Sony just introduced at IFA at Berlin last week its Walkman NW-ZX300. The media giant promises this new release to the Walkman family will have premium audio quality all wrapped up in a tiny music player. With a nice slim design and a long battery life, Sony is bringing back the portable music experience away from smartphones.
The ZX300 has a S-Master HX digital amplifier that offers high resolution audio performance. It can play popular audio formats such as MQA for streaming and it supports hi-res audio in 384 kHz/32 bit PCM format. It has 64GB memory built-in as well as support for external memory so you can add even more of your music to this device. You can even play music of your computer with its USB-DAC function that lets you stream directly from your devices for an improved sound experience. This new Walkman has an aluminum chassis with a matte finish that offers less resistance and a pretty nice looking exterior. It has optical fiber cables that lessen the “resistance and reduce signal loss during transmission.”
Together all these advanced components combined contribute to a well-crafted and beautifully designed device. The standout feature of this Walkman, however, is its music dedicated touchscreen interface with “every function at the listeners’ fingertips.”
With just one tap you can change the volume, skip to the next track or even change the playlist. Plus, the battery on this Walkman is reported to last for up to 30 hours, which is great for those long car rides. It connects wirelessly with Bluetooth or NFC and supports Sony’s LDAC codec. Plus, the ZX300 also has plugins for Qualcomm aptX HD audio.
The NW-ZX300 Walkman will be available at the end of October from Sony for $700.
[9to5-press-release]
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — 4:15am (13:15 CET/Berlin) Sony Electronics announced pricing and availability details today on its newest member of the Walkman family, the NW-ZX300. The ZX300 promises a premium quality and audio experience in a neatly designed music player with balanced output realized by S-Master HX™ and a user interface made for and by music lovers. With its long battery life paired with its slim and light design, this Walkman is the perfect companion to listen to all of your favorite music wherever you are.
Welcome the newest member of the Sony Walkman family, the NW-ZX300
The ZX300 promises a premium quality and audio experience in a neatly designed music player with balanced output realized by S-Master HX™ and a user interface made for and by music lovers
Premium sound experience
The ZX300 offers High Resolution Audio with S-Master HX™ digital amplifier with high quality sound and lead-free solder. Thanks to the capability of both 11.2MHz DSD native playback1 and 384kHz/32bit PCM playback, you can truly enjoy your music as the artist intended. The ZX300 also offers balanced standard connection with fully-discrete left and right channels for less noise and clearer sound.
Listeners can also enjoy music from their PC with the USB-DAC function which allows streaming directly from your existing devices for a better sound experience. In addition, the ZX300 supports MQA™2 files as well for another way to enjoy Hi-Res Audio.
For the premium listening experience, the ZX300 incorporates an aluminum chassis for less resistance value. The FTCAP (Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid Capacitors) and the new film capacitor are also incorporated for more transparent vocals and solid bass notes.
High quality sound tuning is key with this Walkman, OFC cables have been used for wiring the internal amplifier to the headphone jack which results in powerful sound quality by low resistance value and signal transmission without loss. For powerful bass and less noise, the double layer capacitor is the main battery power source in this Walkman. Two crystal oscillators are also utilized to deliver you high quality audio with improved SN ratio and large volume of music data.
Separating audio and power/digital block on the circuit board, the SN ratio has been improved by minimizing noise. The high quality audio resistor has been used as the LC filter for the headphone output to reduce magnetic distortion, which results in expansive, high transparent sound quality.
Sleek, premium and fully functional
With a music dedicated touchscreen interface, every function is at the listeners’ fingertips – just one tap can change the music volume. The matte finish on the body of this Walkman® is a stylish match for any audiophile and with a unified matte glass screen for smooth use, you don’t have to worry about annoying fingerprints obscuring your screen. Its slim and light weight design incorporates a staggering 30 hours of battery life3 — leading it to be the ideal companion for a long journey. The ZX300 has 64GB memory built in as well as support for external memory4. The Walkman connects wirelessly via BLUETOOTH® technology or NFC and supports Sony’s LDAC. The ZX300 will also be compatible with Qualcomm® aptX™ HD audio5.
The NW-ZX300 Walkman will be available at the end of October from Sony authorized dealers for $699.99 MSRP. For more information on recent Sony product announcements please visit www.sony.com/new.
1 balanced connection required
2 Manufactured under license from MQA Limited. The MQA logo is a trade mark of MQA Limited.
3 30 hours battery life for MP3 128kbps files. 26 hours battery life for Hi-Res files (FLAC 96kHz 24bit).
4 Supported formats are microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC up to 128GB.
5 Through firmware update scheduled after November. Qualcomm aptX is a product of Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. Qualcomm is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries, used with permission. aptX is a trademark of Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd., registered in the United States and other countries, used with permission.
[/9to5-press-release]
FTC: 9to5Toys is reader supported, we may earn income on affiliate links
Subscribe to the 9to5Toys YouTube Channel for all of the latest videos, reviews, and more!
