rochester21
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 26, 2014
- Posts
- 5
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- 1
I`ve learned that sometimes it is best to express the anger inside rather than simply wait for it to pass. And i have been fustrated with sony`s portable players for years, and especially with their digital players from the last 10+ years. If it weren`t for their total lack of interest towards creating a decent portable digital player, probably nobody would have heard of the "Ipod", Sansa Clip, Iriver and Fiio. But because Sony and other top companies focused more on developing extremely cheap-sounding and cheaply built portable players, obviously someone else was bound to fill the gap. And then they complain about losing market share etc.
Let me just give one example. Compare a totally average cassette walkman from the early 2000s like the wm-ex500 or a high-end minidisc walkman like the R900 with a modern player like say nwz-E390 or a high end nwz-ZX2. I cannot directly comment on the sound quality of the ZX2 simply because it is ridiculously expensive, but it`s safe to say that the R900 and the EX500 will beat the average mp3 walkman by a large margin. Better sound even when coming from a obsolete medium like the audio cassette, better build quality, better volume, better serviceability, much easier to use and far lesser chance of damaging it beyond repair. Not to mention the fact that not even the 1000 dollar worth ZX2 does not have a microphone or audio input or the ability to record audio(except maybe for a crappy microphone and the option to record voice memos).
Unlike music kept on flash memory which gets corrupted after about 3 years, a cassette or minidisc will last for more than 20 years, allowing you to enjoy your music even after the warranty expires(imagine that).
None of the current models have a replaceable battery, something we took for granted until the ipod came along. But no worries, because sony guarantees us a battery life of at least "30 hours" for any model. Well guess what, i never found any digital player from sony with a battery life of more than 7 hours. If you`re on a long trip or on vacation, might as well buy a bunch of players or carry a few external chargers with you. Or you could listen to 64kbs files at low volume and without ever using the screen- genius.
It took sony a decade to develop the current "high resolution" players, after realising that people were so desperate for a quality portable player that they turned to virtually unknown companies such as Iriver or Fiio or even worse they started using their mobile phones as mp3 players simply because the integrated audio of these phones was on par or even better than their top of the line A series digital player. I mean, is that stupid or what? A japanese corporation worth 18 billion was incapable of developing a proper DAP before everyone else started doing it, even small companies. That`s what i call inspiration.
As a final slap in the face to the devoted sony customer which i used to be, the new "high resolution" players from sony are so ridiculously overpriced that a person working for a living like me has few chances of actually affording one. Most of the sony walkmans in my collection(about 20) are bought used and most of them work fine until today, even though they are are 15 years old or more and they were built in Japan, unlike the modern c**p. What are my odds of finding a proper functioning "high resolution player" 15 years from now? I would say slim to none. If anything, 15 years from now these players will have worn-out internal batteries which probably will be impossible to replace.
So in the end of my rant, i would like to thank sony for killing the walkman and for treating all their customers like mindless idiots(a marketing strategy they copied from Apple). Now, who`s got a Fiio X3 for sale?
Let me just give one example. Compare a totally average cassette walkman from the early 2000s like the wm-ex500 or a high-end minidisc walkman like the R900 with a modern player like say nwz-E390 or a high end nwz-ZX2. I cannot directly comment on the sound quality of the ZX2 simply because it is ridiculously expensive, but it`s safe to say that the R900 and the EX500 will beat the average mp3 walkman by a large margin. Better sound even when coming from a obsolete medium like the audio cassette, better build quality, better volume, better serviceability, much easier to use and far lesser chance of damaging it beyond repair. Not to mention the fact that not even the 1000 dollar worth ZX2 does not have a microphone or audio input or the ability to record audio(except maybe for a crappy microphone and the option to record voice memos).
Unlike music kept on flash memory which gets corrupted after about 3 years, a cassette or minidisc will last for more than 20 years, allowing you to enjoy your music even after the warranty expires(imagine that).
None of the current models have a replaceable battery, something we took for granted until the ipod came along. But no worries, because sony guarantees us a battery life of at least "30 hours" for any model. Well guess what, i never found any digital player from sony with a battery life of more than 7 hours. If you`re on a long trip or on vacation, might as well buy a bunch of players or carry a few external chargers with you. Or you could listen to 64kbs files at low volume and without ever using the screen- genius.
It took sony a decade to develop the current "high resolution" players, after realising that people were so desperate for a quality portable player that they turned to virtually unknown companies such as Iriver or Fiio or even worse they started using their mobile phones as mp3 players simply because the integrated audio of these phones was on par or even better than their top of the line A series digital player. I mean, is that stupid or what? A japanese corporation worth 18 billion was incapable of developing a proper DAP before everyone else started doing it, even small companies. That`s what i call inspiration.
As a final slap in the face to the devoted sony customer which i used to be, the new "high resolution" players from sony are so ridiculously overpriced that a person working for a living like me has few chances of actually affording one. Most of the sony walkmans in my collection(about 20) are bought used and most of them work fine until today, even though they are are 15 years old or more and they were built in Japan, unlike the modern c**p. What are my odds of finding a proper functioning "high resolution player" 15 years from now? I would say slim to none. If anything, 15 years from now these players will have worn-out internal batteries which probably will be impossible to replace.
So in the end of my rant, i would like to thank sony for killing the walkman and for treating all their customers like mindless idiots(a marketing strategy they copied from Apple). Now, who`s got a Fiio X3 for sale?
