Should you buy a Walkman in 2023? - Sony NW-A300 & NW-ZX700
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 มิ.ย. 2024
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The Walkman brand has been around since the 80s and they used to dominate the market. After a long time in hibernation, Sony has brought them back with the new ZX-707 and NW-A306 units that boast some high quality claims. Will Jake and Dan be impressed or should you stick to using your phone?
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CHAPTERS
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0:00 The 80s are alive
0:47 NW-ZX707 unboxing, buttons/ports, and design impressions
2:23 NW-A306 unboxing, buttons/ports, and design impressions
3:32 Specs, battery life, and differences between units
5:18 Sponsor - XSplit
5:51 Software impressions
7:00 Trying high-end Abyss headphones ft. Dan
8:18 Trying the Sennheiser HD 800 S with surprising results
9:27 Reading buzzwords on the website
10:14 Comparing Walkmans to Dan's phone
11:04 A Moment with Dan
11:35 Trying Sennheiser HD 650 and Audio-Technica ATH-M50x
12:56 Trying Sony WH-1000XM5 bluetooth headphones
13:30 "Who are these for?" and Pricing
15:31 Future Jake found "High Gain Mode" has been REMOVED.
17:27 Outro - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![เก่งแต่ลับหลัง (FINSTA) - ส้ม มารี (Zom Marie) Ft. Punch 4EVE [Official Teaser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Fvt0Wz1hfGY/mqdefault.jpg)
The fact that Jake didn’t know the og Walkman was cassette shows how young he is
Also that he called the CD version a Walkman and not a Discman too.
@@HonestWatchReviewsHWR Well Jake wasn't necessarily wrong there; Sony later on would remarket Discman models as "CD Walkman" in an attempt to boost sales. I used to have one of those CD Walkmans growing up as well so I knew what he meant.
He is a tool
@@HonestWatchReviewsHWR I had a cd walkman
This mf is like 22
You know you're young when you've never ran into a "HOLD" Button. That shit was on all the tech in the 90s. Also, the "LOCK" slider was to prevent the cassette or CD door from opening. They served two different functions.
It's so nice on y EX618! Just shove it in my pocket and off I go! I was amazed when I saw that for the first time.
Thé iPods had one as well, for locking the boutons :)
My PSP Go had a similar lock button to disable wake on sliding. Some things never change lol
Thank you! Not knowing the history of the Walkman and 90's tech is what confuses these youngsters.
@@NigelMelanisticSmith All the PSPs did. Most voice recorders like the Zooms, Tascams, Sonys, still have a "HOLD" switch to this day.
For what it's worth, I still use an ancient Zune for long flights, long road trips, and while walking, saving my phone's battery. It's about time for me to actually upgrade to a newer portable media player; mainly because my music and video collection has gone past the limits of what the old Zune can hold, and I've started to re-upload my old CD collection as FLAC instead of MP3 for preservation/listening purposes.
Besides, it's all ad-free and subscription free.
I have an iPod Classic for the same reason, but I might bump up to an iPod touch at some point. The Classic is a crazy deal though, 180GB and I picked mine up for $46, I've seen plenty around that price range.
Long live the Zune!
i would use my zune but i am unable to get the software for it to work.
i used to be the same but of late i tried apple music and its worth the subscription. letting people listen to lossless for that cheap is one of the best things apple has done of late imo. it doesnt feel right praising an apple service and i have my complaints but its still my music service of choice.
@@OurFantasyLife It's amazing to me that Apple has such an inferior product compared to the NW-A306 yet you were considering it over the A306. It just goes to show the power of the Apple name.
As a 48 year old man I think it is adorable that Jake keeps referring to CDs as the OG Walkman. I had a Creative Zen as my first MP3 player, and got an iPod Touch when it started wearing out, but honestly using a iPod with windows was a nightmare keeping it properly synched. Smart Phones have basically made music players obsolete IMHO.
Hah, my experience and history was the exact same. I lost my Zen Stone and got an iPod Touch which was a horror show to use and manage. It was absurd third party apps couldn't be given access to your music collection. I have a Pioneer XDP-100R high res player now that runs Android, but don't have much use for it atm. I just have a ton of FLACs from Bandcamp on it.
It is very cumbersome to carry those USB-Dongles with you.
Just look how big even the smallest 4.4mm USB Dongle is. Let alone that those Dongles are nowhere near the sound quality of an DAP.
@@shirakawamaseru Who said anything about dongles?
@@esaedvik I never seen any Smartphone that has an 4.4mm Plug. How am i supposed to plug any High End Headphone or Earphone into an Smartphone?
Just forcefully push the 4.4mm Plug into the 3.5mm Jack until it breaks?
@@shirakawamaseru If that's your only issue, consider yourself lucky
I never called the CD version a walkman, that was tape only in my mind. CD version was my "discman".
Enjoying Dan more and more every time I see him. Excellent character and visible animation to his thoughts, love it.
Could it be a Canadian thing? I've heard Walkman being referenced for both cd and tape. I'm turning 30 in a few months so I could just be too "young".
@@Skepticalraven Well it turns out it Sony did market discman as a CD Walkman at some point. The og walkman sold so well that I am sure they wanted to ride the advertising coat tails with the CD version. Probably had some crazy advertising study results.
@@nobodyimportant0_o Oh man, I had a couple of them that had skip protection so good I could shake them pretty well for a good 10-15 seconds before they would skip. Now if you continue to shake after that it does not get a chance to buffer but it was fully capable of staying playing in pretty bumpy area's. I do remember the first couple I had could not even handle being held in my hands carefully while riding as a passenger in a vehicle. So it really depended on the quality of the laser, if the center could move to absorb shock, and the buffer that kept it playing when it did get bad data. Then as time went on the error correction methods used were better, from just encoding the data twice to using CIRC which can correct/hide a *huge* amount of errors on the disk. Error correction is really amazing, worth looking into.
@@nobodyimportant0_o until we got on-device memory/cach for skip prevention!!! I used to take a long bus to school and we'd all pass around CDs and use minijack splitters to listen with the person next to us. I could even use my Sony D-NE1 while snowboarding!
Yet both Walkman and discman are just sony's brand name for portable tape/cd players.
But yeah to me and everyone else back in the 90's walk/discman just referred to all portable tape/cd players.
Dan has slowly but firmly become my favorite LMG host and producer man. thanks in no small part to the WAN show
... because he's down to earth, articulate, and smart.
I want to see Dan and Riley together.
