Dubai: Like most people growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, I remember going through “the change.” Giving up our vinyl and cassettes tapes and making the jump into digital music was a huge, exciting, confusing and (not least of all) expensive step.
No one would want to go through it twice, and there’s certainly no going back.
But while there has been a lot written about evils of digital music in the years since — piracy, DRM-software and the near extinction of high-salaried music executives — comparably little has been written about the biggest tragedy: we forgot what really good music sounded like. In an effort to conserve disk space and not over tax our 56k modems back in ‘90s, music files were compressed, with the resulting not-so-subtle loss in sound quality. For some reason, we’re just recently seemed to notice that.
But now there is a resurgence in people looking for ways to play music that retain the vibrancy and quality of vinyl. If you haven’t noticed, vinyl has made a return to local records store, but for anyone looking for portability, hi-res digital music is still the best option.
Think of hi-res music in same way you think of hi-res videos; a 4k image is crisper, has sharper colour and also reveals more flaws that a 1080 (HD) image. The same goes for music. I have music at home that plays at over 1,000 kbps (loosely put, that’s the amount of sound being processed by the CPU every second), a generally significant improvement over the 128 kbps the most digital music used to play at. To be fair, most music you (legally) download these days is at 256k, but it’s still not easy to find hi-res music files, even online.
Just having a hi-res music file doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to listen to it. You have to have the hardware and software, which is where Sony is looking to make an impact on the markets. I spent last weekend trying out their MDR-Z7 headphones (Dh2599) the PHA-3 portable headphone amplifier (Dh3,699), and the Hi-Res Sony Walkman (Dh4,939), all of which Sony recently released here in Dubai. Hi-Audio doesn’t come cheap.
MDR-Z7
The best of the three is the MDR-Z7 headphones. Will you notice the difference in sound quality with these headphones? If you don’t, then hi-res audio in its entirety may not be for you. These head phone delivered excellent sound, although slightly on the thin-side at times, but don’t read too much into that. If you want a serious comparison on the MDR-Z7’s sound quality, listen to them and then compare them to a pair of the standard pair of Apple or Skullcandy earbuds. Its apples to oranges, with Sony’s headphones delivering sound quality miles beyond.
These are also some of the nicest build, most stylish headphones I’ve been in a long time. The design makes them comfortable to wear for long periods of time, too. These headphones are worth the price.
The Walkman (NW-ZX2)
I was not so enthusiastic about the Walkman, but the bottom line is that this device delivers what it promises — a platform for playing hi-res music, and it does it that better than anything else I had in the house. I played the same hi-res music file on the Walkman, my PC and my smartphone. The smartphone — albeit a model from two-years ago — couldn’t even play the file with the standard Android music apps. The PC, a gaming machine with plenty of power and running iTunes, played the files with no issues and provided excellent sound; although it isn’t exactly would I think of when I think portable. But the Walkman provided the best sound quality across the board — better tone and sharper sound. The difference was significant.
The downside to the Walkman is that it is heavy, bulky and has a very frustrating interface. I’d rather just find a newer smartphone that plays Hi-res files than carry around a second device just to play music. But if you’re looking for the best in sound quality, the Walkman does deliver.
The PHA-3
There’s only so much that you can say about an amp. The PHA-3 amplifies, and it does it well. It provides a very significant boost to the sound of anything I plug it into. It was larger but lighter than the Walkman — and it’s yet another device to haul around — but it’s well designed and was easy to set up. I’m not sure it justifies the Dh3,699 price tag, especially when there are portable amps that sell for a quarter of the price, but he bottom line is it’s a solid piece of equipment that definitely added the sound quality.
