Sony NW-A100 and NW-ZX500 Walkman Audio Players

[antdroid]

The 40th Anniversary of the Sony Walkman was in 2019 and with that, Sony released two new Android-based Walkman DAPs to commemorate the original Walkman with the NW-A100 and the NW-ZX500 series.

Both features a cassette tape screensaver while playing music and a vinyl DSP as part of some new features of their DAP line.

The NW-A100 series comes in at around $349 USD for the 16GB 105 model, with additional models including a noise-canceling IEM, and a special edition set with a Walkman case.

The NW-ZX500 series adds 4.4mm balanced and starts at $600 USD and $830 USD for the 16gb and 64gb versions.

[antdroid]

Sony NW-A105 Walkman Digital Audio Player First Impressions

The latest “Walkman” from Sony are a set of Android-based digital audio players with streaming capability in the NW-100 and NW-ZX500 series walkmans. I purchased the NW-A105 now, though after going through the first day or so of having it, I may be opting to get the higher priced ZX507.

First off, the A105 is priced at around $349 and comes with 16GB of internal storage and has a microsd slot. I am using it with a 200GB card now and had no issues loading music. It only has 3.5mm single-ended output and is limited to just 35mW at 16 ohm power. So, in otherwords, it’s a tad weaksauce. That said, it’s enough juice for pretty much every IEM I own with the exception of my Unique Melody ME1 planar in-ear, and that one can get plenty loud, but just sounds awfully anemic, especially when compared to the iBasso DX160 which has significantly more power in it’s balanced output. To make things even more pointed, the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm dongle has more power than the NW-A105.

Still, when used with just IEMs, this thing actually sounds pretty good, and it has a neutral to neutral-bright tonality to it. The soundstage is open and presents a clean, detailed playback.

The battery life is pretty bad so far. I’ve disabled most apps and turned off syncing and location services, but I’m finding battery drain to be still pretty high. I also haven’t had luck unlocking the bootloader to see if I can mod it as well.

Another negative, and I’ve already pointed this out above, is that this isn’t the DAP you’re looking for to use with over-ear headphones that need more power. The Verite required the amp to be maxed out and it sounded really bad. I didn’t even bother trying the Hifiman Arya with it.

But the good news is that bluetooth works great and no issues with wifi and bluetooth range that is an issue with a lot of the Chinese-based DAPs I’ved used more recently, with the worst being the iBasso DX160 where I can’t go more than 5 feet without stuttering during bluetooth playback.

The other thing to note is how small and how cute this little player is. It fits inside my palms with ease and it’s roughly the size of the small iPhone SE’s screen footprint. That’s small! It has full android 9.0 and play store capabilities and I had no issues using Spotify and Qobuz as well as Niagara Launcher and other android apps, and using it was quick without any lag.

Now that said, I am looking at possibly returning this and getting the NW-ZX507 as it has a little more power and balanced options for doubling it’s power output while still retaining a slim feel, albeit taller with the same screen size. We’ll see…

[antdroid]

So I may have spoke a tad soon about crappy battery life. In my full day running this with IEMs plugged in and playing mostly off-line FLAC files, I’m currently down to 23% with 10 hours and 45 minutes of non-stop playback, with about 15-20 minutes of Qobuz usage and the rest using the walkman app.

Doing some math, that gets me to about 13.5 hours of playback.

• During this time, I had 1 hour 9 minutes of screen-on time which does drain battery faster.
• When I used Qobuz, streaming, it drained much faster.
• Using Direct Sound mode (which disables all DSP), the battery drainage is minimized a lot!
• Disabling Direct Sound mode, and even if you don’t enable any of the DSP effects or EQ, you’ll still drain faster than with it On. Weird.

Oh I didnt mention, it has SYSTEM level EQ and DSP effects. I tried it on Spotify and Qobuz.

[antdroid]

I picked up the Sony NW-ZX507 walkman a couple days ago as well. It’s the mid-tier level DAP and similar in size and shape to the ZX300. This one also runs android, and features the same SOC as the NW-A105, as well as both sharing 4GB RAM. That means, their performance is exactly identical, and that’s what I’ve experienced using both of them.

They also use the same battery and so I’ve had very similar results. I’ve actually have been averaging roughly 18 hours of “predicted” battery life while using this DAP, running it down to about 50% after 9 straight hours of usage playing mostly FLAC.

The ZX507 adds 4.4mm balanced, as well as the Sony FT Capacitors and circuitry to it that are not present on the lower, cute tiny NW-A105 model.

