Posted Wed Sep 11, 2013 at 11:00 AM PDT by Steven Cohen
New music players, speakers, and headphones are all part of the company's push for high-resolution audio support.
Sony has announced its upcoming lineup of high-resolution audio components, including a trio of devices aimed at giving consumers both quality and convenience. All of the new products are set for release this fall.
The HAP-Z1ES Hi-Res HDD Music Player ($1,999) offers 1TB of storage and can playback and decode virtually all Hi-Res audio formats. The player also features a DSD Re-mastering Engine for converting music files to DSD (5.6M) quality. In addition, the device includes DSEE technology to restore frequencies lost through audio compression, and HAP music transfer software for syncing audio files from a PC or Mac.
Joining the flagship HAP-Z1ES, is the HAP-S1 Hi-Res Music Player ($999), which supports several of the same features as its more expensive sibling, but comes with a smaller 500GB hard drive. The player also includes a 2-channel Class AB amplifier.
Also part of the new lineup is the UDA-1 ($799), which is a USB Hi-Res DAC System for computers. The device connects to a PC and offers support for virtually all high-resolution audio formats and media players. It also includes a 2-channel amplifier.
To complement these new audio components, the company is releasing new speakers and headphones as well, all optimized for high-resolution audio. The SS-HA1 ($599) and SS-HA3 ($349) speakers use a wide dispersion W-super tweeter and feature a baffle shape for diffraction effect reduction.
On the headphone front, Sony is offering the over the ear MDR-10R ($200) in October, and the MDR-10RBT ($250) in November. In addition, the XBA-H3 ear bud headphones ($350) will be available in December. All three are designed with high resolution audio playback in mind.
Lastly, those who are already owners of Sony's currently available STR-DA2800ES ($1,000) and 5800ES ($2,100) receivers will also be able to take advantage of high-resolution audio playback through a USB connection thanks to an upcoming firmware update.
Source: Sony
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