Sony hopes its upcoming 'Premium Sound' microSD card will appeal to audiophiles

Shawn Knight

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sony premium sound microsd sdxc memory card audiophiles microsd card hi-fi sr-64hxa sony sr-64hxa

Between the launch of Neil Young’s PonoPlayer, Sony resurrecting its Walkman as a high-resolution audio player, Philips announcing headphones that use Apple’s lightning connector, news that Windows 10 will include native FLAC support and Tidal launching in the US (whew), audiophiles have had a lot of things go their way over the past year or so.

Ask any audiophile about their passion and you’ll get the same comments over and over: it’s expensive. Sony’s latest accessory for music lovers is no exception.

The accessory I’m referring to is a microSD memory card. But not just any memory card; this is a storage device for those that appreciate premium sound. You’re probably already wondering (as was I) what constitutes a premium sound memory card.

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According to Sony, their upcoming 64GB SR-64HXA micro SDXC memory card is designed to reduce electrical noise when data is being read from it. In theory, this would offer better sound quality compared to a standard card but whether or not it’ll make a noticeable difference – or even if customers will have any interest in it – remains to be seen.

Admittedly, Sony said they weren’t sure about the product’s potential demand but they think audiophiles might be willing to give it a shot.

The card will go on sale next month for around $160, or roughly five times more than a standard card with the same amount of storage commands. It will no doubt be a tough sell at that price but if you’re already spending hundreds or even thousands on high-end audio gear and music, what’s an extra $160 going to hurt?

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BS. It's a [digital] memory, noise that affects sound usually comes from the DAC or the interference if the cable is not properly shielded.
 
Magic card that eliminates squicky memory access, like on your old Buick.

Well, I don't know about audiofiles, but fans of quality porno will enjoy bigger capacity.
 
Yea, that's just a label Sony is throwing on to encourage sales and up prices. Just like companies that label HDMI cables for 4K TV and up their prices.

Sad thing is, that this gimmick will probably work.
 
Great. More audio snake-oil.

I guess it will compliment their $1200 music player though.

Eh, maybe I'm being too hard on them. I mean, I just hooked up my AudioQuest Ethernet Diamond cables and wow, those electrons are sure flying along that uni-directional ethernet cable. It's almost like those electrons are approaching the speed of light or something!

Seriously though, better headphones/speakers and source music are the way to get better audio, not SD cards.
 
"The card will go on sale next month for around $160, or roughly five times more than a standard card with the same amount of storage commands."

That is the only motive; or that, that's the only difference you'll hear/feel. lol
 
Admittedly, Sony said they weren’t sure about the product’s potential demand but they think audiophiles might be willing to give it a shot.
Yep, some fools will fall for anything. It is definitely worth a shot at selling standard memory for five times the price. I mean if the consumer doesn't know it is false advertising, how will they be held accountable. We seem to love false advertising in this day and age, and do nothing to stop it.
 
Maybe it's labeled premium audio as the extra profit is spend on development of premium audio devices??
 
Yea, that's just a label Sony is throwing on to encourage sales and up prices. Just like companies that label HDMI cables for 4K TV and up their prices.

Sad thing is, that this gimmick will probably work.
You do know that there is actually a new HDMI standard, HDMI 2.0, required for carrying full rate 4K TV don't you?

But that's beside the point, this Sony card is ridiculous, possibly even worse than gold-plated optical connections!
 
Yea, that's just a label Sony is throwing on to encourage sales and up prices. Just like companies that label HDMI cables for 4K TV and up their prices.

Sad thing is, that this gimmick will probably work.
You do know that there is actually a new HDMI standard, HDMI 2.0, required for carrying full rate 4K TV don't you?

But that's beside the point, this Sony card is ridiculous, possibly even worse than gold-plated optical connections!

Yes I do. Even though technically HDMI 1.4 can 4K still but can't do as many fps as 2.0

Anyways I think you know what I meant, and I wasn't at work I would be LOL at gold-plated optical connections XD
 
You do know that there is actually a new HDMI standard, HDMI 2.0, required for carrying full rate 4K TV don't you?
A standard which likely already exist in most HDMI 1.x cables. But then labeling as HDMI 2.0 gives a perfect excuse to gouge prices on the same product.
 
Sony is trying to hard to gouge people for money, it's no wonder they've been loosing money for the last 10 years, they release stupid crap like this and expect to make oodles of money just to have it flop and force them to sell off another piece of their business. And this comes just after they announce they'll be pulling out of the audio/video market, guess that was just they're crappy streaming services.
 
This is actually clever, a good portion of the people has no idea about computers and will buy this instead of a "normal" card, like what happen with sony's "music" cds.
 
So they are expecting to sell this for some extra $$ just because there is a label called "for Premium Sound" ?
Ha ha! Noise of a digital storage device? no sh*t ...
 
Hey Sony! If you want our money why don't you make reliable, interesting and creative products? Rather than making crap up and trying to nab a sucker. Leave that approach for the likes of Apple.... they are a lot better at it than you.
 