In my initial listen, I found the 4.4mm and 3.5mm to sound pretty similarly right out of the box, and also found no distinguishing differences to the NW-A105.

As I continued to play with the 507, I started listening to bluegrass music, and I found the 507 had subtle differences of playback — just slightly more defined bass, and very slightly better resolution. But it’s very very close to the NW-A105, which means that the little player sounds quite good for IEMs.

The 507 has more power, so it can handle some headphones though I think it’s still on the weaker side of things. I haven’t tried it with Verite or Arya yet.

Anyway, I decided to keep the NW-ZX507 and returned the 105, despite loving the small size and really enjoying that player. The 507 build is a lot better, feels weightier and more polished. The screen is the exact same, but the player itself is longer and feels nice holding in the hand.

The one quirk so far is that the USB-C port is on the side of the player which is weird. It’s also throws off balance a bit if you’re charging and hold it at the same time, but I haven’t had to do that too much.

The case shown in the photo is the Dignis case. Feels great, and covers it well.

[TylersEclectic]

cough cough Sony shill cough cough

great write up in all seriousness Ant!

[antdroid]

The Sony NW-ZX507 is the latest Sony Digital Audio Player in their Walkman line that has spanned 40 years now. Of course, the digital versions are only more fairly recent, but to commemorate this event, Sony released the NW-A100 and NW-A500 series of Walkman with a fun Cassette Tape UI that can be activated while music is playing.

Features

I covered some impressions of the NW-A105 a little while back, and was quite happy with it for the most part. It’s an extremely cute player with a very small handheld size, snappy UI, good battery life (for an Android DAP), and decent sound quality. I decided to give the higher priced NW-ZX507 a shot after and ended up keeping the more expensive model, and here’s why.

First off, the two share a lot of similarities. They have the same SOC, RAM, battery, and pretty much the same software sans a couple DSP tweaks. They also share the same screen size and from what I can tell, the same resolution. The ZX507, however, has a longer and thicker body, to allow for a balanced audio system architecture with the proprietary Sony capacitors and S-Master HX amps. With this, they also added the 4.4mm balanced jack to the top of the player which is quickly becoming a favorite connector of mine.

This change does add a little more size and a little more weight to the overall unit when compared to the A105, however, in the grand scheme of things, it’s still a small DAP and is quite portable and pocketable. In addition, the USB-C charging and data port is now moved to the upper left side of the player, which is quite a unique location for a USB port. It took some getting used to, and I still find it very awkward to use while plugged in. I end up not charging and handling most of the time.

Unlike other DAPs in this segment, this player does not have USB DAC capability which can be a bummer to some people. In good news, I found it’s bluetooth and wifi performance the best of all the DAPs I’ve used, though still not on the level as say my Samsung Galaxy S10e phone.

Battery Life

I found in my “as controlled as I can possible make it” testing, that the player can last 18 hours with FLAC playback using the Walkman audio player, and with the Sony DSP functions turned off and a couple hours of screen time. That’s much more than other DAPs that use Android I have tried in the past. With some streaming via Qobuz or Spotify, the playback time drops a bit. In my normal usage, I can easily get through a work day without worry about battery emptying out, and can predict up to about 12 – 14 hours of mixed offline and streaming playback.

To this note, I do have most things disabled like syncing and do not use the player for social media or gaming. I use it purely as a music player with occasional streaming music and YouTube. Battery tends to drain faster with streaming services and screen-time as expected.

On the note of the screen, it’s quite bright, even on the lowest settings. I don’t ever have a need to go higher than the lowest settings and that does help with the battery life as well. The screen size is 3.6 inches, so it is a little on the small side for when you need to use the keyboard, but for me, personally, I was able to use it just fine and I tend to minimize the need to use keyboard anyway.

The UI itself is pretty much a vanilla Android interface, running Android 9.0. Sony includes the Music Player app, as well as help guides, and an app to tune the DSP functionalities.

Sound DSP Options

These include a 10 band equalizer, their DSEE HX upscaler, their Vinyl Processor, Dynamic Normalizer, and DC Phase Linearizer simulator effects.

In listening, I found the DSEE HX to be really not that useful. It sounded like it just made music sound brighter, which seemed to match measurements I took.

When using the Vinyl Processor, the effect was rather minimal. It added slight warmth and a vinyl sound by oscillating the lower end frequency response by +/- 1-2 dB.

