@@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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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 $46, I've seen plenty around that price range.
i used to be the same but of late i tried apple music and its worth the subscription. letting people listen to lossless for that cheap is one of the best things apple has done of late imo. it doesnt feel right praising an apple service and i have my complaints but its still my music service of choice.
@@OurFantasyLife It's amazing to me that Apple has such an inferior product compared to the NW-A306 yet you were considering it over the A306. It just goes to show the power of the Apple name.
The reason why "high gain mode" isn't mentioned on European or American sites is because there are two different hardware variants. The European and American versions have less output power for "safety", while Asian models are uncapped. Some people have been buying their units from Japan and importing into the UK. There was also a huge fiasco with the a306 release where a high percentage of models had shipped with a bass reduction programmed into the firmware. That is now fixed but they stayed silent on the issue and it took over a month to deal with. I think the smaller a306 is worthwhile for fans of portable high quality audio if used with decent IEMs, but the 707 is really pointless.
Can you point me to a source where the bass reduction was fixed? I was really on top of the news when this thing came out because I wanted the A306, but choosing between US output limits and JP bass diceroll really put me off and I haven't followed. My partner is going to Japan next week so I figured she could bring one back for me lol
I think it’s better to just forget the android versions and opt for the older A55. Basically the same specs as the A105 (the predecessor to the A306), just without android. The UX isnt the smoothest either, but you wouldn’t mind because it’s as simple as it gets. No USB-C nor wifi, but you can still connect it to your phone by bluetooth and stream it from your phone.
why does the more expensive one, 3000$ 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
@@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
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.
@@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?
"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.
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)
^ 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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^^
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.
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 -
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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??
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
@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.
@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.
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.
I've had my NW-A55 "Walkman" for years and have absolutely loved it. I bought it for a long road trip, since then It's replaced my phone and spotify in the car, as well as getting much more play time than 90% of my vinyl collection
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.
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.
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...
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.
@@Kenny_Beer 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...
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
I feel sorry for Jake’s fingernails. I used to chew mine to that degree for years & years, so I know how uncomfortable it feels to have nails like that. Not only do they hurt but for me I was really self conscious of them, which only caused me to chew them more. I stopped by constantly reapplying that bitter nail stuff you find in pharmacies. Oh and also with the help of something to fidget with. You can stop, it is possible.
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
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.
@@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)
Sony purposely nerfed the ZX700 in NA and EU is just a wtf decision. Japanese version is quite okay and compete rather well with similar devices in the price range though.
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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
Gawd I'm old... He talks about a CD Walkman and when I last had one it was a cassette Walkman. I remember my schoolmate gave me a new one before they were out yet as his mother worked for some big record company and got about 6 of them given to their family, so they gave me one of them. Everybody I knew wanted to try them out.
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.
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.
i could see the market for both, but the cost, that's pushing it. i bought fiio's btr5 and that's more then enough for me to use any headphones up to 300ohms.
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.
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.
I have sony zx300 i got it from my wife back in 2019. It dont have android you just have to put it manually by laptop/computer thru music software by sony. I really enjoy it by a sound quality as long i’m download a DSD or FLAC codec. In pair it with tanchjim kara iem, it really heaven to your ear.
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.
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...
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.
My guess is that these were made to run IEMs, which tend to be more portable that larger reference headphones. They tend not to take as much to run I believe.
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 $3600 model was released. I imported my ZX-707 from Japan, and not only did it cost less, but it was more than loud enough for all the headphones I own and use.
To be honest I'm not even sure why Sony sells these outside of Japan. They're designed for the Japanese market and consumer. I see people with Walkman devices on the train all the time.
I bought the smaller model in mid 2020 (so a slightly older model) and have used it EVERY SINGLE DAY since. Holds up very well to this day. I got it since spam calls kept interrupting my music, and it got really annoying.
