Last updated at 12/10/2026 03:10:34
Sony NW-A306 Walkman 32GB Hi-Res Portable Digital Music Player, Black
Free delivery between 21–23 Oct
Sony Walkman Nw-a306 Hatsune Miku 3850 From Japan
Free delivery
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
NW-A306 Walkman 32GB Hi-Res Portable Digital Music Player, Black
Delivery between 18–21 Oct $29
originally posted on sony.co.uk
The Sony Walkman NW-A306 is extremely well-made and engineered product; the case plastics seem tough and are nicely grooved. It could almost be aluminium. A few different case colour choices would be nice though.Unpacking is easy and a lot of thought has gone into the design of this too, all recyclable and a distinct lack of plastic which is great.The device runs the Android O/S, which I’m not familiar with, but there are plenty of Apps available within the Play Store and they are easy to download and use.Battery life is pretty good I used mine on & off for a couple of days and I still had plenty of juice left.I paired it with my Sony LinkBuds S Bluetooth headphones the process was a very simple and straight forward procedure.The downloadable Sony Utility for ... MoreThe Sony Walkman NW-A306 is extremely well-made and engineered product; the case plastics seem tough and are nicely grooved. It could almost be aluminium. A few different case colour choices would be nice though.Unpacking is easy and a lot of thought has gone into the design of this too, all recyclable and a distinct lack of plastic which is great.The device runs the Android O/S, which I’m not familiar with, but there are plenty of Apps available within the Play Store and they are easy to download and use.Battery life is pretty good I used mine on & off for a couple of days and I still had plenty of juice left.I paired it with my Sony LinkBuds S Bluetooth headphones the process was a very simple and straight forward procedure.The downloadable Sony Utility for adding music to the device is a little clunky; there are Windows & MAC versions though. But when it comes to the all-important bit the sound quality is excellent, top end I’d say especially if FLAC is used. You can also import music from iTunes, I’ve not tried this yet.The unit supports all popular music mediums including but not limited to MP3, WMA, FLAC, WAV. With WAV you don’t appear to get the album covers for some reason though?I also added a MicroSD card to the unit as the internal storage isn’t that great when you subtract the amount of space the O/S needs but again this is easy enough despite it needing formatting first.The SD slot is behind a nice dust resistant rubber cover located on the base of the unit. It’s actually a shame there isn’t a similar tethered cover to protect the USB C port when not in use.I would say that this is an amazing unit considering the low purchase price reminds me of my Apple iPod days and going back even further the original Walkman’s!
originally posted on sony.co.uk
This is my first android based Walkman and it brings some significant changes to the feature set I was previously used to. The NW-A306 follows the size and shape first introduced with the A30 series (followed by the 40, 50, and 100 series. It’s a very pocketable, solidly built music player but I wish it came with a case and a screen protector.The installed Android 12 operating system comes with the usual collection of Google apps, many of which I found unnecessary for a music player but unfortunately could not remove. Just like any other Android based device a pass code is necessary to keep the music player secure.I found I got sufficient volume with wired headphones (or earbuds) despite the implemented EU volume limit as long as I kept to low impedance ... MoreThis is my first android based Walkman and it brings some significant changes to the feature set I was previously used to. The NW-A306 follows the size and shape first introduced with the A30 series (followed by the 40, 50, and 100 series. It’s a very pocketable, solidly built music player but I wish it came with a case and a screen protector.The installed Android 12 operating system comes with the usual collection of Google apps, many of which I found unnecessary for a music player but unfortunately could not remove. Just like any other Android based device a pass code is necessary to keep the music player secure.I found I got sufficient volume with wired headphones (or earbuds) despite the implemented EU volume limit as long as I kept to low impedance headphones.As for the sound quality, it’s great. I found the audio detailed, rich, and engaging. The better the headphones the better the sound whether playing music stored on the device or via a streaming app.Most of the music I listen to is in the FLAC format and stored on a micro SD card. The internal storage only seems to offer sufficient storage for mp3/aac type compressed files as the available useable storage is about 18GB.To optimise battery life I turned off Wi-Fi when using the main Walkman app. It would have been nice if the Walkman app had a setting to auto shutdown Wi-Fi and any unnecessary apps when it is opened to maximise battery life.Speaking of the battery, the battery care function limits charging to 93% when on to preserve battery health. However I discovered that charging can still reach 100% should the device auto power off while charging or if the device is charged when off.I miss not having a FM radio and the convenience of NFC. The are no noise cancelling wired earbuds for the NW-A306 so wireless earbuds will be necessary if that feature is required.Unfortunately I found the hardware transport buttons to be laggy when the screen was off.I love the the cassette tape UI which changes depending on the music file format being played. ACC/MP3 files are represented by the lowest quality tape whereas DSD files are represented by metal tape animation.All in all the NW-A306 performs where it counts by being musically engaging and having a decent battery life. The included audio enhancements (EQ, DC Phase Linearizer, Vinyl Processor, and ClearAudio+) add what I call additional tonal flavours should I feel the need. I find with the right headphones DSEE Ultimate can add more life to music,
