The world of high-end audio is a baffling one, often resulting in a range of eye-wateringly expensive products that will supposedly give you a 'warmer' sound.
Having just released a £1,000 MP3 Walkman Sony is no stranger to this market. And it now appears as though the company is ready to take things a step further.
The struggling electronics giant has just announced a new 64GB Micro SD card specifically designed to offer 'Premium Sound', something that we're almost 100% certain means absolutely nothing. What's more it'll cost you over £100.
According to Sony's website this particular card is far 'quieter' in transferring data so it allows for less digital noise. But in a quote to the Wall Street Journal, it admitted not everyone will be interested:
"We aren’t that sure about the product’s potential demand, but we thought some among people who are committed to great sound quality would want it."
That said, there are people who think this sort of thing matters. This forum thread on an audiophile website is a good example of people gradually convincing themselves that different SD cards can offer everything from improved clarity to better bass.
One writes on the 'issues' they perceive between different SD cards:
"Feels like there's a slight power drop ... becomes a touch grainy, loses some smoothness, also becomes a touch brighter or shrill, it loses that refined edge also thins out quicker at higher volumes. I guess you could say blurred or fuzzy. Jitter seems the reasonable explanation, differences are rather small amount, some won't notice but to me I can hear the difference. "
Alas, there is no evidence to say it is possible to make a genuinely useful 'audiophile'-quality MicroSD card. Even Class 2 SD cards can read data fast enough to perfectly replicate a lossless audio file.