Sony NW-A30Series custom firmware



On this page you can find custom firmware for the Sony NW-A30Series Walkman players.



Walkman One - 4 sound signatures in one package



You can find previous StockRevert packages for NW-A30Series custom firmware, here.




80 comments:

  1. Mr Walkman, Is it possible to release a DMP-A30 FE version?

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    1. DMP-A30 is already the FE edition. There was no DMP-A30 before, so I didn't need to name it "FE".

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    2. How do I flash or restore the original NW-A35 firmware? Thanks!

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    3. Hi, yesterday updated. Works way better than stock. Do you have any plans to do any custom, let's say perfect version of UI?

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  2. To clarify, I should have stated a version with only the sound signature improvement, without removing standard functionality. I was comparing with the current DMP-A50 FE listing.

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    1. Oh, that would be something, but the A30 stock firmware is really slow, and I didn't think anyone would want to keep using it. Will see.

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    2. That would be amazing, love the enhancements you've made, but I do use and miss a lot of the stock features. Would be perfect with them added back in. :)

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  3. Hey, can i use the firmware but keep the stock tuning?

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    1. Theoretically you would have to not install the external tuning, but there might already be a change.

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    2. Actually there will be a change for sure.

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  4. Hey Mr Walkman, I would like to thank you big! I updated my A-30 device and my initial impressions are very, very good.

    I will provide more info as I use this software!
    But my 2 biggest concerns are solved via this software.
    1st problem is that the player was restarting itself, from the first month acutally. This never happened in this never version which is very, very great!
    2nd problem was that the stock sound was WAY TOO BRIGHT! This is obviously gone in this version. THANK YOU SINCERELY! By the way I have access to Aduio Precision Hardware in where I work, and I might measure the device in the future.

    Extra features such as analog VU meters, auto turn off timer, volume dial via interface 10 band EQ are all very, very great. Interface is a bit faster as well, really appreciated!

    WoW, USB DAC function is also working! But there is a little bit delay. I think about 0.5 seconds. But people were complaining about it in the newer A-50 model.

    The only thing I want to as is that when I open the "direct sound" option sound becomes way more clearer compared to "off" setting. You know, I want to use EQ settings but even when everything on settings is off, there is still bit of difference between direct sound switch. It is more obvious in the some songs, but definitely noticable. When I turn the switch off, the sound level drops a little bit but also transients and general sound is not clear as the switch is on.

    Anyways I will post my further findings, but thank you very much again! You made me love this device after all these year :) Marvelous work!

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    1. Hi, small update: Direct Music function is still a little bit bass and especially treble heavy.. :( And if you turn off the direct music function it is better, but there is phase reversal right at the equalizer points.. Can you fix it MrWalkman? Thank you.

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    2. Hey, I don't own the A30 myself, so I can't really work in detail about certain stuff.

      What do you mean by "phase reversal at the equalizer points"?

      In any case, Direct Source was not made for these smaller players, so it comes as is.

      There is a plan for a stock-based mod, but which will also have BT Receiver and USB DAC, so you might want to wait for that one.

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    3. my nw a35 japan version file cfw not found. can you help mee? i will try your firmware mod

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  5. will this make my japanese a30 into english??

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    1. Hey, no. Otherwise, I would've mentioned it on the firmware's page.

      Please read everything before installing this firmware.

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    2. I just bought a Japanese A35 and this firmware switched the language to English and opened the language options that were not there previously.

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  6. The custom firmware you provided is really fantastic. Now my Walkman A35, which I thought was useless, is back in service with this firmware. However, I have a question about a point not shown in the description. If the custom firmware is installed, does the A30 series also support MQA full decoding? (If I turn on the Direct setting, if I see that there is no sound in the case of MQA files, it is thought that the device recognizes the MQA files. But I wonder if this is to decode MQA if Direct setting is turned off, or if it simply identifies the MQA file and plays it as an unfolded FLAC file without decoding!)
    I am always grateful for your hard work.

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    1. Hey, in the meanwhile I discovered that I could be able to fix this, so Direct Source won't have to be off again.

      In any case, MQA files are unfolded even if Direct Source is off, but they should be played with Direct Source for their maximum potential.

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    2. Thank you so much for the answer!

      So when the next firmware version comes out, you mean it will be modified to play MQA regardless of whether you turn on or off Direct?

      Or is it the right situation to work with the current firmware version?

      First of all, in my case, the sound of the MQA file does not sound when direct is turned on!

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    3. When it comes out, I'll make it so Direct Source will work as intended, so both DSD and MQA will work again.

      When Direct Source is on, the text on the Direct Source screen actually mentions that MQA and DSD will have no sound while Direct Source is on.

