The Sony Walkman A306: A Solid Option for Music Lovers

When it comes to music players, few devices come to mind more than the classic Walkman. But in recent years, Sony has released several new models that have taken the brand back to its roots while also incorporating modern features and technologies. One such model is the Walkman A306, a portable music player that offers a unique listening experience unlike any smartphone.

One of the standout features of the Walkman A306 is its use of USB-C port on the bottom of the device. This may not seem like a big deal at first, but it's actually quite useful in the context of a music player. The port can be used for charging, and while it's not extremely fast, taking around 3.5 hours to fully charge from dead, it's better than nothing. But what's even more interesting is that this USB-C port can also be used as an external DAC (digital-to-analog converter), allowing users to connect the device to a higher-quality audio setup or use it as a separate DAC for their existing headphones.

The sound quality of the Walkman A306 is where things really get interesting. Unlike most smartphones, which often struggle to deliver good music playback, the A306 uses various processing tricks on the system level to enhance the listening experience. Enhancements like the Vinyl Processor add a touch of warmth and character to your music, giving it a more analog feel. There's also DC or DSE Extreme, which Sony claims acts as an upscaler to help lower-fidelity audio sound better. This is particularly useful for streaming from non-high-res sources like Spotify, YouTube Music, or Apple Music's lossless library. And of course, there's the graphic equalizer, which allows users to fine-tune their sound to their liking.

But how does the Walkman A306 compare to smartphones in terms of music playback? It's hard to say definitively, as the sound quality and listening experience are excellent – but whether or not that's meaningful enough to actually snag one and use as a secondary device really depends on the person. On one hand, smartphones might be frustratingly simple and lack features like headphone jacks, which can make them less desirable for music enthusiasts. On the other hand, wielding a separate device like the Walkman A306 can be equally annoying in its own way.

To mitigate this, users can consider external DACs that are higher quality than what's built into most smartphones. These devices can plug directly into an Android or iOS device and offer significantly better sound quality. This might be a fair compromise in terms of value, functionality, and footprint. Furthermore, it's worth noting that the Walkman A306 is not the perfect Android device – it's slow even for simple navigation, and there's no promise from Sony about long-term software support.

Finally, there's the price: $349 in the US. While this might seem steep, it's worth considering whether a similar setup with a nice set of wired headphones and a USB DAC can be achieved for that kind of money. Ultimately, the value proposition for the Walkman A306 is a tough sell for everyone but one specific type of person: those who need a dedicated music player in 2020.

In conclusion, my month with Sony's newest Walkman has been enlightening – and I think it's cool that it exists. Whether or not you'll want to buy one depends on your individual needs and preferences. If you're a special type of person who craves the best possible music experience, then the A306 might be worth considering. But for everyone else, there are certainly better options available.

The Walkman A306 is more than just a cool device – it's an experience. It's about carrying your music with you and having control over your listening environment. And while it may not blow smartphones out of the water in terms of raw power or features, it offers something unique that few other devices can match. Whether or not that's enough to justify its price is a matter for individual interpretation.

