Sony Electronics Unveils Two New Walkman with Enhanced Sound Quality and Longer Battery Life Including the NW-ZX707 Premium Walkman

[trsttte]

upgraded fine-tuned capacitors and a FTCAP3 (high-polymer capacitor) and a large solid high polymer capacitor which offers large capacitance and low resistance. While an OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper) milled block covering the digital block

sound, further enhanced by new high-quality sound lead free solder

Just like the latest Signature Walkman model, both models apply a reflow solder containing gold, whose effect is significant in the overall improved sound localization and wider sound space.

Wow, really laying a thick layer of bullshit there aren't they?

The NW-ZX707 and the NW-A306 both use Edge-AI (Artificial Intelligence), DSEE Ultimate (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) which upscales compressed digital music files in real time. The evolving algorithm now delivers even greater benefits for CD-quality (16 bit 44.1/48 kHz) lossless codec audio. Restoring acoustic subtleties and dynamic range provides a richer, more complete listening experience.

Just what any audiophile would want, AI "enhanced" music instead of original and pristine source material...

On the contrary, DAPs have become more popular after phones decided to forego wired audio.

Nope. These are digital audio players that can handle things your cellphone cannot. Unless you are carying around a portable DAC/AMP combo that can cost hundreds to a grand and plugging your phone into that. These are completely different animals.

Just as your airpods cannot complete with 150-300 buck wired headphones let alone the ones that start at a thousand and go up.

How much storage space does this DAP have? It certainly has some, but from the marketing not mentioning it once and talking about wifi and download media it's meant to stream... right, great quality for sure.

First you dont drain the battery of your phone with a DAP which i have found was a bit of a problem when i used my phone to listen to music it drained the battery too fast and yes i know i could fix that with a battery bank but that was not the point

But you get an extra device to charge, carry and take care off. And as streaming has become the norm, in all likelihood you'll be using your phone as an hotspot for this device draining both batteries even more.

 

[VSG]

How much storage space does this DAP have? It certainly has some, but from the marketing not mentioning it once and talking about wifi and download media it's meant to stream... right, great quality for sure.

From the specifications tab on the product page:

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

Wow, really laying a thick layer of bullshit there aren't they?



Just what any audiophile would want, AI "enhanced" music instead of original and pristine source material...




How much storage space does this DAP have? It certainly has some, but from the marketing not mentioning it once and talking about wifi and download media it's meant to stream... right, great quality for sure.



But you get an extra device to charge, carry and take care off. And as streaming has become the norm, in all likelihood you'll be using your phone as an hotspot for this device draining both batteries even more.

None of that stuff the mentioned is "bullshit". All that stuff is what's used in professional grade equipment that costs vastly more than this. The people who they are aiming to sell these to have a mixture of progear and prosumer and understand exactly what it is. They are listing off professional stuff for a consumer device, that's it. Even if it sounds like gibberish to other people. If I started telling people about the need for good VRMs, CAPs, solder, and TIM in a computer they'd call all that bullshit as well unless they were into it. Same logic.

You do not have to use the AI stuff. That's for upscaling compressed stuff if you want to do that because you have old crappy stuff. It natively supports highres, lossless, and uncompressed which is what people are going to be using. Here from the page of the product is part of it

Audio Playback​

MP3 ( .mp3): 32 - 320kbps (supports VBR) / 32, 44.1, 48kHz WMA ( .wma): 32-320kbps(supports variable bit rate(VBR)/44.1kHz(STEREO) 32-48kbps/44.1kHz(MONO) FLAC ( .flac): 16, 24bit / 8-384kHz WAV ( .wav): 16, 24, 32bit (Float/Integer) / 8-384kHz AAC ( .mp4, .m4a, .3gp): 16-320kbps / 8-48kHz HE-AAC ( .mp4, .m4a, .3gp): 32-144kbps / 8-48kHz Apple Lossless ( .mp4, .m4a): 16, 24bit / 8-384kHz AIFF ( .aif, .aiff, .afc, .aifc): 16, 24, 32bit / 8-384kHz DSD ( .dsf, .dff): 1bit / 2.8224, 5.6448, 11.2896 MHz APE ( .ape): 8, 16, 24bit / 8-192kHz (Fast, Normal, High) MQA ( .mqa.flac): Supported

For lossless streaming or highres streaming this will be much better than your phone. You also don't have to drain your phones batter or nuke your phones battery with a DAC/AMP that attaches to it, which again this will still beat. Nobody using this is going to stream with their phone as a hot spot. They are going to load it up with storage and use that. They will stream at work over wifi and at home they probably have a wireless streaming device that does highres.