@@SudoYETI the fan fiction that that forums have been praying for
@@SudoYETI i ship Danley
Yeah unlike Jake he is actually smart and knows what he is talking about.
LTT really should hire an audiophile for stuff like this
Audiophiles are all bunch of pretentious people who claims they can differentiate the difference between 16 bit 44khz flac files and 24 bit 320khz flac files. The only thing that you need for good audio is a smartphone, a music streaming platform that plays lossless music and a good headphone or an iem
@@gambit2012 But they at least know the subject matter and know what they are talking about. Unlike the „presenters“ in this video. Look up the Darko Audio Review for a reference…
@@sonnymorgan4680 Such a ridiculous price for a music player with a dac which will sound pretty much the same as the dac in the apple dongle. Please don't get excited for these expensive worthless niche devices
@@gambit2012you are so wrong if you think all you need is a smartphone with headphones and a streaming platform for good audio. I'm not even an audiophile and I can tell the difference, and the difference is huge. If you're taking that route then you're seriously missing out and you don't even know it.
Well that gambit dude sounds like a hoot. And yeah I listened to this for 3 mins and just though "huh I wish dankpods was doing this"
Ah you would need to try them with IEM's (in ear monitors). I have the little one and I absolutely love it. I was skeptical at first and thought it was a gimmick, but changed my mind after listening to studio quality of songs I've heard hundreds of times and hear things in them that I've never heard before. Pretty rad! Not for everyone but you might change your mind with a decent set like the kato by moondrop
That's what I thought. They didn't try a single IEM. Cheap Android Phones sound really bad when it comes to driving a high end IEM.
@marcos santana almost all smartphones don't have a dedicated DAC. There are a few out there that do but not as good as these
i literally just bought the 306 and a Kato, dont know what to expect coming from Chu and apple dongle, it should arrive in a pair of weeks
Well, how is it??
"And now, A Moment with Dan..." I can't stress enough how much the audience would love that segment in so many videos.
Or as it's own full standalone series. Dan is just so personable in all his appearances. It's great.
Dan the man. like a superhero but a man. the Dan. 😂
We had a whole movie with Dan called office space.
O can’t relate to Dan… for me, he has zero charisma
yup, terrible review but the moment with dan was fun
I almost never leave comments on videos, but I had to say having two hosts talking about the product and testing it is way more entertaining. Jake and Dan is very good combo, much like. 8)
Expensive lol
These two are great together, I approve.
Dan muttering about the specs was hilarious. “That’s a waste of gold”
I bought one of their older models many years ago for the reason of wanting higher quality audio and upscaling and not wanting to leave my permanently mounted in my car. Don't regret it for this use case.
Try it with car audio system...there is a noticeable difference. Instead of using your phone, these little Walkmens do put out a significant better audio quality than just your phone. I have a Alpine type. R. Full audio system in my car, two extra tweeters, type r door speakers, and 2 10-in type r subs. Two different apps. When using a cell phone there is a bit of distortion. However, when using one of these walkmans, it does make a decent amount of improvement
I love Dan showing up and hanging out.
i kinda miss those stick shaped mp3 players. they were really good when exercising because of the low weight and small size also i loved the physical buttons that could be used to skip songs. it makes a huge difference.
You can use an iPod touch, these are very light ab small
you can still buy them, if you want something small but good, check out shanling m0
Oh yeahhh! I really wish they would make a new one.
There's still a few companies around that make those, Cowon have the iAudio U7 for example. They used to make some brilliant audio products back in the day and looking at the reviews of their current product range, very much still do.
They are still around, the Chi-Fi market has a lot of portable devices. HIDIZS, for example, has a portable player that is small and square shaped. It also has physically buttons to switch tracks, play/pause, and a knob similar to those on wrist watches for volume control. They are pretty affordable as well.
I would actually consider getting the Sony NW-A300 primarily cause I commute and I listen to music while doing so. It will save me battery with my phone. I've already experienced my phone dying on me cause of listening to music but hey, that just means I'm lazy in bringing a battery pack when I should just bring one. For sure thought the NW-ZX700 isn't an option even if I had lots of money.
get a fiio.... depending on where you live, they are cheaper and better
@@stefanforrer2573 Sony's LDAC is superior.
@@stefanforrer2573 The fiio does not have Sony's DSEE technology which restores the missing ultrasonic frequencies in MP3 and FLAC files. It makes the music more pleasurable to listen to.
As someone who works in a place where you can't have a smartphone but can have a mp3 player or non-wifi connected music device. This is perfect. I miss the old Zune Days, and this is the closest thing I can get to having one of those again.
The cassette Walkman is where it's at. Every time you hear a song the speed and pitch are slightly different depending on your batteries.
I remember them old day lol
😂 definitely a unique sound
Ha - I totally forgot about that..erm..'feature' :)
I know that walkman is a brand, but growing up a walkman always referred to tape and discman always referred to cd.
^ Fact. Especially noticeable towards the end of the lifespan of the batteries. Some ran much more linearly until they fully drained [IME, Eveready] resulting in increasingly slower pitch and speed versus other batteries that maintained pitch and speed but then dropped off completely near the end [IME, Duracell] once near empty.
The reason why "high gain mode" isn't mentioned on European or American sites is because there are two different hardware variants. The European and American versions have less output power for "safety", while Asian models are uncapped. Some people have been buying their units from Japan and importing into the UK.
There was also a huge fiasco with the a306 release where a high percentage of models had shipped with a bass reduction programmed into the firmware. That is now fixed but they stayed silent on the issue and it took over a month to deal with.
I think the smaller a306 is worthwhile for fans of portable high quality audio if used with decent IEMs, but the 707 is really pointless.
Can you point me to a source where the bass reduction was fixed? I was really on top of the news when this thing came out because I wanted the A306, but choosing between US output limits and JP bass diceroll really put me off and I haven't followed.
My partner is going to Japan next week so I figured she could bring one back for me lol
I think it’s better to just forget the android versions and opt for the older A55. Basically the same specs as the A105 (the predecessor to the A306), just without android.
The UX isnt the smoothest either, but you wouldn’t mind because it’s as simple as it gets. No USB-C nor wifi, but you can still connect it to your phone by bluetooth and stream it from your phone.
why does the more expensive one, 3000$ one, have it because it's less "safety"? I dont think make 2 different hardware variants because it cost much more money. I think they just dont mention it or they disable it on software
Why do you reckon the 707 is pointless? Is it because of the size?
