New Walkman Offers Noise-cancellation

Sony has announced the NW-S700F Walkman player—its first digital music player with built-in noise-canceling technology.

“While Sony has offered noise canceling headphones, this is the first time that we’ve integrated the technology into the player itself,” said Koba Kobayashi, general manager for personal audio at Sony Electronics. “We’ve created an entirely new category and are confident that even audiophiles will be pleased with this Walkman digital music player.”

The player’s clear stereo technology creates sound clarity that maintains the same quality as the original source. The clear bass technology enhances the deep sound with no distortion. Because the system diminishes intrusive noise; listeners can avoid pumping up the volume.

The player comes with a battery life of up to 50 hours at full battery capacity. The quick-charge feature offers up to three-hours of playback with just a three-minute charge while a built-in FM tuner includes pre-sets for the most visited stations.

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These new devices support ATRAC, ATRAC Advance Lossless, MP3, AAC (non-DRM), WMA (non-DRM) and Linear PCM music files. They are compatible with the Sony Connect online music service and include SonicStage CP software to import, manage and transfer music collections.

The player’s compact design includes a three-line color organic electroluminescence display with cover art. The artist, track and album information appears on the screen beside a picture of the album cover.

The NW-S700F Walkman player comes with 13.5 mm diameter headphones with a built-in microphone. Virtual Phone Technology reproduces the acoustic effect of the studio and direct encoding allows users to record an analogue audio signal directly from an audio player without using a PC. A cradle or cable accessory is needed to use direct encoding.

The latest Walkman music player can store up to 1,350 songs on the 2 GB model and 685 songs on the 1 GB model at 48kbps.The NW-S703F player has a total capacity of approximately 1 GB, comes in violet and pink and will cost about $169; and the NW-S705F player has a total capacity of approximately 2 GB, comes in black and will cost about $199.

The noise-canceling Walkman players will be available in November at sonystyle.com and at Sony Style retail stores nationwide (www.sonystyle.com/retail). Pre-orders will begin on October 12 at www.sonystyle.com/noisecancel. The player is on display at the Digital Life event in New York City, October 12 to 15.