Product Reviews

Cannot adjust any audio settings with Bluetooth headphones, also cannot create playlists on device, needs to use a pc to do this. Very limiting indeed...

Have only had it a short while but do like the touch screen once I got accustomed to the new software settings. Like the idea of a 45 hour battery life. Only recharged it one and it didn’t seem to need 4 hours to recharge but I will time it at the next recharge. Good that I could insert my SD card full of music and listen to the Walkman within minutes. Had to download Sony drivers onto my old Sony laptop with Windows 10 and after a few hiccups Windows 10 recognised the new Walkman. When downloading albums from Sony Music Center to the new Walkman, the process seems speedier than with previous Walkman models. Finally, whether the songs are MP3 or FLAC downloads, the sound through my noise cancelling over ear headphones using Bluetooth is top quality.

Great sound,great size lovely ui,my only grip is a problem adding album artwork,it didn’t pick up all album artwork,so I had to use “Yate”for mac and that programme worked a dream.im not sure how it works for windows.

PROS: Excellent sound quality; very light; CONS: Takes way too long, 1-2 mins, to start up (always has to "create database"); Volume always resets to very low setting instead of staying at same level as when switched off; Equaliser levels impossible to control individually to desired levels per column, but connect in a stupid wavy line.

I bought this recently and transferred all my digitised music on to it very easily. It's very easy to access all the menus, looks and sounds fantastic. I wish I'd done it much sooner!!!

bought this for an upcoming trip abroad and so far it suits my needs

I have had my walkman three weeks and enjoy the great sound it delivers

Bought this to Replace My old Creative Labs 32gb mp3 player quicker to start and easier to access music.

I bought it few weeks ago to use it with my Tivoli stereo Bluetooth system and it satisfied my expectations.

I purchased this product about 4 months ago and have some issues in which I have not been able to solve. Firstly, having created a playlist folder, it keeps saying 'no playlists available" when I try to transfer some tracks to a playlist. Secondly, although I have the "sort by song artist" highlighted, it randomly sorts tracks by song title, so the "all songs' list is all over the place. With these issues, I cannot give this product more than two stars.

Small, light and packed full of features. The first Walkman I have purchased since a TPS-L2 back in the day and just as happy.

I got the NW-A45 seeking a replacement to my 160GB iPod Classic (now that I have left the Apple ecosystem). Putting music on my phone just wasn't cutting it. I'll get the negative out of the way because there's not much. The boot-up time from Power Off can be quite long especially with a large library, and some power-user features aren't present, such as ratings or play count metadata. However for my review I skew towards sound quality, and boy this player is top-notch in this regard. As someone who doesn't have much Hi-Res audio, the DSEE HX upscaling isn't just a bullet point, it actually makes a substantial difference. The same 320kbps MP3s on the same speakers with the same connection had an audible difference in quality that blew me away compared to my phone. All of the basics are there for organizing your music library and is flexible with multiple import workflows. The unit itself is designed nicely with nice tactile buttons on the side and expandable memory with microSD. If you're looking for a "back to basics" portable music player that prioritizes sound quality and gets the job done features and design wise, this is a phenomenal choice.

I was planning to purchase a higher value Sony / alternative brand player. But I discovered this Sony model did much of what I wanted for a much lower cost. It plays many of file types I use, sounds good with my earphones (Bowers & Wilkins P7s) and is easy to use.