@@craigwhittle6503 yeah, the 306 you can pair with some £100-£300 IEMs for a great portable audio experience. With the size and price point of the 707 you would expect to be able to handle high impedance large driver headphones as standard, as it doesn't it just doesn't make sense
I SO LIKE THESE CHANNELS WHERE PEOPLE SAY WHAT THEY REALLY THINK WITHOUT BEING POLITE OR HAVING A AGENDA! thank you guys for your honest review. i was actually thinking about pulling the gun into the zx707 but thank God i saw yours and another vid and i desisted.
on the other hand and if you could answer this, i come from a sony nw a55, and i dont know if i should go for a a306 like in this video or a zx507. i use fearless audio s8f iems and beyer dynamic dt 900pro so i dont need huge power.
One thing I have noticed in this walkman... The 707... Is that the Walkman music app plays at higher volumes than other streaming services... Basically if they are using mostly streaming services to test... they will need to pump it up to higher volumes... I'm needing to put it up to volume like 60-75 with the dynamic normalizer on... With the regular walkman app I'm usually at volume 38-50 with dynamic normalizer on or off...
We need more Dan! His responses going through the product page buzz words was hilarious!
Jake and Dan make a good team. Two hosts tag teaming these things seems like a fun thing to do. I mean sure it costs a bit more, but on the other hand, maybe they'll get through it a bit faster and it gets higher views.
Dan reminds me of the dude from Office Space.
yes I agree!!
@@SuperNostalgia. That's completely unrelated to what they're talking about, but I agree
Love when Dan does audio stuff
Yeah! Really looking forward to the remastered Christmas album! 🎄
i've been using my old xperia z5 as a music player with usb audio player pro. the battery swelled and finally stopped taking a charge. i can't find my replacement battery for it, but this little guy looks amazing, i think i'm just going to order it instead.
also i'll gve a couple reasons why i want it - the more hats your phone wears, the faster you use up your battery. the same goes for storage, if i have a bunch of lossless (and highres) files on storage, that eats up most of my phone memory which is no longer expandable in most phones anyway. the lowish volume doesn't bother me, i've already got a bit of tinnitus from listening to headphones too loud in my 20s.
This is why I was so glad I got the NW-A55 before Sony discontinued them. I like the fact that my walkman is just that and not a watered down phone.
agreed... i'll stick with my NW-A55
what is differnence on the NW-A55 compared to this?
Agreed I have the nw a15
@@djjackata8756 NW-A55 has a dedicated OS with the new Sony Walkman is android based.. NW_A55 has better battery life and not slow
The same here. I liked the A55 so much that I bought a second one as a backup. The A55 corrected all of the issues with the previous players, and stayed with Sony's perfected user interface. After my experience with Android on my Smartphone I don't want it on my Digital Audio Player.
Sony has been limiting the output of their Walkmans in certain markets for years. Techmoan made a video a couple years back where he flashed the software of a limited Walkman to one where it isn’t limited. Not sure if that’s doable on the latest models though, so one should do some research when purchasing an Android Walkman.
Has anyone figured out why? Is it really just a ploy to sell the $3600 thing?
The output on the 4.4mm balanced is much higher. This makes it really a balanced device only and they didn't test that in the video and also explains why they also thought the A300 had a higher output than the ZX700. The output is still limited in software though and that's dumb.
@@johnmiller2905 It's actually part of EU regulations and is mandated by law. No volume cap, no sale. Since 2023, Sony have decided to include volume caps in both North American and Singapore markets as well. Perhaps there's some new regulations in those regions?
Either way, if you want a Sony DAP without any restrictions, you need to import it from Hong Kong or Japan.
@@teebs90 that makes sense, thank you for explaining
@@BR-pm6hy I live in Japan. I'll buy them and send them for the low, low fee of $3600
Good to see that Sony's convoluted approach to its photography gear menus extends to its music gear, too.
And that's why we love them.
The Walkman with CDs (also known as Discman) was the first DAP that ever existed. After the Discman came the MD-Walkman and after that, the NW-Walkman (Network Walkman) using Flash and HDD Storage.
The NW-Walkman exist since 2004 (all current Walkmans are NW-Walkman) so Sony never stopped making them and they made a lot of flagships in that time too.
(2004) NW-HD1 --> (2009) NW-X1000 --> (2013) NW-ZX1 --> (2014) NW-ZX2 --> (2016) NW-WM1 --> (2021) NW-WM1 M2
The NW-X1000 was the first model to use the S-Master Full Digital Amp from Sony.
When Sony created the NW-WM1 in 2016 (which was an very expensive DAP), they created a new Mid-Level DAP called the NW-ZX100.
NW-ZX100 --> NW-ZX300 --> NW-ZX500 --> NW-ZX700
The A-Series is the Entry Level DAP since 2005, that never changed.
Sony also invented the earphone, 16mm Dynamic Drivers in Earphones (70mm in Over Head), Polymer Film membranes, Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) Membranes, Aluminium Coated LCP Membranes, Composite Diaphragms combining Magnesium Domes with LCP rings and Balanced Armature Drivers that are designed to play music.
So Sony invented pretty much everything we know today including DAPs and modern earphone.
But for reasons a lot of people don't understand, everyone suddenly only knows the chinese companies that copy 1:1 what Sony does and did to the point, where people think Sony re-entered the market they created and never left.
So the convoluted approach was first in the audio gear^^
You should turn on the high gain mode in the android audio settings if you are using those kinds of headphones. I had to do that with the new Yamaha planar magnetic headphones
I'm 22 and I got my older brothers old Sony Ericsson Walkman sliding phone as my first phone and I'm still obsessed with its compact form factor. The new Walkmans are way to big for me to carry it around besides my phone.
There's custom firmware that restores the high gain mode. Every country has got there own restrictions when it comes to max sound output, and Techmoan made a video about it
That's odd because I just checked iBasso's European site as I own the iBasso DX320 and it's the same, 1200mW at 32 Ohms, 7.1 Vrms and I haven't found any IEM's or over the ear headphones that it can't easily drive. Is this a new law like the TV energy output on TV's that the EU past?
they can bypass the regulations if they charge 3600 dollars?
@@JamesKnox Maybe there's some sort of limit on quantity of sold devices.
It might be an FCC regulation, and they only got approval in US for the expensive one.
Guys your PC can probably output enough power to shatter your ear drums and this Soso company wants you to believe there are restrictions on volume. Next time they'll say you need to pay $3600 to get your ears registered before using their product.
