Sony A-Series Disassembled (NWZ-A845)

After discovering disassembly photos of the S-Series I assumed someone, somewhere had to disassemble a new A-Series. To my surprise, after finding the disassembly of the S-Series, I found a website that disassembled the A-Series, specifically the NWZ-A845. To my surprise it appears that the A-Series uses the exact same chip that the S-Series uses, the NEC MC-10118A (EMMA Mobile1-D512). Like in the S-Series, the A-Series CPU and DSP also run at 500Mhz, so it appears Sony has decided to use the same chipset for their new line of MP3 players to minimize costs. Disassembly photos and remaining information after the break.

Since the A-Series and S-Series share chipsets, the specifications will be the same, except for some minor upgrades for the OLED screen on the A-series. It would be save to assume that the non-NC S-Series (NW-S64x) in Japan also uses the same chipset. Additionally, the EM1-D512 is not the first EMMA mobile chipset used in a Sony Walkman, the previous chipset, the MP201 was used in the X-Series, so perhaps the next generation of Walkman will feature the EMMA Mobile EV Series chipset. With such features as HDMI and an ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, this chipset is able to put out video in Full HD and 5.1 channel surround sound. The CPU runs at 533Mhz and the EV1 has 1 CPU core, whereas the EV2 has 2 CPU cores. It remains to be seen if Sony will opt for this new chipset from EMMA Mobile, but if both previous chipsets were utilized in Walkmans, it seems plausible that the new chipset will also be used for the next generation. Anyways, back to the disassembly.

Specifications

Block Diagram

Photos

If anyone discovers anything new or interesting in the disassembly, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Images courtesy of itime.cn