But one thing is certain: the Walkman A306 is a solid option for those who care deeply about music and want to experience it on their own terms. So if you're in the market for a new portable music player, be sure to check out this little gem from Sony.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is a brand new Sony Walkman in 2023 yeah the iconic music player is still alive today and we're gonna see what this one's all about let's talk about it back in the 1970s the Sony Walkman started a revolution for music players it allowed people to listen to their favorite cassette tapes on the go at a time when vinyl records home radios and car stereos were the norm fun fact the concept blew up especially in the 80s and 90s alongside the rising popularity of personal fitness and aerobics people wanted to make their workouts more enjoyable and music was absolutely the solution what's his name the guy with the curly hair and like the spandex Richard Simmons fail the Walkman brand sold over 200 million units in its cassette days becoming a household name synonymous with music players kind of in the same way that Kleenex are for tissues however when the industry started shifting away from cassettes Walkman never hit the same stride that it once saw it had decent success in the CD era but by the time the internet and MP3s became mainstream companies like apple with the iPod won the market over the Walkman drifted further and further away from relevancy most average people these days probably haven't even seen a new Walkman device in Forever perhaps they thought the brand totally and completely died but here's the thing it never actually went away case in point this is the Sony Walkman nwa306 a dedicated music player that you can buy in a store today in 2023 while I can practically we see all scratching your heads already hear me out I fans from person unsurprisingly the Walkman a306 is aimed at audiophiles music enthusiasts or those that are simply looking to break their music away from phones or computers in addition to offering hi-res playback over Bluetooth there is of course a good old-fashioned headphone jack on board it'll try virtually all in-ear headphones and even some low to medium impedance over ear ones as well and it sounds very good we'll get to the specifics a little later in the video taking a look at the design it's properly small which I think is necessary for a secondary device that you'd run in addition to your smartphone we're talking a 3.6 inch 720p display which not only looks good enough for a music player but it is also easy to use with one hand maybe you'll want to haul this in your work bag on the way to the office or perhaps you don't want to take your phone to the gym and want a simple device to listen to music with the a306 can certainly do both the aluminum construction feels premium and can take a considerable amount of abuse from regular use that rhymed again abuse from regular use on this juice on this juice oh my God the Canadian goose but best of all and probably my favorite feature about the design is the fact that there are physical playback controls which is especially nice if your headphones don't have built-in ones the a306 also runs Android 12 which means compatibility for most music streaming platforms including Spotify for Discovery or services like apple music and title if you're looking to stream higher Fidelity tracks you guys want to see a video on that I'll link it in the description below and also subscribe to denki if you're liking the content I think the flexibility that Android adds is a welcome value ad overall moreover since this is a Wi-Fi only device it's nice that Sony includes a Micro SD Storage expansion slot there is 32 gigs of built-in storage but after the OS and pre-installed apps you're looking at about 18 gigs of available free space which is not a lot considering that lossless music can put a sizable dent in that rather quick load this bad boy up with a few hundred extra gigs or even a terabyte and you'll be good for tens of thousands of songs and last but not least there is a USB C port on the bottom of this thing which might not seem special at a glance but it's super useful in the context of a music player of course you can use it for charging though it's rather slow at that taking about 3.5 hours to get to a hundred percent from dead though at least the battery is good enough to make up for that with about 32 hours of combined playback with wired headphones however you can also use the port to Output audio to an external DAC if you happen to have better equipment to run with this and alternatively you can also use this as an external DAC if you don't quite trust the quality of the headphone jacks on your Mac or PC and want a higher quality output in a pinch so if all this sounds good to you so far the next thing you'll probably want to know is about the sound quality a reason why I carry around the Walkman a306 in my everyday backpack is I think it generally offers a better listening experience than what I can get out of most phones right out the box just like walkmans of the past the a306 offers a variety of processing tricks on the system level to help make your music sound good especially if you plan on streaming downloading or listening between wired or Bluetooth headphones enhancements like the vinyl processor adds a tasteful amount of character to your music this one especially warms things up a touch giving off a more analog kind of vibe there's also DC or DSE extreme which Sony says acts as a sort of upscaler to help lower Fidelity audio sound better which is useful if you're planning on streaming from non-high-res sources like Spotify YouTube music or run into the occasional gaps in apple music's lossless Library and of course there is a graphic equalizer to tune things to your liking if necessary now is the a306 going to blow your smartphone out of the water for music playback it's really hard to say because I think the sound quality and listening experience are excellent but whether or not that's meaningful enough to actually snag one and use as a secondary device really depends on the person the thing is today's smartphones might be frustratingly simple and lack features like headphone Jacks but wielding a secondary device like the Walkman a306 can be equally annoying on another level that said you can buy external Dax that you can plug into your Android or iOS device that are higher quality than anything that the manufacturers probably would have built in anyway this might be a fair compromise in both value functionality and footprint depending on what you decide to go with furthermore it's not like the a306 is is the perfect Android device either it's very slow even for simple navigation and there's no promise for what Sony will commit to in terms of long-term software support Beyond two to three years this might be less of an issue for people that actually own their music libraries and simply transfer files onto this thing but more so of an issue for those that use streaming platforms whose applications may require newer versions of Android down the line and then there's the price the Walkman a306 retails for 349 dollars here in the US which is practically mid-range smartphone money there's an argument to be made here where you can fashion a similar setup with a nice set of wired headphones and a USB DAC for the smartphone you already own for that kind of money as a whole I really like this a306 in a vacuum if you're the special type of person that needs a dedicated music player in 2020 23 I think it's a solid option to consider however in the real world the value proposition for this is a tough sell for everyone else there's anything I've taken away from my month with Sony's newest Walkman it's that at the very least I think it's cool that it exists but let me know what you think in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode on denki channel yo yo yo listen up I got a rap that'll make you jump it's about the new Sony Walkman the best in the market it's so good you want to buy it