John is a writer at Pocket-lint. He is passionate about all things technology, and is always keeping up with the latest smartphone and PC releases. John has previously written at MobileSyrup. When he’s not reading and writing about tech, he enjoys listening to history podcasts and watching documentaries.
Walkman portable cassette tape players were all the rage back in the eighties and nineties, but what many people don't realize is that Sony never stopped building new hardware under the brand name. Indeed, the iconic Walkman line lives on in 2026, albeit in the form of modern Android-powered MP3 players.
After a several-year hiatus, Sony has just unveiled a trio of all-new Walkman products, including the new flagship NW-WM1ZM3. This device costs a whopping $5,900 USD, and it's aimed specifically at the audiophile market. With a gold-plated chassis, the device looks incredibly appealing, with plenty of advanced audio technologies thrown into the mix.
The NW-WM1ZM3 features a precision-machined oxygen-free copper (OFC) body, a 5.5-inch LCD 1080p HD touchscreen display panel, support for 96kHz FLAC High-Resolution Audio playback, KIMBER KABLE balanced wiring, 256GB of internal storage (with a built-in microSD card slot), Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, USB-C connectivity, and both stereo mini and balanced headphone jacks.
Other key features include MQA file support, Edge-AI DSEE Ultimate Upscaling, a DSD Remastering Engine, an S-Master HX Digital Amp, an 11.2 MHz/1-Bit DSD and 384 kHz/32-Bit PCM, and support for aptX Adaptive and LDAC codecs. Bespoke audio processing technologies are also present, including a vinyl processor, a DC phase linearizer, and Sony 360 Reality Audio.
Available now for pre-order directly on the Sony website, deliveries for the NW-WM1ZM3 are currently slated for between January 12 and January 13 of next year.
Sony NW-WM1ZM3 Walkman Signature Series Digital Audio Player
The NW-WM1ZM3 is a high-end MP3 player from Sony that's aimed at audiophiles, with a gold-plated design, a 5.5-inch touchscreen display panel, and a variety of digital audio features.
A modern Walkman for audiophiles
The Sony Walkman NW-WM1ZM3 costs nearly $6,000
All in all, the Sony NW-WM1ZM3 looks to be a compelling package for audiophiles the world over. It's jam-packed with audio features, and it provides a flexible experience with the ability to stream files over Wi-Fi, to listen to tunes over Bluetooth, and to play back local files the good old-fashioned way with its headphone jack and its microSD card slot.
High-resolution audio-quality sound is naturally on deck, and the premium build of the gold-plated device screams luxury. Everything about the product is custom-designed with audio fidelity in mind, down to the separate digital and analog power supply capacitors, the flexible flat cable (FFC) wiring, the gold-plated screws, and the OFC coil winding.
...I love that the Sony Walkman brand is alive and well in 2026.
If there's one gripe I might have with the product, it's that it really ought to have a higher-resolution (and OLED) display panel for the price point. An FHD LCD touchscreen is solid enough, to be sure, but it sticks out from the rest of the package as decidedly middle-of-the-road in my opinion.
In any case, I love that the Sony Walkman brand is alive and well in 2026. While I'm too young to have nostalgia for the original tape-based Walkman models, I respect the outsized influence they've had on the audio and tech industry at large. I did grow up in the age of MP3 players and iPods, and so to see a supercharged model like the NW-WM1ZM3 take the stage is really, really, impressive in my eyes.