originally posted on sony.co.uk
Having used a number of other brands DAPs over the years i was excited to test this new offering from Sony. Going into this blind, i already had expectations of a well built, premium feeling device and so far i have not been disappointed!Look and FeelI like the design of this DAP. Its quite small, modern and feels premium. Button placement seems good - everything is easy to access even when its in your pocket, and i prefer the headphone socket at the bottom of the device too.SoundFirstly, there is an EU mandated volume limit applied to this device. I've not found this to be a problem so far with the IEMs i have, however for those with beefier headphones you may be a little short of power, and might find an AMP is needed. However, for most users i dont think ... MoreHaving used a number of other brands DAPs over the years i was excited to test this new offering from Sony. Going into this blind, i already had expectations of a well built, premium feeling device and so far i have not been disappointed!Look and FeelI like the design of this DAP. Its quite small, modern and feels premium. Button placement seems good - everything is easy to access even when its in your pocket, and i prefer the headphone socket at the bottom of the device too.SoundFirstly, there is an EU mandated volume limit applied to this device. I've not found this to be a problem so far with the IEMs i have, however for those with beefier headphones you may be a little short of power, and might find an AMP is needed. However, for most users i dont think this is going to be an issue.The sound quality itself is great - its detailed, rich, crisp. There are a lot of ways to tweak the sound - 10 freq. EQ plus a number of audio enhancements to switch on. I found for a lot of stuff i could just leave ClearAudio+ enabled and everything sounded great.Battery LifeImpressive, most impressive!Android OS.Now this has its ups and downs. There are a number of apps preinstalled that you would expect to see on an Android based phone, but really serve no use on a DAP like this. Its a shame the OS is not more customised to suit, but overall it feels snappy, and the music player app itself is decent and easy to use. I really like the oldschool cassette UI that shows when a song is playing and the screen is still on - very nostalgic!Overall ThoughtsThis is a high quality, premium feeling DAP with sound to suit! I've not had any issues so far and have been really enjoying the sound outputted from this little player through a number of different headphones, both wired and wireless. There are some cool features like the various audio enhancements (ClearAudio+ , DSEE Ultimate etc) that really do make a difference to the sound - have a play around and see which you prefer, or turn them off for a fairly neutral sound.
| Brand | Sony |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| With Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Colour | Black |
| Capacity | 32 GB |
Sony NW-A306 Walkman 32GB Hi-Res Portable Digital Music Player, Black
Free delivery between 21–23 Oct
Sony Walkman Nw-a306 Hatsune Miku 3850 From Japan
Free delivery
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
NW-A306 Walkman 32GB Hi-Res Portable Digital Music Player, Black
Delivery between 18–21 Oct $29
The Sony Walkman NW-A306 is extremely well-made and engineered product; the case plastics seem tough and are nicely grooved. It could almost be aluminium. A few different case colour choices would be nice though.Unpacking is easy and a lot of thought has gone into the design of this too, all recyclable and a distinct lack of plastic which is great.The device runs the Android O/S, which I’m not familiar with, but there are plenty of Apps available within the Play Store and they are easy to download and use.Battery life is pretty good I used mine on & off for a couple of days and I still had plenty of juice left.I paired it with my Sony LinkBuds S Bluetooth headphones the process was a very simple and straight forward procedure.The downloadable Sony Utility for ... MoreThe Sony Walkman NW-A306 is extremely well-made and engineered product; the case plastics seem tough and are nicely grooved. It could almost be aluminium. A few different case colour choices would be nice though.Unpacking is easy and a lot of thought has gone into the design of this too, all recyclable and a distinct lack of plastic which is great.The device runs the Android O/S, which I’m not familiar with, but there are plenty of Apps available within the Play Store and they are easy to download and use.Battery life is pretty good I used mine on & off for a couple of days and I still had plenty of juice left.I paired it with my Sony LinkBuds S Bluetooth headphones the process was a very simple and straight forward procedure.The downloadable Sony Utility for adding music to the device is a little clunky; there are Windows & MAC versions though. But when it comes to the all-important bit the sound quality is excellent, top end I’d say especially if FLAC is used. You can also import music from iTunes, I’ve not tried this yet.The unit supports all popular music mediums including but not limited to MP3, WMA, FLAC, WAV. With WAV you don’t appear to get the album covers for some reason though?I also added a MicroSD card to the unit as the internal storage isn’t that great when you subtract the amount of space the O/S needs but again this is easy enough despite it needing formatting first.The SD slot is behind a nice dust resistant rubber cover located on the base of the unit. It’s actually a shame there isn’t a similar tethered cover to protect the USB C port when not in use.I would say that this is an amazing unit considering the low purchase price reminds me of my Apple iPod days and going back even further the original Walkman’s!