@@reinardharmse4375 synergy, every audio gear responds differently to every companion gear thereby sounding audibly different 4 digit iems can sound ass on one amplifier and better than anything else on other amps this trend tends to be less true for cheaper mid-fi (less than 600$ worth of iems) and enthusiasts don't really go for mid-fi, collectors do
@@ydid687 And? Did I claim that the KA3 was some sort of universal solution? Point is: Sony's DAPs are overpriced to the point of insanity. Especially considering the fact that this one struggles to drive most headphones with its limited output power.
I'm 29 and even I know the difference between a Walkman and a Discman. I used both growing up. Cassettes were pretty limiting but when playing CDs in the Discman the tracks would always skip when my parents drove over a bump or pothole. I even remember getting a Discman that advertised itself as being "skip free" and testing that shit out by shaking it vigorously as I listened to the CD. It's funny the kind of weird memories that stick around.
Walkman is Sony's brand name, has been since the late 1980's. I had a CD Walkman in the early 2000's I distinctively recall it being mainly silver with a green plastic around the display panel and buttons. The Walkman name has been used for multiple different types of devices including the Sony Ericson Walkman which was the first mobile phone to support mp3/AAC playback.
@@CokeZorro Your math is bad and you should feel bad. I was born in 1993. I was 8 in 2001, and just because other people could afford iPods doesn't mean my family could. I didn't get an iPod until the touch generation when I was a teenager. I used cassette walkmans, discmans and then generic MP3 players up until that point.
@@SirKappy Yea, you would be the same age as my younger brother. Born in ‘93, yet still experienced our tech for that era. He got my hand-me-downs (born in ‘87), which I got from my older sister (‘81). Being lower class when growing up, our family never got the newest of the new lol, so stuff that had been out for years were things we’d finally get our hands on via garage sales. Believe my brother used different variations of a Discman until the late 2000s when he was able to finally get an iPod. Gets kind of tiresome to see comments where someone states that they’re in their late 20s that remembers something from yesteryear (and even experienced using said thing) to have someone come in and basically do the whole “NUH-UH NO YOU DIDN’T YOU WERE A BABY, you’re a liar, you’re not my age so you couldn’t possibly remember that thing, only people my age do!” schtick. There’s probably a word for that type of boomer mentality that is slipping my mind at the moment lol, but I always found those types of comments weird because they automatically assume you could never possibly be given a hand-me-down. Or it’s one of those types of things where people think just because you weren’t old enough to experience it when it came out, then you didn’t experience it ever in their minds lol.
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
@@oldbot64 Its unboxing and first impressions. The fact that it doesn't have empirical testing is part of the reason why they don't consider videos on this channel to be reviews.
It would have been more ideal to test these on earphones seeing as they are clearly meant to be carried around with you, especially with how small the A300 is. I agree that the software is slugish as hell though, one of the only reasons I don't use it as much as I should. I use Amazon Music for mine and once it's all set up how you like, with the right earphones, it's a lovely bit of kit. Wish it had more grunt just so the interface isn't slugish seeing as you need to be hands on just to get the music you want on the platform you perfer... Personally I think it's better than a phone for when you want to save the phone battery and the sound has been better than the phones I've listened to... And then there's the actual fact that most phones you don't have a 3.5mm jack on any more...
Playing music is not going to drain your phones battery. Also you can buy a high quality bluetooth or USB DAC for under $100. Missing headphone jack problem solved and you saved $800.
wow i really hate to say this but all of your recent audio stuff has been really poor. totally missing the point of portable music players by using open back hard to drive headphones, these are really made for use if high end iems for our and about, and missing any real in depth talk about the sound quality
who is an audiophile ... well, i 'll tell you who is not an audiophile ... watch this video guys, get over the loudness and the battery life and LISTEN to the zx707 and tell us how it is, if you are able to comprehend ... else, you are no different from the spec sheet you are reading from, and use a pencil sharpener on your fingers YOU ARE NOT THE USE CASE FOR THIS PRODUCT
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.
I mean, if you were to use the high impedance headphones with this device, wouldn't you use the balanced output? Really weird how they removed the high gain mode though.