It's just not a product for you or most people. It's a niche product for people already in the highres eco system. Of course it's going to be over engineered to hell and back. And the combination of pro grade components, over engineered, and small volume = going to cost.

 

[Ownedtbh]

" With full Wi-Fi compatibility"

wont buy it

 

[TheLostSwede]

Still don't mean it worth it. Sucker born everyday they say.

EDIT:

Maybe it's why i don't buy the stuff now more and stick to real HiFi and even then i like going second even then over paying.

It was an amazing product 1994, I blew my entire summer job earnings on that thing.
Then CDs killed tapes and MD happened and so on... Oh well...
I still used it for a good few years and it was possibly the nicest casette walkman ever made.
Never splurged on anything like that, to that extent ever since then, so I guess it was a lesson of a sort as well.
Let's just say I wouldn't consider either of the products in this press relase.

 

[shilka]

But you get an extra device to charge, carry and take care off. And as streaming has become the norm, in all likelihood you'll be using your phone as an hotspot for this device draining both batteries even more.

Its an android device which means it can do everything a phone can including streaming so you dont need a phone for music straming but like it was pointed out above most users who buy one of these wont be doing that they will most likely add files to the device or a microSD card

It cant call or text as its not a phone but thats an advantage not a drawback in some cases like when you sleep like i already pointed out

I hate music streaming myself i bought a 128 GB microSD card and copied all my FLAC files over and turned off all wifi and bluetooth to get longer battery life

As for the whole carry around one more device how big and heavy do you think they are?
The A105 is only slightly bigger than my old Creative Zen MP3 player its not big or heavy in any way and fits in all my pockets without a problem

As for the short battery life you can like you can with a phone buy a battery bank if its really that big of a deal
Again drawbacks and advantages for various use cases and users

Edit: as for the storage space on the device its not actually 16 GB at least not on the A105 as the OS and blootware takes up 6 GB leaving you with a grand total of 10 GB of space for music files which is why i bought a 128 GB microSD card

I would like to state that before i bought my A105 last year i was still using my old Creative Zen MP3 player that was at least 10 years old and the battery was down to like an hour when it bit the dust so 5-6 hours with an A105 is still an upgrade

Music from my phone is god awful it sounds worse its worse to use it drains the battery within a few hours and its all around worse than even an old MP3 player but hey the phone was a gift so i cant or wont complain about it it can call and text and hop online and thats all i need

To me i fail to understand everyone that want to pay money for the newest Apple or Samsung model but i dont go out of my way to call them names or try and make fun of them thats just idiotic

 

[Wirko]

Phones are average/good for everything, audio, video, photos ... and it's ok for the most people.
If you want to push higher, you can with this kind of device, or real camera etc ...

You're probable talking about quality here but think also about user interface and ergonomics. A phone can do everything. Its size, shape and touch interface is equally bad at many common tasks, such as making calls, typing, taking photos, browsing the web and so on (but quite good at some other tasks, apps, games etc.)
That's why I'm still happily using my ancient DAP with six buttons and a small non-touch screen. Can operate it without looking at screen and that's great.

 

[trsttte]

None of that stuff the mentioned is "bullshit". All that stuff is what's used in professional grade equipment that costs vastly more than this. The people who they are aiming to sell these to have a mixture of progear and prosumer and understand exactly what it is. They are listing off professional stuff for a consumer device, that's it. Even if it sounds like gibberish to other people. If I started telling people about the need for good VRMs, CAPs, solder, and TIM in a computer they'd call all that bullshit as well unless they were into it. Same logic.

I'm sorry but just no. "high-quality sound lead free solder"? That's just the standard for years due to ROHS directives to reduce hazardous material use like heavy metals (and in fact is worse as anyone that worked in electronics will tell you). "OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper) milled block covering the digital block" will it make the digital bits less noisy somehow? "reflow solder containing gold" again with the fucking solder that means fucking nothing!?