The product itself is exactly as you would expect from a portable device, Its lightweight, and does the job. However I strongly this product could get 5 Stars if Sony would be prepared to update the device. Coming from someone who has used Ipods for a long time, i decided to upgrade to this purely for the memory increase. If you want a device that will only play music and nothing else, no apps or unnecessary clutter in the way this is for you. The comparison between the UI of the Ipod (the older models and this walkman) are quite different and to tell the truth Sony might find it beneficial to tweak the UI (User Interface) and some of the functions to make it more ease of use. Pros: Music has outstanding Quality, I would honestly recommend going into a store like PC world take your headphones and give it a try you can get a feel for how the device functions. The buttons on the side allow quick use and their is a hold button that you slide, which disables the ability to use buttons or touch screen including volume, which is nice if you have a playlist or album you just want to listen too if your travelling or working out etc. The touch screen is really good, but due to the screen size and UI designs that I will mention again it can make operating the device a little awkward at times. It has an option to move songs to a language study which is really handy when separating audio studies from track lists, especially if you plan on listening to albums on shuffle. No Apps or other junk in the way on the UI it's just your categories settings and fairly straight forward just some more user friendly tweaks could make it less overwhelming and easier to use. Can use an SD card to increase the memory, something which outweighed the decision to purchase another Ipod. Cons: For example You can't create a Playlist on the Walkman device but can do on the Music software they recommend, however you can add songs to a play list you have on your device. (make the playlist on the computer then from device can add album to existing playlist.) also if you accidentally add songs to a playlist you would have to either delete the playlist entirely or delete the songs one by one. I also had an issue where some albums duplicated, so i would have the first song twice followed by the second song twice, I ended up deleting it all and restarting the process. This could of easily been avoided if the device allowed you to select multiple songs at once, instead you have to do it all manually 1 by 1. (which is a big time consumer for someone like me, i listen to a lot of video game soundtracks some of these albums have up to 100+ songs so deleting them one by one is a pain). Another annoyance is not being able to re-order songs in an album for instance number 53 in an album was at the top followed by the rest of the soundtrack (I have no idea why) but i couldn't drag it down and reorder it to its rightful place on either the software or the device itself. Another thing with apple's layout is albums are separated into Alphabetical categories so you have a list as you would, you would have A then followed by the albums that start with A then B and so on, with the walkman its still alphabetical but its a big big list with no real spacing its very easy to miss-click. Another minor issue is when you click and play a song then come off that song to your album list it takes it all the way back to the top, rather than leave you on the album you last clicked on. There is no speaker if you wan't to play a song without headphones a speaker is needed (separately) not a problem for me but other individuals may have wanted this. Looking at what i have written it seems the product is quite negative on the contrary, the product is well designed (physically) the device is responsive and its functionality i.e. touch screen, portability, buttons have all been thought out extremely well, whilst the UI is a bit rough not terrible but there are definitely more cleaner options that Sony could consider (a mere update could fix all the technical issues iv'e mentioned and it would be 5 stars all the way). I really hope Sony takes note at the things iv'e mentioned. i own a lot of sony products from Playstation ones to ps4, and all of them had clean UI even the old phones did. That's just the biggest issue for me, the ease of use and more convenience when managing songs on the device is all.

A very nice substitute for players that aren't available any more. You know who they are. Takes a 64 or 128GB MicroSD chip, has reg. EQ's and (2) user adj. EQ settings. Uncompresses Mp3 formats for HD sound. Has FM Radio w/ search. Can create playlist's and can play 3 Apple formats!!! along with multiple PC formats.

Very happy with my recent purchase. Battery life is excellent and sound quality is superb. Very easy to transfer files to the device via Windows Media Player. Would have been nice if headphones were included for the price but otherwise very pleased

I bought this equipment to be used with an Omni Adapt + from Harman Kardon, but for some reason the bluetooth never paired to each otherm then I tried with and older NWZ-A25 and the same, all other devices (android based) work fine.

I got this as a birthday gift to replace my defunded MP3 player and am absolutely delighted with it.