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.
I had a Walkman media player in high school and college. I ran sound for a traveling music group in college. They initially handed me an iPod to load the tracks, but I used the Walkman instead. It supported uncompressed WAV files, and didn't require special software to load tracks to it. The group bought a Walkman to use as their player after that because the uncompressed sound made a huge difference.
If someone asks your opinion about a Ferrari you would probably say it's a trash car because it doesn't fit as many people as a bus . Just use a goddamn earphone and review the thing
Exactly, it wasn't reviewed from the perspective of someone who wants sound quality, amongst other things. If you're someone not caring about sound quality, then these devices are shit, of course.
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.
This is probably the least intelligent video I've seen on this channel in a while. You guys seem dumbfounded that the cheaper device has higher output and longer battery life. Obviously it does... it's using more efficient/less accurate ic's for the dac and amp stage compared to the more accurate discrete design in the larger unit. You didn't test it with high end IEMs, or high end, low impedance headphones. Complained about low volume output but didn't test the high power balance output???? Pure idiocy. I'm not saying either of these devices are good, or worth the money. But this review is so phoned in you might as well have not made it.
Can I ask why audiophiles are always this pretentious? Those "high-grade" ics make no difference to quality unless the baby one is using Fischer price electronics. Even Flac vs. Spotify sounds pretty much the damn same so you aint gonna hear a difference between a regular chip and one that has a fancier design. And for God's sake why wouldn't the 3.5mm have the same output? You don't need the balanced jack for a cable that's gonna be like 4 ft long anyways. I have Hifiman Edition XS headphones and a dac+amp setup that i do enjoy but looking at these comments just made me wanna get rid of em. Yall are goofy.
@@cosmic7234 There's merit to your argument. In blind tests, most audiophiles can't tell the difference between most of the hardware they are so passionate about. But my comment isn't really about that. The Sony Walkman is a specialty device for audiophiles marketed at a premium for those who care about audio and want a well made device. To go into the review without that context or having done the research to accurately assess its value is my criticism.
I got my mom's hand-me-down OG Walkman (cassette tape) in the mid-late 90s that was already 10+ years old at the time and I rocked it for another 7-8 years till it went bust. Old tech sure had incredibly long shelf-lives!
I was looking to get a new Sony Walkman recently, a lighter alternative to my phone. The only versions that were for sale were way to expensive. Looks like they are only marketed to audiophiles now.
I have the NW-A306. Used with fairly ordinary wired ear buds of the type you would typically use with a phone (significantly cheaper than the device itself), the volume is more than adequate and to me, at least, it sounds way better than any smartphone with a standard USB to 3.5 headphone adapter cable of the type you have to use with almost all phones these days, although I don’t suppose everyone will notice the difference. Here is where it really shines though - extended listening. If you sit and listen to music for four or five hours plus (something I do regularly when working in the office) on a smartphone, it will be fatiguing. Your brain may even feel a bit battered if listening to any sort of music with a heavy beat. You will need a break. Not so with the NW-A306. I can listen to it all day long. I’m not sure of the technical reason for this but it’s very real, and if I recall correctly it has something to do with less refined audio circuitry pumping out spurious ultra-high frequencies that you don’t consciously hear, but which tend to make the listening experience become rather unpleasant after longer periods of time. As far as I’m concerned, there’s your use case.
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.
i always get excited when Linus or other big tech youtubers does music gear review, but feel kinda sad when they dont really know how to use it and get it to its full potential and make the overall product look terrible :(. But oh well its a niche product and its alot of money
I don’t think any mobile devices aren’t capable to run headphones over 80 OHMS , 32 ohms are optimal for players and mobiles. You can’t expect it to run a 250 OHMS headphones which needs a dedicated amp.
