New Sony A and ZX Walkman, Android 12

[upnorth]

Content source

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/new-sony-walkman-music-players-feature-stunning-good-looks-android-12/

Sony has a pair of new Android Walkmans out, the NW-A300 and NW-ZX700. Yes, that's right, Walkmans, Sony's legendary music player brand from the 1980s. Apple may have given up on the idea of a smartphone-adjacent music player when it killed the iPod Touch line recently, but Sony still makes Android-powered Walkmans and has for a while. The first was in 2012 with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread-powered NWZ-Z1000, which looked like Sony just stripped the modem out of an Xperia phone and shoved it onto the market as a music player. Since then, Sony has made designs with more purpose-built hardware, and today there are a whole series of Android-powered Walkman music players out there. Sadly these new ones seem to only be for sale in Japan, the UK, and Europe, for now.

Sony Walkman, the NW-ZX700. It's 104,500 yen ($818) in Japan, and while that sounds like a lot for a portable music player, it's actually a relative bargain compared to the "Signature Series" NW-WM1ZM2, which goes for an eye-popping $3,700 thanks to audiophile hocus-pocus like a "gold plated, oxygen-free, copper body."

Anyway, back to this $800 model. Unlike regular phone equipment, this has a proper audio amplifier with big, beefy capacitors to power the analog audio output. That makes it much bigger than the A300, at 72.6×132 mm and a whopping 17 mm thick. It also has two audio outs: a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack and a 4.4 mm "balanced" audio jack, which is used by some high-end audio equipment. I'm sure Sony has a wonderful headphone collection to match.

Both devices are due out in February in Japan.

New Sony Walkman music players feature stunning good looks, Android 12

Sony holds onto the beautiful dream of standalone portable audio players.

arstechnica.com

 

[Stopspying]

I like the visuals of these devices.

I'm wondering how others on MT feel about having separate devices - Walkmen, cameras and a phone? Do you prefer just the one all seeing, singing and dancing device; your smartphone?

I ask because some friends try to wind me up because at various times I still use an old but small Samsung player - MP3/FLAC/WMA/OGG. I'm OK with a wired set of earphones and can survive without bluetooth for a few hours. The charge lasts quite well and saves me from recharging my phone so frequently. I've also got a slightly larger DAB/FM radio/music player that takes SD cards. I quite like leaving my smartphone at home occasionally and do things such as go for a walk by the sea, shutting out traffic and gull noise with music, podcasts etc. I also like to use cameras, either smaller digital ones and more serious dSLRs, the results beat those of my phone camera. The same friends laugh at this too, I don't care.

Would you be tempted by these new Walkmans? Or do you want it all in one device?

 

[Divine_Barakah]

I like the visuals of these devices.

I'm wondering how others on MT feel about having separate devices - Walkmen, cameras and a phone? Do you prefer just the one all seeing, singing and dancing device; your smartphone?

I ask because some friends try to wind me up because at various times I still use an old but small Samsung player - MP3/FLAC/WMA/OGG. I'm OK with a wired set of earphones and can survive without bluetooth for a few hours. The charge lasts quite well and saves me from recharging my phone so frequently. I've also got a slightly larger DAB/FM radio/music player that takes SD cards. I quite like leaving my smartphone at home occasionally and do things such as go for a walk by the sea, shutting out traffic and gull noise with music, podcasts etc. I also like to use cameras, either smaller digital ones and more serious dSLRs, the results beat those of my phone camera. The same friends laugh at this too, I don't care.

Would you be tempted by these new Walkmans? Or do you want it all in one device?

I have Apple Music subscription and I also purchased many albums from iTunes. The sound quality of my iPhone and the wired Apple headphones is all I use. At home I have SimplySound sound bar (bluetooth) and I use it a lot. I really love Walkman, but I see no need for it nowadays.