I’m looking for recommendations for an alternative, pocketable DAP like the Sony NW-a306. I have a few DAPs including the Sony, which I bought for use while running and when doing stuff Iike cleaning, working in the garden and so on. I use CFA IEMs with it (Holocenes and the Dorado) and I am pretty much over the radio interference in the left channel when using it at home. I use an impedance dongle to manage this but it’s not a great solution for the Dorados, which have an impedance of 10 and can’t really run as loud as I sometimes would like them to while using the dongle.

Requirements are limited to wifi streaming, offline Tidal storage, 4.4mm balanced connection (preferable but not essential) and no radio interference, which does my head in (it is worse than hiss - it is low level but sounds like a badly tuned background radio that is very noticeable between tracks when wifi is on).

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Hello, my birthday is coming up and I want to treat myself to my first DAP (with Android), I am undecided between the Hiby m300 and the Sony Nw-a306, both are two extremes of a "similar range" of DAPs. To anyone who has both or has one of the two to give me their pros and cons. ty

I'm after a portable, jean pocket friendly DAP, that can handle a big sd card to move my existing collection over onto. Using both airpod type grab and go, plus wired monitors.

So without breaking the bank I ordered the hiby r3 ii. It didn't work properly, felt flimsy and their customer support was borderline offensive, so as I'm a petty man it went back and they're dead to me.

I'm rather deft at customising android to my likening so can't see past the Sony nw-a306.

A55 is half the price but would be second hand and I'd pay the little extra for streaming / future proofing etc.

Shanling m0 too small to be viable without the text scrolling and m300/r4 look too big and if any hint goes wrong I'm up shit creek support wise.

Anything I'm missing considering?

TLDR: talk me into getting a sony nw-a306 or suggest strong alternatives you've been able to compare it with.

Cheers 😎

Just got a A306 (attempting to migrate from iPhone for music), and I'm stunned on how awful the Music Center software on PC is. I read about an older bit of software from Sony called Media Go; but when attempting to use it, it only seems to "read" what's on the device, and I can't use it to transfer music.

Are there any 3rd-party software solutions for this device? When using my iPhone, I use a piece of software called CopyTrans as opposed to iTunes.

Any recommendation for an android audio player to replace the Sony app on NW A-306?

I just got the device and the Sony app seems ok but I have also heard that musicolet is a pretty good app for android music (though I have not tried it yet). Just wondered if anyone has tried this or can recommend alternatives that might be superior to the app from Sony that comes preinstalled on the device.

I own cowon i10 for like 5+years I am happy so far until My sennheiser IEM started giving up ..

I thought to buy new pair of earphones as well as new Player so that I can have external memory card as well as better quality with new technology

Please suggest to choose the right one

The last couple of weeks I was lured back into the charm of the nice Sony NW-A306 DAP.

I used to own the A105 and like it, but when I got my hands on a new A55 I loved it so much more. Reading much about the A306 and very positive users here on this subreddit, the Sony android DAP lured me back in, so I bought it. Yesterday I received it but the first experience was not much different than I had with the A105. It's slow, got hot really fast, making it drain the battery quite fast.

So I gave it a change, setitng it up. I removed / disabled the unneeded apps, did the FW upgrade and loaded the SD card. While playing music (in airplane mode) I was browsing around looking for the available settings, I noticed stuttering in the music a few times. I do understand the soc needs to be slow and energy efficient, but I thought it was way below acceptable,

So my experience brought me back into the same experience I had about 3 years ago. I know some people disagree with me, but I think the A306 is overpriced. It's almost double the entry price of the A105. I did expect at least a bit more fluent performance. I do like the interface and the looks of the default UI. And Android 13 is a lot better then the version 9 on the A105.

Long story short. I can't except this level of dissapointment for an invenstement of €369, so I returned it today.

This leaves me with my last question: Does anyone know a good alternative?I was planning on using the A306 mostly offline, so streaming services aren't needed.Looking at the Surfans A28, it looks exactly what I want. But it hurts, because for me Sony was the way to go.

I'm looking to buy a dedicated digital audio player (don't want a phone) and I'm 90% decided on getting one that runs Android for the ability to download a great player app, Spotify, etc.

Anyone have any experience with either the Sony Walkman NW-A306 or the knock-off HiBy Digital M300? The HiBy is about half the price, but I've had mixed luck with no-brand Chinese products. (Though in this case it actually has better reviews than the Sony)

I really need a device just to listen to songs i cant go with the higher model because i dont have that much money saved and since the Sony NW-A306 alr came out a while back not only is it old but still runs on android 12 and i dont really know how good the device is so i came here looking for help. I mainly only wanna listen to music and i use wired earphones