Sony wants to DAP up your digital audio with the Walkman Signature Series

Simply when you believe Sony’s 2026 item parade is over, there’s another thing for audiophiles to contribute to their Christmas wishlist. While the very first half of the year concentrated on playback gadgets(flagship real cordless earbuds, effective celebration speakers), and simply recently there was a spatial microphone for material capture, now there’s something to bridge the space: The WalkmanThis isn’t the portable cassette gamer of the ’80s and ’90s, even though those are so haute right nowNo, these Walkmen are digital audio gamers (DAPs), with enhanced signal courses and DSP that make all your streaming services and downloaded music (approximately 384 kHz/32-bit PCM) sound additional meaningful (and you can even show a cassette tape screensaver or utilize a “Vinyl Processor,” if you’re analog maxxing).

Starting the next-generation refresh, the NW-ZX900 has brand-new premium parts, consisting of an ultra-low-noise LDO regulator and crystal oscillators shown the higher-end designs for steady voltage to the audio block. The chassis is a mix of milled aluminum and press-formed oxygen-free copper (OFC) elements. A lot of apparent is the upgraded 5 ″ 1920 × 1080 TFT color display screen, providing bigger, clearer album art and a responsive method to manage the Android 16-based system. When it comes to the audio, with its 20-40,000 Hz frequency action, the 11.2 MHz DSD Remastering Engine and S-Master HX digital amp innovation, plus a well balanced 4.4 mm output with 250mW +250 mW High Gain Mode (an unique enhancement over the previous, power-capped ZX700), provide the very best noise from your wired earphones or in-ear displays. And a battery life of as much as 40 hours of lower-bitrate MP3 playback, or approximately 35 hours with the streaming service apps, guarantees you’ll make it through that playlist.

Step up to the 425g NW-WM1AM3and you get a brand-new low-resistance oxygen-free chassis for more powerful grounding, in addition to a 5.5 ″ 1920 × 1080 Full HD screen. The raised products reach a direct OFC audio power supply, OFC cable television at the earphone output, and OFC copper-wound big coil. In addition, there are double big strong polymer capacitors, Gold vapor-deposited ultra-low phase-noise clocks, 10-layer low-dielectric PCBs, and a higher-performance low-power SoC to run the DSD Remastering Engine, freshly established look-ahead Noise Shaper with Light/ Balance/ Deep modes, 10-band equalizer, C Phase Linearizer, Dynamic Normalizer, and DSEE Ultimate signal improvement of whatever you play off the 128GB internal storage, microSD slot, or streaming services. The power-supply architecture, battery figures, and audio processing are shown the flagship (showcased listed below), so you get the very best balance of efficiency and worth for those flagship wired earphones (however there’s no pity in a little Bluetooth 5.4 LDAC action with the 1000X The ColleXion earphones, or LC3/AAC/aptX Adaptive with another leading choice).

When it comes to the cost-no-object NW-WM1ZM3 flagship, it’s everything about mechanical building. This 670g financial investment gets you a 99.99% (4N) OFC precision-milled primary chassis with a precision-machined (not press-formed) OFC rear chassis that utilizes 99.96% pure OFC with direct gold plating to even more improve ground stability. It’s all held together with low-resistance, direct-coupled gold-plated screws for a lower-resistance mechanical course, plus 4-wire braided KIMBER KABLE is executed in the well balanced output. The pledge of this enhanced architecture and separated circuitry is a broader soundstage, more powerful low-frequency existence, and clearer great information for a more analog character. In addition, internal storage is doubled to 256GB.

A caution for all 3 designs: In spite of there being a USB-C port, it is not meant to be utilized as an audio out. Simply power and file transfer. It can be utilized as an external DAC for a PC. Listening, nevertheless, is done just by means of the 3.5 mm/4.4 mm ports or cordless codecs.

The NW-ZX900 ($1,899), NW-WM1AM3 ($2,999), and NW-WM1ZM3 ($5,899) are readily available for preorder now from Sony, B&H, and Crutchfield.