Intro

Introducing a new high resolution audio player that's just a few days old this is the brand new Sony NW-ZX707 Walkman series hi-res audio player and it's a very very special player for a few different reasons and I have to make this video telling you all about it but before that a little bit of a backstory.

About Sony

A lot of us think of Sony as the guys who make some really really nice high quality headphones and earphones at very affordable prices you also think of Sony as a leader with noise cancellation wireless headphones with the XM series right the latest the Sony XM5 that we made a video about some time back the true wireless earbuds the Sony XM4s they're very very popular but that's just one side of Sony.

There's another side all together which makes the highest and cutting edge audiophile products that sound absolutely incredible the very pinnacle of Japanese engineering design and craftsmanship and Sony has some absolutely amazing products specifically under what they call the signature series. The Sony Signature Series has the WM1Z high-res audio player the IER Z1R in-ear monitors the Z1R headphones so we've been working with the team from Sony India for a while now to make a case for the Indian audiophile Community to talk about how we as an audiophile community in India are emerging and would like access to the latest and greatest that Sony has to offer and don't get me wrong we love working with Sony we love their noise cancellation wireless headphones as well but you'll invariably find that there is always a section of our audiophile community that loves Sony's high-end products but find that it's really really hard to get hold of some of these products in India.

The launch of NW-ZX707

Now as a part of that engagement you found that Sony released their latest high resolution audio player the NW-ZX707 just a few weeks ago globally and India is one of the first places in the world to actually find that this product has been made available and it's been made available for people to purchase in India giving you the promise of the service and the quality of Sony India.

Sony along with our team at headphone Zone to release this product officially at headphone connect Chennai which was an event that we held there just a few days ago and then of course it's been made available to everybody across India to purchase and it's sold like hot cakes within days of a global launch that Sony has made this available to us for everyone in India to having to hold I think is really saying putting it out there and making a statement about how seriously the brand looks at the Indian audiophile Community um and at the same time they've priced it very very close to the global pricing we're so used to seeing products like this you know marked up by 25-35% from the global price um this is Sony really making sure that the Indian audiophile is prioritized over and above all else and I really think that this is a landmark product in this journey that Sony is offering audiophiles in India I really look forward to seeing what more we're going to be seeing from Sony's high-end lineup that's going to be releasing in the coming days.

History of Sony Walkman

You'll find that for 70,000 rupees it's a beautiful high-res audio player as you would come to expect it is from the Sony signature Walkman Series so there is you know a real emotional value that I have you know to associate with this product because the original Sony Walkman was released in 1988 the same year that I was born and I really believe that the walkman forever change the way people listen to music and the way that they used headphones to listen to music it really set the trend right then 10 years from 1988 to 1998 it was the only way that one could listen to music when they're on the go and then the Apple iPod released which took us all into the digital age but the ethos of the Sony Walkman was right there people who loved the Walkman Stored by it and in today's day and age when we're using our smartphones to stream and listen to music on the go.

About Sony NW-ZX707

The Walkman has reinvented itself as a product of desire as a product of cutting-edge technology as a high-res audio player that quite literally is defining the way that people listen to music today the NW-ZX707 from the Walkman series is not an ordinary player it's not just any other music player on the go it is a very very capable high-res audio player and for the price I will still tell you its phenomenal value for money the first thing you should know about it is that it uses an Android 12 operating system it's right out of the box and you can pretty much open the Play Store to download any and all streaming apps that you might want to use so Sony has made this player keeping in mind that the modern audio file wants to stream music from a streaming service like apple music or tidal or even something like Spotify Tidal and Apple music give you high resolution music and your mobile phone is not going to be able to stream that so A high-res audio player like this makes complete sense but if you're someone who likes to download high-res tracks and use it on the go the player itself comes with 64 gigabytes of in-built memory and micro SD card slot that allows you to add terabytes of storage to it so you can quite literally have your entire library with you on the go what's amazing about this is that Sony has put a lot of thought into the user interface the user experience it's quite literally seamless it's easy to use the interface is so smooth you would find that with most high-res audio players we're almost used to a certain level of lag if you will when you're using it but that's not there with this it's super super smooth intuitive to use.

Sound & Design

It's a very very nice touch of nostalgia also that just like the original Sony walkmans that they have these buttons on the side which allow you to increase decrease volume and pause play code back and forth rewind and fast forward it makes it a very very intuitive experience especially if you're someone who likes to hold on to the player in your hand and not have to open it to look at the screen to navigate back and forth now coming down to the specs Sony doesn't tell us what DAC they're using in this what they do do is they're using their own proprietary DSP system called the DSEE, I think it's only causes a digital signal enhancement engine now it's a lot of fancy words but what Sony does is it has its own in-house sound signature fuel and it applies the same DSP technology to all their high-end products like the Sony XM5s the XM4 earbuds and it now brings it also to the Walkman series to be able to take most of your music files and even if they're low resolution MP3 files to be able to upsample it in a way that it sounds very very good and accurate. Most people will describe the Sony house sound as extremely musical sweet a little warm but with a little bit of element of excitement added to it. I'm not going to call it the most neutral or technical of players but I can certainly describe it as a player that makes every headphone and earphone that I've used along with it sound very very good.

I/O & Battery life

Now Sony also has included most importantly a 4.4mm balanced output on this player gives you a really nice output especially if your headphones and earphones has the option of using it along the balanced cable the 4.4mm balanced output definitely adds a little bit more power and it gives you the ability to improve the Sound Stage make the bass a little bit tighter so I would say that's definitely a must use a lot of people are worried about whether the power output on the player is going to be high enough to drive headphones which are out there or IEMs which are out there and I can tell you that I've used this along with most easy to drive headphones it sounds wonderful from the 4.4mm balanced output with virtually every IEM I have thrown at it it sounds nice and full bodied I don't really see why someone on the go is going to need more power than this and I think Sony has done this a little intentionally because the main USP of the product I really think is the battery life Sony says let's get grouping upwards of 24 to 25 hours of battery life on this with continuous playback of course this depends a lot on the volume level you're listening to what kind of apps you're using and even the file quality that you're listening to but in general from most of the audio players which are out there you'll find that this is probably amongst the highest playback battery life I have seen on any player.

Conclusion

Sony has done a lot under the hood to make sure that this sounds very very good for one lakh rupees you have a lot of choices from a lot of brands that have high-res audio players you have Astell&Kern you have FiiO you have Shanling you have iBasso so you have Hidizs. Sony's different the product itself has been made with a lot of thought a lot of really intuitive things that I think make it really really nice and for me the biggest thing is the user interface the fact that it's super smooth to use it's almost like using a really nice high-end smartphone the fact that it's been made keeping first and foremost in mind the modern audiophile who's going to be listening to music on a streaming service like apple music or Tidal and the fact that it has all the bells and whistles that somebody wants from the player including a 4.4 balanced output a reasonable amount of power to drive everything and most importantly amazing battery life.

Outro

Alright guys with that I hope that you're going to come by and try this player out to get a hands-on experience of what it sounds like what it could make all your headphones with your phones sound like and if you're around in Andheri West we invite you to come to experience Studio to try these out if not then we're certainly going to be having a headphone connect event happening close by to a city near you thank you so much and see you guys soon.