Sony NW-ZX707 previewed ahead of release with high-end components running Android 12

[Redaktion]

Sony has presented the NW-ZX707, a premium Walkman that offers up to 25 hours of battery life. The Sony NW-ZX707 will be available first in Japan and ships with Android 12, plus 64 GB of storage and a 720p display.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Sony-NW-ZX707-previewed-ahead-of-release-with-high-end-components-running-Android-12.680935.0.html

[Pooh Sheisty]

Another highly expensive and profit hemorrhaging product from Sony

No one in their right mind will blow 700USD on a portable music player beyond a very small amount of people. And even for that group of people - 5 inch display? Literally why

This company has completely forgotten how to innovate

[Rm]

Another highly expensive and profit hemorrhaging product from Sony

No one in their right mind will blow 700USD on a portable music player beyond a very small amount of people. And even for that group of people - 5 inch display? Literally why

This company has completely forgotten how to innovate

For me it's also too much but it's not just "a music player".
The details aren't named in the artical but there is a big difference in sound quality compared to phones for example.
The people who really care about this will get it.
It's not the first of Sony in this price range and the costs are higher because of the materials used, r&d and low volume sales.

There are 3 price ranges the a series ±350, zx series ±700 and the wm series starts from 1200.

I'll probably be opting for the a306 as a media player for my clients.

[TheJeffrey]

I have a Galaxy S22 Ultra with 512GB of internal storage space running Android 13.

This is better.

[Wtf]

U lost me at 720p display and 64gb storage. 720p is 2005. How is anyone making 720p displays In 2023 especially for a product that costs $700?!?! Wow

[Passing Audiophile]

Another highly expensive and profit hemorrhaging product from Sony

No one in their right mind will blow 700USD on a portable music player beyond a very small amount of people. And even for that group of people - 5 inch display? Literally why

This company has completely forgotten how to innovate

That's actually cheap for a good DAP - a lot of people buy the Astell & Kern SP3000, Cayin N8 ii, Luxury & Precision P6, Hiby R8. Which are considered premium DAP's. It's not just to listen to music on the go like an iPod, these use premium parts to act like a proper amp/dac setup and deliver higher quality audio in multiple formats including DSD. Plus it can drive higher impedance headphones which require separate amp.

This one gets a lot of parts from the NW-WM1ZM2 which costs $3K+ and seems to be a pretty good deal for a DAP, mostly for audiophiles or those who want a separate music device to avoid draining phone battery. The lower res screen is to save battery life. Doesn't need much RAM as it's not to play games on. A lot of cost goes into the gold, wiring, coils etc.

[zippertodd]

No microSD slot?  WOW, disappointing.  With a large music collection in FLAC files, I would need to delete and download new files almost daily with this amount of storage. Should offer microSD slot or 512Gb

[Audiophile]

No microSD slot?  WOW, disappointing.  With a large music collection in FLAC files, I would need to delete and download new files almost daily with this amount of storage. Should offer microSD slot or 512Gb

Did you read the technical specifications? I don't think so! 🙄
MicroSD slot is present... Is located on the left side of the device.

[Leon Schuster]

Over $700...only Sony bots are going to recommend this POS.

[bhargav]

oh man looking at comment section seeing kids complaining about 720p screen and the price!!!This is not your average smartphone,its a niche product for audiophiles or those in music industry.

Go back to your crappy samsung phone and listen to your sd audio.If you dont have an idea on what you are talking don't comment.

[Ofishal]

Sony I hate you.

Why? Because I have been wanting an audio device for sometime.


The device you have produced is disappointing and totally lacks imagination.

If this device flops, it will be another 20years before a company gives it a go.

Perhaps the final screw in the coffin of  of audio media play.

[Soundknight]

No sd card, $1 per p, rip off.
I prefer owning my music. Not the music owning me.

[S.Yu]

I JUST got the discrete DAC in my NEX3S to work, it only works with a handful of apps of which only the default music app(which I previously didn't bother to even touch) actually gives the proper quality boost, but it's well worth it and now I no longer use Neutron most of the time(so unfortunately Neutron doesn't work with the proper data pipeline, it was using the SoC's processing the whole time, still impressive for what it had to work with I suppose).
The DAC with the default player uses less power than Neutron(despite a warning about "hifi mode" power consumption), yet has monstrous driving power for a phone, it basically properly drives a pair of strange niche single BA IEMs that have ~85Ω impedance and ~95db sensitivity. The DAC is good enough that even though the EQ in Vivo's player can't touch Neutron's I hardly feel like using it for most earphones. The DAC is strangely forgiving to output devices yet very revealing to source tracks, which led me to finally determine that one of my FLAC files was faked(it always sounded off, but I couldn't really tell from the spectrogram). I have the L3P (IIRC~$400 when bought) to compare with, alongside Sony's SX2000(flagship non-DCM recorder, because the DCMs are too cumbersome), an old Dragonfly Black and my laptop with the B&O stamp of approval(high driving power but otherwise unremarkable 3.5mm output), my NEX3S running the discrete DAC blows all of them out of the water. L3P comes closest in LO(used as PO with the amp bypassed, I believe, because there's still volume control in LO for this model yet the driving power is weak enough that only certain BA models are driven properly), but the difference in definition is still stark, and the phone works with so many more devices compared with L3P in LO.

So if the L3P was worth ~$400, basically all in sound since the system is entirely barebones...I think the NEX3S is worth $800, in sound alone, though I got the whole package for cheaper than that. Now as for Sony...I had a listen with the 1st gen black brick years ago...thoroughly not impressed, which is what actually got me to buy the L3 in the first place, then L3P came out shortly afterwards with an upgrade campaign, I took the leap, turned out very happy with it(the LO happened to play nice with my CIEMs), and it served me well for years until recently its battery is failing and there are now weird quirks with the system, barebones as it is it still has quite a few bugs...unless Sony does something radical with the hardware and the tuning I don't think I'm gonna be impressed with this ZX707, which IIRC is a bit cheaper than the 1st gen black brick.

[S.Yu]

If this device flops, it will be another 20years before a company gives it a go.

I don't know if you're trolling, Hifi may not be thriving but it's certainly not at the end of the road, in fact I suspect that may not come for decades. A great many nobodies have entered the realm in recent years and AFAICT all those who have survived are going high end, obviously they follow the money and if that's where the money is, it unfortunately means that most of the rich audiophiles must be stupid enough to be milked over and over.

I recently discovered a pair of earphones, triple BA+dynamic hybrid that I believe has sound quality worth ~$500, but I got it for ~$15(like-new, no box no accessories). I have no idea where they came from and was only able to buy another good pair before that store sold out and I came across a pair sold for ~$30 I found to be slightly defected elsewhere, still I kept it since it's well worth $30 but the 4th pair I bought from yet another seller was a total mushy mess, good thing the seller still accepted returns. Still I could find many NiB for ~$80 but decided to stop there. IIRC I found the model sold abroad for the sticker price of ~$250, and I suspect it doesn't stop there, there *should* be comparable deals for even more expensive models, because fundamentally they provide diminishing returns and production costs are likely so shockingly low compared to MSRP it should be illegal, that's why the nobodies swarm to high end.