The Walkman is Making an Expensive Comeback

Sony is presenting audiophiles with a golden opportunity: In an effort to revive their faltering Walkman brand, the audio company is releasing a new, premium digital Walkman made with a real gold finish. Gizmodo reports that the new gold-plated Walkman will cost a whopping $3680 and is designed to provide a higher quality audio experience than the average MP3 player.

Unfortunately for anyone still hoarding their old cassette tapes, the new Walkman only plays digital music. Though its boxy shape may give it the look and feel of the original Walkman, it’s really an upscale modern audio player, not a throwback. Built for serious audiophiles who eschew the ostensibly lower quality of MP3s, the Premium Walkman (also known as the “NW-WM1Z”) supports native DSD (Direct Stream Digital) audio files. It’s also encased in a gold-plated copper chassis, which, according to Sony, gives the player a “unique, natural acoustic sound” and “unrivaled audio performance.”

The idea behind the rebooted Walkman is to provide audiophiles with a higher quality portable music player. But since the Walkman is designed for people on the go, it's a little unclear how much better the high quality audio player will actually sound on a noisy city street or rumbling train. Still, for the obsessive audiophile, the Premium Walkman, which promises “the subtlest nuances of studio-quality sound,” may be worth its weight in gold.