Here at Sony we take High Resolution Audio very seriously indeed, and at CES we announced how we’re planning to make it even easier to enjoy and share superior-quality music wherever you are.
Multi-room music streaming is nothing new, but for the first time ever we’ve made it possible to wirelessly stream High Resolution Audio around your house, thanks to our new LDAC codec. This codec transmits three times more data than standard Bluetooth streaming, so that you don’t need to worry about your High Resolution Audio tracks losing their quality when playing them wirelessly around the house.
You can enjoy the superb quality of LDAC with SongPal Link, a simple app that allows multi-room playback of all the music on your PC or smartphone in pristine quality. Enhanced dual-band WiFi (2.4GHz/5GHz) provides a much stronger signal path which means no more glitches and drop-outs even when using streaming services such as Spotify Connect, and all of this can be easily controlled from your smartphone or tablet using the Sony SongPal app.
We also announced a new project in collaboration with Google called Google Cast for audio, a new and easy way to play music from a range of streaming services on your home speakers. With Google Cast for audio, all you need to do is tap the cast button in your favourite Android or iOS audio app and select the speaker or group of speakers that you want the music to play through - including Sony Sound Bars, wireless speakers and Home Cinema AV Receivers.
To coincide with the announcement of LDAC, loads of the new Sony audio products announced here at CES - including Sound Bars, AV Receivers, headphones and wireless speakers - support LDAC, including the NW-ZX2, our new flagship Walkman model
Not only does the NW-ZX2 allow you to stream music from the device using LDAC, but it also comes with loads more amazing Sony audio technology. Hi-Res Audio compatibility delivers better-than-CD quality for an unparalleled and immersive listening experience, DSEE HC processing recreates the frequencies in tracks that can be lost in compressed audio files, and the S-Master HX full digital amplifier keeps audio signal processing entirely in the digital domain while minimising noise and distortion. It’s the ultimate MP3 player for those that care about great-quality music on-the-move.
The ZX2 Walkman, as well our LDAC technology and Google Cast for audio, will be available in Europe from Spring 2015, so plenty of time to start building your Hi-Res Audio music collection in anticipation.
