Sony Launches Final Fantasy XV Walkman, Headphones, and Speaker

Here is yet another reason to move to Japan. In addition to getting every other cool thing that we don’t get here in the States, Sony has also launched several limited edition audio devices that fans of the Final Fantasy game franchise will want to get.

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The Walkman A-Series Final Fantasy XV edition will reportedly be available in Japan starting tomorrow, where it will sell for 33,880 yen or about $300(USD). It is a 16GB media player that supports Hi-Res Audio and has Final Fantasy characters on the back in pixel style. The device comes loaded with special icons that are grey rather than white. Aside from that minor change there is nothing special about the icons.

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Sony has also announced Final Fantasy XV hear.on MDR-100A headphones for 24,380 yen or about $220(USD). They have large “XV” logos on the earcups. There is also a FFXV Bluetooth speaker on the way.

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[via The Verge via Slashgear]

Sony’s New Gold-plated Walkman Will Cost You $3,200

Sony’s new Walkman NW-WM1Z high-res audio player costs three times as much as last year’s high-end Walkman release. This time out, the audiophile player features “detailed acoustics and natural sound qualities,” thanks to its new S-Master HX digital amp. The circuitry is said to reduce distortion and noise across a wide range of frequencies. This amp boasts full compatibility with DSD Native, Balanced, and other high output power formats. Oh, did I mention that it’s gold plated?

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The gold-plated chassis is actually cut from oxygen-free copper instead of aluminum to minimize electronic interference. Aside from that Midas touch, it sports a 4-inch touchscreen, 256GB of onboard storage and an SD card slot.

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Other features include DSEE HX upscaling technology, a DC Phase Linearizer for digital-sound processing, an Android-based OS, and a 4.4mm balanced TRRRS plug, which Sony hopes will be the new headphone standard. It comes with a battery that will deliver up to 30 hours of high-res audio playback per charge. It is priced at $3,199.99(USD). At that price, I don’t think they will get many takers.

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[via Cool Things]

History of the Sony Walkman (Infographic)

If you can believe it, The Sony Walkman has been around for 36 years now. In fact, the player was born on July 1, 1979. In celebration of the Walkman, Sony put together this handy infographic which shows the evolution of the music player.

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zoom in

(Click to View Full Size)

Its original TPS-L2 incarnation is still its most iconic design, and has turned into quite the collectible these days. But over the years, Sony continued to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of music formats, later releasing a CD Walkman (I remember having to save up for a while to buy the D-20 Discman when it came out), and later with digital players, and even models which are built into headphones.

I’m particularly interested in their new hi-res audio players, which are supposed to sound much better than typical MP3 players. And I wish I had saved my original Walkman so I could listen to my old ’80s mixtapes.

A walk(man) down the memory lane

A decade ago, there used to be two categories of humans. The Nokia lovers, and the Sony Ericsson lovers. I was unabashedly the latter, and a small piece of me died when the Walkman series came to an end, following Sony’s acquisition of Sony Ericsson. Designer David Bull, however, didn’t take things sitting down. Here’s a conceptual Walkman Phone, designed to fit into today’s market with just the perfect amount of Walkman’s classic, resplendent style. *Insert tear-jerking nostalgic music*

Designer: David Bull

Author: Sarang Sheth

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(A walk(man) down the memory lane was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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