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

Hardware and OS are very snappy and responsive. However, if you're looking for a music player, look elsewhere.It takes over 1 minute to boot and another 10 seconds for the music player app to load. This is a full blown Android smart device like a phone but without phone features. Depending on certain features or desire to install productive apps like Tasker, you need to log in with your Google account.The volume automatically adjusts itself back to 50 out of 120 upon boot.I just wanted a music player with fast startup, high quality audio, fast and responsive operating system, long battery life, high quality hardware, and durability. This does not fit the bill for the price Sony is asking for. Returning device after 2 days of function testing.

This is basically a mini tablet, it has almost all the same features as you would find in a tablet. Perfect for size for traveling and the music feature is pretty cool. Just by the feel of it, you can tell that it's sturdy and durable. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because the software that it suggest to use to upload music to it really sucks bad. It's basically like iTunes but super super slow, slow to the point that you can't even use it and there doesn't seem to be a fix for it. This is a common complaint about the device. If you know what you're doing though you can just transfer the files over to the device on your own from your computer.

Brief:I use this device in the car while driving, while walking the dogs, hooked up to my home stereo, and while at my desk at work. If I had to replace it, I'd likely get another one.Pros:- Battery life is great, compared to the more high end audiophile devices this will last way longer.- Sound is great. Really it does sound nice. There's decent EQ support and a vinyl simulator that's nice too.- Size is smaller than your phone and super portable. About the size of a pack of playing cards, or a tin of Altoids for comparison.- Physical buttons so if you have the device in your pocket it's easy to skip tracks, pause/play or adjust volume.- No issues with a large collection on an SD card.- Has a place for a wrist strap. This might sound like an odd pro, but when I take this in the car I can put the wrist strap over the shifter knob and when I drive the player doesn't go flying across the car. It's the little things.If I'm honest - this is what I really want in a portable player.Cons:- Lots of Android phone residue on this. It annoyingly still feels like a phone. Demanding I connect to WiFi to update, notifications I can't suppress, etc. The FIIO M11 I have (also Android and at twice the price!) doesn't seem to have this issue.- It's Android, so if you have issues copying files to/from and Android phone this would be a big con for you. If you plug it into your PC you can't use command line tools (rsync/robocopy) to update your files (the FIIO M11 also has this issue). You'll have to pull the SD card and mount that as a drive if you want to do this.- My library as a number of files in formats that aren't supported (OGG as an example) I'll have to convert all of them to use in this player.- I can't seem to get any variation of CUE files to work. This is a shame as I have a few older gap-less recordings that use CUE sheets.Interface:- There are some other improvements here that could be made, but these would be personal preferences I think. For instance a larger view of covers as an option, with UI elements like the "..." for settings rendered over it. Tapping on the album cover does nothing, maybe using that to swap between song details or a larger view of the album cover would be nice. There are no swipe gestures I see where you can swipe the screen left/right to change tracks. Directional swipes instead take you to different app views (playlist, library, eq, etc.), would be great to have an option to change this behavior and bury that under the "..." UI element.Other:- Audio levels capped for US/EU: You can read up on this online if you think it's a huge drawback. Unless you have really high impedance audiophile headphones, this isn't an issue at all. Volume is great for all the places I'm using it.

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.