Posted a fair bit on head-fi but thought it might be of interest if I post my summary here and some photos:
So summing up, my mini review:
Based on experience with Sony EU/UK DAPS's I went straight for an imported one from Japan and been using a few days now. Design/Weight/Size/Materials/Screen/Buttons all great and you feel like you've bought a quality product.
Its milled Aluminium single piece block for front and sides with a pressed Aluminium piece for top & back. Only bottom end plate is possibly plastic.
Now this is low powered device so will not go loud enough or do justice to many demanding headphones. To get good battery life in a device this size Sony will have used low power class D amplifiers of much lower output power than DAP's like Fiio X11, Hiby R5, iBasso DX160 etc. For undemanding IEM's or over Bluetooth output should be fine.
I say should because Sony always seem to volume cap their EU products and us users then try to find ways around it. So this time I went straight for a Japanese import with no risk of a volume cap.
I only listen with efficient Shure SE846's (8 Ohm) and the player sounds beautiful with my own HD files using the built-in Walkman app and plays DSD, HD FLAC and even MQA perfectly.
Now you would only really buy this for its Android OS with streaming media support and other than MQA tracks in Tidal it does currently max out at 24/48kHz if streaming HD content in the likes of Amazon HD. If Amazon has an Ultra HD track at 24/44.1KHz then that seems to play bit-perfect but for 24/96 & 24/192 those will be played at a max of 24/48. Still sound excellent and I can't tell doing an A-B test between say 24/48 and 24/96 or 24/192.
Even Spotify tracks sound fabulous out of the A105. UAPP will only work with Android Audio so again 24/48.
It could be the UK version IS capped and may even affect the sound as it certainly did with the ZX2. At least with the ZX300 you can get rid of the cap with a software tool.
Gave it 4 stars due to it not delivering 24/96 & 24/192 in the likes of Amazon HD but then many phones and Android DAP's don't either (Hiby R5 does). To my ears it does seem that Tidal MQA are working correctly.
Tried a couple of external USB DAC's and UAPP does work with them bit-perfect and at 24/48 in Android Audio.
WiFI & BT connection very stable with no drops. The A105 can get quite warm when syncing a lot of tracks over wifi but nothing to be concerned about.
Battery life going to be way down on the stated amount from my testing**. Listening to Spotify offline tracks for last 1.5hr with no screen time and wifi/BT off with volume at 65 and already lost 10% (may not be linear so will have to wait and see on battery life).
** Its likely Sony stated battery times are with only using the Walkman App.
Size comparison to one of the best phones for Audio the LG V30+
Note: I tried to post this as a review but got that wrong and its under A&K Junior section
(not done before).
So summing up, my mini review:
Based on experience with Sony EU/UK DAPS's I went straight for an imported one from Japan and been using a few days now. Design/Weight/Size/Materials/Screen/Buttons all great and you feel like you've bought a quality product.
Its milled Aluminium single piece block for front and sides with a pressed Aluminium piece for top & back. Only bottom end plate is possibly plastic.
Now this is low powered device so will not go loud enough or do justice to many demanding headphones. To get good battery life in a device this size Sony will have used low power class D amplifiers of much lower output power than DAP's like Fiio X11, Hiby R5, iBasso DX160 etc. For undemanding IEM's or over Bluetooth output should be fine.
I say should because Sony always seem to volume cap their EU products and us users then try to find ways around it. So this time I went straight for a Japanese import with no risk of a volume cap.
I only listen with efficient Shure SE846's (8 Ohm) and the player sounds beautiful with my own HD files using the built-in Walkman app and plays DSD, HD FLAC and even MQA perfectly.
Now you would only really buy this for its Android OS with streaming media support and other than MQA tracks in Tidal it does currently max out at 24/48kHz if streaming HD content in the likes of Amazon HD. If Amazon has an Ultra HD track at 24/44.1KHz then that seems to play bit-perfect but for 24/96 & 24/192 those will be played at a max of 24/48. Still sound excellent and I can't tell doing an A-B test between say 24/48 and 24/96 or 24/192.
Even Spotify tracks sound fabulous out of the A105. UAPP will only work with Android Audio so again 24/48.
It could be the UK version IS capped and may even affect the sound as it certainly did with the ZX2. At least with the ZX300 you can get rid of the cap with a software tool.
Gave it 4 stars due to it not delivering 24/96 & 24/192 in the likes of Amazon HD but then many phones and Android DAP's don't either (Hiby R5 does). To my ears it does seem that Tidal MQA are working correctly.
Tried a couple of external USB DAC's and UAPP does work with them bit-perfect and at 24/48 in Android Audio.
WiFI & BT connection very stable with no drops. The A105 can get quite warm when syncing a lot of tracks over wifi but nothing to be concerned about.
Battery life going to be way down on the stated amount from my testing**. Listening to Spotify offline tracks for last 1.5hr with no screen time and wifi/BT off with volume at 65 and already lost 10% (may not be linear so will have to wait and see on battery life).
** Its likely Sony stated battery times are with only using the Walkman App.
Size comparison to one of the best phones for Audio the LG V30+
Note: I tried to post this as a review but got that wrong and its under A&K Junior section
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