Sony NW-WM1AM2 Hi-Res 128GB Walkman Digital MP3 Music Player

I love music and this is my 5th sony walkman --earlier models include a zx300 and two zx2's (don't ask). I really wanted to buy the nw-1zm2 but for that price ($3900 including tax) I would have expected a user changeable battery and software upgrade visibility (means full functionality guarantee for at least 8-10 years-having learnt my lesson from my zx2s losing some key functionalities just 3-4 years into the purchase- Sony stopped firmware update support and the walkman was stuck with android 4.2 version which resulted in many apps not continuing to be compatible with the old android version -for example spotify) and hence I know from bitter experience that sony models ( and all other brands for that matter) get obsolete due to (well calculated?) lack of support ( firmware/battery) in 4 years or so. For some reason, they put in stingy amount RAM which makes no sense considering cost of RAM is very low but i doubt this walkman has more than 4 gb ram judging by the lag it shows sometimes. I know I could probably send in my older walkman for a battery change to their center in NY and might have too but reduced functionality due to obsolete firmware makes it an unworthy pursuit. Coming to this walkman. My theory is that when you put it on and - the sound is so good that it makes you smile- the smile works on facial muscles to open ears wider and the sound improves further and thus you hear even better and better (kidding!) - seriously speaking- I noted complete separation of instruments- which then blend back together nicely, great Soundstage and overall brilliant clarity. I put on kate bush hounds of love and then some progressive house( hernan cattaneo) both flac files ripped from my own cd collection and before I knew it, I had finished hearing the complete albums - thoroughly enjoying them and with no fatigue and it was bliss. The music had my complete attention and I was fully engaged processing all the details coming in through my ears. A lot of subtle sounds that I never heard before and I have a great audio system hooked up with MIT cables so the quality of sound was obviously something. EDIT: have had it for 2-3 weeks now, feel no regret buying it. Heard it a few times (right?- where is the time to enjoy all these things) and tried 2 or 3 different ear phones as well as sony z7 over ear headphone. Felt it was underpowered for the over ear as i had it on on full volume, got loud and clear but it was at full volume- good news is that it did not distort or lose quality even while playing full volume. Tried it with sony z5 earphones with stock cable- sounded GOOD- sublime, thoroughly enjoyed the combination. Tried it JVC steel HD01 (do not remember the exact model) - Excellent, really really nice earphones for the price ($200 something) and those sounded very well paired with the walkman as well. Important note: I have several in ear phones and always struggled with some discomfort...either my ears ached, or the phones would slip out or the sound did not feel right and many times i needed to keep pushing them back in and i just passed the years thinking it is what it is. I am a 6 ft 3 guy and used medium or large size silicons/foams and then one day i tested small (never considered small might be my size). My life changed after that. Even the heavy stainless steel body JVC which earlier felt heavy in my ears -feel as if i am not even wearing them since i started using the correct size tips. Trust me, its made me love my old phones all over again and really changed my music listening experience since I finally found the correct size tips that fits my ears. I highly recommend experimenting with diff sizes of tips if you are encountering any of the discomforts i mentioned earlier. I finally got myself the JVC spiral dots in small size for all my phones except the sony z5 which came with an elaborate array of its own tips. Good news is that most of your earphones come with multiple sizes so do sort that issue out before worrying about getting a new dap. Back to the walkman-I love it. Have ordered the original case from japan for an additional 100 usd or so. EDIT: the case arrived, its real leather and the manual inside it says its special leather from Japan itself although the case is manufactured in china. Case felt good quality, the buttons have hard bits in them so even though you press the leather, the buttons on the walkman respond to pushes. I like the original sony case - worth seeking out. I put in a 1 tb sandisk card. Loaded it my music collection- all of them flac files. No particular lag even though there's a Tb of music loaded. Screen quality is good and touch screen is responsive. Spotify tested and works just fine. Edit: Its not completely without lag. When scrolling, album art is slow to show. When you turn on the walkman, even though spotify can be played relatively quickly, it takes a minute for loaded music to be accessible ( i do have 900 gb of music but as mentioned, SONY could easily have put in 8 gb of Ram for the price they are charging) Only issue I found is that it's menu locate by artist and not 'album artist' which makes it difficult to jump to a particular album considering over a tb of music even though I have about a 1000 album artists but probably few thousand total artists. Edit: found that it has a feature to sort by 'album artist' vs 'artist'- good job Sony! Battery life not really tested as I got it just yesterday. Bought from Amazon and I got one of first 100 serial numbers ! EDIT: My zx2 used to discharge over time if just left in the drawer, this walkman 1am2 does not seem to suffer from that problem. I left it unused for 10 days ( was studying for an exam ) and found the charge where i left it a few days ago...so i guess that problem is not on this walkman which is great. Is the walkman itself in terms of the physical item something that is worth $1500+ maybe not- but if you include in the sum of its parts it's ability to achieve the sound quality that it can and play your music at the level that you will enjoy it at another level, I think one can bear it. Another thing, the amazon description says its made in malaysia. The piece I received is made in China (says so on the box as well as on the device) Does not mean anything but just mentioning. Will update if something comes to mind. Pros -Best in class and beyond -No Brainer under $3000 category -Excellent build quality Cons -No user changeable battery ( at high dollar prices it should be) -No firmware staying up to date visibility beyond year 4. -Should have had the case included - A little laggy -tested with 900 gb music on sandisk card -all FLAC ( no excuse for SONY not to have put in more RAM or whatever it is that would avoid that problem) encountered when scrolling through albums, the album art shows with a lag. At this price point, sony could have done a better job aka put in more RAM. - Music access not available right away when you turn on - although if that means battery is conserved- its totally excusable PS- I have a 1 TB sandisk card in my walkman containing almost 2000 albums including artwork etc. I have had no problems with operation - not even one time. If you add or delete stuff, it's normal functioning for this device to rebuild database ( longer process) . If you power on from a previous power off state, it does take a minute to read the database. This is normal functioning. Read more