This is my first android based Walkman and it brings some significant changes to the feature set I was previously used to. The NW-A306 follows the size and shape first introduced with the A30 series (followed by the 40, 50, and 100 series. It’s a very pocketable, solidly built music player but I wish it came with a case and a screen protector.The installed Android 12 operating system comes with the usual collection of Google apps, many of which I found unnecessary for a music player but unfortunately could not remove. Just like any other Android based device a pass code is necessary to keep the music player secure.I found I got sufficient volume with wired headphones (or earbuds) despite the implemented EU volume limit as long as I kept to low impedance ... MoreThis is my first android based Walkman and it brings some significant changes to the feature set I was previously used to. The NW-A306 follows the size and shape first introduced with the A30 series (followed by the 40, 50, and 100 series. It’s a very pocketable, solidly built music player but I wish it came with a case and a screen protector.The installed Android 12 operating system comes with the usual collection of Google apps, many of which I found unnecessary for a music player but unfortunately could not remove. Just like any other Android based device a pass code is necessary to keep the music player secure.I found I got sufficient volume with wired headphones (or earbuds) despite the implemented EU volume limit as long as I kept to low impedance headphones.As for the sound quality, it’s great. I found the audio detailed, rich, and engaging. The better the headphones the better the sound whether playing music stored on the device or via a streaming app.Most of the music I listen to is in the FLAC format and stored on a micro SD card. The internal storage only seems to offer sufficient storage for mp3/aac type compressed files as the available useable storage is about 18GB.To optimise battery life I turned off Wi-Fi when using the main Walkman app. It would have been nice if the Walkman app had a setting to auto shutdown Wi-Fi and any unnecessary apps when it is opened to maximise battery life.Speaking of the battery, the battery care function limits charging to 93% when on to preserve battery health. However I discovered that charging can still reach 100% should the device auto power off while charging or if the device is charged when off.I miss not having a FM radio and the convenience of NFC. The are no noise cancelling wired earbuds for the NW-A306 so wireless earbuds will be necessary if that feature is required.Unfortunately I found the hardware transport buttons to be laggy when the screen was off.I love the the cassette tape UI which changes depending on the music file format being played. ACC/MP3 files are represented by the lowest quality tape whereas DSD files are represented by metal tape animation.All in all the NW-A306 performs where it counts by being musically engaging and having a decent battery life. The included audio enhancements (EQ, DC Phase Linearizer, Vinyl Processor, and ClearAudio+) add what I call additional tonal flavours should I feel the need. I find with the right headphones DSEE Ultimate can add more life to music,
Having used a number of other brands DAPs over the years i was excited to test this new offering from Sony. Going into this blind, i already had expectations of a well built, premium feeling device and so far i have not been disappointed!Look and FeelI like the design of this DAP. Its quite small, modern and feels premium. Button placement seems good - everything is easy to access even when its in your pocket, and i prefer the headphone socket at the bottom of the device too.SoundFirstly, there is an EU mandated volume limit applied to this device. I've not found this to be a problem so far with the IEMs i have, however for those with beefier headphones you may be a little short of power, and might find an AMP is needed. However, for most users i dont think ... MoreHaving used a number of other brands DAPs over the years i was excited to test this new offering from Sony. Going into this blind, i already had expectations of a well built, premium feeling device and so far i have not been disappointed!Look and FeelI like the design of this DAP. Its quite small, modern and feels premium. Button placement seems good - everything is easy to access even when its in your pocket, and i prefer the headphone socket at the bottom of the device too.SoundFirstly, there is an EU mandated volume limit applied to this device. I've not found this to be a problem so far with the IEMs i have, however for those with beefier headphones you may be a little short of power, and might find an AMP is needed. However, for most users i dont think this is going to be an issue.The sound quality itself is great - its detailed, rich, crisp. There are a lot of ways to tweak the sound - 10 freq. EQ plus a number of audio enhancements to switch on. I found for a lot of stuff i could just leave ClearAudio+ enabled and everything sounded great.Battery LifeImpressive, most impressive!Android OS.Now this has its ups and downs. There are a number of apps preinstalled that you would expect to see on an Android based phone, but really serve no use on a DAP like this. Its a shame the OS is not more customised to suit, but overall it feels snappy, and the music player app itself is decent and easy to use. I really like the oldschool cassette UI that shows when a song is playing and the screen is still on - very nostalgic!Overall ThoughtsThis is a high quality, premium feeling DAP with sound to suit! I've not had any issues so far and have been really enjoying the sound outputted from this little player through a number of different headphones, both wired and wireless. There are some cool features like the various audio enhancements (ClearAudio+ , DSEE Ultimate etc) that really do make a difference to the sound - have a play around and see which you prefer, or turn them off for a fairly neutral sound.
