Sony has never been the go-to brand when it comes audiophile-grade personal audio gear, which the company hopes to change with these hi-res duo: a Walkman NWX-A17 Hi-Res Audio Digital Music Player and MDR–1A Hi-Res Headphones. we sure won’t question Sony’s impeccable quality, but audio reproduction remains to be heard. anyway, kicking off the hi-res duo is the Walkman NWX-A17 that promised to brings you closer to “the spirit and soul of the artist’s original performance,” which hopefully, will help push the sales of this standalone MP3 player against today’s prime competitors: mobile phones. billed as the world’s smallest and lightest hi-res audio digital music player, the NWZ-A17 has a sleek angular design in a brushed aluminum body.
it has a 2.2-inch TFT color LCD with 320 x 240 pixels which takes up about half of the front, while the bottom half has a simple and easy to use control. it also boasts 64GB of onboard storage, further expandable via microSD card and packs a lithium-ion battery offering up to 30 hours of hi-res audio playback per charge. other key features include built-in S-Master HX digital amplifier for reduced distorting and noise while reproducing wide frequency response for clearer acoustic experience, supports digital music files up to 192 kHz/24-bit, DSEE HX technology for upscaling quality of compressed digital files, supports microSDXC cards with over 64GB capacity, Bluetooth audio streaming, NFC for quick pairing, built-in SBC and aptX codec support, and support for a variety of file formats including FLAC, Apple Lossless, AAC and more.
also introduced is the MDR-1A Hi-Res Headphones that promised accurate soundstage and audio reproduction from its 40mm driver units. this pair of audio cans features aluminum-coated Liquid Crystal Polymer Film diaphragms for rigidity and internal loss for a wide, balanced sound reproduction. other notables include 4-wire oxygen-free audio cable structure minimizes crosstalk between left and right channels, silver-coated Oxygen Free Copper or OFC gave each driver separate ground and signal connection “for heightened separation, expanded sound and tight bass,” urethane cushions for wear comfort and deep bass response, and finally, silicon rings are implemented on all moving axises to eliminate mechanical rattling.
the Sony Walkman NWX-A17 Hi-Res Audio Digital Music Player is slated for November release for $299.99 and the MDR-1A Hi-Res Headphones will be available this month, also for $299.99.
