Sony NW-A306

A new model of a portable player from Sony, which tries to answer the question, what would the legendary Walkman look like in modern realities? This is a visually beautiful, stuffed player that runs on Android OS and has a couple of interesting tricks to improve sound. In particular, the player uses DSEE Ultimate technology, which improves the quality of source files using AI, allowing the user to re-evaluate their favorite recordings, even if they were recorded poorly.

The built-in digital amplifier Sony S-Master HX with a film capacitor, according to the manufacturer, sounds cleaner and better than any modern smartphone costing one and a half to two thousand dollars. With all that said, the Sony NW-A306 can work on Wi-Fi networks, which allows you to directly connect to streaming services and listen to music from them. The built-in Bluetooth receiver allows you to use the player with wireless headphones and headsets, providing greater freedom of movement during active activities.

At the same time, the presence of a 3.5 mm mini-jack will suit users who prefer classic wired headphones to modern wireless headphones. NW-A306 looks expensive and presentable, trying to emphasize its elite status. And the black, pointed body with a wave-shaped back panel stands out against the background of modern smartphones. The case weighs almost 113 grams, that is, this is far from the smallest option, especially compared to the 30-gram portable players of the SanDisk Sansa Clip series.

The manufacturer notes that the body is made of a piece of milled aluminium, which minimizes parasitic sounds. Most of the front side is occupied by a 3.6-inch display with touch control support, which displays a playlist, album covers, lyrics and other auxiliary information. In addition to touch controls, the player is equipped with physical buttons. Compared to its predecessors, the NW-A306 has increased battery life, providing from 32 to 36 hours of continuous listening to FLAC files in high definition. The player is compatible with almost all existing audio formats (MP3, WMA, AAC, HE-AAC, ALAC, AIFF, Linear PCM, DSD, FLAC), and is also compatible with aptX and aptX HD codecs. The built-in storage of 32 GB can be expanded using a microSD memory card.