I have been using this Walkman for just over a month. The first thing is you notice is the weight - it is solid and good looking in black. Because I have fat fingers entering data is not the easiest given the keyboard size even at its largest so a stylus would be recommended.. Transfer o info from your phone is simplicity as is the basic setup of the walkman,I have used it almost exclusively with wireless headphones both in ear and over ear and the sound quality is simply excellent and what you would expect from any Sony product. I have also used it with my bathroom bluetooth mirror and the connection has been simple here too and again sound reproduction has been excellent making showers longer and a real pleasure choosing my music..Moving forward or back whilst ... MoreI have been using this Walkman for just over a month. The first thing is you notice is the weight - it is solid and good looking in black. Because I have fat fingers entering data is not the easiest given the keyboard size even at its largest so a stylus would be recommended.. Transfer o info from your phone is simplicity as is the basic setup of the walkman,I have used it almost exclusively with wireless headphones both in ear and over ear and the sound quality is simply excellent and what you would expect from any Sony product. I have also used it with my bathroom bluetooth mirror and the connection has been simple here too and again sound reproduction has been excellent making showers longer and a real pleasure choosing my music..Moving forward or back whilst playing tracks is easy as is choosing your track or album with the search facilityUsing the Music centre for PC's to upload my music to the Walkman could not be any easier however it is advisable to buy an SD card if like myself you have a large collection of CD's to transfer to your device. For those prefer tp stream music streaming choose whichever music app you prefer and away you go without issue and the 32GB memory will handle this easily without the need for the further expense of an SD card. The battery life is superb and recharging simplicity as ever.I would have no hesitation in recommending this product for music lovers and hope to enjoy it for many years to come.
The NW-A306 is a compact hi resolution sound media player. The shape is remeniscent of a small Sony Mobile phone.It's a small form factor device with a ridged back which is quite nice to hold and doesn't feel slippy. On the right hand side there are the usual media play sound controls just like the original Walkmans and a hold button to lock the device so things don't change whilst in your pocket.Its runs the android operating system so you go through the setup like a modern mobile phone and it can copy data from an existing android device like the excellent Sony Xperia 1 iii.It has a 3.5 audio socket and supports Bluetooth with codecs which include the Hi-Res Audio LDAC. ITs simple to pair with bluetooth headphones and if they support LDAC that's the best ... MoreThe NW-A306 is a compact hi resolution sound media player. The shape is remeniscent of a small Sony Mobile phone.It's a small form factor device with a ridged back which is quite nice to hold and doesn't feel slippy. On the right hand side there are the usual media play sound controls just like the original Walkmans and a hold button to lock the device so things don't change whilst in your pocket.Its runs the android operating system so you go through the setup like a modern mobile phone and it can copy data from an existing android device like the excellent Sony Xperia 1 iii.It has a 3.5 audio socket and supports Bluetooth with codecs which include the Hi-Res Audio LDAC. ITs simple to pair with bluetooth headphones and if they support LDAC that's the best setting to have. If using Sony Headphones the Sony App can control this as well.Once setup you can use your familiar android music player of taste from the Google play store.At first I wasn't sure why you would want a device like this as all modern mobile phones can play music but not all support Hi-res audio and the difference is noticeable.This digital media player can scale up any audio using its DSEE Ultimate technology and with its S-master HX audio amp sounds much better with deeper sounds and highs without distortion.The audio chipset is the Qualcomm APTX-HD and Sonys use of quality components does make a quality shift in music listening.Its comes as a 32GB but once operating system is taken into account there is about 18 gb for music and apps. However there is a MicroSD slot which is getting rare on mobile phones now to increase your capacity of music storage on the move.Having a separate media player is a good idea and saves your battery on mobile device and gives you a great audio experience. When paired with suitable bluetooth 5.2 head phones you can be connected to a supported mobile phone and this device so you don't have to compromise the ease of listening out for your phone at the expense of great Hi-rez audio.
The modern day Sony Walkman is a great revision and whilst I got asked a lot of questions as to why anybody would want such a device these days when phones can give you all the music you want; after just a few days use I had clear and concise answers. The most important reason people should buy this product is: quality.The build quality is great with high grade materials. The sound quality however, is where the unique selling point really shines. The sound quality is miles better than what phones and other multipurpose devices produce. Lows are punchy and deep, but clear and distortion free; kids are crisp and clear and the highs really come through and lift the music to a highs representative of a live performance.The software is Android and has access to the ... MoreThe modern day Sony Walkman is a great revision and whilst I got asked a lot of questions as to why anybody would want such a device these days when phones can give you all the music you want; after just a few days use I had clear and concise answers. The most important reason people should buy this product is: quality.The build quality is great with high grade materials. The sound quality however, is where the unique selling point really shines. The sound quality is miles better than what phones and other multipurpose devices produce. Lows are punchy and deep, but clear and distortion free; kids are crisp and clear and the highs really come through and lift the music to a highs representative of a live performance.The software is Android and has access to the play store so all music services can be downloaded and installed. Additionally you can download lossless music directly on the device for uninterrupted playback.However given it’s primary purpose is music playback and it’s processor is quite weak, I would expect the battery to last longer than it did. On three different playback tests, playing lossless audio stored on device on shuffle and repeat all. The playback time averaged at 6:43. That’s certainly not bad, but if I were to go on a day of hiking it may not last me my entire hike which is disappointing.