Just Incredible!!! my only complaint is battery life is not what sony claims it is, much much less, NOT 40 Hours may be with luck 12 , it really sucks , but great and above the Rest, Astell & Kern is the only great contender known by the extraordinary DACs and processors plus they have a much easier software, that is supreme. I certainly believe the Sony is a different flavor may be things will improve when they bring a new firmware, music wise great, but not as pure as the A&K... The sony is missing something but it has very good stage, and sounds recognition, Thank you Read more

It’s a Sony. It has the great Japanese house sound. It has a single ended or balanced output. It looks the part. But switch it on and the pain starts. It takes ages to boot. It takes longer to fire up a streaming app. The whole thing is slow and everything takes forever to load. Sony being Sony, they have already announced that this 1400$ DAP is stuck in the Android 11 hell forever. If you want Android 12 or 13, you will have to buy the next gen (and no, don't assume ZX707 is as good, sound quality-wise; while faster, slimmer and running Android 12, 707 drops the high gain output unless you buy it in Japan and fails to convince in the sonic department by high end DAP standards). I have experienced similar pain in the past with Vaio laptops, OLED TVs, Alpha cameras etc. Beautiful but underpowered hardware let down by a subpar software experience which Sony seldom attempts to improve in the lifetime of a product, once a stable firmware has been released. Every time I got burned with another half baked Sony product, I promised myself not to fall for their blurb again. Being an Android player with full support for the Google App Store, it means you can load any Android compatible streaming apps and you can also download music for offline listening. I have a big offline Qobuz playlist and it works as expected. Often Google updates mess up my offline library so some maintenance is required but, apart from that, offline downloads are perfectly usable. The battery life is underwhelming. Probably 6-8 hours at best with anything above 44/16. Less if you use offline Qobuz / Tidal files, more if you use the incorporated player with locally stored files. The display is usable but with significant light bleed at the edges of the screen and low resolution. If my mobile phone would have this screen, I would be seriously aggrieved. But, of course, the pain settles once you plug in some good headphones. It works beautifully with my custom IEMs and my AKG K872. It’s a smooth, effortless performer with no hard edges, the power delivery is adequate (I use high gain for both with no hiss, although JH can be used on low gain as well). The bass is not as defined or controlled as a desktop amp but I can live with it on the road. The treble is slightly rolled-off for an overall warmer and slightly darker sound signature. Soundstage, air, ultimate transparency are traded for a smooth, analog delivery prioritising realistic timbres. Coming from a bluetooth headphone or a portable DAC / mobile phone what strikes you first is how a piano sounds like a piano and a guitar like a guitar with the body, textures, overtones. There are no perfect products on the market today so you will have to pick your poison depending on your own priorities. Sony is a poor Android player with a beautiful sound quality. If you can get past the Android shortcomings, the underpowered hardware and ignore the long boot time, slow app loading and various quirks - SD card compatibility is variable, offline playback of content from Qobuz takes several attempts while the DAP insists on reminding you you are not connected to wifi etc - you will not regret spending the money as long as sound quality is your only priority. On balance 4 stars from me for the sound quality, although the DAP is seriously let down by the Android experience. Read more