Sony NW-A306 frustration

[veloopity]

I'm close to giving it back. While the NW-A306 does its primary job well (it plays music successfully) there seem to be several drawbacks that are very frustrating - but maybe I only misunderstand something or I haven't found the relevant settings. I'd be grateful for help and comments.

- What I wanted was just a music player. I totally don't get why this box runs on Android which turns it into half a music player, the other half being something like a useless mobile phone with notifications and email that keeps reminding me daily that I disabled all the Google functions that I don't need and that uselessly use energy. Overall, the navigation is far too complicated because of all the Android stuff I don't need.
- Why the password? Can I disable password functionality completely and leave it open? The music I hear is no secret, if someone steals the walkman it is irrelevant if they have access to the music or not. My old vinyl record player doesn't have a password and it worked safely for decades. After half an hour of playing music, the screen goes black and to get the display back, I have to press the on/off button (why does simply tapping the touch screen not work for this?) and I have to enter the password again - as I use it only in my car, I have to stop somewhere to do that every time.
- the screen is small but the track list shows a useless big icon along with each track name. The track names have to be abbreviated because the icon takes up a third of the available space. There seems to be no way to get rid of the icons. I wrote an email to Sony here in Germany asking about it and they replied with a standard text about how to install the newest software version (I have that already) without answering my question. WTF?
- My old Samsung phone Bluetooth-connected with my car stereo automatically, I didn't need to manually connect. The Sony Walkman knows my Sony car stereo but every time I start the car, I first have to go to the settings and manually connect every time before I can play music - and under some circumstances, the connect won't even happen, I haven't understood why so far. Anyway in the meantime I got rid of using Bluetooth, I now use a cable connection to my car stereo because Bluetooth was too frustrating.

Are there DAPs that can take a Terabyte card and that don't have all of these problems?

-Michael

 

[Somafunk]

You may want to have a look Here, on the Head-fi thread regarding the Sony NW-a306 thread for possible fixes to your issues,

 

[veloopity]

You may want to have a look Here, on the Head-fi thread regarding the Sony NW-a306 thread for possible fixes to your issues,

thank you, wow, 273 pages of discussion. First thing I noticed is that to get to the PIN number security thing (in Settings/Security) to change or possibly deactivate it, I first have to re-enter the PIN number but there is no number field or other way to enter the PIN anywhere. What fun !! none of the developers has ever gone there it seems

 

[Somafunk]

You can open the thread and search the replies rather than the entire headfi website, I have found this below which may help you regarding the pin lock issue

Link to pin lock issue and how to turn it off

How to turn off the screen pin requirement

Theres also lots of tips/tricks throughout the thread to turn off the majority of the android functions that cause bugs/glitches, I was considering a Sony dap, including your model but I ultimately went down the Hiby route.

 

[veloopity]

You can open the thread and search the replies rather than the entire headfi website, I have found this below which may help you regarding the pin lock issue

Link to pin lock issue and how to turn it off

How to turn off the screen pin requirement

Theres also lots of tips/tricks throughout the thread to turn off the majority of the android functions that cause bugs/glitches, I was considering a Sony dap, including your model but I ultimately went down the Hiby route.

thank you !! ... please post the links again, these don't work

 

[veloopity]

thank you !! ... please post the links again, these don't work.
"I ultimately went down the Hiby route" - and are you happy with it?

 

[Somafunk]

Oops, sorry….something fu***d up with the link, I’ll copy/paste text from headfi below

Is there anyway to turn off the Pin requirement? The screen goes to sleep so fast and I do not want to enter my 4 digit password every single time.
Even the iPhone let's you turn this off.

It's the same as any stock Android. Go to the app drawer > Settings app > Security > Screen lock and pick something else.

Got mine yesterday. Trying to go through everything.

Is there anyway to turn off the Pin requirement? The screen goes to sleep so fast and I do not want to enter my 4 digit password every single time.
Even the iPhone let's you turn this off.

If I am listening to mostly hi-res flac and DSD files, should I leave the sound setting to Direct Mode?
----
Update - I saw an amazing tip on here that says to pin the app to avoid unlocking when using the music app. That is very helpful.
Also set the screen time out much longer.

But I would like to change my number pin to a swipe to speed things up, I don't see where to make that change in settings.

To PIN the app to the Lock Screen you open the multitasking view, then click the app icon (above the tile) you want to Pin, then you should see the option. If you do use a lock code you will always have to enter it in to get past the pinned app, which also in turn removes the pinned app. Good luck.


Hope that helps,

 

[Keith_W]

I have the same NW-A306 as you. I agree with the small screen and display issues. Can't read long filenames. It would be better if they could make the filename scroll or wrap around, rather than disappearing off to the right making it impossible to pick the right file.

I do not get any Android issues, e.g. asking for PIN, or interruptions from system notifications, and so on. I do get Bluetooth issues, but it was the car and not the Sony. At home, it connects to my Bluetooth speakers the moment I turn both speakers and Sony on, and it does it automatically. I searched for a firmware update for my very old BMW 5-series, and after the firmware update it works like a charm.

 

[veloopity]

View attachment 359752

I have the same NW-A306 as you. I agree with the small screen and display issues. Can't read long filenames. It would be better if they could make the filename scroll or wrap around, rather than disappearing off to the right making it impossible to pick the right file.

I do not get any Android issues, e.g. asking for PIN, or interruptions from system notifications, and so on. I do get Bluetooth issues, but it was the car and not the Sony. At home, it connects to my Bluetooth speakers the moment I turn both speakers and Sony on, and it does it automatically. I searched for a firmware update for my very old BMW 5-series, and after the firmware update it works like a charm.

I now was able to set screen lock to None, so no more PIN woes

 

[WilliamB]

I bought the NW-A306 to replace an older SONY digital music player that wouldn't charge. The unit was sent back to Sony for repair. Unfortunately, they sent it straight back saying it was an old unit and do not have spares.
So, I ended getting new unit. At the moment compared to my old unit, this one is just of the bad points. Having to enter a password into the unit being the main bug bear. I wanted a music player so do need email and all the other stuff on the unit. I honestly don't know what the memory on the old unit was, it had over 3500 songs on it. On this new unit I now have to insert a memory card !!!!.
The issue I now have, apart from having to purchase a memory card, is that I loaded music tracks which has used up most of the system memory which means there's not enough system memory for upgrades.
By deleting music tracks I presume it will free up system memory. I can then download music from the PC library straight to the memory card.
Can anybody advise if I'd have any problems doing the above.