The new Sony Walkman is...$1200!That's not a joke. (and it's also running Android Jelly Bean) O_o

[Goldilock]

Calyx M is still cheaper

[snowComet]

I do agree with you but if you look at some other products like this one, you'll realise that sony doens't ask THAT much. 

I wouldn't buy a DAP that costs more than my headphones anyway, but at least sony made something that seems nice and practical instead of something "just" ultra high end.

Agree. For this category cpu spec and Android version is not that important (actually many high end DAP use custom OS instead of Android), what's important is others like the DAC chip, amp, shielding, wiring and etc. I bet a large portion of consumers who buy this type of products will not update the system unless it brings significant improvement to the music experience like more codecs support.

 

The problem with this player is this is too consumer for audiophile, and too audiophile for consumer. To me Sony's walkman A17, which launched last yr, and I have bought one, landed a perfect balance between consumer and audiophile. It is not expensive, and has a much better sound quality than smartphones. This is too expensive for consumer, and the audiophiles will buy DAPs from other brands which offered much better sounds quality than this. 

[Qwertious]

Who the hell pays over $1,000 for a music player?
 

 

[CatCloud]

I want this...... but that price...wtf

[DeViLzzz]

Some of commerce at it's worst.

[silberdrachi]

Its not a joke, but it sure as hell is funny

[OLYCAT]

But where do I put my CDs?

 

 

CD's? I want to know if it'll take an eight-track cartridge!!

 

 

It's almost nice looking, just a few bits irk me, like the cluttered screen and the overly large headphone port.

[RH00D]

Am I reading

 

"Hi-Res audio"?

 

They have a page about it on their website, they mean lossless audio and higher bitrate (sort of): http://www.sony.nl/electronics/hoge-resolutie-audio (its in dutch but if you look at the diagrams its understandable i think)

Marketting BS ahoy!

 

Its not really marketing BS. Its not uncommon to refer to the sampling rate (Hz) or frequency range (also Hz) as the resolution.

 

And from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-resolution_audio

There is no standard definition for what constitutes high-resolution audio,^[3] but it is generally used to describe audio signals with bandwidth and/or dynamic range greater than that of Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA).^[2] This includes pulse-code modulation (PCM) encoded audio with sampling rates greater than 44100 Hz and with bit-depths greater than 16,^[2] or their equivalents using other encoding techniques such as pulse-density modulation (PDM).^[3]

High-resolution audio file formats include FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF and DSD, the format used by Super Audio Compact Discs (SACD).^[3]

[RazeG3SG1]

Can this play DSD files? If not, I doubt anyone will be insane enough to even think of buying these.

[SheepDropper]

Can this play DSD files? If not, I doubt anyone will be insane enough to even think of buying these.

 

It does as stated in OP's post.  

 

I'm no audio enthusiast but 1200 is really expensive... Will anyone actually buy this? Won't a smartphone or mp3 players like iPods be good enough with a DAC or amp?

[RazeG3SG1]

It does as stated in OP's post.  

 

I'm no audio enthusiast but 1200 is really expensive... Will anyone actually buy this? Won't a smartphone or mp3 players like iPods be good enough with a DAC or amp?

As far as I know, anyone who is willing to spend this are crazy audiophiles where FLAC just won't work for them. Pretty painful for anyone new to start, but to the veterans, it is just another small fraction of money that they are about to spend into their audio products.

[-TesseracT-]

Who the hell pays over $1,000 for a music player?

Imagine having music as your biggest hobby, something you listen to almost all of the time. Imagine if you'd have a lot of money as well to spend on whatever. I bet you would spend that much for something like this.

[HippY]

Imagine having music as your biggest hobby, something you listen to almost all of the time. Imagine if you'd have a lot of money as well to spend on whatever. I bet you would spend that much for something like this.

so you are saying, that for example if I had a hobby, let say, PC gaming, we would make forums, shitpost about technology and games and have a topic dedicated to extremely expensive computers, usually built nicely, so we can use that computer that could help calculating or creating something new, for gaming?

 

That would suck

/irony is also included

[NickTheMajin]

I'll take an iPod Touch thanks if I want a dedicated audio player. That thing also looks bulky as all hell. 

[frostin1990]

Ok it supports FLAC but it has only 128 gigs of internal memory??Considering the width of the device that is very very disappointing.

[Xsilent(X)]

$1,119.99 lookslike a random number it will not be that much.

[MattLantis]

but it's ugly

[-TesseracT-]

so you are saying, that for example if I had a hobby, let say, PC gaming, we would make forums, shitpost about technology and games and have a topic dedicated to extremely expensive computers, usually built nicely, so we can use that computer that could help calculating or creating something new, for gaming?

That would suck

/irony is also included

I don't get what you're saying.

[HippY]

I don't get what you're saying.

basically people here complaining that there is a high end device, which its target audience, people who like music a lot and have money, likes, is expensive

Yet, a high end gaming PC cost a lot as well, but people does not want to understand the others, even though they are the same

[-TesseracT-]

basically people here complaining that there is a high end device, which its target audience, people who like music a lot and have money, likes, is expensive

Yet, a high end gaming PC cost a lot as well, but people does not want to understand the others, even though they are the same

Oh I get what you're saying, you're right. My friend could never justify spending a lot of money on a gaming PC, while he could easily spend tons of money on something like a knife that he would never use (obviously).

[ivhyn]

I don't get why there's even the need for a portable high-end audio device. Even if this thing could power high impedence headphones, the richest audio quality comes from open back headphones which are far from useful in a loud environment (trafic, public transport, etc.) - usually the places where you listen to music with a portable device.

[zacRupnow]

Its a crappy version of the beautiful X5 (which has an IPS display)

http://www.amazon.com/X5-Resolution-Lossless-Music-Player/dp/B00I4Q9S32

• Powerful dual core processor handles all modern lossless formats at up to 192kHz/24B
• Supports DSD, APE, FLAC, ALAC, WMA, and WAV
• TI PCM1792A DAC, OPA1612 and LMH6642 op amps for ultra low noise, dynamic, and musical rendering
• Aluminum unibody construction with premium finish and finely crafted switch gear.
• Dual microSD card slots supports 128GB cards for 256GB total

[spartaman64]

why is this so expensive what sort of hard ware does it have

[flibberdipper]

That is so freaking stupid.

[BrianPena]

Dumb product. I feel like Sony will learn their lesson after this product.

why is this so expensive what sort of hard ware does it have

Off topic, but what is the anime in your profile picture?