Fiio is successfully making what this Walkman was trying to be. I would like to see you guys try out something like the Fiio M11 plus ESS and compare it to other audio players..
They're damn good for sure, but they're also damn expensive.
But then, so are these overpriced Walkmans... Yeah, I agree with Jake. This is such a disappointing product. Used to have this tiny NWZ-E384 Walkman, and despite its size, it was surprisingly great with a long battery life. I used that thing to hell and back and beat it up, all the way until I accidentally dropped it into water. :(
I’ve used those wireless ones, absolutely love them for hd600’s and some reference buds. Can plug it into my tablet or pc as an audio out or use Bluetooth where it does a pretty outstanding job for Bluetooth. Only cost a fraction of that thing too
The Fiio's are good but they take forever to update their firmware and software. I prefer Astell & Kern, they guys update regularly.
@@Al13n1nV8D3R I haven’t even bothered to update mine, never saw reason too but good to know!
tbh, fioo's walkmans are quite shit, try n8ii or dx320
In us, uk and canada Sony Walkman sounds are locked after certain volume levels like 75% except nw wm1zm2 model. So if you need full volume output buy these from Asia regional countries or from Japan.
If you import a model from Japan, the output/gain will be higher. The output to drive headphones is gimped due to more stringent laws on audio output devices made and released in the US, probably in the interim since the $3600 model was released. I imported my ZX-707 from Japan, and not only did it cost less, but it was more than loud enough for all the headphones I own and use.
Can you write the site where you bought it? thanks
To be honest I'm not even sure why Sony sells these outside of Japan. They're designed for the Japanese market and consumer. I see people with Walkman devices on the train all the time.
I do have to chime in and say I think they overlooked the biggest use case and the reason I (and many others) still carry around a portable media player and that's not for streaming. Ripping your CDs to FLAC and have music on the go that you can't easily access on streaming services or at the quality you want is a huge reason there is a healthy market for these.
I love LMG stuff and I think it's fascinating when they review audio devices because they're coming from a completely different world than I am (obsessive music collector and audio nerd). I do think there should have been a little bit more research on the impedance and more of discussion on other topics than the players not being able to run 300 ohm headphones (I'm not aware of any player that can do that without a separate headphone amp like a fiio). I appreciated the look though!
There is a not-zero-chance they avoided that scenario because they are a company and can't vouch for license breaching (ripping FLAC files off of CDs may not be covered in EULAs and may also enable downloading FLAC on the internet).
But that is still perfectly understandable imo. CD/FLAC audio is really good, but accessibility outside of audio streaming services is meh. Do I wish Spotify had better coverage? For sure. Until then...
@@NothingXemnas Well, Linus has talked a lot about his Blu-Ray rips in his videos about his home NAS, Plex and such so they're definitely not shy about that. It's technically a legal gray area but only because the RIAA and MPAA are babies (not commonly talked about but they straight up are against physical sharing too). LMG has long had the stance that if you buy something you can do what you want so I don't think that would be an issue.
More than just common bands, I like to go to thrift stores and such to look for local groups I haven't heard of and rip them partly as an archival thing and while it's possible to put them on a smartphone, it's more straight forward to get a DAP. Streaming has 95% of what you want but when you get to music hoarder status like me, that 5% stands out.
@@NothingXemnas You're entirely within your rights to convert Media you've bought into whatever codec you desire for your own personal use. It only becomes gray areas or outright piracy when sharing of those files enters the picture.
But then why not just use a phone instead? Any modern smartphone can play back FLAC files. I understand the Sony players have a better DAC than a cheap android phone but still don't see the point at the price Sony's asking for them.
I'd also like to know what headphones y'all would pair with a player like this - maybe that way I'd understand better??
@@NothingXemnas I mean Tidal has everything from OG studio master quality to DOLBY Atmos and FLAC....
These are for the extremely sensitive IEM segment of the market, that would have been interesting to explore (and maybe debunk some audiophile myths). Not mentioning IEM's at all is wild.
Yeah I have no clue why they’re using open backs for this
While you raise a fair point about excluding IEMs altogether, none of Sony's marketing for these products mentions being geared for IEMs. The average customer's expectation will be that it can power their $$$ headphones as well, not just their in-ears.
Weird how they locked out the high gain mode in NA too, as that'd probably solve the issue altogether!
Exactly I was slapping my forehead. As someone who has a good pair. I can here notable differences in audio using them on pc than on my phone. If I could play my lossless on the go with same quality. I'm all in especially because jazz classical and orchestral music benefits from increased clarity....
@@TomParky Because Sony is more on Marketing these with their own Headphones and IEMs.
Well... They said that planars are hard to drive, which is not true[47 ohms, come on, laptops and phones can drive them]. And those Abysss are just expansive, not especially good, you can find better sound for 1/10th of those headphones with magic cables.
Oh Jake...I had a hand-me-down FM/AM Walkman: model SRF-22W. Two headphone jacks, a volume dial, a tuning dial, and the FM/AM switch. Listened to hockey games during marching band from time to time with this bad boy.
Edit: I said had...I still have it. Lol
Please do a (non-phone) media player show down comparison and find the best one! I do FIFO work and would love a media player that does not kill my phone battery.
Note that with 3.5 mm jack (single ended) you are using just half the power! When going balanced you use two DACs and two amplifiers, one pushing + and one -
nobody noticed your comment cause everybody thought dumb and dumber were funny. they said they read the material which obviously they didn't.
imagine worrying about which hole is the correct hole after paying $800
They attempted to use the balanced output, which may have greatly improved their experience with the greedy headphones, but Sony put the 2.5mm jack in instead of the 4.4mm. I prefer 4.4mm for durability, especially with something in my pocket. The unit has about enough room for a 4.4mm and a 6.35mm jack which may have solved most of their problems. Most headphones and IEMs I've seen and used often come with 4.4mm jacks, and obviously if I'm using 3.5mm, I have a dozen adaptors for 6.35mm. Sony should have just put the larger jacks on and solved the problem before it existed.
Also none of this takes the poor device performance into account. If you understand your hardware is lacking performance, don't add fancy features and animations to the struggling hardware? Keep it simple? I have $300 smartphones that are leagues ahead of these devices in terms of software "smoothness". Everyone is hating on their review, and I see areas it could be improved (like knowing the impedance of various headphones, and honestly not starting with Abyss's. I would have started with something like the Sennheisers to see what it can do, and upgrading if it can get to that point. The Sennheisers and Abyss's they used all had balanced capabilities, however, because of the jack size they missed that opportunity.