The Sony NW-A45 is a good value for the dollar PROs 1. Very responsive & quick to scroll and locate artists and albums 2. Easy to transfer music over via the software or windows IMPROVEMENTS: However there are some organizational issues with the player that I would like Sony to improve in the software on the device: 1. ORGANIZE BY SONG TITLE In Song Title View, it organizes songs by the File name instead of by the Song Title name. So, if when ripping a CD, the software added the track title to the file name, when you alpha sort by song title, and the song name is "Worthy is the Lamb" but the file name is "01 Worthy is the Lamb" the song will sort under 01 instead of W. 2. AUTOMATICALLY STOP PLAYING WHEN NOT CONNECTED BY LINE-IN/HEADPHONE/OR BLUETOOTH The song will not automatically stop playing if a headset is not plugged in or it is not plugged into a line, even with the Bluetooth off. So each time you select a song it starts playing. Even if you are just purusing your device, the song will start playing with nothing connected to it. That eats at the battery. 3. Music sounds distant and not as loud. I typically play the Walkman connected to speakers and I have to turn the volume up quite high to hear it comfortably in the room. I play the same song on my iPod Nano and I don't have to turn the volume up as high. 4. Better explain how SensMe Channels work. When I select it, it states: "Some songs have not been analyzed. To use SensMe Channels, use the recommended computer application to analyze the songs". But it doesn't tell you what that application is. I chose Relax and thought it would select all of my spa & relaxation CDs. It didn't it selected some spa songs, but the other songs it mixed it weren't really relaxing songs. So this feature is a bust. 5. No search feature on the device. I would like to search for a song instead of scrolling through thousands of songs on my device. For instance if I want to play all of the "Carol of the Bells" songs by different artists, I can't search for it on the device. And scrolling to Carol of the bells doesn't guarantee they are all organized by the letter C (see #1 above). 6. It has clock settings, but it doesn't display the time. It only uses the clock to manage the library. Pretty silly. 7. No way to check battery life. It claims you can get 45 hours worth of play time, but I barely got 8 hours before having to charge the battery. The battery will discharge in stand-by mode. You must turn off the device to preserve the battery. The Sony Music Center Software is a decent start, but has some bugs in it. When I called customer support I was told by 1st level support and 2nd level support not to use Sony Music Center, because the ability to edit the metadata of a song wasn't built into the software. Even though in the help files it says you can edit the metadata and download missing song and album data from 12 note/gracenotes. 1. EDITING METADATA The instructions for the software states that you can edit metadata for songs, artists, and albums. However, the changes you make in Music Center are not always updated to the file. It works sometimes, not all of the time. Second Level support told me to use Windows Media Player. https://musiccenter.sony.net/en/instruction/06_edit_01.php Windows Media Player is clunky and not as streamlined as Music Center 2. RIPPING CDS You can change the genre and album name, but you cannot change the file name. So if the file name has the track number in front of it, it will rip the song with the Song Title correct, but the file name will have the track number, and thus will mess up how you sort by song title. You have to go into Windows to update the file names and then delete the songs in Music Center and copy back over. NOTE: In Windows Media Player you can determine the file name when ripping the CD, but you can't change the album name and genre before ripping the CD. So either way you have tons of editing to do, to fix simple things that can be resolved simply by allowing you to determine them BEFORE you rip the CD. 3. PLAYLISTS: You can import playlists in the .m3u format, but you can't export playlists. You can only copy playlists to the device. 2nd level support at Sony did not know where the software saved playlists. The only way to get playlists you create on to the computer onto the device is via Sony Music Center.

Pleases for next year please add support for flac 640kbps at 64bit depth And the Walkman needs more storage like 1or 5 tb of storage And I think the Walkman should be thinner with a bigger a Touch screen.

It's pretty good player but it have some disadvatages: - no seamless playback - no .ogg support - can't use FF & RW buttons in radio mode to switch presets - FF, PLAY & RW buttons located next to each other so it's not so easy to find them by touch - sometimes it skips last few seconds of mp3 files (i guess that's because of APEv2 tags) - it takes about 40 sec to power on - it's very long even for PC nowdays

I bought this to replace my old walkman and wish I hadn't bothered. It's so quiet that even when it's at full volume i can still hear people in the room talking. It still puts gaps between tracks on albums where the tracks are continuous and there is no way of finding an artist by initial search - you have to scroll through everything to find an artist.

Great design , great build. Sound excellent but only via wired headphones. I own previous model nw a15 , and this one could use audio preset and eq settings on bluetooth heaphones. On NW a45 , everything sounds flat , because Sony remove this settings from player. Why ? This setting is very important. Could this be fixed via update ?

I bought this walkman i just charging and i can’t wait when i start to listen music

Ive had this little thing for a few weeks now and it's spot on. The sound quality is amazing and I am fussy. Transferring files is child's play once you work it out but that takes minutes. I have not tries a high Rez song yet but burning cd straight to it is top quality so can't wait to here a high Rez album. The only real problem is you do need to find a good set of headphones to here it full potential. With normal headphones it is superb but with a high quality set of headphones and a high Rez album it will be stunning.

