Are Walkman Making a Comeback? The Walkman was once an iconic device that revolutionized the way people listened to music on the go. Sony announcing the resurrection of their fan-favorite, golden-age inspiring “Walkman” series. The King has returned for the throne and apparently, has aged gracefully, as we can see from the reveal of Sony’s latest re-work of their timeless classic “Walkman” series, the Sony NW-A300 and NW-ZX700! Sony’s announcement of the return of the Walkman series has left many people wondering if this is the beginning of a new trend in the tech industry.

So, could this mean more of these devices are being worked on, and are they planning to bring back the early 2000s? Let’s find out!

Sony Walkman 2023: Are Walkmans Making a Comeback?

Considering how retro-themed gadgets are the best things in existence right now, since having one in your possession certainly gives you a boost in your social credits, the new Sony NW-A300 and NW-ZX700 are the latest from Sony that basically reworks their age-old “Walkman” lineup in favor for a younger generation. 

While other heavy hitters like Apple have already given up on how a dedicated music player would work, which unfortunately resulted in the death of the fan-favorite iPods, Sony continues to listen to its consumers, and not only for the sake of nostalgia! The first re-imagined Walkman came out back in 2012 that sported an Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and went by the name of NWZ-Z1000, which kinda resembled, intentionally or not, an Xperia phone!

Sony NW-A300

Starting off with the new and comparatively consumer-friendly one, the NW-A300. The basic design was based on the upgraded version of the 2019 NW-A105 which came with Android 9 and other than a modernized OS, the Walkman features a new SoC and a scalloped back design. And interestingly, it’s no larger than a pack of playing cards. Gotta give props to Sony for bringing us products with a visual design that just hits differently. In the front, we appear to have a 3.6 inch 60hz, 1280×720 touchscreen LCD with built-in 32 gigabytes of storage, with support for WiFi 802.11AC and BlueTooth 5. 

With no official listing on how big the battery life would be it’s a slight bummer, but it’s alright since Sony rarely disappoints regarding the runtime of their devices which should be able to run for at least 35 hours. And of course, being a music player and all, the headphone jack rests at the bottom of the unit, alongside a lanyard hole, a USB-C 3.2 Gen1 port for fast transfers, and a MicroSD slot for storing all those beautiful tunes. Just talking about it makes you wanna own one now, doesn’t it?

Sony NW-ZX700

Now, for the more premium variant, the NW-ZX700. The Walkman comes with a decent and proper audio amplifier built-in with chunky capacitors to power the analog audio, which makes the size of the Walkman a bit larger in comparison. The Walkman also features two separate audio outputs: a standard 3.5mm jack of all trades alongside a 4.4 mm “Balanced” audio jack which you can utilize perfectly with your high-end audio equipment, preferably from Sony.

Our Takeaway

Both these devices use the S-Master HX Digital Amplifier chip which is perfect for taking advantage of Sony’s high-resolution “NativeDSD” audio format. You’re also getting Sony’s proprietary DSEE Ultimate to upscale your music with AI. And for the purists, there’s also a “Vinyl Processor” that will take you back in time for a quote-unquote “Authentic Listening Experience” by adding record player noises to your audio.