- Two new Sony digital audio players have gone on sale
- Both are expensive, with a range of features
- People are more excited for a teased Walkman headphone launch
Despite beginning as a range of cassette and CD players over four decade ago, Sony‘s Walkman line is still going strong, though nowadays they’ve ditched the physical media in favor of digital hi-res music. Two new Walkman devices make that point exceedingly clear.
These are the NW-WM1AM3 and NW-WM1ZM3, which were announced in mid-October ahead of a November on-sale date (in most regions, at least, but in the US they’re due in January). Checking Sony’s website, the AM3 is due to sell from November 27, or Black Friday, while the ZM3 is already sold out. Clearly the Walkman’s return is proving popular.
That sold-out model is the priciest of the two, selling for $5,899 / £4,299 / AU$6,499. The real appeal of the NW-WM1ZM3 is in the build, using materials such as oxygen-free copper for top conduction, gold-plated screws and wiring done by a brand called Kimber Kable which focuses on the cabling in audio products. Otherwise, it sounds pretty similar to the $2999 / £2,099 / AU$3,999 NW-WM1AM3.
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Both are digital audio players with 5.5-inch screens, 35-hour listening, Wi-Fi or onboard music listening, use the Sony DSD Remastering Engine to upscale PCM audio, and have dual headphone jacks. They have 256GB on-board storage, as well as the ability to expand that with an SD card.
So they both sound like premium digital audio players for people who value high-quality music. Yet they’ve been totally overshadowed by another Walkman product which isn’t even out yet.
Meet the mystery retro Walkman accessory
On social media, Sony has begun teasing a brand-new Walkman device, due to be unveiled on November 5 (tomorrow, at the time of writing):
People are pretty confident about what this is, largely because you can see the outline, and the color scheme harks back to them. It’s looking like these will be a new pair of Walkman headphones, like the classic MDR-3 which came alongside the first-generation TPS-L2 Sony Walkman in 1979.
Wired audio’s making a comeback, as is retro audio tech, and clearly Sony’s leaning on the nostalgia angle here. Presumably, it’s set to unveil some new on-ear headphones, but we’ll find out more tomorrow.
The real question to me is whether Sony’s about to re-vamp the MDR-3, or if it’s about to re-vamp the MDR-3 and release some other Walkman products. We’re constantly seeing new cassette players and CD players, because of the aforementioned retro audio tech boom, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Sony were to release such options too.
After all, Walkman remains the most recognized name in portable audio playing, so if any brand wanted to capitalize on this new trend, Sony would be the one best placed to do so.
We’ll see what Sony unveils tomorrow, but whatever it is, it’s already overshadowed the WM1AM3 and WM1ZM3.
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tom.bedford@hotmail.co.uk (Tom Bedford)