@@Wund3rBr3d it's right in the spec sheet on Sony's website. The maximum power output of the previous generation zx and the more expensive NW series is 50 mW + 50 mW (High Gain) and the maximum power output of the 707 and 306 is 0.4 - 1.1mW
I bought the previous generation, and I am that guy who does not like smart phones. ✋ I like to decentralize my media. I don't want to rely on subscription services or data, plus I despise what phones do for my productivity. I cannot be trusted. I don't call or text anyone during the day so I leave my phone at home as a WiFi only device for evenings. I only bring out my Walkman, and my Ricoh GRIII camera. Those are the only parts of my phone I would miss anyway.
Idk if you've done a review on it but personally I use a Fiio BTR5 for my wired headphones, it drives the Sennheiser HD600 easily through the balanced jack.
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....
Yeah, if they just knew more. These trashy 2013 hardware devices would suddenly work better. Sony did not even try to make a custom ROM to optimize just for music. What a ripoff.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I love Dan showing up and hanging out.
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
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
"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”
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.
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"
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.
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^^
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.
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.
@@AudacityTheEditor It's 4.4mm, not 2.5mm tho.
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.
Love when Dan does audio stuff
Yeah! Really looking forward to the remastered Christmas album! 🎄
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.
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
Suggestion: Have different colored desk mats to offer more contrast with the product. Dark product on a dark mat is no good
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....
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
then just get a new radio for your car and use the smartphone
How about phone with USB C dongle DAC?
Dan's reaction to Jake listing the specs is everything lmao
"waste of gold" got me 😂
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
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
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.
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
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.
I've had my NW-A55 "Walkman" for years and have absolutely loved it. I bought it for a long road trip, since then It's replaced my phone and spotify in the car, as well as getting much more play time than 90% of my vinyl collection
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
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.
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.
@@Kenny_Beer Okey so get one from Japan in that case
@@Kenny_Beer 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...
It's painful, seeing clueless people reviewing products they have no idea about.
That is certainly one (pretty valid) way to look at it.
It's so much fun to hear Jake tell that the walkman OG was a CD player LOL.
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
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.
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??
I swear, Dan has the best subtle reaction faces on the team. It's great to witness.
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.
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.
They’re probably made with IEMs in mind, not giant 300 impedance headphones.
I feel sorry for Jake’s fingernails. I used to chew mine to that degree for years & years, so I know how uncomfortable it feels to have nails like that. Not only do they hurt but for me I was really self conscious of them, which only caused me to chew them more. I stopped by constantly reapplying that bitter nail stuff you find in pharmacies. Oh and also with the help of something to fidget with. You can stop, it is possible.
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)
Sony purposely nerfed the ZX700 in NA and EU is just a wtf decision. Japanese version is quite okay and compete rather well with similar devices in the price range though.
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.
I bought an a105 a couple months back and that little thing is a beast, i use it every day
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!
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
Gawd I'm old... He talks about a CD Walkman and when I last had one it was a cassette Walkman. I remember my schoolmate gave me a new one before they were out yet as his mother worked for some big record company and got about 6 of them given to their family, so they gave me one of them. Everybody I knew wanted to try them out.
Why the hell do you think it can drive a full size overhead headphone. Did you use 500w power supply to drive your desktop version of RTX4090?
because it costs a thousand dollars..
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 could see the market for both, but the cost, that's pushing it. i bought fiio's btr5 and that's more then enough for me to use any headphones up to 300ohms.
The vinyl processor doesn't introduce artifacts like pops and wobble. It's basically an eq and phase preset.
Thanks for that. The amount of misinformation from these so-called reviewers is unreal.
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
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).
3.5mm outputs have 50mW. the balanced 4.4mm outs have 230mW.
I have sony zx300 i got it from my wife back in 2019. It dont have android you just have to put it manually by laptop/computer thru music software by sony. I really enjoy it by a sound quality as long i’m download a DSD or FLAC codec. In pair it with tanchjim kara iem, it really heaven to your ear.
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.
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.
My guess is that these were made to run IEMs, which tend to be more portable that larger reference headphones. They tend not to take as much to run I believe.
This
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.
