Sony NWZ-A15 high resolution Walkman review: A device for music lovers

Sony doesn't want to let the Walkman brand die. And that's understandable, those of us of a certain age will have a lot of very fond memories about listening to cassettes and even CDs - although Sony went down the rubbish DiscMan name route for a while.

But the truth is, with Apple cancelling the iPod Classic and sales of music players falling, is there really a place for a standalone music player?

The Good

The Bad

The quality issue

Sony has rightly realised that if you're going to sell a music player in this day and age you need to focus on quality, not convenience. In a world where everyone stores music on their phone, you're never going to sell a separate player based on convenience.

The NWZ-A15 thus offers access to the highest possible quality of music available. Sony calls this "High Resolution Audio", and there is a move to make this something of a standard. The logo, for example, is Sony's, but it's also fine for other brands to use it.

The idea here is that as with televisions where there was a standard way of expressing that a TV was 1080p, using a "Full HD" logo, the same would be true of music and players.

If you have been using your phone for music then you probably will be pretty amazed when you hear what the A15 can do. Most phones don't do a great job with music, and many have a very substandard audio system. The A15 on the other hand sounds about as good as you could possibly hope for.

We've tested loads of different tracks, from MP3s to FLAC lossless and high-resolution tracks. The quality is superb, without a doubt. We've also used several different kinds of headphones, including Sony's own recommended pair and some RHA T10s which we've been using for a while with various players.

Sony has, as it so often does, nailed the sound quality. The company does edge towards bassy sound, but the A15 is incredibly clear. Everything from vocals to deep bass are well represented here, and the overall quality, with the right music, is amazing.

We tested some high-resolution downloads from Qobuz, and were very pleased with the sound overall. Our only major issue is about the extra cost of high-resolution music tracks.

A nicer user experience

Honestly, while we all live with music on our phones, it's not actually a good experience. Music apps tend to be an utter mess, at least on Android. Things can be a bit better on the iPhone, but even so these are devices that are designed to do a lot of things, and they're good at that but they lack convenient things that the A15 has.

As an example, just having simple navigation options for moving through music makes a huge difference to the user experience. You can use the "hold" button to stop accidental button presses and you can press play, and the A15 will just work its way through all of your music.

In terms of build quality and general feel, this isn't quite as solid as we expected. Older Sony walkmans, like the MP3 players of old, were of a much higher build quality. There's nothing much wrong with the device, but it's not Apple-quality hardware. At this price, you might expect better.

Oh, and Sony includes a proprietary cable too, which you have to use for both charging and data transfer. This irks us greatly, and it has no place in modern electronics. A standard USB would be absolutely fine here, and would give far greater flexibility.

On the plus side, there is a microSD socket, so expanding the storage is no problem at all.

Upscale MP3s

Like many companies, Sony has had a go at upscaling MP3s. In practice, it's pretty hard to make a lossy file sound lossless, and if you could, why would you waste money on lossless tracks, or high-resolution audio.

In practice, there is a difference in the sound, but it's not "better" as such, it's just slightly changed. Perhaps some people will value this, but really it doesn't feel like a hugely useful addition to the player.

Conclusion

At about £180, the A15 is hardly cheap. In fact that's about the same price as an iPod Touch. The Sony has no apps, and no ability to go online, so it can't use streaming music services like Tidal and Spotify. It is, of course, an amazing sounding player. If you love music, and want to enjoy something that has, to some extent, been lost in the digital revolution, then it's worth buying.

The problem is that most people will remain happy with their phones. And while that's fine for convenience, you're missing out on a different experience. Long battery life, great sound and a well thought-out control system make the A15 a great device for anyone who wants a stand alone player. Its aim for better quality sound is laudable, and Sony has indeed achieved it.