IFA 2015 - Sony's New Audio Lineup

September 05, 2015

IFA Berlin is always a great place to find breaking news on the latest in consumer electronics. This year didn't disappoint. On 2 Sep, Sony launched a whole slew of portable audio products.

What's So Special?
Sony introduced a whopping 6 new products in its portable audio range - 2 players, 2 headphones and 2 in-ears. 
We check out the unique features of each.

Players -
1. NW-ZX100 Walkman
i. Flagship Range - This ZX unit continues Sony's top-of-the-line hi-res players which support LDAC / aptX codecs, delivering CD-quality music over Bluetooth.  
ii. Storage - From the NW-ZX2, the 128GB internal and microSD expansion slot remains. 
iii. Battery Life - Upped to 45h (hi-res) from 33h of the NW-ZX2. The weight is now a more reasonable 145g, more in line with the NWZ-ZX1 (139g). One reason for the better power consumption could be the reduction of the screen from 4- to 3-inches.

2. NW-A26HN Walkman
One big plus is that noise-canceling earphones (MDR-NW750N) come packaged with this 66g Walkman. Even this tier comes with LDAC / aptX support. They come in 6 colors and they include funky names like Lime Yellow and Cinnabar Red. 

Headphones -
3. h.ear on (aka MDR-100AAP)
Sony names its new range 'h.ear' and looks like it will try to reach out to the fashionistas with a very colorful set of headphones and earphones. First up are these 220g headphones, foldable at the side hinges.

In-Ears (Noise Canceling)
4. h.ear in NC (aka MDR-EX750NA)
Second are these 27g noise-canceling earphones which Sony touts as the 'world's first Digital Noise Canceling High-Resolution Audio compatible in-ear'. They can last in this mode for 16h. 

Update (4 Jan 2016)
Check out the review of the Sony h.ear in NC!

In-Ears
5. h.ear in (aka MDR-EX750AP)
Third up are these basic in-ears that come in a variety of 5 colors.

6. XBA-300AP
Last but certainly not least, these look like really solid pair of earphones. With a triple balanced armature (full + woofer + tweeter), this promises to deliver studio quality music in an in-ears. It comes with a double layered housing which basically provides clear sound while removing vibration in the housing and 'attenuates ambient sound and sound leakage'. 

Availability
They will all be slated to be available in Singapore in mid-October 2015.

Pricing
We are told that the Singapore pricing will be released closer to the launch date. 

Update (8 Oct 2015)
On 7 Oct, Sony held the Singapore launch of its new audio products. The NW-A25 and NW-A26HN Walkman share the same specs except that the A25 excludes the noise-canceling MDR-NW750N in-ears. 

A thing to note is the Lime Yellow variants of the headphones and Walkman are exclusive to Sony Stores and Sony Centres.
The pricing is as follows:
Product Retail Price
NW-ZX100 Walkman SGD 699
NW-A25 Walkman SGD 299
NW-A26HN Walkman (includes MDR-NW750N) SGD 399
MDR-NW750N in-ear SGD 149
MDR-100AAP “h.ear on” headphones SGD 249
MDR-EX750NA “h.ear in NC” Noise Canceling in-ear SGD 199
MDR-EX750AP “h.ear in” in-ear SGD 139
XBA-300AP Balanced Armature in-ear SGD 399




You may be interested in:
MDR-1ABT - Wireless High Res Music

IFA 2015 - Onkyo's Truly Wireless Earphones

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1 comments

  1. They also come in 6 colors and they include some unattractive names like Lime Yellow and Cinnabar Reddish colored.

    ReplyDelete

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