Sony NW-A306 Walkman 32GB Hi-Res Portable Digital Music Player with Android, up to 36 Hour Battery, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth and USB Type-C – Black NW-A306/B, Black

Solid DAP for the price
I have, for decades, owned Android devices and never one thing labeled Apple. Not even an iPod. So reading the reviews and seeing people complain that this Sony WM is Android-based is what led me to purchase one. Having first bought a Shanling, I couldn’t even get it to recognize the same 1TB memory that is working fine in the Sony. So I returned the Shanling without hesitation…I have used Roon ARC since release and before that, PlexAmp while on the go. I mainly use them in the car with a portable USB DAC. The apps work well “overall” – barring cell phone reliability. ARC runs into minor issues nearly once a day. It might pop up a ‘Poor Connection’ error or it will just pause what you’re playing and then start to buffer. Can become very annoying… This is especially true in heavy traffic because I prefer all of my music files to be in their native format and resolution. So CD rips – 16/44.1 wav, SACDs DSD 1x (dsf) and hi-rez downloads, DVD-As and Bluray audio at their native bit rates and sampling rates. So this takes some bandwidth off my cellular provider and they fail miserably at times. PlexAmp is far more reliable but you’re only getting mp3 quality. They transcode everything, as far as I can tell, when on cellular data. Such a shame…And so began my search for a capable but reasonably priced DAP. I am a hi-fi home audio guy, so I pick my battles. On the road, I just want everything to be there. A nice, tight thump when the bass drum kicks, clean midrange that isn’t harsh and extended highs. I know I will never get the imaging and ‘air’ that my expensive home system provides, so I don’t fret. It’s not very complicated. And we won’t even get into the ‘you can’t tell the difference between an mp3 and a DSD file in the car’ rubbish.Before I get into the good and the bad, I will say that the complaints about Sony’s Music app are very spot on. What a piece of horse dung. It is ugly, poorly implemented and slow as all heck. When I first mounted my memory card, I had to figure out how to get things onto it. And Sony said you had to add their Music app for Windows 11 to do this. Fine, I did it. Then I started moving files over (8800+ songs) and Sony was taking an eternity! It would have literally taken between 3 and 4 whole days to transfer all of them. I did not want to leave my gaming PC running for that long. My GPU alone would probably make my electric bill sky high this month! So I figured I would remove the Micro SD and put it in my old, slow-as-heck card reader and transfer the music that way. And slow it was. But it still happened sometime while I was sleeping. I would guess 8-10 hours compared to 48-72 for the Sony. That is just unacceptable. Anyway, here are some of the good and bad about it so far:The Good:- Android OS- Google Play Store- Compact chassis- Good function/button location (once you get used to them)- All the connections you should need – including Micro SD slot up to 2TB- USB C charge/transfer port- Sound Quality from top to bottom is good. Clear, extended highs, clean midrange and kick drums well, kick.- Sound great through car speakers or my IEMs.- programmable auto-offThe Bad:- Volume, volume, volume. Where is it?? It is limited on IEMs. Sounds plenty loud in car stereo though, and that is the main reason for buying it. Can go to 120 in-car.- Can be a little slow to react. But not as bad as some of the reviews say.- Sony Music App – really, just get rid of it and use VLC player. You’ll thank me.Can’t think of anything else at the moment but will update if/when I find more. I can say it’s a good buy if you love Android OS.

Terrific sound from the Walkman, with a few things to know
This is an amazing device to listen to, with the capability to play high resolution music. If you buy it, you will absolutely need to buy a micro SD card, since it has very little space on the device itself. I suggest theSanDisk 1TB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter, which is about $100.00, which stores an entire music library. Transferring music using the micro SD adapter is much faster than than transferring directly to the micro SD card in the device. Also, you need a program to do so, Android File Transfer, which is no longer easily available (you can find it by searching for those words). There are other apps which do the same, but they are not free. Also, if you use wired headphones or earpods, the device does not have enough power to play at a reasonable volume, so Bluetooth headphones or earpods are a virtual necessity. As other reviews have noted, it is quite slow to start up (it is an Android computer). On the plus side, it is very small (about the size of a cassette box), and plays FLACs, which have CD resolution sound. Since it is a full Android device, you can add streaming music programs to it (Apple Music has an application which works quite well). All in all, I highly recommend this Walkman, bearing in mind that you will also need a micro SD card and Bluetooth headphones to use with it fo the best results.

As a weekend audiophile, I’m 100% satisfied with the device. I previously owned Fiio M3pro which was ok, but lagged like a 2000s smartphone. Sony’s sound is significantly better, well known tunes sound like the first time. Android allows to use streaming servises which also sound amazing. Seems like most cons in the feedbacks are exaggerated. It does lag at times, but not enough to bother. It does heat during charging, library update, software update, but never when used as a player, not an android device. Considering its music playback features, I definitely recommend it.

Build quality is goodSound quality is excellentEasy to useThough little bit costly but worth spending

I bought it and returned same day. Junk.- Its runs hot. I mean HOT.- Slow charge. HOT charge- The device is VERY slow. There is a delay while playing music during a song, delay while pressing play/pause. It can barely operate.- On Tidal you aren’t able to save offline music to the SD card. So you’ll have no storage after a few albums of HiFi- The cool “tape deck” wallpaper you see in ads does not work on streaming services. Only songs saved to storage.- Very light weight and cheap- While playing on a Bluetooth speaker, the physical volume up and volume down buttons won’t work. Only certain speakers. Never had this problem with any other device.