I love SONY so very much for so very long and was so excited for this to be my everyday hi res (and near hi res) music player and streamer for my Tidal,!Apple Music, and purchased FLAC / ALAC content via wired iems and headphones, and separately but most importantly to me my new SONY xm5 earbuds via LDAC.Welp, android OS was the first problem for an all in Apple person like me.But, besides the slow, cumbersome, intrusive, OS, the BT on this only works when not connected to wifi and has a terrible wifi and BT antenna compared to my SONY soundbar and all my other devices.Okay, welp just download music. :(The wifi antenna or device processor is slow (not my internet or router). It took almost 20 hours to download about 200gb of streaming downloads to my sd card ... MoreI love SONY so very much for so very long and was so excited for this to be my everyday hi res (and near hi res) music player and streamer for my Tidal,!Apple Music, and purchased FLAC / ALAC content via wired iems and headphones, and separately but most importantly to me my new SONY xm5 earbuds via LDAC.Welp, android OS was the first problem for an all in Apple person like me.But, besides the slow, cumbersome, intrusive, OS, the BT on this only works when not connected to wifi and has a terrible wifi and BT antenna compared to my SONY soundbar and all my other devices.Okay, welp just download music. :(The wifi antenna or device processor is slow (not my internet or router). It took almost 20 hours to download about 200gb of streaming downloads to my sd card which was new and formatted by the device.Okay, now for the music experience.The DAC in this device was very disappointing compared to the three others i have, even the smallest portable rechargeable one.Okay, well I really bot this for LDAC, oh but wait it has a terrible BT antenna.Okay I’ll use my SONY IEMs or SONY xm4 headphones, oh but remember the DAC is not remotely up to the task with subpar and ow audio quality and low output even for my iems.Retuned next day after all of this and learned a quick internet search would have identified all of these things were not a one off experience for this device.I still love and trust SONY, but from now on will read reviews beyond this site.
Certainly confused by the high ratings this gets on Best Buy's reviews. This device has been an absolute headache to get working and stable. Yes, the OS can be sluggish to respond and this non-Japanese version is limited, but that's the least worrying bit.If you try to use any streaming app the experience gets worse -- Spotify and Tidal run into serious issues on this device.With Spotify, there's the issue of the app trying to redownload your offline tracks each time you power on the Walkman (the only fix seems to come from a few Reddit posts -- yes, NOT from Sony's website and NOT from an included manual BUT from Reddit).Tidal fairs even worse, the app can run extremely slow and can crash with no notice -- playing the first track can take 90 seconds to start ... MoreCertainly confused by the high ratings this gets on Best Buy's reviews. This device has been an absolute headache to get working and stable. Yes, the OS can be sluggish to respond and this non-Japanese version is limited, but that's the least worrying bit.If you try to use any streaming app the experience gets worse -- Spotify and Tidal run into serious issues on this device.With Spotify, there's the issue of the app trying to redownload your offline tracks each time you power on the Walkman (the only fix seems to come from a few Reddit posts -- yes, NOT from Sony's website and NOT from an included manual BUT from Reddit).Tidal fairs even worse, the app can run extremely slow and can crash with no notice -- playing the first track can take 90 seconds to start and skipping tracks often causes the app to fail. Both apps were used with downloaded music for offline play on a speedy Samsung microSD card which in theory should provide a better experience than relying on Wi-Fi streaming, but that was certainly not the case.Even when playing local music through the integrated Walkman app (the intended Sony Walkman experience I guess) the Walkman and app will also hard crash...The battery life compared to other Sony Walkman players is suggested to be considerably better in reviews, but it will absolutely NOT get you anywhere near a full work day's worth of playback -- in my experience it will discharge well within about 4 hours of playback at 50% brightness with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off (any lower brightness and it the screen becomes difficult to see under daylight). In addition to a pretty bad battery life, it also gets notably hot after more than a few minutes of audio playing.Many of these problems can likely be fixed by Sony in future firmware updates and software patches, but until then I cannot recommend this Walkman to anyone looking for a quick way to get set up with a dedicated portable device for music playback. If you do decide to get this, be ready to commit to researching for various fixes from community forums and Reddit posts as well as perhaps factory resetting this a handful of times to get this working right.