The Dynamic Normalizer essentially reduces dynamics: the loud and quiet range of your music. Enabling this essentially compresses your music, with the benefit of normalizing volume between songs, however it’ll make your music sound rather flat.

The DC Phase Linearizer “makes low-frequency phase characteristics more similar to a tradtional analog amplifier.” When I enabled this using one of the Standard A or Standard B modes, it does present bass a little more lifted and natural sounding. I did also measure this with a FR graph. The High/Low modes actually reduced the sub-bass with a roll-off which I found interesting. There was also slightly different harmonic distortion between the modes and a phase shift.

Listening Impressions

The Sony ZX507 has a nice musical sound that doesn’t stray too far from neutral, but does have enough flair to it that I enjoy it overall. It does sound like it emphasizes the lower-end to be slightly above neutral, while having just a small amount of reduced treble extension, especially when compared to my previous DAP the iBasso DX160 or something like the Fiio M11, which I found to be very bright.

It’s not as warm-bodied as the Astell & Kern SR15 or even the Hiby R5 however, but if I had to pick a DAP I recently had that shares similar sound, it’d be the Hiby R5 however with better resolution, clarity, extension and just a more natural overall sound.

The DX160 may actually beat out the ZX507 in terms of a neutral presentation, albeit with an aggressive sound, however I find the ZX507 just a little more engaging, with slightly softer presentation, which is more enjoyable over-time, though to be honest, the DX160, in terms of pure sound qualities, is exceptional value for its price, and the ZX507 is double the cost.

Comparison

I’ve already compared some of the Android-based players I’ve used recently, but I’ll put together a little chart here to compare them for other features as well with lower being better. I subjectively ranked each IEM from 1-8 in each category and did a 2:1 weighted score based on Sound to Usability.

**Lower score is better

[prfallon69]

Great writeup and I love the charts. Very useful reference.

[Snareblast]

What do you have that docked on?

[antdroid]

The NW-A105 is just docked on a generic USB-C phone charger stand. It’s about $10 or less on amazon.

[Puff_Bear]

Thanks for the review. Actually I’m curious if A105 can drive Sennheiser HD650? If not what portable amplifer with affordable price would you recommend?

[Dynamic]

@antdroid Do you still us the zx507?

My only issue with it on paper is it is fairly under powered. Like less power than my qudelix 5k.

Could it drive normal headphones like focal clear/elex or lcd-x?

I assume basically any IEM worked well on it?

Thanks!

[antdroid]

Hi - no i sold the 507 when i purchased and upgraded to the Lotoo PAW 6000. The 507 does lack a bit of power and its built more for IEMs than headphones, but it’ll still work with sensitive headphones. I wouldnt recommend it with a planar though.

[Dynamic]

Thanks! Debating if it’s worth trying for IEM dedicated option. Seems like the r6 2020 might be a better option. Or even the r5.

[Dynamic]

Sony nw-zx507 Impressions

Here we are with another DAP. As I start this review I am kind of disheartened by the lack of quality I have seen in daps. Let’s see how the nw-zx507 stacks up. As usual, I am listening with the Dunu Zen.

As usual, there is a TLDR at the end.

Unboxing

This isn’t something I care about, but sony knows how to package a product. This is small, elegantly designed yet quality packaging. Go sony.

First: The packaging is no bigger than necessary to get the job done. Second, it’s a cleverly packed and layered box that opens on a hinge. Third, it is exceedingly simple. Fourth, everything has a nice tidy space.

The dx300 was this “different to be different” box that had no particular value. It did do the job, but was much larger than necessary. I honestly don’t remember the dx160 unboxing.

Seriously, if unboxing is important to you, just buy sony. It’s a great experience.

Size and Build

The size is really really nice. It’s solidly built yet is entirely comfortable in a hand. And, amazingly, I think I can use it one handed in either hand. The play/pause button and the volume up button have a physical bump on them making them easy to locate.

All the edges are rounded off and smooth. Remember when Motorola flip phones fit wonderfully in your hand and you can just use them? No? Well, it used to be like that. This is like that.

The DX300 was a crazy brick. This fit in my pocket with my other stuff. The dx160 was completely awkward to use one handed and was still bigger than this (didn’t fit in said pocket with other stuff). Its size and physical ease of use puts those others to shame.

The Interface

It’s the typical android interface. It is fairly bare despite having google play onboard. The only real strike against it, is like most daps its SOC is underpowered. So it is not exactly smooth like the dx300. I do think it is a step up from the dx160, but that is entirely memory.