Others are pointing out these are made for IEMs, not headphones, but realistically the issues I mentioned above still exist with IEMs. I think the "audiophiles" in the comments here are just hating because they can, and aren't looking at it from all perspectives, just their own (big surprise). I could consider myself an audiophile as well with various high resolution headphones, various quality AMP/DACs for my setup, and attempting to find the best sources for my content, however, I would still never buy one of these because it doesn't work with my preferences, and it looks like it feels awful to use.
Dan's reaction to Jake listing the specs is everything lmao
"waste of gold" got me 😂
I wish there was someone that knew more about audio doing this video. This was difficult to watch.
But it didn't invalidate their views. In the end, it's a machine with enough power to drive more powerful headphones, but Sony nerf'd it for no real reason by not adding a setting that could use them....
Thanks for the vid. Rookie question. Got plenty of CDs, was going to rip them once again at high quality. What is a good DAP to transfer these cds to? I dont really need streaming services. Any ideas?
Star-Lord can finally upgrade from his Zune, although I guess it being Papa Yondu’s gives the Zune sentimental value.
As someone who still uses a zune hd daily, theres no reason to upgrade
I wish I still had my brown zune
I still have my Zune HD and it still works. Love the user interface and the fact it can go all day.
wish I'd got a zune
My regret selling my Zune. It was really was a power house of a media player. It was my very least mp3/4 player ss well, not counting cellphones.
Suggestion: Have different colored desk mats to offer more contrast with the product. Dark product on a dark mat is no good
Sony’s walkmans are known for low volume levels. As per certain regulations these levels are reduced. However, the same walkmans produced for Japanese market do not have this limitation.
check out this plot: get a vinyl player, the best of the best u can find, offer the best possible operating conditions (a dustfree room maybe even in a vaccuum), get some "audiophil" vinylfans. let them hear a song on the vinyl and the same sound on that walkman in vinyl mode (or on an other player with artificial "vinyl-noise" added). Let them vote which is the better sound. Would be a great a great example on: "how biased taste can be"
techmoan did a video on these non android versions, that also had the Highgain removed, he could change the firmware or change the country setting ( i don't remember exactly) to get the High gain function back
Bet the limitation is so the American users don’t end up suing for it being too loud 😂
@@wildthingsan actually it's the EU version that has the limitations on it, same for the Apple dongle
@@chrisk3127 FFFF'em all
I think it might have to do with listening volume regulations. The EU and probably US have a max db for player outputs. The companies are probably required to base this on low impedance headphones too.
something tells me that it has to do with legislation in western countries where the high gain mode would push cheap headphones so hard that they would damage your ears almost immediately. i guess on the whale version they get around it by arguing that no one could conceivably be so stupid and use a player of this price range with cheap headphones. meanwhile 900$ is still something the average poser could buy and then cheap out on headphones on
Would love to have labs do some quick testing like this where things look the same but they’re supposed to be different. Let the labs find out!
AFAIK they don't have DAC and AMP testers, only have headphone tester.
ASR once reviewed Sony NW-A105 and it wasn't that good.
would have been a lot better than this waste of time of a video.
All the Sony audio players that have been measured by either audiosciencereview or L7 Audiolabs, have been utter dogshit. The consensus is: Get a cheap android phone ant a good USB-C dongle instead. This combo is faster, cheaper and has better audio performance.
Fiio BTR 5 with LDAC to your phone's FLAC files (or wired if you prefer) is probably the best option for most people that are dipping their toes in the high quality audio market.
I've never used the 2.5mm balanced jack, but the 3.5mm packs a decent punch. It's affordable, great build quality, and very tiny for what it can do.
also there are many many budget daps that offer much more value that the flagships from sony like the Hiby r3, shanling M0 or Hidizs AP80. All of them are around 100 to 150 dollars, they have two way bluetooth and they accept a sd card, so if you already have a library, you dont even need your phone. I have the qudelix 5k that is similar to the btr5 but way uglier hehe but they do pack a punch
Fiio doesn't have Sony's DSEE which adds the ultrasonic frequencies that are missing from FLAC but are present in live music. Without that tech the fiio is not better than the Sony A306.
apparently u have got US version of zx707 which has volume cap on it , other markets have high gain option on it & its pretty loud , i recently upgraded from the small to zx707 & really sounds louder & stronger
Nice video. Although I would suggest getting a hand model for the close up shots of the Walkman. What this man does to his fingernails I'm pretty sure qualifies as a war crime.
I still own and use the Sony NW-A45. I got it back in the day when you couldn't just get Aptx HD/LDAC out of many devices, I also sort of like the sound signature of the Walkman. It can also power the HD660S headphones just fine (150ohm) and it supports up to 2 TB SD cards and that's a plenty of space for crap loads of music in all sorts of formats.
Look up mr.walkman mod. Makes a huge difference
I agree, love my NW-A55 with a 512GB card. Tons of room and it sounds great with my IEMs. Why would you run $5000 planars with DAP, anyway? Are you trying to get mugged?
@@Brown_Sound I’ve got an A55 too and it’s awesome. And I remember my dad buying an original Walkman in ‘79.
"I also sort of like the sound signature of the Walkman"
If your are using it with bluetooth headphones, that is the sound signature of your headphones, my dude. The Walkman sends the signal over digitally.
@@Brown_Sound Like any mugger would know what those headphones are and/or cost. You are more likely going to get mugged with airpods.
I don't really need a DAP to drive 300+ Ohm cans... IEM's are the most likely use-case.
The biggest benefit I see here is that it has an SD slot for physical storage, capabilities with Roon/Plexamp/alternatives via Android OS, and also for those who've gone to great lengths - DSD support. It's a bummer the smaller version doesn't have Balanced, would be insane value if it did.
I used a CD Walkman till I got an ipod too, I remember the bumps from the school bus would make my song skip and it was super annoying lol
The Balanced output of the NW-ZX700 is rated for 230mW per channel with a 16 Ohm load, where the unbalanced 3.5mm output is rated for only 50mW per channel with a 16 Ohm load. Shouldn't be too difficult to make a cable if you don't have one at hand :) (P.S.: In the video only the unbalanced output was used.)
