Sony NW-A45

[Barneby]

Does anyone think the upcoming Sony Walkman NW-A45 would be sufficient to drive and sound good on the crack/speedball?  I know it isn't out yet, but maybe someone has used similar players?  I have only used my Onkyo CD player with the amp so far, but I'm looking for a solution for playing hi res files.  It doesn't have a dedicated line out (only headphone jack which concerns me).  Here is the best information I can get on the product:

"Optimized for High-Resolution Audio, the S-Master HXâ„¢ amplifier reduces distortion and noise"
"Headphone Out (Balanced standard-jack):  "35mW + 35mW"

I like the price and file support of this product.  If this product is insufficient power wise, does anyone have any other solutions for storing/playing hi res files?  I'm open to either portable or not portable.  I'm not really interested in a lot of streaming/connectivity bells and whistles.  I also wanted to keep it in the $500 or lower range.

Thanks!

 

[Deluk]

For $500 you can get a small laptop and a good amount of outboard USB storage and run the music library that suits you. Not so portable but that seems not to be a requirement. Sony 35 has some issues that may have been addressed in the 45.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

That Sony Walkman will pair quite well with the Crack, but it's certainly not a great choice for driving headphones.

I think I paid $300 for my streaming PC.  There are some inexpensive DACs floating around that could get you up and running.

 

[Natural Sound]

How good is your computer knowledge? Are you willing to "roll your own"? I've built several of these for friends and use one myself on my patio system.

For example:

Buy a RaspberryPi $29.99
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/raspberrypi3/raspberry-pi-foundation
A power supply $9.96
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/rasppipwrsupply/raspberry-pi-foundation
A uSD card $2.91
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/328030004/seeed-technology-limited
A HiFiBerry DAC $39.90
https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/boards/hifiberry-dac-pro/
Maybe a case to put it in $12.90
https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/cases/hifiberry-case-for-dac-rca-and-digi/
Download some free software and install on the uSD card
https://volumio.org
or
http://www.runeaudio.com/
Connect to a USB drive or a NAS server where your music collection resides.
Connect to your Crack/SB Amp
Use your phone, tablet, computer to control the software via http (any web browser will do)
Sit back and enjoy great sounding HiRes music knowing you only paid about $100 (not including hard drive or NAS) plus shipping for a great sounding streamer that you built yourself.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Barneby]

Thanks for the responses.  These give me some ideas to think about!