Sony Introduces 1000.00USD Audiophile Walkman

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:09 PM, paranerd said:

I mix almost all music at 24bit/44.1khz and broadcast/theatre mixes at 24bit/48khz. I've never had anyone, in 10 years, ask me if I mixed at any specific bit rate/sample rate or complained about audio quality.

 

This audiophile stuff is, IMO, BS. I'm even hearing the opposite these days - that cassettes are the best for audio quality for warmth and all that pseudo-acoustic stuff.

 

Yeah I've spun out 320kbps mp3s on huge soundsystems and nobody has ever said "hey I could tell that one track wasn't a FLAC".

 

The tape & vinyl resurgence makes me lol because it basically amounts to people who don't know shit about sound science saying "it sounds better because it sounds worse". Nostalgia is a helluva drug.

Also most receivers in the $1000 ish range can stream directly from the computer anyways.

  On 1/6/2015 at 7:52 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 6:19 PM, oscillik said:

192kHz / 24bit audio playback of compatible files, as well as the added benefit of any streaming service that is available for Android. yes please.

Damnit, I can get so close on my phone - It knows what it is, and it knows how long it should be but, silence....

 

 

the phone hardware will be limiting you there :(

Here's Engadget's hands-on summary of it: http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/06/sonys-walkman-zx2-hands-on/?ncid=rss_truncated

 

AH! Proprietary charging cable! Good old Sony! I knew you'd let me down!

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:29 PM, autopilot said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:09 PM, paranerd said:

I mix almost all music at 24bit/44.1khz and broadcast/theatre mixes at 24bit/48khz. I've never had anyone, in 10 years, ask me if I mixed at any specific bit rate/sample rate or complained about audio quality.

 

This audiophile stuff is, IMO, BS. I'm even hearing the opposite these days - that cassettes are the best for audio quality for warmth and all that pseudo-acoustic stuff.

 

Yeah I've spun out 320kbps mp3s on huge soundsystems and nobody has ever said "hey I could tell that one track wasn't a FLAC".

 

The tape & vinyl resurgence makes me lol because it basically amounts to people who don't know shit about sound science saying "it sounds better because it sounds worse". Nostalgia is a helluva drug.

 

 

 

That's the thing - it's a subjective quality. I'll agree that 24bit/192khz sounds crystal clear on high-quality monitors. I'll also agree that hitting hard to tape can give a nice audio quality. People can have a preference over many different recording/playback techniques. But the audiophile is suckered into pseudo-BS with the idea that there is a perfect way to listen to audio.

  On 1/6/2015 at 7:51 PM, xox said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 7:32 PM, Joyrex said:

 

Now, if there were headphones that streamed from your home audio setup... that would make more sense.

 

how it would make more sense? how would higher resolution than the official cd quality (44.1k/16bit) for a playback make more sense?

 

Well, if you MUST have higher than CD quality... some people swear they can hear the difference!

  On 1/6/2015 at 7:52 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 6:19 PM, oscillik said:

192kHz / 24bit audio playback of compatible files, as well as the added benefit of any streaming service that is available for Android. yes please.

Damnit, I can get so close on my phone - It knows what it is, and it knows how long it should be but, silence....

 

 

Is there no android app that plays flacs or wavs?

 

Well then they're not actually an audiophile, right?

 

I can totally see using that to add texture to a work in progress, I'm more talking about fools thinking a tape or record is the ideal way to listen to music produced & mastered on a computer.

Edited January 6, 2015 by autopilot

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:37 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 7:51 PM, xox said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 7:32 PM, Joyrex said:

 

Now, if there were headphones that streamed from your home audio setup... that would make more sense.

 

how it would make more sense? how would higher resolution than the official cd quality (44.1k/16bit) for a playback make more sense?

 

Well, if you MUST have higher than CD quality... some people swear they can hear the difference!

 

 

yes. crazy people that knows nothing about audio

24bit/192khz audio is still a thing? jesus fucking hell. do yourselves a favor and run an abx test comparing flac and 320kbps mp3 (you will not spot a difference) and forget about this hi fidelity bullshit.

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:38 PM, autopilot said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:36 PM, paranerd said:

That's the thing - it's a subjective quality. I'll agree that 24bit/192khz sounds crystal clear on high-quality monitors. I'll also agree that hitting hard to tape can give a nice audio quality. People can have a preference over many different recording/playback techniques. But the audiophile is suckered into pseudo-BS with the idea that there is a perfect way to listen to audio.

 

 

Well then they're not actually an audiophile, right?

 

I can totally see using that to add texture to a work in progress, I'm more talking about fools thinking a tape or record is the ideal way to listen to music produced & mastered on a computer.

 

 

Yes, I know and also agree with the distinction.