An excellent product - easy to use - super sound over bluetooth headphones. My only complaint is that there's no way to download from Spotify (unlike the Apple iPod players). Disappointing that Sony can't team with Spotify to offer the same feature.

I bought this as my iPod 160 stopped working with my car interface. After purchasing the SD card for the memory upgrade I was very disappointed to find that the memory card data cannot be accessed by the car interface. But weirdly it can by the Bluetooth connection. This means I have to select the playlist I want to use before I travel rather than being able to change as I go. In every other way this is an excellent player. I just wish it talked to my car like the iPod did

I finally took the plunge and bought this music player after listening to my music for years and years as mp3s. After putting in an sd card and downloading music as hi - res files..and pairing the player with Sonys matching h.ear hi res headphones..its been an eye opener...or should that be ear opener! I was surprised at the size of the player...it is tiny and fits easily in a pocket..even with a protective case on. Listeneing to my music now in hi - res format is just amazing...I cannot go back to mp3 now.. So happy I bought this product ..and so glad I didnt pay 4 times the money for a much more exclusive player..that would have done the same thing. Love the matching headphones too Sony...well done guys. :)

The good news: This is a high-quality player for the price. Well-made. Good sound. However, I am going to be a bit picky on the overall rating because of an obvious user-interface design flaw. When I view all albums, I don't want to see all my "Greatest Hits" albums lumped together under one cover. I want each cover displayed separately because each one is its own album. Certainly the fine UI programmers at Sony ought to be able to fix this with a firmware update. I'm just really surprised--more like shocked--that such a fine player could make it to market without anyone on the development team realizing that identical album titles were being lumped together instead of being displayed separately.

Bought this after trusty Ipod classic suffered water damage. Didn't think I would be able to find satisfactory replacement but was wrong. This Walkman is an affordable high quality audio player with minimal distracting bells and whistles. Battery life when playing music is as good as stated, but bear in mind it uses battery when idling, so it will slowly run out unless you turn it off when you're not using it. There doesn't seem to be any dedicated 'sleep' mode which is disappointing since the startup is slow - taking around a minute - when you have a very large library. Light and small enough to fit comfortably in your pocket. Build quality is good and buttons easy to press, even when in your pocket. Touch screen is OK (and doesn't accidentally trigger when in pocket) but is certainly not anti-glare - something to consider if you plan on using this when out and about (you won't be able to see much at all in bright sunshine). Adding an external microSSD and transferring music from a desktop computer was a breeze. Compatibility with different audio formats is good. Library management is fairly standard, although the software could certainly be improved (often when touching the 'back' button I am not taken where I expected - one up the library file tree - but to the main menu).

As an older person I was a bit worried that this might be a bit technical for me, but I neednt have worried. It is so easy to use that I would recommend it to anyone.

I bought this MP3 player about 2weeks ago. I am 73 I have down loaded the music, got the earphones just got to get the Bluetooth working in my car and my speakers in the house.I will get there very pleased.

I bought this to replace an old MP£player. its great and reliable product

Hi all just giving a review of the sony NW-A45 HI-RES WALKMAN.LET SAY I WAS SURPRISED AT HOW SMALL THE ITEM WAS AND HOW STURDY AND COMPACT THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS. WITH GREAT QUALITY BUILD AND EASE OF USE IDEAL FOR EVERY DAY USE.I HAD A GOOD SET OF STUDIO OVER EAR HEAD PHONES BUT WENT OUT AND GOT MY SELF A PAIR OF THE RECOMENDED NOISE CANCELLING EAR BUDS THAT ARE GREAT .SOUND QUALITY WAS AMAZING AND IS NEVER OF USE EVERY DAY.THE ONLY DOWN SIDE IS THE VOLUME CAP WHICH ALL EU PRODUCTS HAVE FOR EAR SAFETY SO I PURCHASED A HEAD PHONE AMP WICH I LOVE.SO THE WHOLE ROUND UP OF THE SYSTEM IN MY VEIW IS 5 STARS AND WOULD ADVISE ANYONE TO BUY AS ITS NOT OUT OF BUDGET COMPARED TO OTHERS. IDEAL FOR ANYONE WHO LIKES QUALITY SOUND .

