New Audophile MicroSD Card From Sony

Nightfall

Thoughts?

http://www.cnet.com/news/sony-tempts-audiophiles-with-new-premium-sound-super-expensive-microsd-card/

Audiophiles, you're not totally happy with the the sound quality of your top-of-the-line digital player and not sure what to blame? Turns out, it might just be the SD card you're using. At least Sony thinks so.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the company announced today a new "Premium Sound" memory card, called the SR-64HXA, that will start shipping next month. According to the company, this card is designed to create little to no electric noise when data is being read from it, hence offering clearer sound quality compared with regular cards.

The good news is that this is not another Sony Memory Stick, but a standard Class 10 microSDXC (or microSD card for short) that fits in any device that has a microSD card slot. The bad news is that this new card will cost some ¥18,500 (that's roughly equivalent to about $160 in the US, £100 in the UK and AU$200) for just 64GB of storage space. In comparison, you can get a regular Class 10 64GB SD card for less than $30.

Financially, there's no reason for you to get this new card for your smartphone or tablet. However, if you're going to get the high-end Walkman NW-ZX2 that Sony started shipping earlier this month that costs HK$8,880 ($1,150), spending another $160 for the memory card doesn't sound too over the top.

And that's a big if. Even Sony is not so sure about the demand of the new card, according to its spokesperson, but it believes that some "who are committed to committed to great sound quality would want it."

The SR-64HXA is slated to be available on March 5 in Japan. After that, if the sound quality is still not on par with your expectation, maybe you should have your ears checked.

StantonZ

I thought I'd heard it all...until now. Speed is the only difference with memory cards, and usually that only matters when you're WRITING to it. Bits are bits: save your $$!

tonyb

StantonZ wrote: »

Bits are bits: save your $$!

Yes and no....but whether or not this card sounds better will be up to the end user, no ?

falconcry72

I think one thing we can all agree on is that for critical listening you need to eliminate all background noise in your room. This gives a big advantage to SSD's (or a microSD card) over spinning HDD's. Not saying that this card would sound better than any other card, what I'm saying is that it's not as simple as "bits are bits" when the device playing back those bits is adding physical noise to your environment.

My PC is currently the loudest noise source in my 2-channel room. Not good. Looking to replace it with something quieter (or silent, hopefully), but not sure what direction to go. I guess I could just build a sound proof container around it as a quick fix.

vmaxer

DSkip wrote: »

StantonZ wrote: »

I thought I'd heard it all...until now. Speed is the only difference with memory cards, and usually that only matters when you're WRITING to it. Bits are bits: save your $$!

You do realize this is the same argument made against cables, amplifiers, etc...

Time for the popcorn

mhardy6647

DSkip wrote: »

StantonZ wrote: »

I thought I'd heard it all...until now. Speed is the only difference with memory cards, and usually that only matters when you're WRITING to it. Bits are bits: save your $$!

You do realize this is the same argument made against cables, amplifiers, etc...

No actually it is, I think, a little different. The SD card is all digital from stem to stern. It holds a bunch of digital data and communicates to the world through some little I/O gold foil tracks.

machone

I have the noisy laptop in the room also. I was thinking about moving it down inside a cabinet and adding a remote monitor, keyboard and mouse for control.

I read one review about a Resonessence Invicta Mirus DAC where the SD card was preferred over the computer input. It cannot hurt to remove moving mechanical systems.

I added a Starlight 7 usb cable between my computer and dac and there was definitely a SQ change for the better. I added a Starlight 7 cable between my external hard drive and my computer and it sounded terrible (did not expect this and don't understand why). Whether analog or digital; cables have a sound of their own. There is more to it than 1s and 0s.

pitdogg2

I'm going to step out on a limb here guys. I personally do not think any "audiophile" chip will make my Motorola tracfone sound any better.