Sony unveils high-resolution audio Walkman

Sony unveiled its new high-resolution audio player, the NWZ-ZX1. The Walkman-branded player was showcased by Sony's chief sound engineer Kaji Nageno at a launch event held at Sydney’s Ivy.
The new device [[xref:http://www.sony.com.au/product/nwz-zx1|supports]] a wide variety of high resolution audio formats. Amongst them are Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF and HE-AAC, in addition to a variety of video formats. The device ships with 128GB of internal storage, which Sony claims is enough to hold 800 high-resolution audio (HRA) files.
The NWZ-ZX1 operates on a near-vanilla version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The big tweak to it is the Walkman-branded music player. Unusually, the NWZ-ZX1 doesn’t benefit from the custom Sony overlay found on the company’s Xperia range of smartphones.
The music player is crafted from aluminum, is characterised by a gold-coloured headphone jack and features a rubberised back. It has a low resolution 854x480, 4in display, and supports the now-succeeded Bluetooth 3.0. On the other hand it is equipped with near field communications technology and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n.
Sony will release the NWZ-ZX1 in Australia in Q2 at the recommended retail price of $699.
Also on display was the company’s range of headphones and wireless speakers. The range is led by Sony’s MDR-1 headphones, and it is joined by headphones capable of active noise cancellation and wireless bluetooth streaming.
MDR-ZX750BN, $279.95 Sony’s latest headphones combine active noise cancellation technology with the wireless freedom afforded by bluetooth streaming. The headphones eliminate pesky outside noises by identifying them with a pair of microphones, and then cancelling them out with the production of an inverse sound wave. The inclusion of NFC also makes it easy to pair your compatible android smartphone with these headphones.
Sony’s MDR-10R headphones combine high-quality audio with a lightweight and stylish design. The headphones come in three different variants and range from $179 for the compact version to $399 for the noise cancelling offering.
MDR-1RBT Sony's MDR-1RBT feature 40mm drivers and have a frequency response range of 4-80,000Hz. These headphones are wireless through Bluetooth and ease the pairing process by supporting tap-to-connect NFC technology.
Sony is also readying the release of the company’s portable bluetooth speakers, the SRS-X5, the SRS-X7 and the SRS-X9. The SRS-X5 introduces the range at $279, plays music from your smartphone over bluetooth and features 20 watts worth of speakers arranged as a 2.1 channel system.

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