Sony Electronics Debuts Two New Premium Music Players, Starting at US$1,399.99

[ARF]

Guys, these are for:
1. Audio industry professionals - maybe music stations employees;
2. People with too much money.

If you don't belong to either of these, then this is clearly not for you - you are not the target for these niche products.

 

[Dr_b_]

Can you imagine if there was oxygen in your copper, and what that would sound like?

 

[KainXS]

This does not even tell much about what's in the thing, what chipset are they using.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

For dummys to walk down the street wearing $2k IEMS

 

[sollord]

Purer materials for a purer sound
The NW-WM1ZM2 has a 99.99% purity (4N) Gold-plated Oxygen-Free copper (OFC) Chassis. This realizes a stronger digital ground and higher rigidity, enabling clear, expansive sound, so the listener can experience each instrument as if it were performing live.

Has someone at Sony been smokin sushi again

They just know the target market for these namely delusional Audiophiles will buy anything with fancy words that improve audio quality

 

[Valantar]

And how do you think this would compare against the Sony?

I would say they both are able to play music, though one probably sounds better than the other, supports more codecs and has more features - though nowhere near enough to justify its 100x-300x price increase. 10x? Sure. Maybe even 20x.

 

[freeagent]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, stuff like this isn’t for everyone. As noted this would be for the professional or the enthusiast. Would I buy one? If I had more money than sense sure.. but at this point in time? Negatory.

 

[Steevo]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, stuff like this isn’t for everyone. As noted this would be for the professional or the enthusiast. Would I buy one? If I had more money than sense sure.. but at this point in time? Negatory.

I totally get it for the fashion/art aspect. Its why hot cars, hot women, and cool computers make a lot of people feel good. If they had some measurable validation that then didn't depend on headphones that make it sound different to justify it.

 

[freeagent]

I totally get it for the fashion/art aspect. Its why hot cars, hot women, and cool computers make a lot of people feel good. If they had some measurable validation that then didn't depend on headphones that make it sound different to justify it.

It’s just a toy, like our fancy computers..

 

[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

Most phones today have respectable audio quality, if not, i can buy a 30$ portable dac that should deliver great results, this is just another example of corporations exploting audophiles stupidness

They just know the target market for these namely delusional Audiophiles will buy anything with fancy words that improve audio quality

Agreed, for a long time i always told myself these audophiles cant be that stupid to fall for these scams since the dawn of time, audio equimpent are outwordly expensive for no plain reason, sure there has to be something am missing hear,.... 1 until they anounced the audophiles ssd, it being sold out was the moment i relized the audophiles market is an ironic comedy

 

[P4-630]

This was my sony "walkman" back in 2005, it included a phone and camera too.....

 

[bonehead123]

Has someone at Sony been smokin sushi again

Well, they've been weened off da raw fish, and are now only allowed to take a puff (or 12) of da absolute highest-quality pharma every few minutes !

 

[zlobby]

Don't forget to buy an audiophile network cable to go with it...

Never forget this one: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...music-streamer-reviewed-on-stereophile.27005/

It's an eternal classic. I mean, the shape of the digital bits, man!

I have the FF7 Remake edition, the sound quality is amazing but the OS is slow as hell and it's Android 9 ?!! not worth it

It never ceases to amaze me - these type of products are loaded with top tier audio stuff top to bottom yet when it comes to UX, the guys designing them are 'Yeah, put some old, slow Android that is not much good for anything.'

 

[GreiverBlade]

Oh, they get much more expensive...

$1800

FiiO M17 Desktop-Class Digital Audio Player

Buy FiiO M17 Desktop-Class Digital Audio Player featuring Dual 8-Channel ES9038PRO DACs, 3000mW per Channel THX AAA-788+ Amp, 1/4" and 2.5/3.5/4.4mm Headphone Outputs, RCA Coaxial Input/Output, 5.99" HD Display, 4 Gain Levels, Digital & Analog 120-Level Volume, 7-Color RGB Ambient Light System...

www.bhphotovideo.com

$3500

Astell & Kern SP2000 A&ultima Series High-Resolution Music Player (Copper)

