Since the Walkman in the tape era, Sony has never lacked excellent music artifacts, and the D50/D100 voice recorder was once developed by audiophiles as a benchmark for the quality test of portable players.
 
The NW-WM1Z is Sony's current flagship model and the winner of the 2016 Japan GOOD DESIGN Design Award. Its oxygen-free copper body and 18K pure gold coating show its luxury, so it is nicknamed "gold brick" by burners. The NW-WM1Z features a new digital amplifier CXD3778GF that not only supports the native DSD format, but also boosts the maximum output power at each end to 60mW/16Ω, which is more than four times that of the previous generation ZX2. The increased power gives the listener better transients and control, while expanding the range of earbuds. The overall quality of the NW-WM1Z has been greatly improved compared to the previous generation ZX series, but the sound is slightly different from Sony's traditional tuning style. One of the biggest changes comes from the fact that the soft and warm "musical taste" of the mid-frequency band has been absorbed a lot, replaced by a transparent breath and a clean and neat dynamic response, and the separation of vocals and background music has become more and more obvious, and the overall style is more vibrant and younger. The price of the NW-WM1Z is as high as 20,000 yuan, which is destined to be watched from a distance by most consumers. In contrast, the sub-flagship NW-WM1A, which won the 2017 Japan VGP Gold Award, and the NW-ZX2, which was included in the 2016 The Absolute Sound sound recommendation list, are good and accessible choices.
Sony/Sony NW-WM1A HiFi Music Player 128G