Sony walkman NW-A55L

Storage 16GB

MicroSD Yes (32GB)

Bluetooth Yes

Battery life 45 hours

Headphone jack 3.5mm

Weight 99g

Dimensions (hwd) 9.7 x 5.6 x 1.1cm

The NW-A55L is capable of playing pretty much anything you could throw at it: hi-res PCM files up to 32-bit/384kHz (WAVs are supported all the way up, while FLACs top out at 24-bit/96kHz), DSD tracks up to 11.2MHz (which the player converts to PCM) and MQA music. That covers nearly every digital music file you could probably own, whether it’s ripped from a CD collection or downloaded from a digital music store.

Its 16GB onboard storage can hold roughly 400 MP3, 60 CD-quality or 25 hi-res (24-bit/96kHz) albums, although a microSD slot can expand that memory by up to 2TB.

Aside from extensive file support, the NW-A55L is the no-frills player you’d expect for the money. Its palm-sized, slimline design is unremarkable, though the last thing you want from a second device in your pockets is big and garish.

The foolproof interface, while perfectly easy to navigate on the touchscreen, is a basic affair too – more functional than fancy.

You can get round the former omission thanks to the NW-A55L’s Bluetooth receiver, which allows you to pair a laptop or phone and play its music content through the Walkman, benefiting from its likely superior DAC and processing.

Headlining the player’s home screen is a logo for activating this feature, and if you dive into the intuitive settings, you’ll find the option to pair with and transmit music to Bluetooth headphones or speakers, too. You can choose between Sony’s proprietary LDAC Bluetooth codec (which is claimed to allow transmission up to 24-bit/96kHz) or the more common aptX HD (with a maximum 24-bit/48kHz transmission).

Next to the homescreen logo is another to turn the player purely into a USB DAC, so it can act as a sound-enhancing middle-man between your music source and headphones.