Sony’s new NW-A306 hi-res portable music player is surprisingly affordable | What Hi-Fi?
Sony has unveiled a new NW-A306 portable music player as part of its Walkman range, with a surprisingly affordable price tag.
At first glance, the NW-A306 looks like a stripped-down version of the higher-end NW-WM1ZM2 (£3,299) and NW-WM1AM2 (£1,299) players.
It features a rectangular, milled aluminium design with rounded sides, large physical button controls and a 3.6-inch touch screen.
The only big difference is that it has lost the large semi-circular protrusions seen on the older model’s top.
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However, look a little closer and you’ll find it has one key selling point differentiating it from past Sony portables – its price.
The NW-A306 will be available for pre-order on the Sony store for a modest £350 /$350/€400 at an unspecified point later this month.
The price is a bold move by Sony and means the new player radically undercuts our current Award-winning portable player, the Astell & Kern A&norma SR25 MKII, by £300/$300.
Foreign [Music] 's new Northwest a 306 high-res portable Music player is surprisingly affordable What Hi-Fi Sony has unveiled a new Northwest A306 portable music player as part of Its Walkman range with a surprisingly Affordable price tag at first glance the Northwest a-306 looks like a Stripped-down version of the higher and Northwest wm-1 zm2 3299 pounds and Northwest Wm-1am2 1299 pounds players it features a Rectangular milled aluminum design with Rounded sides large physical button Controls and a 3.6 inch touchscreen the Only big difference is that it has lost The large semicircular protrusions seen On the older models top to stay up to Date with latest top stories make sure To subscribe to this YouTube channel by Clicking the button above this video However look a little closer and you'll Find it has one key selling point Differentiating it from past Sony Portables its price the northwest A306 will be available for pre-order on The Sony store for a modest 350 pound 350 400 euros at an unspecified Point Later this month the price is a bold Move by Sony and means the new player Radically undercuts our current
Award-winning portable player the Estelle and Kearney and Norma sr25 mki By 300 pound 300 the sr-25 mki currently Retails for 699 pounds 749 on Amazon and Sits on top of our best portable music Player guide with our reviewers listing Its great value for money as a key Reason for the recommendation it has Been quite some time since we've seen a High-res player from such a big brand Cost so little and will be very curious To see how the Northwest a-306 performs Against its more expensive Rivals when We get it in for testing running off Google's Android 12 OS the device is Full of features normally only seen on Much more expensive portables for Starters its circuitry uses a Reflow Solder containing gold combined with Sony's s Master HX digital amp and Native DSD direct stream digital codec Supports Sony claims this will let the Northwest a-306 offer significantly Better audio with less Distortion and Noise than most Flagship smartphones for Serious listeners there is also a 3.5 Millimeters input for Wired headphones Check our best wired headphones guide For our curated picks of the top Performers we've tested there's also Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support plus Improved DSE ultimate upscaling tech for Those that want to cut the cord Sony Claims it has improved its algorithms to
Let the player offer more acoustic Subtleties and dynamic range when Playing CD quality 16-bit 44 kilohertz Tracks even with lossless codex the Final upgrade relates to its battery Life with the Northwest a306 claiming to Offer up to 36 hours of 44.1 kilohertz Flak playback and up to 32-hour hours of 96 kilohertz flak high-resolution audio Playback which should be more than Enough to get you through a long haul Flight charging is via the USBC Connection and a cable is helpfully Provided in the Box does it all sound Great we think so but there is a catch Specifically that according to Sony's Spec sheet the Northwest a306 will only Feature 32 GB of storage to make matters Worse only 18 GB of this is listed as Being usable considering how quickly we Manage to fill the sr25 mki which Features 64 GB of onboard storage this Could be an issue for people that like To have large high-res music libraries Downloaded locally though given the Player's price it's surprising that this Is the only obvious shortcoming we've Spotted so far we'll make sure to update You on how the Northwest a306 performs In actual use when we get it into our Test labs for review so make sure to Keep checking back with what hi-fi Foreign [Music]