While Sony has been making MP3 Walkman for years, the NW-A306 is brand new. This is my first portable music player since the original iPod shuffle. All music since then has gone through my phone. Why use a Hi-Res digital music player instead of your cell phone? Keep reading to find out.Interface:The NW-A306 uses Android, so if you are familiar with any new version of Android, you know what to expect. After going through the normal privacy settings, I went one step further by basically turning all other features not related to music. This means no email, texts, alerts, notifications, etc. My phone already does this, so I am treating this device like a dedicated music player.Android runs slow on this device. There are delays when pushing buttons, and they are ... MoreWhile Sony has been making MP3 Walkman for years, the NW-A306 is brand new. This is my first portable music player since the original iPod shuffle. All music since then has gone through my phone. Why use a Hi-Res digital music player instead of your cell phone? Keep reading to find out.Interface:The NW-A306 uses Android, so if you are familiar with any new version of Android, you know what to expect. After going through the normal privacy settings, I went one step further by basically turning all other features not related to music. This means no email, texts, alerts, notifications, etc. My phone already does this, so I am treating this device like a dedicated music player.Android runs slow on this device. There are delays when pushing buttons, and they are noticeable. The hardware inside is about pumping out Hi-res music, not providing the fastest user experience. You are going to have to be patient when setting this up and getting music started. However, I found that once I start an album, I do not interact with it again for as long as the album plays. Yes, it is slow, but that does not matter to me when it is playing music.There are physical buttons on the right side of the device, including dedicated volume buttons, skip forward and skip back buttons, pause/play button, hold lock button, and a power button. This means you do not have to interact with the interface to skip a song—just click skip.On the bottom, you will find a standard audio jack, USB Type-C for charging and connecting to PCs, and a MicroSD slot. There is also a circle with a bar in it, and I assume that is for a wrist strap even though it does not come with one.Overall, it has a clean appearance and easy to use buttons while the screen is small and the interface is slow.Software:Sony preloads a few programs which can be activated on the home screen. This includes a music interface button, an equalizer and sound adjustment button, and headphones button (which I have not explored yet, so I do not know what this does). Sony’s music button allows you to play songs you have downloaded and transferred to a MicroSD card. The equalizer button gives you plenty of ways to adjust music and add different algorithms to your music. Since I have not used a MicroSD card yet, I have not used the Walkman music interface button, but the menus look clean and easy to use.I did download Amazon’s Music Player app from the Google Play Store. This is where I have most of my music today. Once I logged in to my Amazon account, I changed the app settings to download, stream, and play HD and Ultra HD music. I played songs by streaming them and by playing the ones I downloaded in order to compare sound and device function. Both methods played the song the same and worked as intended.This is not a review of the Amazon Music Player app, but I can say it has its own problems. The app glitches between menus, and sometimes songs stutter when asking the app to do too much. I also found a problem when I pause a song by pressing the physical pause button on the right side and then start the song again. Right now, I have no way of knowing if this is an Amazon App flaw or a device flaw, but when I pause the song from within the app’s menu, the same thing happens. This tells me that the App is probably at fault.Since this can access the Google Play store, you can download Spotify, Tidal, or any other streaming music service. Tidal works great, and I am listening to MQA songs. It does not suffer from the same problems as Amazon's music player.Battery:Battery use totally depends on what you are doing (which I guess is true for most devices today). When I first got it, I had to go through all the Android settings, download the app I wanted, and test all kinds of music, both streaming and downloaded. I watched the battery drop the entire time. In a few hours, it dropped well over 50% of the battery, but I had the screen on the entire time and was testing everything I could.Now that I use it normally, the battery far exceeds my expectations. It drops about 2% per outing when the songs are played from the download button in the Amazon App. I have not charged it in days, and I am at 48% right now (I started at 85%). If I use it the same way every day, it should last several more days.Battery use is also affected by the kinds of songs you play. Streaming an UltraHD song will drain the battery much faster than playing a downloaded HD song. In other words, your battery results will differ based on use, but so far, I am happy with the battery life.Sound:Ok, you have read everything to this point, and all you want to know is about the sound. Is this little thing worth the price? The answer is a definitive yes…only if you are using UltraHD music. The NW-A306 has a built in DAC (digital analog converter) specifically designed to output Hi-res audio. Yes, it works! Yes, I can hear a difference! Yes, it is better than my cell phone! For example, an UltraHD song from Amazon is coded at 24-bit/96KHz or higher. However, the device itself (OnePlus 10 Pro) can only output 24-bit/48KHz, so some of the sound quality is lost. Not on the NW-A306! It is outputting at the full 24-bit/96KHz, and some songs are even higher.None of this will matter to you unless you are using quality headphones. I am using Sennheiser HD558, which are an over-ear, open backed headphones. They are old, but still provide superior quality. Since the NW-A306 has an audio jack, I plug my headphones directly into the device. If you have any new modern phone, most of them did away with the audio jack, so you either need a dongle hanging