in a heartbeat it's got a touch screen and a speaker what more do you need it's got a headphone jack and a battery Never Dies it's got a lot of spacethis is a brand new Sony Walkman in 2023 yeah the iconic music player is still alive today and we're gonna see what this one's all about let's talk about it back in the 1970s the Sony Walkman started a revolution for music players it allowed people to listen to their favorite cassette tapes on the go at a time when vinyl records home radios and car stereos were the norm fun fact the concept blew up especially in the 80s and 90s alongside the rising popularity of personal fitness and aerobics people wanted to make their workouts more enjoyable and music was absolutely the solution what's his name the guy with the curly hair and like the spandex Richard Simmons fail the Walkman brand sold over 200 million units in its cassette days becoming a household name synonymous with music players kind of in the same way that Kleenex are for tissues however when the industry started shifting away from cassettes Walkman never hit the same stride that it once saw it had decent success in the CD era but by the time the internet and MP3s became mainstream companies like apple with the iPod won the market over the Walkman drifted further and further away from relevancy most average people these days probably haven't even seen a new Walkman device in Forever perhaps they thought the brand totally and completely died but here's the thing it never actually went away case in point this is the Sony Walkman nwa306 a dedicated music player that you can buy in a store today in 2023 while I can practically we see all scratching your heads already hear me out I fans from person unsurprisingly the Walkman a306 is aimed at audiophiles music enthusiasts or those that are simply looking to break their music away from phones or computers in addition to offering hi-res playback over Bluetooth there is of course a good old-fashioned headphone jack on board it'll try virtually all in-ear headphones and even some low to medium impedance over ear ones as well and it sounds very good we'll get to the specifics a little later in the video taking a look at the design it's properly small which I think is necessary for a secondary device that you'd run in addition to your smartphone we're talking a 3.6 inch 720p display which not only looks good enough for a music player but it is also easy to use with one hand maybe you'll want to haul this in your work bag on the way to the office or perhaps you don't want to take your phone to the gym and want a simple device to listen to music with the a306 can certainly do both the aluminum construction feels premium and can take a considerable amount of abuse from regular use that rhymed again abuse from regular use on this juice on this juice oh my God the Canadian goose but best of all and probably my favorite feature about the design is the fact that there are physical playback controls which is especially nice if your headphones don't have built-in ones the a306 also runs Android 12 which means compatibility for most music streaming platforms including Spotify for Discovery or services like apple music and title if you're looking to stream higher Fidelity tracks you guys want to see a video on that I'll link it in the description below and also subscribe to denki if you're liking the content I think the flexibility that Android adds is a welcome value ad overall moreover since this is a Wi-Fi only device it's nice that Sony includes a Micro SD Storage expansion slot there is 32 gigs of built-in storage but after the OS and pre-installed apps you're looking at about 18 gigs of available free space which is not a lot considering that lossless music can put a sizable dent in that rather quick load this bad boy up with a few hundred extra gigs or even a terabyte and you'll be good for tens of thousands of songs and last but not least there is a USB C port on the bottom of this thing which might not seem special at a glance but it's super useful in the context of a music player of course you can use it for charging though it's rather slow at that taking about 3.5 hours to get to a hundred percent from dead though at least the battery is good enough to make up for that with about 32 hours of combined playback with wired headphones however you can also use the port to Output audio to an external DAC if you happen to have better equipment to run with this and alternatively you can also use this as an external DAC if you don't quite trust the quality of the headphone jacks on your Mac or PC and want a higher quality output in a pinch so if all this sounds good to you so far the next thing you'll probably want to know is about the sound quality a reason why I carry around the Walkman a306 in my everyday backpack is I think it generally offers a better listening experience than what I can get out of most phones right out the box just like walkmans of the past the a306 offers a variety of processing tricks on the system level to help make your music sound good especially if you plan on streaming downloading or listening between wired or Bluetooth headphones enhancements like the vinyl processor adds a tasteful amount of character to your music this one especially warms things up a touch giving off a more analog kind of vibe there's also DC or DSE extreme which Sony says acts as a sort of upscaler to help lower Fidelity audio sound better which is useful if you're planning on streaming from non-high-res sources like Spotify YouTube music or run into the occasional gaps in apple music's lossless Library and of course there is a graphic equalizer to tune things to your liking if necessary now is the a306 going to blow your smartphone out of the water for music playback it's really hard to say because I think the sound quality and listening experience are excellent but whether or not that's meaningful enough to actually snag one and use as a secondary device really depends on the person the thing is today's smartphones might be frustratingly simple and lack features like headphone Jacks but wielding a secondary device like the Walkman a306 can be equally annoying on another level that said you can buy external Dax that you can plug into your Android or iOS device that are higher quality than anything that the manufacturers probably would have built in anyway this might be a fair compromise in both value functionality and footprint depending on what you decide to go with furthermore it's not like the a306 is is the perfect Android device either it's very slow even for simple navigation and there's no promise for what Sony will commit to in terms of long-term software support Beyond two to three years this might be less of an issue for people that actually own their music libraries and simply transfer files onto this thing but more so of an issue for those that use streaming platforms whose applications may require newer versions of Android down the line and then there's the price the Walkman a306 retails for 349 dollars here in the US which is practically mid-range smartphone money there's an argument to be made here where you can fashion a similar setup with a nice set of wired headphones and a USB DAC for the smartphone you already own for that kind of money as a whole I really like this a306 in a vacuum if you're the special type of person that needs a dedicated music player in 2020 23 I think it's a solid option to consider however in the real world the value proposition for this is a tough sell for everyone else there's anything I've taken away from my month with Sony's newest Walkman it's that at the very least I think it's cool that it exists but let me know what you think in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode on denki channel yo yo yo listen up I got a rap that'll make you jump it's about the new Sony Walkman the best in the market it's so good you want to buy it in a heartbeat it's got a touch screen and a speaker what more do you need it's got a headphone jack and a battery Never Dies it's got a lot of space