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    4. Thank you very much for the answer.
      I look forward to the next firmware update.
      Thank you for your hard work.

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  7. Dear MrWalkman, thank you foe the firmware!!!!

    Although, it seems like the audio output using WM-port is not working at all (I have tried it in a dock station and with Sony external DAC). Could it be fixed in the further versions of the firmware?

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    1. Hey, WM-port line out won't work with this version of the firmware. However, it will work with a future stock-based mod (that will also have USB DAC/BT Receiver).

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    2. Still can't use the A30 to outpu to external dac via wmport. Any update or setting to us wm-port digital output?

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    3. WM-port digital output should work. Unfortunately I only have an A40 and an A50, so I can't really test properly the functions on A30.

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  8. Hi MrWalkman, I appreciate the love you are giving to owr Walkman devices. I've been using my a35 with this custom firmware but a notification keeps popping up saying:

    "An error has ocurred. Restart the player by holding down the power button for 8 seconds."

    I can simply press ok but it shows really often. Do you know how can I get rid of it?

    Thanks in advance

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    Replies
    1. yep same here. i hope mr walkman can notice this

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  9. Im a sucker for VU meters, so im loving the firmware. i've also made a braided 6" USB C to WM connector, so this is now the ideal laptop setup in DAC mode with HD560s.

    My ears are'nt golden (too many Gigs!) so the sound difference is very subtle for me, but i'm liking the extra functionality

    cheers!

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  10. I have had a day or two with this now, it lists bluetooth receiver function, however it fails to find any devices, (the transmitting device is definitely in pairing mode)

    where am i going wrong?

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    Replies
    1. You can only pair a device while in the Bluetooth Receiver function.

      Press the BT Receiver function button (upper right corner), and then you'll have an option to make your A30 visible to other devices, like your smartphone.

      Imagine that your A30 is like a pair of BT headphones. You need to find the A30 in the BT menu of your smartphone, and not the other way around.

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    2. yeah, that makes sense. Got it working!

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  11. Sounds much better than the UK stock firmware, more dynamic range and less harshness in all audio. As good as the best Minidisc deck used to be.

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  12. MrWalkman, thought I'd let you know that the USB DAC works OK with Windows 10, bt not with MacOS 10.15.7 Catalina.. as if the firmware doesn;t present itself to MacOS as "standards compliant" (what ever that really means, dont ask!).

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    1. That is not something that I did or that I can fix, unfortunately.

      You need to go to "Audio MIDI Setup" and choose something like 32 bit float. I don't have a MacOS device since a while ago, so I don't remember exactly, but I got it working.

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    2. Basically this happens with any similar Walkman, like A40/A50/DMP-Z1/WM1A/WM1Z.

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  13. MrWalkman, thanks for the tip. The A35's DAC reports integer, not float to MacOS in the Audio Midi setup, with any sample and bit depth from 16/44.1KHz to 32/32/192KHz - all integer, no float. Any other ideas at all?
    Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. I just remember that I could set it myself to float instead of integer in the MacOS.

      There's nothing to be done on the player's side.

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  14. After a bit of fiddling, MrWalkman, the system device won't work, but apps that allow an audio device to be selected (eg. VLC player) work when the Audio Midi settings for "Walkman" are set to 16Bit quantisation, and 48KHz sampling with 2 channels. Hope that's some use?
    RichT

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    Replies
    1. I know for sure that I shared this info to someone, regarding Audio MIDI Setup, and they managed to change something there to make it work, same as I did.

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    2. https://i.postimg.cc/MTkycrws/image.png

      Clicking in the "Format" selector should enable you to choose 32 bit float or something like that.

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  15. Thanks MrWalkman, it works now. It's odd to have to configure the internal device and not the Walkman to make it work.
    PS any chance of restoring the FM radio functionality that has dissapeared with the custom FW? Or isn;t this possible due to the use of FW from a non-FM radio device?
    RichT

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    1. ZX300 doesn't have FM radio, and I'm not sure that I can make the ZX300 firmware show the FM radio button.

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    2. Hello, sir, can there be a firmware to delete the function in the playlist? Thank you

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  16. hi every time i boot up or open the screen it always shows "An error has occured, Restart the player........" how to fix this?

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    1. Unfortunately some devices are acting like that, and I can't really fix it.

      I have an idea to go around this error, but it will take some time for any future updates to arrive.

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    2. MrWalkman, I had the same problem to start with, but ater a couple of restarts, the error went away.
      Don't know how I solved it, but it is there after putting the custom firmware and the tuning FW in.

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    3. Habe ich genauso!

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  17. hi put the custom firmware on the wifes a35 i really like how it sounds and works just wondering if any of your other firmwares will work on the a35.

