Hands-on with Sony’s crazily expensive Android-based Walkman ZX2 [VIDEO]
Most audiophiles take pride in their ability to notice subtleties in the music they listen to, and often go to great lengths to make sure they can extract as much of those subtleties as they can. Whether that be in the form of accepting nothing but the highest quality audio files or a pair of headphones with a monstrous price tag, they’ll do everything they can.
And now they have another crazy purchase to consider. Sony is bringing the Walkman back in a big way with the introduction of the Walkman ZX2. This thing costs about $1,200, and promises to deliver you the sort of hardware audio processing that your music deserves.
At first glance we can certainly tell you that it looks and feels like a $1,200 device, so if you were worried about getting a child’s toy for the price of a month’s worth of mortgage then don’t fret. That said, we’re not sure its build quality is enough to entice all but the most serious music listeners to drop that much cash on it.
Loaded up software-wise is Android, though nothing terribly recent. In fact, it’s running what could be considered ancient in the technology realm — Android 4.2, which was released at the tail-end of 2012. It’s still modern and contemporary, sure, but still a bit troubling.
But if you like that it supports high-quality audio formats such as DSD, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Apple Lossless and more, and its ability to connect to wireless headphones and speakers through Bluetooth and NFC — AND you have $1,200 that you just don’t have anything better to do with — then go nuts. Our hands-on time with it is above so hit the play button to see what’s going on with this thing.
