Sony NW-A45
It’s 2019, and you’re reading a Sony Walkman review – but it’s not a 40th-anniversary commemorative edition of the TPS-L2 audio cassette player, nor are you trapped in an episode of Quantum Leap. You probably have an ipod Shuffle or similar kicking around at home somewhere, made largely redundant because your smartphone came with headphones and a streamer pre-loaded.
However, as hi-res digital audio has become established, there has been a resurgence of dedicated portable music players that can handle lossless FLAC, ALAC, single-bit DSD and uncompressed WAV audio files. The Sony NW-A45, its latest Walkman, is one such machine.
Around the same size as a credit card, the NW-A45 won’t take up a lot of room in your pocket. If its 16GB built-in storage seems disappointing, its microsd slot means you can add up to 512GB of extra space to this diminutive box.
The little unit feels solid and weighty and has handy power and volume/track selection buttons along the right-hand side of the touchscreen. Sony claims the
NW-A45 is waterproof (though to what level isn’t specified), so it’s potentially good for travelling and poolside listening.
The Sony NW-A45 is at the budget end of the portable hi-res audio player market, yet boasts an impressive list of features, including digital noise cancelling and ambient sound modes (when used with compatible headphones), Bluetooth with NFC one-touch pairing and up to 45 hours of battery life.
The device’s home screen is adequate, but there’s a lot going on. Those used to Apple’s simple and intuitive ipod Touch-embedded Music app, may find the prevalence of unusual buttons a bit jumbled. Once you’ve located the correct menu, pairing is relatively easy and the Bluetooth connection is rock solid.
We load five hi-res audio albums on to the NW-A45, plus some MQA music files and a DSD album – but we’re already down to our last few gigs of space. Metadata such as album artwork is well presented on the Led-backlit TFT colour display, although the screen’s portraitonly orientation means song titles are often cut off half way.
Musical cohesion
We kick off our listening with Bowie’s Lazarus and the sombre percussion, walking bass, sensitive drum beat and synth chords that initiate Bowie’s brutally direct and heart-wrenching vocal are adroitly handled. There’s good bass depth, musical cohesion and space around the various instruments.
Playing the same track on Apple’s 32GB ipod Touch (£199), there’s a more expansive and layered detail on offer from the Sony – particularly with vocals. The treble is more musically sensitive here, too – the ipod Touch’s marginally edgier, more pointed treble is a minor shortfall by comparison. Sony’s NW-A45 is a more sonically authentic offering.
We select Sony’s Clearaudio+ function, which boosts both the bass and treble and ups the excitement of the sound on offer. We play Hans Zimmer’s Time (from Inception) and the legato passages of each cello and viola are emotive, full, and sound like an orchestra; real instruments being bowed independently but pulling their weight towards a collective end goal.
The NW-A45 is more natural, precise and convincing through the treble and midrange, but the ipod edges it for dynamic punch, momentum and timing. Put simply, the Sony offers a hi-fi sound, but the Apple product sounds more fun.
If you’re looking for a personal music player that has wireless internet support for Deezer, Tidal, Spotify streaming and the like, then go for the ipod Touch, but if you want something that lets you listen to hi-res PCM and DSD files on the fly with optional noise-cancelling, then this Walkman is for you.
But the Sony has one advantage over the ipod Touch in that this PMP doubles up as a digital-to-analogue-converter. Plug the Walkman into your computer’s USB port and select the DAC function from the device’s home screen. The signal is then processed by the Sony, boosting your computer’s inbuilt DAC.
Sony has designed the NW-A45 to act as a companion to your smartphone, rather than as an alternative, purely handling your desire for hi-res music. It does this well for the price, boasting more hours of playback than the ipod Touch, plus the build is excellent and it feels more expensive than it is.
Of course, Apple’s ipod Touch also has apps, cameras, Facetime, messaging services and a voice assistant. However, despite its offline status and clunky user interface, at this price, there’s an awful lot to like about this latest version in a long line of Sony Walkmans.