Sony who are desperate to get back the momentum they once had in the sound market has used CES 2015 to re-launch the Walkman as a high res audio device.
The $1,200 US pricing for the new Walkman NW-ZX2 could see this device sold by Melbourne based Audio Active who recently picked up the Sony High Res Audio range.
The new Walkman is a high-resolution portable music player that is an upgrade to last years’ ZX1, capable of playing 24-bit 192KHz FLAC, Linear PCM, AIFF, Apple Lossless, and WAV files, as well as more standard MP3 and WMA content.
Using the S-Master HX full digital amplifier to keep sound quality high without noise and distortion, the ZX2 also uses Digital Sound Enhancement Engine HX (DSEE HX), ClearAudio+, and Clear Bass. While it can be used with wireless headphones over Bluetooth with NFC pairing, including LDAC codec support, it also includes dual-band Wi-Fi with DNLA support for playback over a network, and USB audio connections.
The Android 4.2 device includes a four-inch 854×480 Triluminos display for playback control and navigation, 128GB of storage expandable by microSD, and a battery that charges for 4.5 hours but provides up to 60 hours of MP3 playback, or 33 hours of Hi-Res Audio.
Sony will be shipping the Walkman NW-ZX2 in mid 2015.
