Just bought a Sony Walkman NW-A45

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by youraveragevinylcollector, Nov 21, 2018.

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  1. hbbfam

    hbbfam Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chandler,AZ
    How and why convert convert an ALAC to a Flac? Aren't they both lossless?
     
  2. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer

    Location:
    Japan
    Does the A55 play FLAC gaplessly, without workarounds like ripping an album as one track?
     
  3. Sevoflurane

    Sevoflurane Forum Resident

    The NWA45 does without any problems so I am sure the 55 does.
     
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  4. redeyedandblue

    redeyedandblue Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Yes, for FLAC. For MP3, also yes, as long as your ripping software inserts the required gapless tags. iTunes and LAME do this automatically and the A series players support both formats.
     
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  5. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer

    Location:
    Japan
    Thank you. My current DAP is a Fiio M3 and the lack of gapless FLAC annoys me. Probably the Sony Walkman NW-A55 will be my next DAP. I like the Fiio M3 well enough through headphones, but played through my amp and floorstanding speakers isn't so satisfying. I suppose that would improve with a DAP with a better DAC. Would the A55 likely be clearer and fuller sounding?
     
  6. redeyedandblue

    redeyedandblue Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Pass. I swore off FiiO players for good a while back due to glitches with gapless, Bluetooth, etc, etc, not working as advertised, so never bothered picking up any of their M series to compare. Reason I’ve stuck with my Sony is that it just works and I’ve never found the SQ wanting. Battery life is a big step up from the FiiOs as well.
     
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  7. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer

    Location:
    Japan
    Cheers. Mind, battery life is one of the big plusses of the little Fiio M3. Seemingly lasts forever (well, weeks to months) between recharges.
     
  8. Bradd

    Bradd Now’s The Time

    Location:
    Chester, NJ
    I purchased a NW A 45 a couple of years ago and although it’s a very nice player, getting it to work with my car was difficult so I hardly use it now. Mostly gathering dust.
     
  9. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    I just picked up a used NW-A45 for $120 on ebay in great shape. I really like the screen -- very clear and very responsive, nice touch screen. There's something weird though, I always like to do a system restore if possible to start off fresh and when I do a factory reset -- nothing. I doesn't do anything. Even worse, when I use format sd card... nothing happens. I finally had to reformat the microsd card in my mac as exfat and then put it in the sony and hit format ... still no sign it's doing anything. No confirm. No complete. Nothing. But then I looked at the card and some files were added to the card, so I guess it did something. I still feel there's a glitch somewhere in firmware. 1.0. I need to update. Hopefullly that fixes these things. Otherwise, a nice, responsive player.
     
  10. Sevoflurane

    Sevoflurane Forum Resident

    The newer firmware for the NWA45 adds AptX HD functionality for Bluetooth headphones / speakers, so an upgrade should be worthwhile. You shouldn’t have an issue with the volume cap in the US.

    I have one set of Bluetooth headphones that support AptX HD and a Bluetooth receiver that supports it connected to my Meridian F80 for casual listening, so it’s an additional feature that I use pretty regularly.
     
  11. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    My experience with previous Walkman players, when it comes to memory cards and internal memory, is that you must format them using the Walkman's own internal software. In the instruction manuals for previous players, it mentions not to format the internal memory via the computer, and if you do by mistake to format it using the Walkman's internal software.
     
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  12. sharedon

    sharedon Forum Zonophone

    Location:
    Boomer OK
    This! Which I learned the hard way. Otherwise, I really like this gizmo.
     
  13. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    When you format an SD Card or the Internal Memory using the Walkman's internal software, it creates two default folders, MUSIC and LEARNING, and what I assume are some system files. I use both folders for different types of files (as mentioned below).

    Something to mention about the folders on the player: If you put an audio file in the "LEARNING" folder (whether in the Internal Memory or on the Memory Card), it will be separated into the Language Study area of the player. This offers some advantages such as the ability to speed up/slow down the audio (from x0.5 to x2 [50% to 200%]), do an A-B repeat, jump back by 10 or 3 seconds or jump forward by 5 seconds. However, you won't be able to see the Album Art for the files (the area on the screen where the Album Art would be displayed with "music" files is taken up by the Audio Manipulation Controls). To me, this is an advantage because getting Album Art for podcasts tends to be a bit tricky since many podcasts change their Album Art over time and for me it is easier to just disregard it (for a time I found Album Art to be such a pain that I considered just using generic icons, and it is the reason I ended up using MediaMonkey).

    This is handy for certain types of audio files. I put my podcasts and audio books in that folder, and it allows me to separate it from my music. In addition to loading them in that folder with your computer, you can also move audio files into that folder the player. In the same way, you can move files from the LEARNING Folder to the MUSIC Folder on the player. However, when you are in the Music Area of the player you can't see the files in the Language Study Area, and vice versa.

    This follows with the Sony tradition of using folders to indicate which type of file is which on the player. As an example, some of the middle-era Walkman players didn't determine what a podcast was based on the file's tags but where it was located on the player. Audio files placed in the "PODCASTS" Folder were podcasts to the player regardless of the tags.
     
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