As TV and video hardware manufacturers seek to evolve and revolutionize in their category with things like 3D or increasing resolution from the HD standard of 1080p to 4K (2160p), audio has taken a step backward in quality instead favoring convenience. This came from the advent of the iPod and the MP3 player, where taking high-quality audio previously found on the compact disc and compressing it down drastically to fit entire music libraries on minuscule sized flash storage capacities became a necessity.
The problem with compressing audio from typical compact disc file rates of 1441kbps to current standards of 128kbps or 256kbps is that it reduces fidelity. Furthermore, a comparison of MP3 file standards to raw audio produced from the equipment which musicians and engineers use in-studio revealed that the end-product is nowhere near the quality that was originally intended. High-resolution audio, therefore, is intended to more closely replicate that studio quality and essence.
Sony – and many others – recognized the fact that consumer electronics storage solutions have vastly reduced in costs while capacities have risen, making the quantity over quality argument less valid than it was back in 2001 when the original iPod released. So it’s fitting that the originators of the “Walkman” that defined portable audio for decades would lead the charge toward high resolution audio with a consumer friendly high-res Walkman and headphones.
NWZ-A17 Walkman
At $299 MSRP, you’re getting the world’s smallest and lightest portable high-res audio player. But for anyone less than a diehard audiophile it’s lacking feature-wise when drawing a comparison to, say, something like an iPod Touch. There is no wifi, no touchscreen, and no apps – just the highest quality audio possible. However, that’s the point – no other device can match the sound quality the A17 outputs.
The A17 comes equipped with 64GB of storage and has a MicroSD slot for expanded capacity. Note, that these higher quality tracks take up more storage than a traditional MP3. You also won’t find the same, seemingly endless-sized library on sites offering high-resolution audio tracks as you would iTunes. And for high-resolution audio, Sony has opted to not offer their own service as they did with the MP3 era with the poorly executed Sony Connect.
The A17’s minimalist design is full of class, and its functionality delivers exactly what’s intended: mind-blowing sound quality. And it does; there’s an added layer of “texture” to instrumentation and voice that is lacking in more traditional, standard audio files of today.
Still, while high-resolution audio does offer 96kHz/24-bit+ files for as much as roughly 7 times the fidelity as what’s contained on a compact disc, the upper limit of human hearing is only 20kHz – meaning that there may be limited appeal and lack of wow factor to anyone who isn’t a full blown audiophile that can recognize the subtitles within the music. Couple this with the fact that tracks must come from a third-party distribution website that lacks the ease of use which one might find with something like iTunes or Google Play, and the added extra effort will be a turn off for many consumers.
And at the moment, much like the television market is seeing right now with 4K content, there just isn’t a wide offering yet available in high-resolution formats. But like VHS, DVD , and Blu-ray – and the MP3 – this rich, quality audio has to start somewhere and it only takes kindled interest and word of mouth before it spreads like wildfire. Time will tell if said interest is there, but if and when there is, the quality is already here to match in the Sony NWZ-A17 Walkman.