This is complete and utter bullshit. Believe whatever you want, but this shit means nothing. There are proper things that do something, like independent balanced amps for each side, balanced headphone outputs, low output impedance, etc etc etc... and associated points of diminishing returns with the corresponding infinitesimal measurements which we don't need to discuss, this just ain't it.

I get it, it's a press release written by marketing knobheads, doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to be called out.

It's just not a product for you or most people. It's a niche product for people already in the highres eco system. Of course it's going to be over engineered to hell and back. And the combination of pro grade components, over engineered, and small volume = going to cost.

You got me there, it's definitely not for me or most people, and low volume over engineering does cost money. But that over engineering needs to be demonstrated and senseless markting claims ain't the way to do it.

I guess I like many others just get instantly triggered when I see clear snake oil being touted as something special, maybe this performs great but it uses the same grandiose statements every other product in that target market uses because Audiophiles, in their search for the utopic sound quality, are super gullible.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Let me guess, you need those super expensive junk trash Sony headphones to proper listen to that "audiophile grade music" on the overly expensive Sony music toy.

 

[Dr. Dro]

It was an amazing product 1994, I blew my entire summer job earnings on that thing.
Then CDs killed tapes and MD happened and so on... Oh well...
I still used it for a good few years and it was possibly the nicest casette walkman ever made.
Never splurged on anything like that, to that extent ever since then, so I guess it was a lesson of a sort as well.
Let's just say I wouldn't consider either of the products in this press relase.

That certainly brings memories back. In the very early 2000's, I had a 128 MB MP3 player from RCA. It was pretty basic, ran off a single AAA, but the sound was pretty good, at least as far as I remember. Now that I think of it, that was the coolest little gadget I've ever had, it looked like a tamagotchi. I'd much rather carry this tiny thing when I'm out walking than my Galaxy S10+ or any of the modern, expensive DAPs.

Wonder if there are any of them in working condition left?

 

[claes]

Ugh, threads like these, posts like above from someone who spent $4 grand to stuff high-end components into a trash nzxt case only to belittle others for their own choices. Depressing.

 

[Pinklloyd62]

Does Sony make a hd portable music player with an eq installed?

 

[Frick]

Let me guess, you need those super expensive junk trash Sony headphones to proper listen to that "audiophile grade music" on the overly expensive Sony music toy.

The presence of a standard 3.5mm jack suggests no.

I like that stuff like this exists, but it's not for me.

 

[claes]

Nah, it’s not about proprietary connections, they just don’t understand that, as much junk Sony produces, they’re still a professional/enthusiast level player in the A/V world. Then, most users here aren’t graphic professionals willing to spend >$2k on a monitor, either. Not that I blame them, but everyone has their own needs/perversions.

 

[TheLostSwede]

That certainly brings memories back. In the very early 2000's, I had a 128 MB MP3 player from RCA. It was pretty basic, ran off a single AAA, but the sound was pretty good, at least as far as I remember. Now that I think of it, that was the coolest little gadget I've ever had, it looked like a tamagotchi. I'd much rather carry this tiny thing when I'm out walking than my Galaxy S10+ or any of the modern, expensive DAPs.

Wonder if there are any of them in working condition left?

I bought one from a different company with two 16 MB MMC cards, it was at least comparatively cheap, but it was another stupid purchase and it got very little use, as you could only fit a handful of tracks on each memory card.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I bouth one from a different company with two 16 MB MMC cards, it was at least comparatively cheap, but it was another stupid purchase and it got very little use, as you could only fit a handful of tracks on each memory card.

Yup that was always a problem, back then memory cards were super expensive and I had very little in the way of resources when I was a kid. That one model can read SD cards, though I guess a device of that age wouldn't be SDHC compatible.

I'm almost looking around seeing if there is somebody selling one.

 

[Wirko]

Sony invented several really great brand names back in their best days... however, that kilodollar monster would better be named Walkmaniac, it's not just a plain Walkman.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

I'm sorry but just no. "high-quality sound lead free solder"? That's just the standard for years due to ROHS directives to reduce hazardous material use like heavy metals (and in fact is worse as anyone that worked in electronics will tell you). "OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper) milled block covering the digital block" will it make the digital bits less noisy somehow? "reflow solder containing gold" again with the fucking solder that means fucking nothing!?

