Japanese manufacturer Sony is among the major consumer electronics suppliers to unveil its latest products at Las Vegas-based tradeshow CES International.
Among the range are Sony’s latest 4K BRAVIA TVs, which have taken HDR support as a central theme. HDR support is included in many of the new 4K BRAVIA TVs, ready to take advantage of the new wave of HDR enabled content coming from Internet video services like Amazon Video and Netflix, movie makers and broadcasters, Sony says. Accommodating a greater dynamic range of brightness levels than Standard Dynamic Range, content shot, processed and distributed in HDR provides enhanced contrast and colour reproduction, the manufacturer adds.
Sony has also unveiled the Slim Backlight Drive, which debuts with the BRAVIA XD93 series. The grid-array backlighting system will boost and dim the backlight to create brighter peak highlights and deeper blacks with up to three times the brightness range of conventional TVs, Sony says.
This year’s range of BRAVIA 4K Ultra HD televisions from Sony will be available in Europe from Spring 2016.
Sony has also introduced two additions to its family of Blu-ray Disc Players.
The UHP-H1 is Sony’s first High-Resolution Premium Audio and Video Player, which can stand alone or integrate into an existing wireless multi-room setup. It includes CD, Super Audio CD or Blu-ray Disc playback, USB connection for High-Resolution Audio files and built-in audio apps like Spotify and Deezer.
The unit includes a ‘full complement’ of audio codecs, letting consumers enjoy High-Resolution files encoded up to 192kHz/24-bit and double DSD (5.6MHz), with a 2-channel analogue audio output to a hi-fi amplifier, home cinema receiver or TV Sound Bar via a 32-bit 768kHz audio DAC.
The BDP-S6700 Blu-Ray disc player upscales Blu-ray movies to 4K UHD detail, while also working as a hub for premium audio experiences or slotting into an existing wireless multi-room setup.
The UHP-H1 Hi-Res Premium Audio and Video Player and BDP-S6700 4K Upscale Blu-ray are available from March, Sony says.
Also in the lineup are the new wearable WS413/WS414 Walkmans. A salt water and dust proof design allows consumers to enjoy more activities in a wider variety of conditions, including in the pool or at the beach, Sony claims.
This has been enabled by the addition of an internal terminal which resists any accumulation of foreign particles and is highly corrosion-resistant, the manufacturer explains.
The WS413 and WS414 Walkmans are available in the UK from March.
Sony has also responded to the global resurgence in vinyl, announcing a new premium turntable, the Sony PS-HX500, which allows users to convert a vinyl collection into High-Resolution Audio quality digital files (equivalent to DSD quality) so that their unique sound can be enjoyed on the move, Sony says.
Sony explains that record enthusiasts can sometimes be faced with the prospect of inferior digital files of their analogue records for listening on the move. The PS-HX500 comes with a DSD native converter, which gives the user the option to copy their favourite analogue tracks to a PC as a digital file, up to High-Resolution Audio quality. This allows the user to take their favourite music from their vinyl collection and play it on a compatible PC, mobile, portable music-player, or in their car. The record player also comes with an integrated phono preamp, allowing direct connection to an external amplifier for high-fidelity home audio playback.
Sony claims that the PS-HX500 is the world’s first turntable to support Double-rate and Single-rate DSD (5.6MHz/1bit, 2.8MHz/1bit). Furthermore, the AD conversion process can offer a choice of file quality from WAV, to High-Resolution Audio with higher bit rate and sampling frequencies, through to double-rate DSD. Users can therefore not only enjoy their records wherever they go but also appreciate them in superior sound quality.
The PS-HX500 will be available from April.