Yeah, I bought my model from Japan because of this. Audio laws are a hell of a thing.
I bought the smaller model in mid 2020 (so a slightly older model) and have used it EVERY SINGLE DAY since. Holds up very well to this day. I got it since spam calls kept interrupting my music, and it got really annoying.
Why was “do not disturb” not a solution for you..
You can silence your phone or put it on do not disturb. Or even airplane mode if you want to block everything
I think they're supposed to be used with IEMs because of the portability
I see what you're saying, but then why not just save $820 and get a Fiio KA3?
@@reinardharmse4375 does every car drive better with the same model of a tyre from one singular company? no
@@ydid687 What is the point you're trying to make here?
@@reinardharmse4375 synergy, every audio gear responds differently to every companion gear thereby sounding audibly different
4 digit iems can sound ass on one amplifier and better than anything else on other amps
this trend tends to be less true for cheaper mid-fi (less than 600$ worth of iems)
and enthusiasts don't really go for mid-fi, collectors do
@@ydid687 And? Did I claim that the KA3 was some sort of universal solution? Point is: Sony's DAPs are overpriced to the point of insanity. Especially considering the fact that this one struggles to drive most headphones with its limited output power.
I'm 29 and even I know the difference between a Walkman and a Discman. I used both growing up. Cassettes were pretty limiting but when playing CDs in the Discman the tracks would always skip when my parents drove over a bump or pothole. I even remember getting a Discman that advertised itself as being "skip free" and testing that shit out by shaking it vigorously as I listened to the CD. It's funny the kind of weird memories that stick around.
Walkman is Sony's brand name, has been since the late 1980's. I had a CD Walkman in the early 2000's I distinctively recall it being mainly silver with a green plastic around the display panel and buttons.
The Walkman name has been used for multiple different types of devices including the Sony Ericson Walkman which was the first mobile phone to support mp3/AAC playback.
The ipod came out in 2001 when you were 6, the idea that you and your 6 year old peers had cassette walkmans at the same time is such a lie lol
@@CokeZorro Your math is bad and you should feel bad. I was born in 1993. I was 8 in 2001, and just because other people could afford iPods doesn't mean my family could. I didn't get an iPod until the touch generation when I was a teenager. I used cassette walkmans, discmans and then generic MP3 players up until that point.
He was talking about CD Walkman (not the Discman), which was the brand used in US/Canada since around 1999.
@@SirKappy Yea, you would be the same age as my younger brother. Born in ‘93, yet still experienced our tech for that era. He got my hand-me-downs (born in ‘87), which I got from my older sister (‘81). Being lower class when growing up, our family never got the newest of the new lol, so stuff that had been out for years were things we’d finally get our hands on via garage sales. Believe my brother used different variations of a Discman until the late 2000s when he was able to finally get an iPod.
Gets kind of tiresome to see comments where someone states that they’re in their late 20s that remembers something from yesteryear (and even experienced using said thing) to have someone come in and basically do the whole “NUH-UH NO YOU DIDN’T YOU WERE A BABY, you’re a liar, you’re not my age so you couldn’t possibly remember that thing, only people my age do!” schtick. There’s probably a word for that type of boomer mentality that is slipping my mind at the moment lol, but I always found those types of comments weird because they automatically assume you could never possibly be given a hand-me-down. Or it’s one of those types of things where people think just because you weren’t old enough to experience it when it came out, then you didn’t experience it ever in their minds lol.
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
If only you had a lab with audio testing equipment .... seems like perfect thing to test really
That would be a review. This channel's focus in unboxing
@Naginius does this video seemed like only an unboxing? They were judging and giving their opinions on the product.
@@oldbot64 Its unboxing and first impressions. The fact that it doesn't have empirical testing is part of the reason why they don't consider videos on this channel to be reviews.
