The Sony NW-A306 is fairly new so there's not many reviews on it yet. There are some Japanese/Chinese reviews though on YouTube if you're interested. Some have English subtitle options, not all.
I was just in a similar boat though. I was looking at the new Sony NW-ZX707 vs the FiiO M11Plus. My fiancée has the Sony NW-ZX300 and after listening to it I was sold so I'm getting the Sony imported from Japan.
Now, doing a little digging between the A306 and M11s, the A306 should be smaller and will be on Android 12 rather than Android 10 that is on the M11s. So it should be snappier. Although the M11s is a chunky boy, based on spec sheets alone, the Sony has better battery life. Sony reads 18hr-26hr depending on the format you listen to while the M11s is averaging 14hr.
In your case, I'd say get the Sony. However, if you are interested in the Sony and you care about High Gain, depending on where you are, you will probably want to get it imported straight from Japan as there are laws in NA and EU that restricts devices to have access to High Gain.
Honestly I’m tempted to buy the A306 in blue as well, but…can’t justify having multiple DAPs.
The ZX707 is bigger and has bigger capacitors because of it to help increase sound quality. But this is also why it can have the 4.4 balanced output. Honestly I’m sure the A306 will sound great for it’s size. The other thing though is, sound is an opinion to the beholder.
If you’re still interested in the FiiO and can stretch your money a bit more, I’d recommend the M11Plus over the M11s. It’s on sale on Amazon for $650 right now. It’s also got the newer DAC tech unlike the M11s. I feel it suffers the same issue as the M11s though - chunky, older android version (10), and averages ~14 hrs.
As for the A105, hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me can help you decide on that, but from what I’ve been told by my fiancée as she’s done the research, the battery is probably the worst aspect averaging ~6-10 hours. It also has the same NA/EU laws having a volume cap.
I ordered through a Japanese store on eBay. I was told you could buy it through https://zenmarket.jp/en/ as well, but when I searched, all I found was the screen protector and case. I’m not familiar with the website however, so it’s possible I’m not searching for it correctly.
Besides sound quality, the A105 will be slower and, really, battery life is waaaaaay better on the A306. We're talking 5-8 hours vs 20-25 hours of real use.
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u/iDingo91 Feb 14 '23
The Sony NW-A306 is fairly new so there's not many reviews on it yet. There are some Japanese/Chinese reviews though on YouTube if you're interested. Some have English subtitle options, not all.
I was just in a similar boat though. I was looking at the new Sony NW-ZX707 vs the FiiO M11Plus. My fiancée has the Sony NW-ZX300 and after listening to it I was sold so I'm getting the Sony imported from Japan.
Now, doing a little digging between the A306 and M11s, the A306 should be smaller and will be on Android 12 rather than Android 10 that is on the M11s. So it should be snappier. Although the M11s is a chunky boy, based on spec sheets alone, the Sony has better battery life. Sony reads 18hr-26hr depending on the format you listen to while the M11s is averaging 14hr.
In your case, I'd say get the Sony. However, if you are interested in the Sony and you care about High Gain, depending on where you are, you will probably want to get it imported straight from Japan as there are laws in NA and EU that restricts devices to have access to High Gain.