Sony NW-A55

Japanese developers have invested a lot in design, so that the Sony NW-A55 player attracts attention at first sight. A weighty 100-gram handsome man in a metal case measuring 97x56x11 mm is offered in green, gold, black and blue. The front part is covered with glossy glass, and in general the player is very similar to a compact smartphone and at first glance it is not inferior to it in terms of brightness and picture quality of a 3.1-inch screen with a resolution of 800x480 pixels and a TFT matrix.

Easy to manage

The touch buttons located on the screen are large enough not to waste time getting used to, and quickly navigate the menu. The Japanese also took care of comfortable blind control by duplicating the physical buttons on the ends of the case.

Not power, but quality

The player does not boast the power of only 35 mW per channel, but transmits high-resolution audio, thanks to quality components, DSEE HX technology, a vinyl processor, and the use of innovative assembly methods. The device supports MP3, WMA, AAC, HE-AAC, ALAC, AIFF, Linear PCM, DSD, FLAC formats without compression, and also restores the quality of compressed files.

Unlike most models in this price range, Sony NW-A55 has 16 GB of internal memory and a slot that supports all SD formats — microSD/SDHC/SDXC. Bluetooth 4.2 with AptX HD support is used for wireless data transfer, so the tracks sound the same quality as through wired headphones.

Nice extras

The device comes with a USB cable and when connected to a computer or smartphone can act as an external DAC. The noise canceling function helps to cope with external noise, and the FM receiver allows you to enjoy your favorite radio stations. Another nice bonus is the NFC module.

But most of all, battery life surprised the device — from 27 to 45 hours in playback mode, depending on the type of file being played, and this is just the same grandiose survivability for such a device.

Sony NW-A55 16Gb is good for everyone. Add here the branded Sony headphones that are offered in the A55HN model, and we get an almost flawless sound. For comparison, Astell & Kern Jr works at the same level, but costs almost twice as much.