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Sony's hi-res Walkmans are only for the wealthiest audiophiles

The stars of the Signature Series aren't for the casual music fan.

Andrew Lanxon
Andrew is CNET's go-to guy for product coverage and lead photographer for Europe. When not testing the latest phones, he can normally be found with his camera in hand, behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food. Sometimes all at once.
Andrew Lanxon
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1 of 8 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

You thought a top-end phone was expensive? You've seen nothing yet.

Sony's new NW-WM1Z Walkman costs an astonishing $3,200 (which converts to roughly £2,400 or AU$4,200). That's a lot of cash for something that only plays music without offering any other smart features -- y'know, like your phone does.

It does apparently play music very well though. It supports all kinds of lossless formats and is powerful enough to send your tunes to those huge, expensive over-ear cans that audiophiles love.

The top-end model, shown here, is made from oxygen-free copper (which Sony says improves the sound), while the cheaper NW-WM1A is made from aluminium. It still costs $1,200 though.

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Here's the more affordable aluminium version. It's mostly made from metal so weighs a lot. You wouldn't want to take it jogging.

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The copper model has more of a gold-looking sheen to it. You can pretend that's what it's made of if it helps you stomach the price.

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Your favourite artists show up here. There's 128GB of storage on the cheaper model, and 256GB on the top one.

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It's not Android-powered, so it only plays music. You'll have to switch to your phone if you want to play Pokemon Go.

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There's a nice-looking leather back.

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The cheaper aluminium buttons.

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This is where your posh headphones go.

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