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Sony NW-A105 Digital Audio Player Review

Erik

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I vote for @amirm ordering an A&K Kann from Amazon with prolonged return deadline until end of May due to corona virus. Before I see how it measures and sounds in his headphone suite I am not willing to admit dongles are the best option vs DAP.
It was already measured by Reference Audio Analyzer.
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/amp/astell-kern-kann.php
And it performs just as bad as every other A&K product.

akdaps.png
 

Archsam

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I had 2 ipod classics - first one was the 4th generation and the second one 5th. Loved them for their large capacity and they sounded good. But within 3 years both of their hdd failed. Still remembered the shock I got when I went to the Apple Store Genius Bar and asked for the repair cost - it was something like 2/3 or 3/4 the price of a new one. I left without repairing them and I still have them in a shoe box somewhere.

I didn't own another portable music player until my second smart phone had enough internal storage for my music. I think it was a Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc.
 

AudioSceptic

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I had 2 ipod classics - first one was the 4th generation and the second one 5th. Loved them for their large capacity and they sounded good. But within 3 years both of their hdd failed. Still remembered the shock I got when I went to the Apple Store Genius Bar and asked for the repair cost - it was something like 2/3 or 3/4 the price of a new one. I left without repairing them and I still have them in a shoe box somewhere.

I didn't own another portable music player until my second smart phone had enough internal storage for my music. I think it was a Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc.
Have you considered DIY for the iPods? The drives are Toshiba 1.8" HDDs.
 

Archsam

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Have you considered DIY for the iPods? The drives are Toshiba 1.8" HDDs.

Funny I never thought about it. It's not only until the last couple of years before I started doing DIY on my own electronics, and at the moment only limited to replacing the battery in my tablet and installing a new laser assembly in an old CD player.

With the slick casing of the ipod I never really thought about prying it open 10 years ago. Of course these days all phones and tablet casings are all bonded together, but back in the days it was quite new and amazing.

Even if I can replace the HDD I will still need itune to upload music files no? I don't recall ipods being plug and play compatible? Unless there are hacks to the OS that I'm not aware of?

Edit: OMG this is awesome, could be my next weekend project https://www.alphr.com/audio/1001325/how-to-revive-your-old-ipod-classic-with-an-ssd
 
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Tks

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Yep, confirms my doubts about Sony even further, another DAP that is subpar.

Why these companies continue to make Android based DAP's I'll never know. A generation or two older LG is cheaper, and spanks this out of relevancy in nearly all respects. How these DAPs continue to fail as single-purpose in their purpose is beyond me.
 

AudioSceptic

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Funny I never thought about it. It's not only until the last couple of years before I started doing DIY on my own electronics, and at the moment only limited to replacing the battery in my tablet and installing a new laser assembly in an old CD player.

With the slick casing of the ipod I never really thought about prying it open 10 years ago. Of course these days all phones and tablet casings are all bonded together, but back in the days it was quite new and amazing.

Even if I can replace the HDD I will still need itune to upload music files no? I don't recall ipods being plug and play compatible? Unless there are hacks to the OS that I'm not aware of?

Edit: OMG this is awesome, could be my next weekend project https://www.alphr.com/audio/1001325/how-to-revive-your-old-ipod-classic-with-an-ssd
More for you to look at. <https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iPod_Original> :)

Yes, you would still need iTunes unless you jailbreak the iPod.
 
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confucius_zero

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If the burson play is the new perfect for amps at 105, is 90 the new perfect for daps? :D I'm awaiting for people to tell me this doesn't matter since my ears can't possibly differentiate the benefits of 10dbs of measured sinad.
 

Fone

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Sony sells dozens of DAPs in Asia. The performance is all across the board. The 105 is not so good.

These are great for commuting without draining difficult to replace mobile phone batteries.
 

