The Walkman ZX Series is a line of premium high-end digital audio players designed and developed by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

since 2013. It sits above the A Series and below the luxury WM1 Series in the

Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for ...

range.

History

The first model, NW-ZX1, featured a 4-inch display and a high quality digital amplifier that sold for about $900. It runs on

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

. It was introduced on September 25, 2013, alongside the NW-F880 series and first released in Japan on December 7, followed by overseas markets in 2014. A second generation player, the NW-ZX2, was released in 2015. Later in the same year, the NW-ZX100 was introduced. This player is cheaper than the ZX2, has a more compact and slimmer body, and runs on custom Sony software. In 2017 the NW-ZX300 replaced the NW-ZX100. It is slimmer than the ZX100 and borrows design cues from the A Series of the same time. It also includes a 4.4 mm

Pentaconn connector A phone connector, also known as phone jack, audio jack, headphone jack or jack plug, is a family of electrical connectors typically used for analog signal, analog audio signals. A plug, the Gender of connectors and fasteners, male connect ...

. The NW-ZX500 series was introduced at IFA 2019, retailing for €830/£750, with native DSD and MQA playback. It also had a

USB-C USB-C (properly known as USB Type-C) is a 24-pin USB connector system with a rotationally symmetrical connector. The designation C refers only to the connector's physical configuration or form factor and should not be confused with the conne ...

port replacing the proprietary WM-PORT for data and power connection. The NW-ZX700 series was introduced in January 2023. It has been released in select

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...

countries in January such as India, and will be released in Japan on February 23 for ¥104,500.

Reception

What Hi-Fi? ''What Hi-Fi?'' is a magazine published thirteen times a year by Future. It is a buying guide for consumer electronics, featuring news, reviews and features on hi-fi, home cinema, television and home audio. The brand also has a websitewhathifi.com ...

'' reviewed the NW-ZX1, praising the sound, design and buttons, while criticising its price and non-expandable memory. '' PC World Australia'' gave the player 3.5 stars out of 5, giving merit to sound quality and battery life, but noting that the buying price is steep. In ''What Hi-Fi?s early review of the NW-ZX507, its "detailed and dynamic sound" was praised, with no negatives given.

Specification and comparison

References

{{Sony Sony products Digital audio players Portable media players

History

Reception

Specification and comparison

See also

References