The original Sony Walkman is one of the most successful products in consumer electronics history, opening up the door for the personal electronics trend that we’ve all participated in since. Of course, the Walkman was subsequently trumped by the iPod, that that hasn’t kept Sony from wanting to repeat the success, hence the introduction of the new ZX1.
The Sony NWZ-ZX1 is a high-resolution audio player with 128 GB of onboard memory that can store as many as 800 songs in a variety of hi-res formats like AAC, ATRAC, FLAC, WAV and AIFF. One of the surprises is that it doesn’t have DSD playback ability, which many other hi-res players are currently providing. It does accommodate files of 192kHz, which many audiophiles are hoping will become a new standard someday (it’s nice to dream, I guess).
It’s similar to an Android phone in that it has a 4 inch screen and uses the Android operating system, and is molded out of a single piece of aluminum to provide a luxurious feel. The unit also features a loop for a lanyard (which seems to be a big deal in Asia), and a proprietary charge/data/USB port, and of course, the standard 3.5mm mini-headphone jack.
You don’t have to power up the screen to change or adjust tracks as there are a number of controls on the side of the unit, including power, volume, and play, next and back controls. The ZX1 also has Near Field Communication (NFC) built in for quick Bluetooth pairing, but you can only get hi-res operation with a wired connection. The battery life is reported to be more than 32 hours, which is excellent.
The ZX1 isn’t available in the US yet, but it is in Japan and the UK. You can still purchase the unit on Amazon for a whopping $779, but it seems like the retail will be around $549 when released in the States.
Sony is betting big on high-resolution audio, recently rolling out 25 new hi-res products. All of us in audio love to see the support for higher quality audio, but unfortunately history tells us that convenience always trumps high quality in the consumers eyes. Unless the price of the unit comes down when its released in the US, the Sony NWZ-ZX1 will probably lose out to other capable, yet less expensive units like the FiiO X5.