One other thing which might be interesting to take a look at: the HM802 and / or the HM901S from HiFiMan. They have their audio amplifier on an interchangeable PCB so one can choose an amplifier that best suits the use case. Depending on the amplifier, they are able to drive demanding headphones (maybe not as demanding as the Abyss), with an output power of up to more than 470mW - though it's not clear whether that's per channel or in total.
That's 230mW IF you have the model that offers Hi-Gain mode, which isn't the one they have here.
@Reinard Harmse I wonder if that's intentional or if Sony just forgot to enable that setting in their Android image. It's possible one could enable it themselves by rooting the device, but hopefully, Sony notices this and addresses the issue if it was indeed an accident. If it wasn't an accident, hopefully they at least make it VERY clear that these NA models don't support high gain mode for some perplexing reason.
Also, I wish LTT emailed Sony to find out if this was a mistake or not, or at least get their reasoning behind the issue. Seems like with these shortcircuit videos, they just try to meet the quota and get a certain amount done by the end of the week. They seem to put less time into looking into these issues and will often just do surface level research instead of really delving into the problem. If this was an LTT channel video they likely would've emailed Sony, but since this was Shortcircuit, they just try to finish the video by the end of the day and push it out there.
@@reinardharmse4375 yeah also 230mW against 16 Ohms is not telling us how much it will push against 250 or 300 Ohms.
@dvargas3553 It's a bit hard to understand, because some say that it@s due to hearing protection laws in some countries, but that doesn't explain why their top-of-the-line models are allowed to have higher volume levels and even a high-gain mode, not to mention brands like Fiio basically having it available in all of their models. My guess is that they've gimped the volume on this one, so more people would buy the top-end models.
@DooMMasteR Right?! It's an unusually low impedance they chose to measure the wattage against, which is a red flag in itself, because the number would probably look pathetic at higher ohms.
Dan is quickly becoming one of my favorites. He slays every-time
I had a NW-A something in the 2000's, in highschool and beginning of college. When I changed to the i-pod touch (following the app), I felt the audio on the latter was very sub-par(and F* itunes for transfers, seriously...). They were incredible audio devices. It is just meaningless now if you use bluetooth headset. It is more a device for people who want to transport lossless audio with a nice pair of IEM or headphones and a DAC.
There is a market for these.
Hi! I own the 306 and it is a pretty nice mp3 player! It is slow but you can definitely hear the difference between an iPhone and the Sony! As said on the video the sound is a bit to low, with my sennheiser ie300 it is plenty good but with my hd6xx (hd600) it is just to silent. I had to buy an amp/dac to compensate (FIIO KA5) and it just perfect! To be noted though the amp/dac work fine but TH-cam music doesn’t work with it (it work with Qobuz so your see)
There's a tendency on these new Android Walkmans where they have to comply to some EU spec and by default they have enabled some volume limiter that is on the android settings and not in the sound special settings on the device... other times there are some firmwares that do not let you disable said limiter... it's kinda weird because on most of these devices they removed the limiter a few iterations later of the firmware...
maybe the have to sell it with original settings but then later can remove setting with the update? maybe that is the work around?
I have the older NW-A105 and yes it does have an EU vol limt and no you cant remove it at all and no there is no update that removes it either, if i am going to buy the new NW-A306 i am going to import one from the US and pay the shipping the import fees and VAT as i would rather do that then another player with EU mandated trash
@ReZel US models also have the volume limit now. You must buy an asian model(Japan, China, Hong Kong, India) or an Australian model. NOTE: Chinese model does not have google play.
@@ryu_pics Okey so get one from Japan in that case
@@ryu_pics I mean in this video they could just dismiss the volume warning, so it doesn't seem to be locked on these devices.
Also never had that on my european phones, but I've been running Xiaomi phones with cutstom firmware for years now, so that might be the reason...
The output gain is limited by the new IEC 62368-1:2018 in EU, CA, US and SG. The Date of withdrawal for the old version is Jan 6th, 2023, thus the old NW-WM1ZM2 is not limited by the new version of safety requirements.
Finally some real explanation. Thanks!
Furthermore, the much cheaper NW-A100 can also output 2*35mW (equivalent to high-gain mode) in US. So the limitation is defiantly not to make the expensive ones seem more appealing.
@@s10e that would be too much research for the LTT team it seems ... they'd rather just sh*t on the products and move on, it makes "better content" lol.
@@AlTheEngineer This channel is specifically a quick unboxing channel, and you are complaining about it being a quick unboxing channel.
@@r0manuks quick content is not an excuse for misinformation
since im here and watched this, any advice on budget headphones for android phone/tablet?
Someone else who reviewed this said there had been an update (darko guy) that’s fixed some of the bass and volume issues. It’s right at the end of his review video. Perhaps it sounds better now
Yes, it definitely sounds better now. Also these jokers were using 300 ohm headphones with it, so of course it will struggle.
That small one seems quite neat to complement IEMs, considering the size of it.
Power also really shouldn't prove to be an issue there.
Agreed my iems run nicly on my NW a55
I’ve got a pair of campfire honeydew’s and I think they would’ve worked well with it. Next time they should add some decent in ears to their testing queue
I'm running a Hiby r3 Pro Saber and it runs my hd600s and hifiman he6xxx's with zero issue. Got a set of LETSHUOER S12's on the way too.
Yupp small device with IEMs, perfect for exercise now that phones have gotten too big and heavy.
The output on the 4.4mm balanced is much higher, 230mW vs 50mW on the 3.5. This makes it really a balanced device only and they didn't test that in the video and also explains why they thought the A300 had a higher output than the ZX700. The output is still limited in software though and that's dumb.
4:45 This actually is supposed to be the case, but it depends on the region you're in.
US, Canada, EU/UK, and Singapore units have limited power output while Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Australia, and Philippines units all have the full power output. My guess is that they did it this way so that EU/UK models could follow EU laws while keeping the distribution chain as simple as possible.
Nope, EU law excludes audio focused equipment this falls under. Stop excusing this overpriced piece of junk.
@@jackwilson5542 its completely possible that it is because of some niche law but it being sony its likely just to justify price
I heard that one. if you in that some that country. is better you buy the Japan or Malaysia version.
@@jackwilson5542its capped here in UK. Dont jump into conclusion if you dont know the laws
Well, he said EU/UK. its not limited in the EU.@@doubledown4957
On some Sony stuff I've noticed that when you turn off the equaliser they sound around 15% better. Could you please check that?
You need to hire an audiophile for audio stuff. No one thought of getting an amp. Or do you guys even have one?