AudioSceptic

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one could buy like 10 powerbanks, ech lasting at least 3 days (or one for the 1/10 of this dap) and never wory for phone battery again...
Indeed, and playing music uses little power anyway. The worst seems to be frequent web access, after that anything that also uses the screen a lot.

BTW I have an inexpensive power bank that can even jump-start a car.
 

Jimbob54

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I will never buy another DAP. mobile and dongle DAC. But I do wish there was a way around charging whilst using. Always Bluetooth dongles I suppose.
 

Tks

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I will never buy another DAP. mobile and dongle DAC. But I do wish there was a way around charging whilst using. Always Bluetooth dongles I suppose.

LG series of smartphones?
 

Jimbob54

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LG series of smartphones?

Looked at that for when i replace the Pixel 3. To be honest, adding a small USB C dongle to a HP wire isnt such an issue compared to a very middling phone in all other respects. The inability to charge has never been a real world issue for me- and not doing any long haul journeys anytime soon.
 

AudioSceptic

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I will never buy another DAP. mobile and dongle DAC. But I do wish there was a way around charging whilst using. Always Bluetooth dongles I suppose.
You can get 3rd-party adapters that provide an audio output plus charging, but I haven't seen any of these measured.
 

jackenhack

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The EU volume cap is a real issue for some of the newer android based Sony DAP's. I own the ZX300 and WM-1A and both can be uncapped via a 3rd party software - all it does is allow the user to set the region setting, since most other regions around the world don't have the volume restriction. If you select the right region there is an option to set the output to high gain and it is much better for bigger cans

The EU cap is such a stupid idea that the mind boggles. Just look around on any public transport and see how many uses the included earbuds versus upgraded headphones. I can only speak for Sweden, but I would guess that somewhere around 70% have replaced the headphones. And with better headphones comes higher impedance, which needs more power to drive them. Yet, the EU uses the included 16-ohm crap buds when measuring the volume to set the cap. Total stupidity.
 

bobbooo

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Or even a phone without a dongle, like the still $130 brand new LG V20 H910

Or just use the phone that's already in your pocket. For example, it looks like the Samsung Galaxy S10 series - and Note9, Note8, S9 and S8 (the latter Amir owns), which all have use the same audio chip - have comparable performance to the much lauded LG G7 from these THD measurements by Soomal:

Samsung Galaxy S10+ (44.1kHz)
00080810.jpg


LG G7 (44.1kHz)
00079791.jpg



Samsung Galaxy S10+ (48kHz)
00080811.jpg


LG G7 (48kHz)
00079792.jpg


Note the LG actually has significantly more distortion when outputting at 48kHz sample rate. Considering most music players and streaming apps (the latter being the majority use case with mobile devices) pass audio through the Android mixer which outputs at 48kHz, from these measurements it looks like the Samsung S8-10 and Note8-9 series phones would perform better than the LG G7 in their most common usage scenarios (although both the LG and Samsung are likely sonically transparent in most cases anyway).
 
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August

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Or just use the phone that's already in your pocket. For example, it looks like the Samsung Galaxy S10 series - and Note9, Note8, S9 and S8 (the latter Amir owns), which all have use the same audio chip - have comparable performance to the much lauded LG G7 from these measurements by Soomal:

Samsung Galaxy S10+ (44.1kHz)
00080810.jpg


LG G7 (44.1kHz)
00079791.jpg



Samsung Galaxy S10+ (48kHz)
00080811.jpg


LG G7 (48kHz)
00079792.jpg


Note the LG actually has significantly more distortion when outputting at 48kHz sample rate. Considering most music players and streaming apps (the latter being the majority use case with mobile devices) pass audio through the Android mixer which outputs at 48kHz, from these measurements it looks like the Samsung S8-10 and Note8-9 series phones would perform better than the LG G7 in their most common usage scenarios (although both the LG and Samsung are likely sonically transparent in most cases anyway).
Samsung s9 has quite good audio performance, it is better than s10, and it leads most DAP.
 
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