D)
Approx. 56.5 mm x 98.4 mm x 11.8 mm
Weight
Approx. 113 g

Wi-Fi
IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Frequency Band
2.4 / 5 GHz

Power
BATTERY LIFE - CONTINUOUS PLAYBACK MUSIC(W.MUSIC APP)
MP3 (128kbps) / Stereo mini-jack: Approx. 36 hrs, FLAC (96kHz / 24bit) / Stereo mini-jack: Approx. 32 hrs, FLAC (192kHz / 24bit) / Stereo mini-jack: Approx. 32 hrs, DSD (2.8224MHz / 1bit) / Stereo mini-jack: Approx. 28 hrs, DSD (5.6448MHz / 1bit) / Stereo mini-jack: Approx. 22 hrs, DSD (11.2896MHz / 1bit) / Stereo mini-jack: Approx. 14 hrs
BATTERY LIFE - CONTINUOUS PLAYBACK MUSIC(OTHER MUSIC APP)
MP3 (128kbps, offline mode) / Stereo mini-jack: Approx.26 hrs
BATTERY LIFE - BLUETOOTH (TRANSMITTER MODE)
MP3 (128kbps) / SBC-Connection pref: Approx.22 hrs
BATTERY LIFE - BLUETOOTH (TRANSMITTER MODE)
MP3 (128kbps) / SBC-Connection pref: Approx.18 hrs
Charging Time (full charge)
Approx. 3.5 hrs
Built-in battery
Rechargeable lithium-ion Battery
Charging and Power supply
USB power (from a computer via a USB)
Storage Media
Memory Size
32GB *Actual available memory 18GB
Playback & display
Music Play Mode
Shuffle Playback,Repeat Off,Repeat 1 Song,Repeat All,All Range,Selected Range
Sound effects
Direct Source (Direct) ,10 Band equalizer,DSEE Ultimate, DC Phase Linearizer,Dynamic Normalizer,ClearAudio+,Vinyl Processor
Audio Playback
MP3: 32 - 320kbps (supports VBR) / 32, 44.1, 48kHz, WMA: 32-320kbps (supports variable bitrate(VBR) / 44.1kHz (STEREO) ,32-48kbps / 44.1kHz (MONO) , FLAC: 16, 24bit / 8-384kHz, WAV: 16, 24, 32bit (Float / Integer) / 8-384kHz, AAC: 16-320kbps / 8-48kHz, HE-AAC: 32-144kbps / 8-48kHz, Apple Lossless: 16, 24bit / 8-384kHz, AIFF: 16, 24, 32bit / 8-384kHz, DSD: 1bit / 2.8224, 5.6448, 11.2896 MHz, APE: 8, 16, 24bit / 8-192kHz (Fast, Normal, High) , MQA: Supported

Display Resolution
9.1 cm (3.6-inch) ,HD (1280 x 720 Pixels)
Display Type
TFT colour display with white LED-backlight
Drag and Drop
Yes
Music Searching Methods
All Songs,Artist,Release Year, Playlists,Album, Genre, Composer, Hi-Res, Recent Transfers, Folder, Cue sheet
Headphone Out (Stereo mini-jack)

Frequency
20-40,000 Hz
Maximum Power Output (JEITA 16Ω/mW)
0.4-1.1mW (32Ω)

#mp3player #shakshacks
#shak's hacks #sonywalkman

[gabix]

Love your collection of players man, including the walkman cassette player. I have 6 portable cassette players as well. Got my 306 player yesterday, took forever but hey....
Thanks for the video

[BR-pmhy]

I had the bad battery issue with the zx707. I used to get MAYBE 8 hours and that was with WiFi turned off, Bluetooth off and in airplane mode. After about a week I shut down the device one night and once it restarted again the battery issue went away and haven’t had issues since then. Now it lasts me around 17-20 hours as advertised for the ZX707

[jagansm]

From what I saw in other videos, if you choose the Sony interface instead of the Android one, it should give you the old school cassette tape player interface.

[javierth]

Looks nice. I'm just not fond of the ridiculous prices for them.

[Keepingthefaith]

Can you drag and drop music files to the player, Also what file formats does it play . These are basic things you should mention ....

[davidhacala]

I Imported My NW-A306 From Hong Kong No Audio Cap And Hi Gain same with Japanese A306
Thanks For the Review

[ahphodg]

Any comment on the problems with low bass that many are reporting?

[ArmadaPejuang]

If they add camera might asweel add a speaker and flashlight, you need a good iem for this device

[stevenj]

B&H site said preorder for NY June 6. I have the previous model NW A105 sitting not used much - it has poor battery life. Apr.8 just saw J. Darko review from EU. Said battery life after firmware update put back bass it was off before, but cut battery life down to 15 hrs.Which is better than prior model though. Sound was reviewed as detailed but not warm
Need more sensitive IEM to get volume he said not powerful for his Campfire IEM without turning it way up.

I expect no matter what, new model will still present the SONY difficult way of making and syncing playlists thru app on PC, or adding one by one as on device into so-called bookmarks.
Loading a and managing tens of thousands of cut on 500Gb card (or even more difficult to manage 1 TB) requires good device software. Also, device cannot hod many apps, maybe it is a device memory 'mgmt. issue as there is room, but it 'reports' problems updating and low space issues every time I start

[chungang]

Your a55 is superior, the battery actually lasted. THese android versions have horrific battery life, the 105 lasts only a couple hours of playback. I doubt this will be much better, it is like a 500mah battery in there.

[edmonpedong]

Nice review! Planning to get one, please make a video on how to put songs from mac to nw a306. Thanks!

[BOOBLA]

Have you ran Spotify on it yet. And is it possible?

[nathanielngosy]

Greetings Shak. Thanks for this comprehensive review. Unless I missed these inquiries from your upload, hoping to hear your responses to them:

• How much microSD storage capacity does it accept (and just to be sure, would it play music from it)?

• Does the A306 support GAPLESS playback where it plays albums that doesn't have gaps in-between tracks?

• Is it compatible with MacOSX and does it recognize ExFat formatted files?

Thank you so much!!!

[yungdree]

Long awaited? I have the previous model(NW-A105) and that has USB-c

[vontaejordan]

There was a usb-c port on the a-105 that was released over 2 years ago this isn't a new addition.

[RM-ljbv]

I was hoping for all the functions on it to be shown.

[christianbacay]

Not a fan of Android based Walkman. It's like a cellphone without a sim. The only advantage of that Walkman is, you can install an apps that has Hi-Res streaming. That's why I choose A55

[mariusarhire]

Hi, great review! Does the player have two-way Bluetooth? Thank you

[miltonfulks]

Hello everyone! With streaming services can users download songs or podcasts to the mini-card for offline listening? Thanks!

[johnnysim]

How is the mp3 tag management and file transfer experience? Sony releases these beautful devices but when you add 20 years worth of MP3s to them the tags are all over the place