Buy Astell & Kern SP2000 A&ultima Series High-Resolution Music Player (Copper) featuring New Circuitry Yields Enhanced Sonics, 32-Bit / 768 kHz & DSD512 (22.4 MHz), Octa-Core CPU, 512GB Internal Memory, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, High-Definition 5" Touchscreen, Multifunction Wheel, Balanced &...

www.bhphotovideo.com

1800$ a M17.... tsk tsk small time player
my M17 listing : https://www.microspot.ch/fr/tv-et-a...nd-64-gb-noir-bluetooth-5-0-wifi--p0002954418
(2073.45 chf )

i got a Fiio X5 III some time ago, paid 199chf instead of 499 and yeah it did beat hands down phone for music listening (specially with a bal. cable and some BA IEM ) if i had high-res files and no place to spare on the phone (nowadays ... i just use Spotify in the end ... no more storage issue, but when i had the X5 III i had 2 400gb uSD cards filled to the brim with FLACs )
still have my Fiio Q1 Mark II DAC nonetheless (although mostly BT TWS ... so i use it sometime as DAC for my main rig ... )

 

[R-T-B]

Can you imagine if there was oxygen in your copper, and what that would sound like?

It wouldn't sound like much I picture, but technically oxidation does slightly raise resistance and thus impedance.

Pretending you can hear that is pretty special though.

 

[Frick]

I'm getting Zune vibes from this. I'm not sure what the market is for these. My phone is perfectly capable of delivering high-resolution digital sound and if I wanted quality analog sound there are plenty of DACs out there.

My motherboard is perfectly capable of delivering high-resolution sound, why would I get a DAC?

There's definitely a market for high end music players.

 

[Bomby569]

I'm getting Zune vibes from this. I'm not sure what the market is for these. My phone is perfectly capable of delivering high-resolution digital sound and if I wanted quality analog sound there are plenty of DACs out there.

~$1399.99 USD,….??? Are we sure that we aren’t talking about the Japanese Yen instead of USD,……???

This is for audiophiles, it's a small market but with big pockets and big margins.

 

[TechLurker]

I wouldn't buy this high-end model, but I did get to try out their Walkman 40th Anniversary Edition a friend imported. Was pretty good for its price at the time, and the physical controls along the edge was convenient. I'll probably end up looking into other Walkman models with physical controls as an eventual upgrade.

In the meantime, I still use my old Halo Edition Zune for the airport and flights, just to save on phone battery use.

 

[bogami]

A very capable encoder should be as much as 96Kh. Many USB headphones already have this olso on may Claud Orbits, and the price of both models is far too high for normal people. We can find a better offer on the market and stay on the phone to play music ,and buy MOONDROP DAWN 4.4mm Dual CS43131 c Headphone Amplifier is olso Foll balanced! Recently mentioned here for $ 70, with additional android applications will cover all tastes. You will gain space and save money.

 

[Wirko]

It wouldn't sound like much I picture, but technically oxidation does slightly raise resistance and thus impedance.

Pretending you can hear that is pretty special though.

Some people see, hear, or think about the semiconducting properties of copper oxide.

 

[dont whant to set it"']

In other words that are somewhat unrelated, I could get a car for the soon to be released product at the presumably "futuristic"msrp.

 

[fluxc0d3r]

Weird for Sony to use 4N wiring from American company Kimber, thinking they should have gone with higher purity 7N or 8N Oyaide or Furutech wiring or any wires using Ohno continuous casting process considering the high price.

 

[Valantar]

Weird for Sony to use 4N wiring from American company Kimber, thinking they should have gone with higher purity 7N or 8N Oyaide or Furutech wiring or any wires using Ohno continuous casting process considering the high price.

Yes, the few mm of wiring between the board and the headphone jack makes such a huge difference on audio quality...


(I guess this begs the question: why is the jack not soldered to the PCB? I refuse to believe that repairabiluty is a concern here. )

 

[Wirko]

I guess this begs the question: why is the jack not soldered to the PCB?

Each wire has two ends, so the sound has an opportunity to cross twice as many soldered joints. The solder, as you already know, contains gold.

 

[Valantar]

Each wire has two ends, so the sound has an opportunity to cross twice as many soldered joints. The solder, as you already know, contains gold.

... so you get twice as much chance of signal degradation through material transitions? Wonderful idea, seems perfectly in line with the "I can hear the shape of the bits" approach to sound fidelity.