A Walkman for audiophiles

Sony has launched a new version of its iconic Walkman music player, the NWZ-ZX1, which it claims will deliver uncompromised sound quality.

Tomoaki Sato, the project lead for the next-generation Walkman, explained that the popular MP3 format used for listening to music is based on a lossy compression format that doesn’t preserve the original quality.

“With the new ZX1, Sony is looking to appeal to audiophiles as the device supports high quality audio files in lossless formats like FLAC (free lossless audio codec) and ALAC (Apple lossless audio codec),” said Sato.

The ZX1 is capable of playing music files encoded in 24-bit at 192kHz which is better than CD (16-bit at 144.1kHz) and more closely resembles the quality of the original source.

If you don’t have a collection of high quality audio tracks, the ZX1 can upscale compressed music files such as MP3, ACC, WMA and ATRAC using DSEE HX (digital sound enhancement engine).

Sony’s high-end audio player also looks its part — it has an aluminium alloy body that measures 13.5mm thick at its thickest point and 9.8mm at the slimmest. It weighs 139g which is a little hefty for a portable audio player.

The ZX1 has a 4in touchscreen with a resolution of 854 x 480-pixels, is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.1.

As it features Android, users can install apps such as Spotify to stream music over WiFi. The player also has 128GB of space for you to carry your own collection of songs.

In terms of battery life, Sony says the ZX1 is rated to last up to 32 hours on a single charge. Other features include NFC and Bluetooth for pairing the ZX1 to a wireless pair of headphones or speakers.

The ZX1 is available now at Sony Stores for RM2,199.