A $1200 Walkman?!?!

Everything You Need To Know About the New Sony ZX2 Walkman

tweaktown.com

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is in full swing, and so far the biggest news out of it is that Sony is bringing back the Walkman. But it’s a very different Walkman from what you remember; it’s a high-end digital music player, and it costs used-car money at $1200. Here’s everything you need to know:

·        - Yes, it’s $1200. That’s really the price.

·        - It has a touchscreen

·        - Runs Android 4.2

·       -  You can download apps from Google Play, and so on and so forth.

    Why does it cost six times more than an iPod Touch?

According to Sony, it is a high-resolution audio player that will play back your music with better fidelity than you have ever experienced! Now you can finally hear all the secret shame music you love as it was meant to be heard, thanks to a custom Sony processor.

phonarena.com

Now you’re probably asking what ‘high-resolution audio’ is.

Digital audio works by essentially slicing a song into pieces. The thinner those slices are; in theory, the more fidelity you have to the original recording. Thus, high-resolution audio is audio played back at a higher bitrate, namely 96 kHz/24bit or higher. For contrast, your average MP3 is compressed at 44.1 kHz/16bit.

The average human has a hearing range from 20Hz all the way up to 20,000Hz,  is better expressed as… 20 kHz. Yes, those allegedly crappy MP3s are compressed to twice the range of human hearing. Any compression beyond that; practically speaking, is overkill.

 

quickmeme.com

That being said, there are both theoretical and concrete benefits to high-resolution audio, especially when it comes to preserving live performances. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to have better fidelity. But in terms of day-to-day music listening, MP3 is actually more than most of us will ever need.

So why dump all that money?

Well, first of all, audiophiles tend to spend a lot of money on better fidelity, and good luck convincing them they can’t hear it.

 

tech.firstpost.com

Secondly, while you can load this thing up with MP3s, Sony would obviously prefer you bought everything all over again in a high-resolution audio format, especially if it happens to be from their music division. And did we happen to mention that high-resolution music will also require a pair of fancy headphones to properly pump out all that fidelity you can’t hear? According to Sony, "the fruit of continuous refinement in high audio quality technologies.". Do you agree???

#keepitnerdy

Written by: Matt Massa