This is complete and utter bullshit. Believe whatever you want, but this shit means nothing. There are proper things that do something, like independent balanced amps for each side, balanced headphone outputs, low output impedance, etc etc etc... and associated points of diminishing returns with the corresponding infinitesimal measurements which we don't need to discuss, this just ain't it.

I get it, it's a press release written by marketing knobheads, doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to be called out.



You got me there, it's definitely not for me or most people, and low volume over engineering does cost money. But that over engineering needs to be demonstrated and senseless markting claims ain't the way to do it.

I guess I like many others just get instantly triggered when I see clear snake oil being touted as something special, maybe this performs great but it uses the same grandiose statements every other product in that target market uses because Audiophiles, in their search for the utopic sound quality, are super gullible.

RE: Solder- We all know there are different grades of solder. Hell the solder used on GPUs and motherboards matters. It was also shitty solder that caused the XBOX 360 Red Ring Of Death fiasco. It's a marketing point. Just as gold plated USB connectors on your gaming PC or HDMI cables. It's stuff people want and it shows it was built with quality parts rather than junk. You're on a PC gaming forum and you don't get that quality solder matters. If solder is snake oil, than the entire PC gaming sector is nothing but snake oil. I hope you are buying 60 buck budget boards.

OFC is also a thing and it's used in industrial and professional applications. It's better for dealing with heat and it's less prone to issues. Is it bonkers overkill that makes a minimal difference? Yes. Are people going to demand it? Yes. Here's what they said though.

Inheriting the philosophy of the Signature Walkman, the NW-ZX707 has upgraded fine-tuned capacitors and a FTCAP3 (high-polymer capacitor) and a large solid high polymer capacitor which offers large capacitance and low resistance. While an OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper) milled block covering the digital block, allows the NW-ZX707 to bring listeners sound that appears to rise-up from silence. Additionally, a large 8 mm coil for balanced output creates an improved sound resolution across all frequencies. All four kinds of components stated here are also used in the latest Signature Walkman model.

This is market speak for a high quality heatsink that's not going to cause you issues due to heat or electrical transfer. The coil information is just pointing out they have a good coil!

You're engaging in far more nonsense and hyperbole to criticize something you'd never buy than the marketing team is doing to sell it to a target market. Which, when you are out bullshitting a marketing team and going more extreme is quite a hobby!

 

[trsttte]

Just as gold plated USB connectors on your gaming PC or HDMI cables

One of the greatest examples of snake oil right there...

You're on a PC gaming forum and you don't get that quality solder matters. If solder is snake oil, than the entire PC gaming sector is nothing but snake oil. I hope you are buying 60 buck budget boards.

A 60$ budget board comes out of the same exact SMT assembly line as 500$ board and uses the same exact ROHS compliant lead free solder.

I could go on to the other points but I honestly lost interest, you want to buy into the snake oil marketing speech have at it, I won't. Audiophiles are gullible as hell.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Phones are average/good for everything, audio, video, photos ... and it's ok for the most people.
If you want to push higher, you can with this kind of device, or real camera etc ...

There is actually a larger conversation around this topic. Apple and Google (through Android) have stolen many dollars from companies like Sony by marketing their crappy phones as "pro." But anyone who enjoys taking pictures knows that it doesnt matter what phone you have, taking pictures on it sucks. Now take music as an example. The DACs in phones are poop. Sure most people pair them with crappy $20 earbuds so of course they can't hear the difference between their poop 128Kb stream and a 24bit 192Khz stream. But anyone who enjoys listening to music knows that the better their audio equipment the better the listening experience. I hate that phones have invaded our lives in this way. They have made so many things like music and photography BORING AND BLAND and marketing it as PRO. Do yourselves a favor and buy a cheap $300 phone and spend the rest on a nice music player and camera. /rant

 

[trsttte]

There is actually a larger conversation around this topic. Apple and Google (through Android) have stolen many dollars from companies like Sony by marketing their crappy phones as "pro." But anyone who enjoys taking pictures knows that it doesnt matter what phone you have, taking pictures on it sucks. Now take music as an example. The DACs in phones are poop. Sure most people pair them with crappy $20 earbuds so of course they can't hear the difference between their poop 128Kb stream and a 24bit 192Khz stream. But anyone who enjoys listening to music knows that the better their audio equipment the better the listening experience. I hate that phones have invaded our lives in this way. They have made so many things like music and photography BORING AND BLAND and marketing it as PRO. Do yourselves a favor and buy a cheap $300 phone and spend the rest on a nice music player and camera. /rant