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:37 PM, chassis said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 7:52 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 6:19 PM, oscillik said:

192kHz / 24bit audio playback of compatible files, as well as the added benefit of any streaming service that is available for Android. yes please.

Damnit, I can get so close on my phone - It knows what it is, and it knows how long it should be but, silence....

 

 

Is there no android app that plays flacs or wavs?

 

Google Play Music handles FLACs and WAVs, and so do quite a few other Android music players, it's just they can't playback 192kHz files due to hardware limitations.

 

I doubt any Android phone out there can output higher than 48kHz files, but that is just a guess on my part.

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:52 PM, oscillik said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:37 PM, chassis said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 7:52 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 6:19 PM, oscillik said:

192kHz / 24bit audio playback of compatible files, as well as the added benefit of any streaming service that is available for Android. yes please.

Damnit, I can get so close on my phone - It knows what it is, and it knows how long it should be but, silence....

 

 

Is there no android app that plays flacs or wavs?

 

Google Play Music handles FLACs and WAVs, and so do quite a few other Android music players, it's just they can't playback 192kHz files due to hardware limitations.

 

I doubt any Android phone out there can output higher than 48kHz files, but that is just a guess on my part.

 

I wonder what the actual limitations of a high end android would be.

the original walkman from 79 was only $150 when it was released... that's around $470 today... so this thing is over twice the price of the flagship model, and has maybe 1/20th of the innovation... gimme a break sony.

Probably it's amp, D/A converters and general lack of snake oil.

 

@chassis

Edited January 6, 2015 by Gocab

Off topic, but do Sony's phones generally sound better than the average Android handset? This is the only area where I'm not totally satisfied with the Nexus 5.

galaxy note 3, 4 and galaxy s5 can all play 24/192.

  On 1/6/2015 at 9:15 PM, doublename said:

Off topic, but do Sony's phones generally sound better than the average Android handset? This is the only area where I'm not totally satisfied with the Nexus 5.

Sony supposedly bypasses the Android audio stack, so I would imagine so (from what I've read; no personal experience)

  On 1/6/2015 at 6:19 PM, Friendly Foil said:

I'd rather have a Pono.

 

the pono wouldn't be such a bad device if the design and shape of it was not literally the worst shape possible for a pocket.

its like they sat around a table and tried to figure out how to make the device take up most space possible. make it bold like a statement or something?? I have no idea. its a dumb shape though for a music player.

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:09 PM, paranerd said:

I mix almost all music at 24bit/44.1khz and broadcast/theatre mixes at 24bit/48khz. I've never had anyone, in 10 years, ask me if I mixed at any specific bit rate/sample rate or complained about audio quality.

Hah yeah, I read through the AAA thread again recently and had a little zole at Ae saying that they record everything in 44.1khz

That's funny! I missed that bit. I think people confuse a great mix with recording quality.

yeah pretty much. I mean why would you even need audio to go up to 192khz?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_range

i think good D/A is more important than the resolution of the file. and it seems to be the thing always talked about least, in the marketing and among the consumers.

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:09 PM, paranerd said:

This audiophile stuff is, IMO, BS. I'm even hearing the opposite these days - that cassettes are the best for audio quality for warmth and all that pseudo-acoustic stuff.

 

I'm a cassette fanboy but I'm scratching my head at the idea of them being best for audio quality. Chrome tapes in a Nakamichi sound lovely, but that's still not superior to lossless or vinyl.

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 8:29 PM, autopilot said:

Yeah I've spun out 320kbps mp3s on huge soundsystems and nobody has ever said "hey I could tell that one track wasn't a FLAC".

 

The tape & vinyl resurgence makes me lol because it basically amounts to people who don't know shit about sound science saying "it sounds better because it sounds worse". Nostalgia is a helluva drug.

 

 

Totally, though each group is a bit different. In general vinyl nuts seem to be snobbier and snottier, cassette fans more delusional and misinformed.

 

Actually, that's only regarding the recent bandwagon folks. A lot of yupsters seem to be buying overly expensive turntables so they can buy, I dunno, Random Access Memories needlessly. Likewise young clueless kids are flocking to tapes recently. A lot of older or more underground oriented cassette fans shake our heads at the silly tape reissues that are $10. With the small exception of some niche audiophiles and engineers, tape has never been about quality first.

 

  On 1/6/2015 at 9:06 PM, luke viia said:

the original walkman from 79 was only $150 when it was released... that's around $470 today... so this thing is over twice the price of the flagship model, and has maybe 1/20th of the innovation... gimme a break sony.

http://numeralnine.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/a-brief-guide-to-audio-for-the-skeptical-consumer/

 

I like to be skeptical about this stuff. How can a DAC be better or worse?