out of your phone or you are using wireless headphones. In my opinion, wired headphones are superior to wireless. To further test this, I used the NW-A306 wirelessly with my Sony WH-1000XM2, which are very good over-ear, closed back, noise cancelling headphones. The Sennheiser’s are superior in every way.When an UltraHD song is played through a quality DAC, you can hear the difference. I tested multiple songs, and the quality is there. You hear people say that the song “opens up,” but what does that mean? When listening to music through the NW-A306 in UltraHD, you can hear the individual guitars, including when one enters the song and the other fades out or into another chord. You can actually hear the different sounds drums make based on which ones are being struck. I can hear a symbol get hit and grabbed to stop it vs. getting struck and letting it continue to vibrate. There are layers to the song I did not know existed, and your ears cannot pick up those subtle differences when listening to songs on the radio, in your car, or just playing on normal home speakers from a normal playing device. But if you put your music on a player like this with the right kind of headphones, the difference is amazing! The best test I can recommend is to play the song Africa by Toto through your phone’s speakers. Then, play the UltraHD version from your NW-A306 using wired headphones. You will absolutely hear a difference.Note: I saw a few reviews talk about the volume control. When you turn it on, the volume is set at 50, which is barely audible. I pumped the volume up to 90, and I was thinking that it would max out at 100. I was afraid that it would not be loud enough when it is in noisy areas. However, I noticed that the max volume is 120, not 100, and anything close to 100 is loud enough for me. If you were worried the NW-A306 would not get loud enough, I had no problem finding a perfectly comfortable sound level. I play most songs between 90 and 92 out of 120.Why buy this?The NW-A306 is not designed for everyone. For most people, playing songs from their phone via Bluetooth headphones or earbuds is good enough. Personally, I started taking much longer walks as a form of exercise. In order to use my phone, I had to add a small DAC to the USB Type-C port on my phone, and then plug in my wired Sennheisers. Between the size of the phone, the DAC that looks like a tail, and the cord for the headphones, it was nearly impossible to fit everything in my pocket. One wrong bump and something would get disconnected. I found the NW-A306 because I wanted a dedicated music player with the ability to play Hi-res sound. The NW-A306 does this perfectly.If I am at home, I use my computer speakers that have a THX DAC. I have surround sound speakers from my main TV via a dedicated receiver. When I am in my car, I use SiriusXM. When I am exercising, I use the NW-A306. It provides fantastic sound, a long battery life, and ease of use in a small package. It matches the Sennheiser soundstage perfectly, and I am getting every bit of the song’s data out of it. If you are looking for something that just plays Hi-res music, I would recommend you consider the Sony NW-A306.
Sony used to attach a sticker to their electronics simply saying "IT'S A SONY" and people automatically understood that the phrase stood for exceptional quality. Sony's new NW-A306 is no exception. The design is attractive, with a "water wave" designed back, making it "scratch resistant" and easier to hold. It's an Android device, so you will go through some steps not unlike setting up a new tablet or phone. Sony also has a program for your computer called "Music Center for PC" which assists with adding music to your portable player.Internal storage is modest with a 32gb internal storage, some of which is taken up by the Android operating system. However, the player has a slot for a micro SD card (I installed a 256gb card but you can go much higher) which allows ... MoreSony used to attach a sticker to their electronics simply saying "IT'S A SONY" and people automatically understood that the phrase stood for exceptional quality. Sony's new NW-A306 is no exception. The design is attractive, with a "water wave" designed back, making it "scratch resistant" and easier to hold. It's an Android device, so you will go through some steps not unlike setting up a new tablet or phone. Sony also has a program for your computer called "Music Center for PC" which assists with adding music to your portable player.Internal storage is modest with a 32gb internal storage, some of which is taken up by the Android operating system. However, the player has a slot for a micro SD card (I installed a 256gb card but you can go much higher) which allows for a rather sizable music library to be stored on the device. Since it's Android, music can easily be streamed from a number of music services using apps downloaded to the player from the Google Play Store, as long as the device is connected to wi-fi.On the home screen, there is an EQ adjustment and other sound adjustments you can use for tailoring the sound to your individual taste, however I used an option called ClearAudio+ which applies advanced digital signal processing in a single step operation (flipping the switch to "ON") in which case you don't need to mess with the EQ to get a stellar sound.Speaking of sounds, your ears are in for a real treat when you play music with this hi-resolution music player. I was amazed listening to music on this Sony player, because I heard subtle details of songs that previously, I could never decipher listening to these same songs on my phone or tablet, and that's only using mid-level headphones, not exactly top-of-the-line ones. I can only imagine how this music will sound listening on top-quality headphones that can truly do this amazing player justice. Even so, the sound quality was crisp and you can really notice the separation of different elements of a song. I prefer listening to electronic dance music, and minor things like background sounds a musician would include in a track become very noticeable. It's almost like experiencing these songs for the first time again!You don't have to be an "audiophile" to appreciate the sound quality produced by this player. Yes it really makes a difference to how your music sounds. Of course it does, because after all, IT'S A SONY!
