The Sony Walkman NW-A306 could easily sit with its pricier stablemates, such as the NW-WM1ZM2 (£3,299) and NW-WM1AM2 (£1,299) players with its rectangular, milled aluminium design and rounded sides weighing in at just 133grams. You also get sizeable physical button controls and a 3.6-inch touchscreen. Keen DAP spotters, however, will notice two significant differences. Firstly, the raised area for the power button has been shaved off on the NW-A306, making both sides even. Secondly, the new digital player can be purchased for much, much less than the previous portables.

This move could shake up similarly big names in the arena, such as Astell&Kern, whose reasonably affordable updated A&Norma SR25 is going for twice the NW-A306's asking price on Amazon. Moreover, it even slips under the FiiO M11S's cost of entry!

Sony's new Walkman utilises Google's Android 12 OS and boasts circuitry featuring a reflow solder containing gold as a hint to the rest of the player's high-end credentials.

It also benefits from Sony's S-Master HX digital amp and native DSD support. In fact, Sony says that the NW-A306 promises significantly better audio, with less distortion and noise, than most flagship smartphones. However, this is expected by most shoppers looking to add a dedicated player to their personal audio arsenal.

For those looking to get the most out of their hi-res tunes on the move, there is a 3.5mm headphone port, but you also get Bluetooth and wi-fi support, plus improved DSEE Ultimate upscaling tech for those who want to go untethered by cables. Thanks to improved algorithms, we're told that the player presents more acoustic subtleties and dynamic range when playing CD-quality 16-bit/44kHz tracks, even with lossless codecs.

An important aspect of portable players is their stamina, and the NW-A306 has this covered, too, with Sony claiming up to 36 hours of 44.1kHz FLAC playback and up to 32 hours of 96kHz FLAC high-resolution audio playback. Charging is via the USB-C connection and the bundled cable and takes 3.5 hours from empty.

All of this sounds possibly too good to be true. However, there is a slight catch for snagging a big brand player at this price point. It appears that the NW-A306 is blessed with a mere 32GB of onboard storage with only 18GB of that spec'd as “actual available memory”. Thankfully, we spotted a microSD card slot on the player's base, so it should offer extended storage, although the info sheet doesn't specify a maximum card size.

This latest Walkman player has certainly piqued our interest with its claimed spec and price point combo.

The Sony Walkman NW-A306 will be available for pre-order for £350/ €400 later this month.

Visit Sony for more information