But right from launch, it got me setup with my google id and everything was much smoother than the others. It’s almost like Sony cared about the experience. I know I am getting used to these DAP android devices, but I really didn’t have random issues with this one. No entering wifi passwords three times or having apps fail to launch. It just wasn’t very snappy.

Buttons

Buttons are WORKING. Crazy that a a media player has buttons on the outside that work. It’s almost like I have a CD player again. Well, almost. Oddly, the play/pause button doesn’t work in amazon hd if I am in the app and the screen is on. It works if I am not. Crazy. Not a deal breaker for me though.

The volume buttons are way better than the iBasso wheels. Micro adjustments are a tap and you can hold them to move quickly. It’s a genuine pleasure to use them to control volume.

I have been randomly pausing, playing and skipping tracks all night. It’s so satisfying to have this work. The dx300 and dx160 made me want to throw them out a window. Every time I needed to pause it was like “What? buttons? What are those?”

I will say that the skip buttons are logically reversed to me. On the outside of the player the “next song” button is on top and the “previous song” toward the bottom. I think my brain thinks of these as traveling through the song list. Advancing to the next song means going down to the next track. This isn’t a big deal, I have already adapted. But I will note that the dx300 had a setting to let you flip this to your liking.

Have I mentioned that I have used it for hours without having the buttons completely fail?

Better than iBasso: Big huge check.

EQ

Let me start by saying EQ is a dirty word to me. Every time I try it or an oratory profile or other preset, I tend to cringe. It’s like you touch a slider and I feel like everything turns to plastic. It’s unreal.

I played with it’s EQ, and something weird happened: I didn’t hate it. In fact I liked some of the preset selections. Even messing with the sliders didn’t immediately result in plastic sound to me. I have no idea what/why it’s different here, but it doesn’t seem offensive at all. Weird. I would love to understand why.

Power

This here. This is possibly the flaw. This thing is 200mw into 16 ohms. It is enough for the Zen, but honestly? I am not sure it could have driven the Audeze Euclid which demanded standard mode on the iDSD micro signature. I am not really keen on spending $800 on a single IEM DAP. Especially when the Qudelix has 240mw into 32 ohms (measured 210mw into 50ohms).

The reason I like a lot of headroom in amps is if you start pushing them, most amps become shouty and weird as you approach their limits. The zx507 definitely shows this on the Zen. If you push really loud volume, the sound becomes tinny and weird.

Sony, pay attention. This thing is underpowered. It should not be beaten by something the size of a nine volt battery. Ok? Got it? And, yes, this may trigger a return. I have a hard time justifying this price when it may very well only power one headphone for me and get beaten by a battery.

Speaking of batteries.

Battery

I have been listening for about 2 and a half hours and the battery is down to 54% from a full charge. That is not a good sign. If this player with 20 hours of battery life ends up with 5? I won’t even need to think about it: it goes home. Ba bye. This will not get me through a day. And since it buzzes while charging, that is a non-option (see below). I turned off all the fancy stuff that eats battery too (or, more accurately, I didn’t turn them on for this session)

I will see if this is a problem over more usage. If I can’t get through a normal day, without re-charging, it will be a deal breaker.

Sound

I swear the bass is doing something different in a good way. Tighter maybe? Just slightly more emphasized? I really can’t tell but it was the first thing I thought when I turned this on.

All those other pesky frequencies

There is an odd dichotomy as it feels both harsher and softer. I think female vocals in some of my music, which are already pretty intense, are coming off just a touch harsher than normal. At the same time, everything else feels cozy and rounded off.

But here’s the thing, I really wanted to listen to it more. I didn’t want to try and a/b it much with the other amps. It was like, the sound was confident in a way that made me think “well, I don’t really care what it is, or if I am imagining it, I am just gonna stay right here and listen to this.”

The sound is quite nice overall. I have not found sound to be a major reason for me to choose one piece of hardware in my chain over another one. Power makes a much bigger difference on competently executed products. Hiss/Buzzing is also far more important. And, of course, the headphones themselves. I have heard the full range of solid state options, and I genuinely don’t have strong opinions. I slightly prefer the things that are less clinical/absolute detail focus. The dx300/iDSD Signature are preferred to THX generally, but not always. I liked the Fiio Q5s-TC sound a lot as well (ruined by the bluetooth buzzing that tried to kill me as well as the overall user experience ).