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  18. Thanks for the excelent work, you give a new life to my A35. Btw, is it possible to bring back the VTP (surround) in this custom firmware?

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  19. AnonymousMay 27, 2021

    for me its better the original firmware

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    Replies
    1. Wie kann ich die Original Firmware von Sony wieder zurückspielen? Restore Original Firmware?

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  20. The firmware works perfectly, I am delighted! This allowed
    my Walkman to give it a second life. Small flat on the other hand, when transferring the file, the sd card disappears and all my playlists fly away ... But otherwise it's a very good job!

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  21. WM-port line out won't work with this version of the firmware, when can we have it?

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  22. Hey Mr. Walkman, just tried the Midnight FW for my A35... but I can;t hear any diference between it (in normal mode) and the DMP-A30 firmware of yours. Is there anything I should note in the sound difference between the two?
    Thans, Rich.

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    Replies
    1. The difference is pretty big, so if you're sure you installed the firmware as per the instructions and you can't hear it, then there's nothing I can do.

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  23. Hello, Mr. Walkman.
    To apply the new firmware this time, I used the DMP version of stockrevert. However, during the recovery process, the Walkman turns off, and soon the original version of the Walkman boot screen appears (the white Walkman logo is displayed instead of the orange Walkman logo), and only the logo is displayed. Even if I try to connect to the computer via USB, it is not recognized, and even if I try to run the StockRevert program again and try to apply it, only a message asking me to plug in a USB is displayed. Is there any way to recover in this case?
    I've always used the custom firmware you uploaded. thank you.

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    Replies
    1. Send me an email please.

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    2. Don't post your email address here.

      Use https://www.mrwalkman.ml/contact

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    3. Thanks for your really kind help.
      Thanks to your help, we were able to bring the dead Walkman back to life.
      You are truly a legend in the Walkman world!
      Always enjoy using your firmware.
      thank you so much!!!

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  24. I'm trying to install Midnight v2, but I'm having some problems.

    1. When installing the first install file "1. Midnight_v2_(for_A30)_installer", should the fact that the firmware is installed in the player's internal device information view be displayed? Currently, in my case, when I update the first file, the device is updated, but when I look at the information inside the player, it is still marked as Sony's software.

    2. After finishing the update using the first file, I run the second file, but only the message "Connect the player to the computer with a USB cable." is displayed. Naturally, the device is connected and the device is displayed as USB Storage Activated.

    Thank you!

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  25. 1 & 2: This means that the first installation doesn't go through. Are you sure you don't currently see any "Firmware mod by MrWalkman" messages in the Unit Information menu?

    Please send me an email so we can sort this out...

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  26. Hello MrWalkman and I have one question for you.
    Does this CFW, like the NW-A20 and A100, support sound quality adjustment, especially equalizer which is also valid for Bluetooth? Or is there a plan to support it in the future?

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    1. Hey, unfortunately I'm not familiar with the older players, and A100 has Android, which we can't do anything for at the moment.

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    2. I'm not used to this commenting system, so I sent my question to the transformation section. Sorry.
      Thank you for your quick answer!

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  27. Muchas muchas muchas gracias MrWalman! Waitin update. Dog compability? File transfer by Bluetooth or nfc? Back FM? Who knows! You are amazing. Saludos desde argentina.

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  28. good morning I ask you if it is possible to make the reader turn on faster, perhaps with a change to the firmware, thanks.

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  29. AnonymousJune 19, 2023

    Hi, I got WF-1000XM3 and I just can connect with the player with SBC, it's possible add more códecs? Like AAC or Hi-Res codecs (as LHDC). Thank you for the amazing work with the A30 firmware.

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  30. jojobeansJuly 03, 2023

    Does this version work on the Walkman NW-A306? Ive been trying to install the firmware but the app keeps asking for me to connect the Walkman. Cheers

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    Replies
    1. It is not compatible =(

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  31. Hey, MrWalkman, just wanted to ask do you think using the SonyNWDestTool would have any incompatibilities with your firmware. Like many others, I'm having "an error has occurred" message pop up all the time on my NW-A35. Thank you very much.

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  32. I'm just wandering why does the device says connected with SBC and not LDAC or aptX HD when I connect it with sony WF-C700N earbuds.

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  33. Hi! How I can change language NW-A16

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  34. Mr Walkman firmware for nw a306 coming?

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  35. Hello, sir, can there be a firmware to delete the function in the playlist? Thank you

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  36. AnonymousJuly 31, 2024

    Hello, I tried to install the firmware on my A35, it tells me to connect the device even though it is already connected.

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  37. Can we get the A306?

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  38. Just a request, but could you display the clock in the upper left corner?

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