@@hoi264 WELL I'm SAYING THEY SHOULD REVIEW IT
@@QurttoRco WELL THEN YOU SHOULD REALLY WORK ON GETTING YOUR POINT ACROSS BETTER
It would have been more ideal to test these on earphones seeing as they are clearly meant to be carried around with you, especially with how small the A300 is. I agree that the software is slugish as hell though, one of the only reasons I don't use it as much as I should. I use Amazon Music for mine and once it's all set up how you like, with the right earphones, it's a lovely bit of kit. Wish it had more grunt just so the interface isn't slugish seeing as you need to be hands on just to get the music you want on the platform you perfer...
Personally I think it's better than a phone for when you want to save the phone battery and the sound has been better than the phones I've listened to... And then there's the actual fact that most phones you don't have a 3.5mm jack on any more...
Playing music is not going to drain your phones battery.
Also you can buy a high quality bluetooth or USB DAC for under $100. Missing headphone jack problem solved and you saved $800.
wow i really hate to say this but all of your recent audio stuff has been really poor.
totally missing the point of portable music players by using open back hard to drive headphones, these are really made for use if high end iems for our and about, and missing any real in depth talk about the sound quality
who is an audiophile ... well, i 'll tell you who is not an audiophile ... watch this video
guys, get over the loudness and the battery life and LISTEN to the zx707 and tell us how it is, if you are able to comprehend ... else, you are no different from the spec sheet you are reading from, and use a pencil sharpener on your fingers
YOU ARE NOT THE USE CASE FOR THIS PRODUCT
wouldve been nice to see how they performed with high quality IEMs or buds, that to me would be the reason to get one
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.
funy, Jacke thinks that OG Walkman is the one with CD's, hahaha
The fact they didn't mention or try IEMs with this DAP makes no sense to me. Huge oversight in my opinion
What's a DAP?
@univon4892 DAP is an acronym for Digital Audio Player, which is the product category for this device.
@@motorider732 Oh thanks for telling me
I mean, if you were to use the high impedance headphones with this device, wouldn't you use the balanced output?
Really weird how they removed the high gain mode though.
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.
least you could do is some due diligence and review a product properly. This is why LTT reputation is down the drain lol
Not using IEMs with a pocket audio device feels like a miss to me...
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
I had a Walkman media player in high school and college. I ran sound for a traveling music group in college. They initially handed me an iPod to load the tracks, but I used the Walkman instead. It supported uncompressed WAV files, and didn't require special software to load tracks to it.
The group bought a Walkman to use as their player after that because the uncompressed sound made a huge difference.
If someone asks your opinion about a Ferrari you would probably say it's a trash car because it doesn't fit as many people as a bus . Just use a goddamn earphone and review the thing
Exactly, it wasn't reviewed from the perspective of someone who wants sound quality, amongst other things. If you're someone not caring about sound quality, then these devices are shit, of course.
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.
This is probably the least intelligent video I've seen on this channel in a while.
You guys seem dumbfounded that the cheaper device has higher output and longer battery life. Obviously it does... it's using more efficient/less accurate ic's for the dac and amp stage compared to the more accurate discrete design in the larger unit.
You didn't test it with high end IEMs, or high end, low impedance headphones.
Complained about low volume output but didn't test the high power balance output???? Pure idiocy.
I'm not saying either of these devices are good, or worth the money.
But this review is so phoned in you might as well have not made it.
This review is so dumb indexed
This video was painful to watch. A layman reviewing a specialty device for audiophiles
Can I ask why audiophiles are always this pretentious? Those "high-grade" ics make no difference to quality unless the baby one is using Fischer price electronics. Even Flac vs. Spotify sounds pretty much the damn same so you aint gonna hear a difference between a regular chip and one that has a fancier design. And for God's sake why wouldn't the 3.5mm have the same output? You don't need the balanced jack for a cable that's gonna be like 4 ft long anyways.
I have Hifiman Edition XS headphones and a dac+amp setup that i do enjoy but looking at these comments just made me wanna get rid of em. Yall are goofy.
@@cosmic7234 There's merit to your argument. In blind tests, most audiophiles can't tell the difference between most of the hardware they are so passionate about. But my comment isn't really about that.