Buzzing

When I first plugged in my Zen, there was a buzz. Like bees zooming around my head. I think it was due to charging and some secondary interference. When I moved the unit, the buzzing would go away or become worse. So I think something environmental was effecting it. I have not heard any buzzing when running on battery.

Observations

It gets warm to the touch at times. And it seems random. Sometimes I pick it up to change a song and it is cool. Sometimes it’s very noticeably warm. I have been playing with turning on and off various sound features in some sessions. And it doesn’t matter at all. It was just surprising as the other daps I have tried have not really felt warm at any point.

The sound features (outside of EQ) seem to do nothing. DSEE Ultimate Ultra MX something something. At the end of the day I am just turning them all off (in the hopes that battery skyrockets).

I do wish the headphone jacks were on the bottom instead of the top. When you put it in a pocket, it would be much nicer if it went in upside down without a cable on the deep side. And if you aren’t putting this thing in a pocket, why do you own it? Get something bigger with more power.

Conclusion

Well, it’s easily the best DAP I have experienced. That is an unfortunately low bar. I think this DAP can work very well for those powering easy to drive headphones. I can certainly recommend it for the Dunu Zen. It works fairly well. It can’t get to the ear drum tickling that the iDSD Signature can, but that is stupidly loud.

It’s going to take a lot more listening to determine if it is the right DAP for me. My biggest concern is it isn’t future proofed at all. I don’t honestly know where this journey is going, but the potential inability to drive things like an lcd-xc is concerning to me.

Obviously, the deal breaker issues could kill it. If the battery starts behaving, then at least I know it works well for the Zen. It will get a bunch more time before I make any decisions. It is wonderful to have music off the phone.

TLDR

Great Packaging
Basically perfect size and very usable in either single hand.
Fits in a pocket nicely, even with stuff.
Headphone jacks could be placed better.
Underpowered for anything but easy to drive headphones.
Battery may be problematic. More testing to be done here.
Use while charging is a hard no due to buzzing most of the time.
Sound is wonderfully smooth. Has been occasionally harsh, but not sure it’s even the DAP.

[antdroid]

Nice review – a few things to note:

Its designed for most IEMs, so power isnt really a problem for that case except for the rare random cases. I wouldnt use this with over-ear planars from Audeze. Better to get an external amp and use the Sony as a transport if you wanted a portable setup, or go with another DAP (that’s not sony because all their DAPs are underpowered for inefficient headphones).

Balanced 4.4mm is significantly better than 3.5mm, so upgrade your cables if you havent already. Though since you have Zen, you probably are already using 4.4mm.

There is some slight changes in sound after capacitance burn-in though its quite subtle. Sony recommends i think 200 hours? But i dont think its that much…

[Dynamic]

@antdroid

Its designed for most IEMs

I wish I still had the euclid to test. I don’t think it could cut it though. I haven’t tried the dusk on it. It is a good chunk harder than the Zen.

@antdroid

Balanced 4.4mm is significantly better than 3.5mm

If balanced is offered, it’s the only thing I use. still haven’t tried 3.5 on the qudelix either. Even with the XC I bought a balanced cable with connectors for my amps. Always balanced.

@antdroid

slight changes in sound after capacitance burn-in though its quite subtle.

I have read this. The other two daps didn’t survive long enough to get this opportunity. This one might if battery isn’t a blocker. Not looking good though. It’s down 20% from very little listening and only a couple minutes of screen time.

I stream and use balanced jack so that probably kills it. But 5 hours is way too short for a normal day. (For something the claims 20 on the box).

[antdroid]

For the sony, if you use their music enhancement stuff like EQ or DSEEHX or whatever it is called, the battery life will diminish very quickly. I disabled all of that for most everything and I was able to get 12-18 hours of use with it using flac files.

Streaming is also going to drain battery faster too.

20 hours rating is based on offline playback and no settings on in ideal conditions.

[Dynamic]

It’s all off already. I am in direct sound mode with the upscaling off high quality thing off. I think I even have battery saver on.

I assume direct sound mode is the most efficient as it completely cuts out all dsp possibilities?

[Dynamic]

I had this panic moment when the buttons stopped working right! Turns out the case I just put on is interfering with button usage. crisis averted

The case was causing most button pushes to be treated like a long press. So assistants kept activating and it would skip a bunch of songs. It even shut it down once. Bad case! Bad!

Ok, back to normal now.

[prfallon69]

Very detailed review @Dynamic.
Great stuff.