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Sony Just Debuted a New $1,200 Walkman at CES

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35 years later, and Sony’s still making Walkmans in 2015. A few tips and hints suggested Sony was about to debut a brand new Walkman here at CES 2015 in Las Vegas to resurrect the portable audio and video playback device that was so big in the 80’s and 90’s, and yesterday they did exactly that with the all new Sony Walkman NW-ZX2.

Last fall Sony released a Hi-Def Walkman priced at $300 for light audiophiles, but what was announced this week is an entirely different Walkman aimed at a specific crowd. It isn’t just a portable audio player with a big screen and tons of storage, but the price tag means business.

In 2012 a Sony Walkman running Android was released in the United States, but this year something new and improved has been revealed with a huge price tag aimed directly at audiophiles. They’ve brought back the extensive file support and icon-named device for another year, and below are all the details.

Sony-walkman

The Sony ZX1 was the last Walkman released by the company, one which didn’t have too many people excited thanks to a rather poor design, but in 2015 the new ZX2 is completely redesigned and should have plenty of old Sony fans extremely excited.

The press release boasted of sound fidelity “beyond CD quality.” Which is a funny thing to hear considering I don’t know anyone that uses CD’s anymore, but to each his own. That all said, lets talk about this new Walkman and why it’ll be priced at $1,200 when it’s released in the spring.

Sony’s new ZX2 isn’t an all-in-one device, but can do plenty of things. With hardware and software from a device released in 2012 it isn’t the best, but it isn’t about the small 4.0-inch 854×480 display, it’s about the music. Running on an old and outdated Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (released 2 years ago) it still has access to the Google Play Store to download games and apps, to be enjoyed on the device.

SonyNW-ZX2

The Sony Walkman ZX2 is packed with 128GB of internal storage and will accept a micro-SD card for additional storage, which you’ll need when loading it up with FLAC or ALAC audio files for that pure sound audiophiles are looking for. You’ll be greeted by a soft-touch matte black frame, topped with a gold-plated 3.5mm headphone output jack.

File wise, the new Walkman supports DSD, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Apple Lossless, and and many other file types. Then of course the Walkman is up on the times here in 2015 with Bluetooth for wireless streaming, and NFC for one-touch taps to connect to speakers and headphones.

We gave it a quick listen on the show-room floor but had a hard time hearing the quality sound it promises to deliver, as it wasn’t the best scenario to listen to tunes. Sony promises it will be worth the $1,200 price tag when it arrives this Spring.

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