I really hope to see more audio stuff from you guys though!
Yeah sadly there seems to be different versions of the walkman. Low gain only versions seem to be EU, US, CA and the high gain versions are Japan, China, Malaysia and India.
Since all versions have the same hardware, it should be possible to fix with a official firmware update//upgrade, if enough people complain about the low output on high impedance headphones in certain regions. The walkaround for some people is to import japanese versions.
Someone will definitely add a mod that fixes this issue just like the previous Walkman DAPs (yes, including the Android ones).
Dan’s presence in every video makes every video sooooo much better and entertaining. 😁
The HD 800 S has actually come with a 4.4mm balanced cable for a while now. Does your set have it? If you used it, you'd probably get quite the volume boost on the ZX700.
It's so much fun to hear Jake tell that the walkman OG was a CD player LOL.
I swear, Dan has the best subtle reaction faces on the team. It's great to witness.
I'm actually building my own portable player based on SBC and Khadas tone 2 pro board which can handle hd600 series like 600 or 650 under 5v input. Still testing the software but for sure I never interest to make it with android 😅
12:27
"Ugh I'm into this song! Mess me up-"
Bro 😂😂
As someone who still has an ipod that lives in the car and 16gb of music on my phone's SD card, I'm really glad someone is still making "mp3" players. I absolutely hate the idea of paying to stream music that I already have access to.
lots of companies make them especially for the hi fi crowd, they're called DAPs.(digital audio player)
And can range from affordable, to literally burning your money.
China has TONS. Don't scoff at "chi-fi", some of them are damn good.
Phones can play mp3
@@presston Exactly.
I mean considering you can store music on your phone and SD cards go up to 1TB now, I don't see why you'd need a dedicated music player.
I've been a long time user of Walkman Mp3 players and the one thing I've always loved (least from the older models) was the durability. I've been using the same Walkman mp3 everyday for about 15 years, and the amount of damage it's taken over the years is pretty remarkable (like falling on cement from a 4 story building)
Would love to see this newer model matches
Just get a rugget phone,it would be chaper
Mine is still perfectly working fine
Haha I also dropped mine four stories onto concrete (it was tucked in a hidden pocket of a backpack I was shaking out over the balcony) and all that happened was some scrapes on the sides.
Like others have said the volume limit is a weird western thing, I don't know which countries are trying to regulate that. I was lucky to be on a trip in Asia and bout the 306 a couple months back, and I love it.
May i ask whats the difference between this walkman and a phone
@@flamehours4 im no Audio expert but to summarize it in a few points: 1) The internals of this are designed for music unlike your standard phone 2) it comes with microsd card support which phones increasingly do not 3) it's a device you can use instead of your phone in a world where many feel overexposed to their phones 4) Sonys custom music player (which may be available on other phones, not sure)
Can't wait just ordered the A-306 solely for audio book usage, Recently upgraded my phone to a galaxy s23+ from my old galaxy 10 and was really sad they removed the micro sd card slot on newer phones.
If I'm not mistaken, only the Japanese versions have full power output. The US / EU Walkmans are limited for some reason, I think due to taxes or tariffs or something? Something similar happened with cameras, they used to only be able to record for 29:99 to avoid certain tariffs.
I've had my eye on the walkmans for a few years. I have a modded ipod, so I don't necessarily need one. Having a dedicated music player just feels nostalgic for me. Phone apps are fine, I've bedb using Power Amp, but physical buttons and controls plus an actual dac / headphone jack is super nice to have.
A lot of reasons in this video are why I was looking more into used non android models
Portable players are nice. I never got into having everything on my phone.
I still have my original zune, but I've wanted another ipod, the scroller wheel is so convenient.
@@volvo09 I wish Zune had been way bigger thing, I thought they were really cool but sadly Microsoft kinda ruined them
@@touma-san91 yeah, I really enjoyed mine. I still use it, but I need to replace the battery.
A few people I knew who saw it even bought one... I still have some shared pictures from them when we were playing around.
@@volvo09 That is a shame that you need to replace it.. iFixit has marked Zune 80 to be difficult one for that but I imagine it would apply to all Zunes
a couple of the bigger audio companies have put out some non android players recently, Aune has me tempted with theirs but waiting for reviews
I worked at a Sony Center in around 2000 and the NW series were originally called Network Walkmans. Little tidbit for you there. They also had their own proprietary format, used Memory Sticks, and were a PITA. We rarely sold any.
Ha yes! I bought an NW pebble thing around 2004, took it back the next day - the SoundStage iirc software was HORRIBLE.
Such a shame Sony is so bad at understanding what its customers want. The Sony players from around then were beautiful, a friend bought a 20Gb HDD one and I loved how it looked, but understood immediately why it made him rage when I watched him try to put music on it with that appalling software.
@@Josh_Quillan They were SO concerned with copyright at the time and that was far more important to them than usability or customer experience.
They were sexy, though. I had one from work but preferred my MD Walkman by far.
Sony Achilles heel was forcing propriety adapters etc.
@@aeiouxs NW-A3000 isn't it? That looked so cool!
Can you create and edit playlists? I know it seems like that should be an easy and standard feature but for some reason most of the mp3 players on amazon do not allow you to create or edit playlists in the player itself and many don't even let you make or create them at all even when connected to the computer!?!
My understanding is that US, EU, Canada, and Singapore models don’t have a hi-gain mode. Plus running on the single-ended jack (50mw@16ohms) doesn’t help vs the balanced jack (230mw@16ohms). I have an older non-Android JDM ZX300 with similar spec amps, and with hi-gain it has no problem driving my HD-650s.
I have the older A105 model. I use them to store music and podcasts offline in case I don’t have cellular. Also for running to avoid carrying phones since it’s significantly lighter.
funy, Jacke thinks that OG Walkman is the one with CD's, hahaha
Back in 2006 when I bought a Meizu Miniplayer M6, there was also an official European importer, Dane-Elec. Their firmware limited the output quite a lot to comply with some rules in Europe.
Could it be that these items you tested, are just compliant with the European 85dB limit*? (*which, AFAIK is just calculated nonsense).
The Walkman Blog has at least one article from 2020 on how to remove the voume cap on European Sony Walkmans.
Still using my old LG G7 as a media player, drives 300ohm headphones juuuust fine with the automatic high gain mode.
I bought an a105 a couple months back and that little thing is a beast, i use it every day
I’d like you to test the whole Fiio line up. They have products in this market segment, very similar to this, but i expect them to perform way better.
