If you are a 90’s kid, I’m sure you would know the significance of Sony Walkmans in the market. At the time, Sony’s portable digital music players were all the rage before Apple came up with its iconic iPod series. However, a Sony Walkman has its own place in tech history that can stir up nostalgia. So now, Sony has launched two new Walkman-style MP3 players that come with several high-end features and audio tech to offer premium sound to casual listeners and audiophiles alike.
Sony Walkman Signature Series Announced
Sony debuted the Signature Series Walkman models in 2016 and brought it to India a couple of years back. Now, the company has unveiled two new Signature Series Walkman models – the NW-WM1ZM2 and the NW-WM1AM2, with a number of attractive features.
The Sony Walkman Signature Series includes various advanced audio technology to deliver crystal clear sound. For starters, the higher-end NW-WM1ZM2 comes with a 99.99% purity gold-plated OFC chassis to deliver more expansive and powerful sound, as per Sony. The lower-end NW-WM1AM2, on the other hand, comes with an aluminum alloy frame, which is designed to be resistive to electrical noise and other interference.
Both models come with a 5-inch HD touchscreen and support Sony’s S-Master HX digital amp technology that has been specifically designed for the Walkmans. Moreover, the company now used thick KIMBER KABLE wiring from the amp base to the balanced headphone jack of the higher-end NW-WM1ZM2 that enable the devices to “shut out external noise, transmit high-quality audio signals, and achieve powerful and smooth sound quality.”
Furthermore, the company also mentioned that it has used a reflow solder containing gold to improve sound quality for the first time in its Walkmans. Plus, both the models use a high-quality DSD (Direct Stream Digital) Remastering Engine to provide an immersive listening experience for even low-quality songs. Both the NW-WM1ZM2 and NW-WM1AM2 models can also upscale compressed music in real-time with DSEE Ultimate.
Apart from these, the new features of the Sony Walkman Signature Series are the support for Android 11 and Wi-Fi technology. Users can also customize the home screen of their devices, thanks to the Walkman Home Screen suite. And thanks to Wi-Fi support, users would be able to stream and download songs from third-party music streaming platforms.
As for the battery performance of the Walkman Signature Series, Sony claims that both models can deliver up to 40 hours of non-stop FLAC high-res audio playback on a single charge. There is also a USB-C port aboard the devices to enable users to transfer songs or connect them to a variety of other devices.
The NW-WM1ZM2 and NW-WM1AM2 also come with a USB Type-C port and their own internal storage to store songs. While the higher-end model packs 256GB of internal storage, the lower-end model comes with 128GB of storage. However, both models feature a built-in microSD slot to expand storage. Plus, the devices use zero plastic in their packaging as Sony’s also doing its bit towards the ‘sustainable environment’ initiative.
Price and Availability
Coming to the price of the Sony Walkman Signature Series, the gold-plated Sony NW-WM1ZM2 retails at a whopping price of $4,200 (~Rs 3,15,000), while the lower-end, aluminum-based NW-WM1AM2 costs $1,600 (~Rs 1,20,00).
As for the availability, Sony says that both the models will be available to buy in select countries in the Asia Pacific region from April 2022. However, an exact launch timeline has not yet been provided by the company. Would you buy the new high-end Sony Walkman Signature Series? Let us know in the comments below.
