Dating back to the late 1970s, Sony’s Walkman brand has remained on the cutting edge of emerging technology for decades. Beginning as a portable audio cassette player, the Walkman brand ultimately morphed into the Watchman (portable pocket television), the Scoopman (digital memo recorder), and the Discman (portable CD player).

The latest incarnation of the Walkman rockets Sony into the future of digital sound with a Direct Stream Digital (DSD) device that offers high-resolution audio that is second to none. The 1-bit DSD codec format is specifically designed to capture studio-quality sound at a sampling rate that is significantly higher than the ordinary MP3 or compact disc, boosting both the number of audio samples per second and the bitrate accuracy of each sample. The result is a listening experience that is clearer, crisper, more natural, and more intensely detailed than any other.

Other high-end features of the Walkman with High-Resolution Audio include a wide-frequency S-Master HX digital amplifier, proprietary DSEE technology that upscales/restores compressed audio files, and a film capacitor to promote reduced distortion and expanded acoustics. The new Walkman employs a lead-free circuit board that rests in an aluminum-milled frame that resists electrical noise for stable sound reproduction. In addition to playing music directly through its integrated 64 GB memory card, this product can connect wirelessly with LDAC — the highest quality Bluetooth technology on the market today.