Nextorage has released a new line of CFexpress Type A cards. But what makes these Type A cards specials is they conform to the latest CFexpress 4.0 standard, meaning they're twice as fast as a typical Type A card.
The new NX-A2SE series consists of three card capacities: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. All are capable of a blisteringly-fast 1900MB/s maximum read speed, and an equally impressive 1700MB/s peak write rate. This makes these new Type A cards just as quick as some of the fastest first-gen CFexpress Type B cards.
Despite their CFexpress 4.0 status, NX-A2SE cards are still backward compatible with the CFexpress 2.0 standard, so they'll still work in any camera that supports Type A cards, although transfer speeds will naturally be limited to 2.0 speeds (around 900MB/s read).
Nextorage rates the minimum sustained write speed at 1500MB/s for the 1TB card, 850MB/s for the 512GB version, and 400MB/s for the 256GB capacity. All three card capacities are also VPG200 certified, so they're rated to sustain a minimum 200MB/s write rate during video recording, making them suitable for recording high bit-rate 4K video.
Only Japanese pricing has been revealed so far, with the cards said to cost: 15,980 yen (256GB), 29,980 yen (512GB) and 59,800 yen (1TB). This equates to approximately US$103, $194 and $387, or £82, £153 and £305.
(Image credit: Nextorage)
In addition to the new CFexpress cards, Nextorage has also announced a compatible Type A card reader: NX-SA1PRO. Ensuring the new NX-A2SE reader doesn't bottleneck CFexpress 4.0 Type A cards, Nextorage has equipped it with a 40Gbps USB4 interface. This is theoretically capable of speeds up to 5000MB/s, though Nextorage rates the reader's maximum speed at a more conservative 1650MB/s.
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To prevent the reader overheating during sustained high speed data transfers, it utilizes a large internal heat sink which should minimize thermal throttling and corresponding slowdowns in transfer speeds.
Like the new Nextorage Type A cards, the NX-SA1PRO reader is currently a Japan-only release, priced at 13,980 yen (approx. USD $90 / £71).
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Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories – his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography! With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys.
