Sony Announces High-End Walkman Trio Topped by $5,899 Gold-Plated Player
The portable audio lineup includes oxygen-free copper chassis designs and Sony's 11.2MHz DSD remastering engine.
Sony has unveiled three new high-end portable media players in its Walkman lineup, targeting audiophiles with hardware priced from $1,899.99 up to $5,899, The Verge reported (https://www.theverge.com/tech/1012200/sony-made-a-5900-gold-plated-walkman-mp3-player).
The lineup begins with the NW-ZX900 at $1,899.99, steps up to the NW-WM1AM3 at $2,999.99, and tops out at the gold-plated NW-WM1ZM3 flagship for $5,899.
All three devices feature Sony's Direct Stream Digital (DSD) Remastering Engine, which upsamples standard PCM audio into an 11.2MHz DSD stream that Sony claims produces a more analog-like sound. Each unit also includes gold plating on its rear chassis designed to reduce electrical interference and lower noise.
The upper-tier NW-WM1AM3 and NW-WM1ZM3 models add hand-soldered oxygen-free copper wiring and upgraded power circuitry to suppress noise further. Both units incorporate a milled oxygen-free copper block to physically isolate digital circuits from analog signal pathways.
The flagship NW-WM1ZM3 differs from the midrange model through its outer housing construction: its entire structural chassis is milled from oxygen-free copper and gold-plated.
The release follows Sony's previous gold-plated model, the NW-WM1ZM2, which is currently discounted to $2,599.99.
Sources
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