The Sony Walkman is a specialty device for audiophiles marketed at a premium for those who care about audio and want a well made device. To go into the review without that context or having done the research to accurately assess its value is my criticism.
I got my mom's hand-me-down OG Walkman (cassette tape) in the mid-late 90s that was already 10+ years old at the time and I rocked it for another 7-8 years till it went bust. Old tech sure had incredibly long shelf-lives!
I was looking to get a new Sony Walkman recently, a lighter alternative to my phone. The only versions that were for sale were way to expensive. Looks like they are only marketed to audiophiles now.
380$ and that’s the cheaper one!!
I have the NW-A306. Used with fairly ordinary wired ear buds of the type you would typically use with a phone (significantly cheaper than the device itself), the volume is more than adequate and to me, at least, it sounds way better than any smartphone with a standard USB to 3.5 headphone adapter cable of the type you have to use with almost all phones these days, although I don’t suppose everyone will notice the difference. Here is where it really shines though - extended listening. If you sit and listen to music for four or five hours plus (something I do regularly when working in the office) on a smartphone, it will be fatiguing. Your brain may even feel a bit battered if listening to any sort of music with a heavy beat. You will need a break. Not so with the NW-A306. I can listen to it all day long. I’m not sure of the technical reason for this but it’s very real, and if I recall correctly it has something to do with less refined audio circuitry pumping out spurious ultra-high frequencies that you don’t consciously hear, but which tend to make the listening experience become rather unpleasant after longer periods of time. As far as I’m concerned, there’s your use case.
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.
Dual host videos! More of these would be amazing!
i always get excited when Linus or other big tech youtubers does music gear review, but feel kinda sad when they dont really know how to use it and get it to its full potential and make the overall product look terrible :(. But oh well its a niche product and its alot of money
I don’t think any mobile devices aren’t capable to run headphones over 80 OHMS , 32 ohms are optimal for players and mobiles. You can’t expect it to run a 250 OHMS headphones which needs a dedicated amp.
Why didn't you try it with IEMs?
I read complaints about high gain mode being removed to due US regulations, but I'm not 100% sure on that
Why are you not 100% sure on that?
@@ChrisWade0690 if the complaints are accurate or not
@@Wund3rBr3d it's right in the spec sheet on Sony's website. The maximum power output of the previous generation zx and the more expensive NW series is 50 mW + 50 mW (High Gain) and the maximum power output of the 707 and 306 is 0.4 - 1.1mW
It is removed, but it's not due to regulations. No idea why Sony did it.
As a audiophile… I am disappointed it won’t drive those headphones, but how about shure 846 IEM. Started preferring iem lately.
apparently the american version is worse than the japanese one at driving headphones but i doubt it drives the huge one anyway
Those are some of the most sensitive IEMs. You could probably drive them with your breath
I bought the previous generation, and I am that guy who does not like smart phones. ✋
I like to decentralize my media. I don't want to rely on subscription services or data, plus I despise what phones do for my productivity. I cannot be trusted.
I don't call or text anyone during the day so I leave my phone at home as a WiFi only device for evenings.
I only bring out my Walkman, and my Ricoh GRIII camera. Those are the only parts of my phone I would miss anyway.
Jesus. When did LMG start publishing videos that hilight the host's ignorance about the product? What is naturally going on here?
"L" is allowing Brand Destruction.
@@antong3987 It's not THAT bad. Yet. But you'd never see this even a year ago.
Idk if you've done a review on it but personally I use a Fiio BTR5 for my wired headphones, it drives the Sennheiser HD600 easily through the balanced jack.
I have a Fiio BTR5 too, is it that good paired with the HD600?
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....
Yeah, if they just knew more. These trashy 2013 hardware devices would suddenly work better. Sony did not even try to make a custom ROM to optimize just for music. What a ripoff.
Best off just using an old or budget android phone with a headphone jack and microsd card slot. I was hoping it would be better.