If you are looking to buy a new portable wireless music device, then you're search is over, you won't believe the sound you get from this Sony, I was blown away to hear every note so clearly, honestly, get one, you won't be dissappointed !!

A replacement for a previous Walkman with the same excellent features and ease of use - especially it is now touch screen.

Nice mp3 player I like the way the sony app works it is easy to transfer my cds onto it and get album image. I am happy with my purchase.

Decent MP3 Walkman, bass could be better for the price, and it’s a shame it’s not WiFi for the price. Generally folder feature are great!

Just purchased this Bluetooth version to replace my Sony NWZ-E443 model which has been brilliant. Disappointed in my new one as you cannot play videos on it. This cost over £100 more than my earlier Sony so you would think the new one would cater for movies.

I have used a Sony NWZ-A828 player for about 10 years and it's been superb. However its bluetooth is very weak and the battery was beginning to fail so I decided to upgrade. While the newer version is very good, I wish Sony had kept the design and features of the older model. It was very lightweight and the buttons were very easy to use while hidden in a pocket. The new model does have the option to add extra memory which is great and the bluetooth is much better. The buttons are good but they could be spaced a little better. The touchscreen seems unnecessary to me. I'd rather just have proper buttons as I like being able to control the player while its in a pocket. The menus are ok but seem a little complicated. They're not impossble to use but it's only an mp3 player, so should be kept simple. It takes much longer to boot up which is not a major problem but does seem unnecessarily long. The size is still pretty compact but it is larger than my old model. Again, it's fine but I wish Sony would focus on making players that actually suit people's real needs. I believe they do still make a smaller player but it's memory was limited and didnt' have bluetooth. I find it hard to see how they could make a really great player 10 years ago but haven't managed to improve since. Overall, I'm glad I bought it as it is very good. But it should be smaller, lighter and less "fiddly" to use.

Would have better w USB cable, and have stronger amp

Absolutely delighted with my purchase. As always Sony products are fantastic

Bought 2 weeks ago ready to try out on flights for a foreign holiday. So light to carry. Only loaded about half my albums onto an SD card b4 I went away. Used in wireless mode with bluetooth headphones. Really easy and quick to pair. Excellent sound quality. Simple button layout. Easy screen. Fast to charge up. Used it every day. I couldn't be happier.

I bought this product 1 month ago I have found loading with my music very easy using the sony music app I love the look and ease of use very happy with this choice

I'm not a massive audiophile but I like my music to sound great and this product delivers in all areas. Connected to my Onkyo amp, or my AKG Bluetooth headphones, or even my cheap Sennheiser earphones, the result is a rich and vibrant sound. The interface seemed a little 'clunky' to begin with but as I discovered the wealth of features hidden behind each menu option I now have a set up I am comfortable with. I'm in the process of converting my music collection from mp3 to flac, so a 128gb micro sd is an essential extra as the 16gb on board memory is not sufficient, they are quite reasonably priced now but this may put some people off. All in all, I love it, a definite 5 star product.

Prefer this to the i-pod that it is a replacement for

Love the new Sony Walkman High- Resolution.It is more sterdy than my last Sony (5 year old) This is easy to use,and up loading music is fast.I would recomend this product .

I’ve owned several Walkmans in the past, including an old tape version many moons ago, and an NW-HD1 MP3 player, which was amazing at the time. After moving to the “Apple” universe, I never thought I’d own another, but HiRes music has totally moved the goalposts for me. I think that this is an excellent, and very solid, piece of kit (as you’d expect from Sony), & it’s very well priced in relation to the competion. I’m happy to carry it around as well as my iPhone, as the music quality seems better (to me anyway, although all people are different). My only gripe (& a common one it seems, is the proprietory cable. WHY?) Don’t let that put you off though, it’s a great piece of kit!

Large, easy to navigate screen. Sound both loud & crystal clear. Compact. Bluetooth feature is handy.

Great product, I'm very pleased with it. The only complaint is that if used outside, its difficult to read the display. And theres no brightness control.

Had a FIIO X1 before and while the sound was good the interface sucked. This has everything you need in an affordable player, expandable memory, high end dacs, aptx, eq, high output, easy pc interface, great screen,. I could go on. Blows all phones out of the water even your precious iPhones.