Sony unveiled a new Walkman on Tuesday that will deliver an exceptional audio experience—at an exceptionally high price.
The new Sony ZX2 Walkman will set audiophiles back by $1,119.99, Sony revealed at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. According to Sony, the payoff comes with a clarity of sound that approaches master recordings in studio.
Unlike CD’s and MP3 files, which compress sound files into more manageable sizes, the new walkman will retain songs in “high resolution” (a typical song file weighs in at a hefty 150MB). That wider bandwidth allows for more sensitive recordings, “for a more authentic, emotionally involving musical experience,” Sony says.
Pono, a similar high fidelity audio player backed by Neil Young, retails at $399. Then there’s the larger question of whether the average listener can appreciate high-resolution sound files. Some studies have suggested young listeners actually prefer the sound of a compressed file.
The Sony device will come with a lot of storage for all those high-res songs. The Walkman ZX2 comes with 128 GB of storage, roughly enough space for 1,700 songs at this size.
The Walkman ZX2 will go on sale in stores this spring.
Read next: These Are the Most Ingenious Gadgets From CES 2015
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