Sony NW-WM1A 128GB Premium Walkman - Digital Music Player with Hi-Res Audio, Black

My background is mainly in classical music, but I’ve dabbled in electronic and experimental acoustics here and there. My music tastes vary from very early forms of musical expression to the most progressive experimental sound. What I’m not a fan of, is current music. To me, most of what is being offered today, is devoid of any art, it’s superficial, the root cause for it is very wrong, hence the product has no value. To me.That said, the music that I love and appreciate, I like to listen in abundance. The source for that listening experience plays a big role. Unfortunately, most current trends

When Sony decides it wants to really hit a "home run," it can do so. And so it is with this portable audio player, a true "home run" amongst a long line of already nice players Sony has manufactured over the years. This accomplishment does not come cheaply, and this the price of this unit may knock it out of the running for those looking for just a decent priced player that can be thrown in the bag and thoughtlessly carried about. But for someone looking for the best sound quality that can be found and a build quality level that is at the top of its game, this player may be it.This is not the

I’ve been an avid iPod/iPhone user since iPods came to be. Mainly because of the ease of managing music and playlists with iTunes.I Have now discovered what I was missing. Music sounds incredibly awesome on this device. And I can crank it up as loud as I want with the high gain option.I like the OS in the device. It’s incredibly easy to use and has a very small learning curve. Within an hour or so I was able to operate the player proficiently.Using balanced Sony headphones the music is incredibly detailed and I hear things I’ve been missing with compressed AAC and MP3 files, and my ears are mu

The WM1a is a phenomenal music player. with most lower powered headphones it might substitute a larger music system for many users. the unit is very neutral in its music reproduction.Personally, I find the battery life being quite short of the advertised 30+ hours, and find reality being closer to 3+ hours with intermittend use of the screen light. Im in two minds about this issue, first of all, reality is, I rarely listen more than 3-4 hours a day, and I simply plug in the device at night, like we tend to do with phones.. sooooo.. not a real problem... BUT at the same time Im anoyed with the

I have it paired with a Woo Eclipse DAC and Sony Z1R headphones and the sound is awesome. It is also true that the unit freezes often and has to be constantly restarted. In addition, when transferring music the items will show up sorted by a number, rather than artist name - see picture. It's very frustrating - especially for the amount of money spent. For the price, these issues are not something one should have to struggle with.

First pardon my English proficiency, but I believe you can understand my comment.The first and only Sony walkman I owned is back in the 2002, an AIWA cassette player. After so many years we witnessed the vicissitude of Sony's audio product line, even to a period of time the NE20 and ZX1/2 looks like a joke to audiophiles, with their tiny output power. And now comes the wm1 series, which indicate the Sony engineers finally find some clues on how to manufacture a decent digital player. Admittedly, you can buy a Chinese DAP with less than half the price but produces the same or probably, better s

After a number of months of use, this is by far the best digital music player I have ever owned. I use this to listen to FLAC files ripped from CD or downloaded from hi-res download sites, and I am super impressed. Upgraded from a decent $300 lossless player and the experience is astounding, not going back to entry-level again.Incredibly high quality build and very good user interface. Enough EQ/effect adjustment options to get what you want out of it. Only complaint is no streaming services available through the device, would love to listen to a hi-res service. But as a lifetime music nut and

I have to rewrite my whole review. The main issue is the built in amplifier inside the Walkman. I did about 10 tests with a single cd - Renee Rosnes - "for the moment". I noticed I am missing the double bass track. At first I blamed the headphones - SONY MDR-Z1R WW2 which is a new addition. Anyway I connected same headphones to QUAD headphones amp - immediately the double bass became clear and prominent. Later I connected same headphones to Astell and Kern AK320 DAP. Even the weaker built in amp inside the DAP was able to carry the double bass better than the Sony Walkman.The Walkman is superi