The pro moniker is super annoying, only surpassed by pro max, ultra, ultra max, pro ultra max or whatever variation they decide to come with that year. None the less, there's something to be said about what the smartphone did for the world, now everyone has a generally good camera in their pocket which once was exclusive for people with a bit more in their pockets. In the same vein, you can listen to pretty much anything very cheaply (though the impact in the music industry was terrible) where once you'd have to pay a lot more and were limited by more cumbersome solutions like carrying fragile cd's.

LG phones where generally terrible software wise but had best dacs of any phones, but with the advent of streaming and wireless solutions that was not a good enough selling point for them to survive in the market.

Although I can totally agree on the camera rant, I think music players, outside of a few very niche products like this, are pretty much dead and can stay dead. You can instead use a dac and amp to flesh out the sound if you're into that but the digital part will sound exactly the same.

 

[claes]

So many contradictions I can’t even begin…

Congrats on being a forum warrior though

 

[Operandi]

Wow, really laying a thick layer of bullshit there aren't they?

What you are calling bullshit is in reality engineering and material science. Its the same thing as the high performance design that goes into high-end overclocking motherboards, high performance servers, or medical grade imaging, ect, ect. I mean yeah, its a stupid amount of money and even if I had money for toys like this it wouldn't be for me but the fact that someone would apply the same concepts to audio playback and that there is a market for it is a weird thing to get triggered by.

​

upgraded fine-tuned capacitors and a FTCAP3 (high-polymer capacitor) and a large solid high polymer capacitor which offers large capacitance and low resistance. While an OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper) milled block covering the digital block​

Capacitors are a component of just about anything with (sound) output, they have electrical properties and those properties are part of the sound. Here is a list of 2.2uf poly caps you'd find in speaker crossover (sometimes on the output stage of a DAC or pre), they are all of the same basic type (metalized polypropylene) but made with varying techniques, materials, and tolerances. The price varies by a factor of 100 even though all share the same basic value of 2.2uf, its the quality of the materials and build quality is a factor in the electrical properties and so the sound despite them all being of equivalent electrical value.

Noise isolation in DACs is a thing. Higher-end standalone DACs (the kind you'd connect to pre or integrated amp) usually go for a completely galvanically isolated design but thats probably not practical in portable device.

sound, further enhanced by new high-quality sound lead free solder​

Just like the latest Signature Walkman model, both models apply a reflow solder containing gold, whose effect is significant in the overall improved sound localization and wider sound space.​

I'm not sure why they are mentioning it being lead free but solder is not solder, there are different alloys and different grades, but I assume they are referring to gold-tin. Improved "sound localization and wider sound space" is obviously marketing speak but if its a better conductor than standard cheaper grades its all part of the signal path and the sound so sure. What you, I, or anyone else is going to actually here is individual and subjective so take markeing claims like that for what they are.

 

[HeadRusch1]

Devices like this are necessary in the whole chain that begins with the source recording and playback material, moves on to the player and its amplification, moves on to the output device be it headphones, speakers or what have you...and then ultimately ends with your ears. And usually that last one if more of the problem than the first three.

I'm glad Sony is out there making a high end audio device.

I'm mildly pissed though that while this device will be released and sell tens of thousands of units...if not more......if I wanted to play any of those old cassette tapes that many of us of a certain age...hell, even old 8 tracks or Reel to Reel 4 tracks.....and I mean even to play them, not to play them via High Tech means or on a audiophile device, there is still no 'even reasonable quality' product available in 2023. You can get some really awful cassette players but for the rest of those I am pretty sure you are on your own.....

 

[Wirko]

if I wanted to play any of those old cassette tapes that many of us of a certain age...hell, even old 8 tracks or Reel to Reel 4 tracks

You don't say!

And some other stuff that I found at discogs.com (some of the choices are various physical media, others obviously not, in many cases I can't tell)...

Cassette tapes are extremely tame, you buy a used cassette player by Sony or any other company that used to make quality stuff, maybe change the rubber bands, and it should be okay if it hasn't been abused.