Sony NW-A45 3.1 Inch Touch Display High Resolution Audio Walkman 16 GB, 45 Hours Battery Life - Black

This is a great piece of hardware for music lovers. Been using it for almost a full year now. Not sure I'd necessarily call myself an audiophile but I care for my music and am always listening to something. As such I want high quality but without spending thousands on equipment. Basically I'm after the best possible audio quality from pro consumer gear.As I have begun adding more FLAC to my music library this device seemed like an obvious choice and it's been great. The battery life is fantastic, it takes a 128GB microSD no problem, and I've dropped it a fair few times and it's still going strong. The audio quality is astounding, it supports pretty much any format including lossless, it has a handy touchscreen, It does everything you could want from a dedicated audio player... as long as you don't mind fiddling with the software a bit.Other reviews have already covered the issue of the volume limiter. This appears to be mandated by the EU. You can disable the volume limit option in the settings, but it will still randomly turn your volume right down and throw up a box telling you to "check the volume" just completely out of the blue which, if you're immersed in a song, kills your vibe completely. According to online posts the volume itself is also still limited to a lesser extent even with the limiter option disabled.Another not so severe but yet still obvious oversight is the lack of ability to add a playlist. There's a menu option to do it, but when you try to use it you're told you need to connect your device to special software just to make playlists. This is frankly absurd when pretty much any basic cheapo MP3 player can make playlists. What's even worse is that the ability to create playlists is right there in the software, it's just disabled by default.The fix is to look up software called "SonyNWDestTool" by Rockbox. There's a version for Windows and Linux. It runs in the command line and with just a few simple keystrokes you can remove these limitations just by changing the "destination code" to "J" (Japan). Once you run the commands successfully, just reset the settings (no, this won't remove your music) and boom it's done. Takes 5 minutes.A few other features are unlocked when you do this too. For example it can now do in-line recording, although this requires a special cable.Once the limitations are removed this is a great device and I'm sure the true audiophiles will love not only the audio quality but all the little features it has like custom EQ as well as presets, the ability to upscale MP3 to lossless quality which works better than I expected, and some fun stuff like surround sound effects.It also has something called "ClearAudio+" which tries to automate the best way to output music, but if you want my opinion you're better off manually adjusting the EQ as many songs sound much better with manual adjustment.Other than the easily fixable software limitations this does have one small bug which is that it is very hit and miss with picking up album art, and in regards to FLAC, it is more often miss. So you get a lot of songs that just show a generic music logo instead of the album art. Hardly a huge deal but it seems like a basic oversight (much like the ability to create playlists).Another basic oversight is the lack of a clock. Seems like a very basic feature to me, and although you can set the time on the device, there's a box telling you explicitly that this setting is only used to manage the library, not to tell you the time. Again not an enormous deal, but how hard would it have been to just let me enable a clock on the top of the screen?Overall I recommend this to people serious about their music as long as you know your way around a computer enough to run a few commands. Paired with some decent (preferably wired) headphones, this gives you banging sound quality.

I grabbed this player when it was a warehouse deal at £70. Even with the exchange rate to CAD, shipping and duties it was half the price of the one sold on Amzn CA.I own the Hidizs AP80 that I got from their KickStarter campaign last year. The AP80 is an amazing little player when it comes to sound quality and EQ/MSEB options but the small form factor and fragile scroll wheel left me looking for something a little larger with solid button layout.The Sony NWZ-A45 fit the bill. I was not put off by the fact that it is a couple of years old at this point.Sound wise it is pretty close to the AP80. The touchscreen is a good size and is fairly responsive. I have not tested the 45hour battery claim as I tend to add new music to the 400gb card I have installed but I can say that the it is far better than the AP80. Reg FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC and DSD files have all played perfectly.I have used the NWZ-A45 with KZ ZS10 Pro, KZ ZSN Pro, Audio Technica M40x, Bose QC25, Sony MDR-XB950N1and enjoyed the sound profiles in each.The UI is fine, nothing special. A little dated but it gets the job done. You can navigate with ease and the font is a reasonable size.Some minor complaints:The only negative with the display is that you will notice screen tearing. It's a little annoying but I can live with it.Cover art can be hit or miss. There appears to be a problem with "processed" album art. Most of my music was tagged with Mp3Tag. I found that the NWZ-A45 does not like album art added using that program. After searching some forums I found a program called TagScanner that was able to fix the album art.Another minor issue is the slow boot up time and the fact that it will re-scan the library once it boots up. I've owned multiple MP3 players and DAPs over the years and this is the only one that does a scan even though nothing new has been added. This should be optional not part of the boot up process which is already slow especially if you are not using the built 16gb.I could not find a gapless playback option so I will have to test out some Floyd or Classical to see how this player works with music of that type.While I have not experienced any issues using Sony or even a cheap Anker BT speaker I was not able to control the volume properly when connected to my Edifier R1010BT speakers. The AP80 connects perfectly.I have not used the NWZ-A45 as a dedicated DAC for my phone or laptops but I would expect that sound fine based upon my regular us.Once again this is a solid Hi-Res player. If you're in the market for one and the price works for you it is a great buy.

Purchased this at a considerable discount from Amazon Warehouse, brand new with a slightly damaged box.Charged initially after setting the battery saver for a maximum 90% charge. Inserted a 32Gb sd card and at the moment have loaded about 20Gb of music onto the card, nothing onto the internal memory yet. Used Win. Media Player synchronised, no problems whatsoever. Very fast transfer too.User interface is very good and intuitive. I fitted a protective case and screen protector.Sound quality is really excellent. I've selected Clear Audio in the settings.I primarily use wireless earbuds and Bluetooth connection was straightforward. I've also disabled the silly nanny state volume restriction in settings. Max. was 70, now 100+ possible. For the earbuds I only need level 38 for comfortable listening.However, using my AKG K430, 32 Ohm impedance portable headphones is not as good with respect to volume levels. Bearing in mind these headphones are intended for use with portable devices I have to use the volume at 90 for listening. That is unacceptable considering the USE Directive forcing a 70 limit, out of the box. Sony, you need to "fix" the output to the headphone socket.Overall an excellent music player. But Sony, why do you still use a proprietory data/charging cable?FM radio is good too. A high sensitivity makes tuning no problem at all. I have to say though that the auto tune doesn't work at all. I've had to scan and store presets manually.