| Brand | Sony |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| With Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Colour | Black |
| Capacity | 32 GB |
Sony NW-A306 32GB High-Res Android Walkman
This device offers high-quality audio playback for various music sources, such as CDs, downloaded songs, and streaming services, through both wired and wireless connections. Featuring the S-Master HX full digital amp technology and carefully selected components, the compact music player provides superior audio quality compared to smartphones. The DSEE Ultimate AI technology automatically upscales music for a high-resolution audio experience. The audio player is designed for high-resolution audio quality, using carefully chosen components for an expansive and transparent sound. Its compact size doesn't compromise the quality, offering a rich and high-resolution audio experience for all music sources. With a battery life of up to 36 hours, the device has improved power efficiency, especially during standby and streaming services, and uses the same battery as higher-end models. The device supports microSD cards for additional storage, allowing users to comfortably enjoy their favorite music without worrying about smartphone battery life or storage. The player allows easy and convenient music transfer from streaming services, CDs, or purchased downloads, with or without a computer. The compact NW-A300 series offers portability and comes in three color variations with a sophisticated design. The device uses high-quality components, such as gold-infused solder and a reinforced 3.5mm 4-pole headphone jack, for improved audio quality when using wired headphones. Enjoy a high-resolution audio experience with expansive sound, tight bass, and more when combined with high-resolution wired headphones.
This device offers high-quality audio playback for various music sources, such as CDs, downloaded songs, and streaming services, through both wired and wireless connections. Featuring the S-Master HX full digital amp technology and carefully selected components, the compact music player provides superior audio quality compared to smartphones. The DSEE Ultimate AI technology automatically upscales music for a high-resolution audio experience. The audio player is designed for high-resolution audio quality, using carefully chosen components for an expansive and transparent sound. Its compact size doesn't compromise the quality, offering a rich and high-resolution audio experience for all music sources. With a battery life of up to 36 hours, the device has improved power efficiency, especially during standby and streaming services, and uses the same battery as higher-end models. The device supports microSD cards for additional storage, allowing users to comfortably enjoy their favorite music without worrying about smartphone battery life or storage. The player allows easy and convenient music transfer from streaming services, CDs, or purchased downloads, with or without a computer. The compact NW-A300 series offers portability and comes in three color variations with a sophisticated design. The device uses high-quality components, such as gold-infused solder and a reinforced 3.5mm 4-pole headphone jack, for improved audio quality when using wired headphones. Enjoy a high-resolution audio experience with expansive sound, tight bass, and more when combined with high-resolution wired headphones.
This device offers high-quality audio playback for various music sources, such as CDs, downloaded songs, and streaming services, through both wired and wireless connections. Featuring the S-Master HX full digital amp technology and carefully selected components, the compact music player provides superior audio quality compared to smartphones. The DSEE Ultimate AI technology automatically upscales music for a high-resolution audio experience. The audio player is designed for high-resolution audio quality, using carefully chosen components for an expansive and transparent sound. Its compact size doesn't compromise the quality, offering a rich and high-resolution audio experience for all music sources. With a battery life of up to 36 hours, the device has improved power efficiency, especially during standby and streaming services, and uses the same battery as higher-end models. The device supports microSD cards for additional storage, allowing users to comfortably enjoy their favorite music without worrying about smartphone battery life or storage. The player allows easy and convenient music transfer from streaming services, CDs, or purchased downloads, with or without a computer. The compact NW-A300 series offers portability and comes in three color variations with a sophisticated design. The device uses high-quality components, such as gold-infused solder and a reinforced 3.5mm 4-pole headphone jack, for improved audio quality when using wired headphones. Enjoy a high-resolution audio experience with expansive sound, tight bass, and more when combined with high-resolution wired headphones.
This device offers high-quality audio playback for various music sources, such as CDs, downloaded songs, and streaming services, through both wired and wireless connections. Featuring the S-Master HX full digital amp technology and carefully selected components, the compact music player provides superior audio quality compared to smartphones. The DSEE Ultimate AI technology automatically upscales music for a high-resolution audio experience. The audio player is designed for high-resolution audio quality, using carefully chosen components for an expansive and transparent sound. Its compact size doesn't compromise the quality, offering a rich and high-resolution audio experience for all music sources. With a battery life of up to 36 hours, the device has improved power efficiency, especially during standby and streaming services, and uses the same battery as higher-end models. The device supports microSD cards for additional storage, allowing users to comfortably enjoy their favorite music without worrying about smartphone battery life or storage. The player allows easy and convenient music transfer from streaming services, CDs, or purchased downloads, with or without a computer. The compact NW-A300 series offers portability and comes in three color variations with a sophisticated design. The device uses high-quality components, such as gold-infused solder and a reinforced 3.5mm 4-pole headphone jack, for improved audio quality when using wired headphones. Enjoy a high-resolution audio experience with expansive sound, tight bass, and more when combined with high-resolution wired headphones.
in 8 offers
The lowest price for Sony NW-A306 32GB High-Res Android Walkman right now is $728.16 at Desertcart.ae, compared across 3 retailers.
The all-time low was $363.43 on 6 May 2026 — today's price is 100% above the lowest ever. It has been notably cheaper before — worth setting a price alert.
Prices last updated 12 Oct 2026.
