Sony has just displayed what it calls its top of the line high res portable audio player which costs about 1200$ - wanted to know what people think about it , is it worth it?
From what I have read Sony doesn't seem to target Audiophile's they want to change the market and expect people to switch to High Res from 128kbps MP3? do people think thats gng to happen ?
I've heard good things about aptX but reviews all concluded to, it's still worse than the normal wired headphones. Also, in terms of SD cards, this walkman supports up to 128GB micro SD card I think (it was either micro or normal, but I am almost certain that it was micro).
In terms of its justification? Battery life from bigger battery which might mean that it might not need portable amp for driving those expensive headphones (I don't know about this one but I know that people were like HD800 goes well with P1, on a forum). I think these expensive music players support external DAC function if you connect it to your computer via line out (then again, I don't know about this one because it is new). Those people who use BA earphones require something with low output impedance because BA gets affected by output impedance a lot more than dynamic drivers.
I think the market it is aiming is more of Asian countries where speakers are never a reasonable option, but then again, I still think it is too costly to be a game changer (though I think it is a reasonable addition to the game). I think they are trying to absorb the "normal" consumers with NWZ-A15 series, which is relatively reasonably priced (going at $250 for 16GB + Micro SD support, which is comparable to iPod classic in terms of price).
There is a market for it and the pricing is not as bad as it looks like at the first glance, if you count in AK240 or P1. Is it worth it? That depends on whether you see the differences to be "worth the cost", which is subjective. If the said music player can serve as a DAC and only requires amp to drive decent headphones better than those proper DACs, then that might attract people a little bit more. I know that this was a sales point for Fiio X3, but I don't think it was fully implemented, I gave up following up on it, since I am more interested in X1.
As for your question on whether people will buy it? I don't think it will be the next Walkman. The differences between DACs are really minute, if you want to improve, you usually can improve easier by changing your source materials to something decent (320kbps MP3 or better) and by getting a decent headphone. I was recommended NWZ- A17 against Fiio X1 in some forum, not because of the performance differences like better DAC or better driving ability, but rather better UI, playlist and more options with equalisers.
Of course, those minute differences in DAC might be big for some people, but I don't think it will become the majority.
divide by 10 and still too expensive
you are asking this question on this site? Australia's bigest tight arses…
The short answer is no, it's not worth it.
The long answer is, of course, it really depends on how rich you are. For anybody who is getting into music, unless you already have top quality files and top quality headphones, you will never get any improvement trying to improve your DAC. On top of that, compared to other players such as the Fiio X1, I don't think this is particularly great value at all.
Way, way too expensive for the average person, and even to an audiophile they'd have to think twice about buying it. You can't change the market with a price that high.
Maybe if they made it into an actual smartphone with 3g calling capabilities, but I guess that would push the price up even higher.
What about the Pono music player that was recently debuted on KickStarter? It retails for $399 USD and that is the pre-order price.
https://ponomusic.force.com/ccrz__ProductDetails?viewState=D…
Methinks if you want to change the market, you have to offer
Hmmm, looks very interesting. This Pono music player…
In terms of what you were saying, 3g and stuff, the more stuff you add onto it, harder it is to actually make it noise free. Interferences from other components creates noises. So music players usually are stuck in between trying to be what they should excel in without sacrificing too much of its capability.
This is one reason why it is hard to find a smartphone that does what music players can do. This is why Android M
If you are looking for an average priced hi-res player, Fiio x1 and NWZ-A15 are at reasonable price range $100~250, at least compared to $1000
People might want hi-res audio but with lossless bluetooth and sd cards capable of holding plenty of flac music files, what does the walkman really have to offer to justify such a price?