Sony Walkman NW-ZX100HN Enhances Even Compressed MP3 Audio

Unless you've been keeping tabs on Sony's product line, you might still be thinking that the Walkman is still a classic cassette tape player. The iconic brand, however, has long moved to the realm of digital and now boasts of a skill that very few of its rivals could claim: high resolution audio. But not all music available to consumers come in hi-res format. That's why the new NW-ZX100HN Walkman model tries to bring even compressed audio formats like MP3s and DSEE HX to near hi-res quality for your listening pleasure.

In display resolutions, 2K and 4K are the trend. In audio, hi-res is the name of the game. High resolution or hi-res audio delivers sound at a rate of 24-bit/96 KHz or even 192 KHz. In comparison, CD-quality audio, which was once the gold standard, plays audio at 16-bit/44 KHz. Things get even worse when lossy formats, so called because of innate loss of quality or information, like MP3s are considered.

However, MP3s remain to be one of the most popular audio formats in the market. That is why the NW-ZX100HN tries to enhance MP3 quality audio by complementing and boosting audio quality to near hi-res levels. Of course, it won't be the same as hearing a pure lossless hi-res sample, but it sure beats having to listen to low quality music.

That's definitely not the only trick that this new Walkman knows. Its digital noise canceling feature of the bundled headphones ensures that you hear quality audio even in extremely busy environments. And if your preference is for wireless output, Sony's new LDAC technology allows high quality audio to be transmitted via Bluetooth without the usual lag associated with the wireless technology.

The Sony Walkman NW-ZX100HN comes with 128 GB of internal storage. And if that weren't enough to store all those hi-res audio files, you can add up to 64 GB more via a microSD card. Availability starts in October with no word yet on pricing.