Yeah Fiio on top, without doubt.
better than the nerfed Sony Daps sure, there are better brands than Fiio for Daps though
Was also gonna suggest FiiO.
They have some really neat stuff, including things like the M15 that *can* drive these high-Ohm headphones (though admittedly it is quite expensive).
But they have some cheap stuff too.
I love my BTR3k to drive my Moondrop Arias on the go.
While not necessarily in the same league as what is shown here I love my BTR5. It drives my HD 600s really well when using the more powerful balanced port.
Or shanling
First video I've personally seen with Dan, honestly, we need more of him.
When non Audiophiles try to review an Audiophile devise. 🤦♂️
I think it's the EU regulation that limit the output, it's new to me that NA version also had the same thing.
That said, a few suggestion when evaluation DAP is to check both balanced and unbalanced output. The more expensive walkman is supposed to have better output in the balanced section, so it will be great if you guys could get some 4.4mm cable around (if you have headphone cable with XLR, you can simply use XLR to 4.4mm converter).
And yeah, Abyss is impossible to drive from these little DAP, but the balanced output - if not limited in power by regulation - should be able to power the HD650 decently or even HD800S, at least better than smartphone output.
EU regulations don't limit the output. If you think so, please show me the regulation in question.
I found when swapping cables on my headphones to a balanced cable. The volume I use on my AMP/DAC is about half as before.
So maybe they could drive some stuff through the 4.4 balanced, however the lack of high gain mode is really suspicious.
There is a whole market of Chi-fi players that appear to wipe the floor of these...
you are right, 4.4 doubles the output because it each channel has a separate ground. Huge oversight in teh review
Having owned various chifi DAPs, Sony DAPs are just in a league of their own in terms of build quality and they last decades. Most of the higher end chifi DAPs cant even hold a decent charge after 2-3 years. and that's not mentioning the QC nightmares I've had with some of them. (Looking at you Ibasso)
Yeah, isn't 'BALANCED' always a lower volume, like using 'Line Out' that's meant to be sent to an additional EXTERNAL AMPLIFIER, rather than the 'headphone' jack that I assume tend to output at higher volumes directly to headphones?
@@StreetPreacherrno balanced means it transfers the audio signal itself and a duplicate of the signal with reversed polarity. When the signals are received, the reversed signal is reversed back to the original, and the two signals are mixed together. Two signals are no doubt double the level of one signal.
@@GinsuSher Sure, but in this case your basically buying a budget/slow smartphone without the phone part but with a better DAC. So its obsolete in 3 years anyways.
And even my old Pixel 2 reacts faster then what they show here. For these prices I'll just grab a old smartphone and buy a decent USB-C DAC.
Wow, you're CD Walkman to iPod touch backstory sounds exactly like my high-school years, good times with my CD wallet full of mix disks.
This was surprisingly in-depth for a ShortCircuit episode, I like it! Also we need more interludes with Dan :P
Should be noted that versions from certain countries CA,UK,US have their max power output lowered due to regulations. My US version couldn't drive my headphones either. I returned it and then imported one from Japan and it has no issues what so ever driving the same ones. It also has high-gain mode. My thinking was Sony didn't want another SKU and / or was just lazy and figured they'd use the CA/UK one for US also.
Then why doesn't the expensive one(signature edition) also have it's max power output lowered in those same regions?
yeah its not regulations, otherwise dacs that can do it would be ban other fancy MP3 players from the likes of fiio would be ban etc. etc. there probably are regulations but they are much higher than what these devices seem to be capable of as can be seen by other products, including sony's own more expensive one
@@blubbb4143 Yea we all know it's really laziness / Sony saving a few bucks for sure I was just being nice. ;) Importing from Japan ended up being cheaper by over $100 and I got a free leather case.
Do you have a source for that? Because I can only find non-binding norms and guidelines and even those only rquire DB-warnings, no lowering of output. Also other manufacturers don't seem to have this problem.
Kinda seems like a myth that gets perpetuated around the internet.
@@4203105 It's "Trust me bro"
I still remember having my mind blown when buying one of the newer generation walkman cassete players since they had track skipping (next track previous track) features. I also prefered using one even when Discmans started being available since they were so prone to stuttering when being bumped or shaken even in the car this would often happen not just when trying to use when during walking.
I used to DJ so I have about 1TB of digital music and have been looking for a DAP that has such a large capacity in some way. I believe these are expandable up to 2TB's which is amazing. It's crazy that Sony is charging people anywhere from $350-$3,500 for a DAP. Otherwise the market is flooded with cheap Chinesium DAP's that may work but probably aren't reliable. I wasn't planning on spending this type of moola for a work DAP but quality options are limited even though the build of these seems questionable at such a drastic price difference. Any ideas for alternatives to a large capacity DAP?
Sony MDR-7506 Headphones is what I use for my iPod touch and also for recording EFP video on a Panasonic P2 HD camera in the field as well, I wonder if those could have worked with them?
and yes, not using the balanced output lowers the available output swing. as its a portable unit, its unlikely they added a summing amplifier (also known as a difference amp) for the single ended output and instead use one half of the balanced section (plus an output capacitor to get rid of DC offset). if they used an instrumentation amp to sum the balanced output, you would end up with roughly the same output swing.
This video shows that everything the Linus Media Group knows about audio is volume.
This comment is criminally underrated. They didn't even mention the walkman has most bass on their lineup
@@6HoleOnTheShirt basssssss!
Too quiet is too quiet. There's no getting around that. Everything else is irrelevant up to a point.
@@Diabolos1 No, the headphones needs more electricity, if they use IEMs it would be fine
@@NicoKyunKyun You're right about IEMs but it's still kind of terrible that you can't use any sort of high impedance headphones with a 900$ (or whatever it was) walkman. You'd think they would have put some sort of amp in there.
I love when people doing reviews on a products they have no clue about
Bro this entire review was almost physically painful
exactly, sony needs to choose reviwers more wisely@@OurFantasyLife
Not using IEMs with a pocket audio device feels like a miss to me...
back in the day, every sony product i had was noticeably quieter than other audio device, marginally. Something about them being in compliance with some audio volume restriction which apparently didn't exist for any other manufacturer lol. You could always boot into 'developer mode' and disable this suppression increasing the volume... but I notice these go to 125 already. The volume difference between each screams firmware issues on the larger version. Perhaps they expected the lower model to be the bigger seller... at least 10 units sold