Wow, I'm getting one of these to play on my PC with my 39 dollar speakers, can't wait to hear the difference.
;-\
 
I think if they're trying to hasten the demise of Mr. Young's Pono Player, they probably don't need to do anything, it will go away by itself.

Besides, if anyone is brave, or stupid enough, to listen to Neil Young's most recent offerings at 24 bit depth, wish them "god's speed", and give them your audiologists business card....:D (er, along with the name of a proper therapist, dealing specifically with cases of PTSD).....:eek:

This is actually clever, a good portion of the people has no idea about computers and will buy this instead of a "normal" card, like what happen with sony's "music" cds.
You do understand there is a special "music CD", designed specifically for standalone music CD recorders? These discs won't work in a computer CD burner, only early CD recorders which plugged into your home stereo system.

I think Sony's "Music CDs" may be this type of disc. Only their purple label discs. I could be wrong, the sellers promo material was a trifle vague..

Here's a link to Maxell's version of this type of disc: http://www.amazon.com/Maxell-CDR80M-Recordable-Audio-Recorders/dp/B00006HOE3

Many modern standalone CD recorders, specify they will "use standard CD-R discs", instead of the older CD-A format.
 
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I've a Sony Walkman that's pretty neat although battery life isn't great. It's the only Sony product that I've bought new. Paying massive prices for professional standard audio equipment is only going to appeal to those for whom money is no object.

Apart from that I've a very nice Vaio laptop that I bought for next to nothing which had the typical nVidia graphics chip problem. Sony service was about as bad as it could possibly be and it was extremely difficult to get a warranty claim accepted by them. I got a professional to replace the chip. When it has come to TVs I've always favoured Panasonic over Sony but nowadays there's lots of other top manufacturers like Samsung.

The one area that I've seen decent Sony products is in Photography. Their digital cameras get high praise though the usual Sony tricks are probably in place to fleece their customers - battery and memory compatibility issues with third party components.
 
Milking stupid people for their money. Like super premium cables and now sd cards :D lol what's going to be next...
 
I think if they're trying to hasten the demise of Mr. Young's Pono Player, they probably don't need to do anything, it will go away by itself.

Besides, if anyone is brave, or stupid enough, to listen to Neil Young's most recent offerings at 24 bit depth, wish them "god's speed", and give them your audiologists business card....:D (er, along with the name of a proper therapist, dealing specifically with cases of PTSD).....:eek:

This is actually clever, a good portion of the people has no idea about computers and will buy this instead of a "normal" card, like what happen with sony's "music" cds.
You do understand there is a special "music CD", designed specifically for standalone music CD recorders? These discs won't work in a computer CD burner, only early CD recorders which plugged into your home stereo system.

You are mistaken, they absolutely will work in computer CD burners. The difference was that these were the only type that standalone CD burners would accept, normal data CD-R would not work in them. Hardly anyone ever bought those standalone things anyway. A computer CD burner doesn't care, it will work with everything.
 
You are mistaken, they absolutely will work in computer CD burners. The difference was that these were the only type that standalone CD burners would accept, normal data CD-R would not work in them.
So you're saying I'm half right?
Hardly anyone ever bought those standalone things anyway. A computer CD burner doesn't care, it will work with everything.
When the average crap computer was $1000.00+, had a 20GB (tops?) HDD, and was running Windows 2000, they certainly did. It makes/made a great deal of sense to own own one as well. I already had the necessary turntable and AV receiver, and hence no need for a USB turntable or upgraded sound card

FWIW, the original TSST DVD burner in my 10 YO eMachines would spit audio CD blanks out, claiming "incompatibility". Of course, it was a major POS anyway. But yeah, the oldest drive I have,(Pioneer IDE 4x DVD-R) , seems willing to accept audio CD blanks. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense though, as they're much more expensive than damned old common CD-Rs.

All of that notwithstanding, my major point was, "Sony Music CDs", weren't simply a marketing ploy, attaching a different name to a standard CD-R. They had a specific application.

Are we good now Pinkster?

EDIT, I should also mention that tray to tray direct copy of an audio CD with a stand alone, gives you an exact copy. Doing the same operation with a computer from ripped files, always seems to leave you with a gap between tracks, even if you try and opt out of it.
 
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If the music device was designed to just read off memory without a r/w buffer then this would make sense.

Then what you have is a poorly designed music player.
 
You are mistaken, they absolutely will work in computer CD burners. The difference was that these were the only type that standalone CD burners would accept, normal data CD-R would not work in them.
So you're saying I'm half right?

I just meant the part where you said Music CD-R would not work in computer CD burners; they will.

Maybe the standalone music recorders were more popular than I remember, but I never knew anyone who had one personally. I got my first computer CD-R drive in 1998, it seemed so amazing and futuristic at the time. I think the gap between tracks depended on the mode you used. I believe DAO (disc at once) would burn them without the gaps but many early CD-R drives didn't support it.
 
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