# What is the best Walkman model ever made?

> Cassette pioneers, MiniDisc recorders and gold-plated hi-res players share one bracket here. Pick the one that earned its place in your pocket.

*By YPB Team · Published November 6, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-walkman-model-ever-made*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Walkman TPS-L2** — score 1000/1000
   The original 1979 Sony cassette Walkman, launched in Japan on July 1, 1979 at 33,000 yen with two headphone jacks and a 'hotline' talk button.
2. **Walkman WM-2** — score 622/1000
   The 1981 second-generation cassette Walkman, smaller and lighter than the original, which reached one million sales within about nine months of launch.
3. **MD Walkman MZ-R55** — score 551/1000
   A 1998 MiniDisc recorder that Sony billed as the world's smallest MD recorder, measuring about 84 by 79 by 19 mm.
4. **Walkman NW-WM1Z** — score 551/1000
   The gold-plated 256 GB Signature Series player unveiled at IFA 2016, with a copper chassis and a balanced 4.4 mm output.
5. **Walkman NW-A105** — score 551/1000
   A 2019 A Series high-resolution player that brought Android, streaming apps and a 3.6-inch touchscreen to Sony's mid-range Walkman.
6. **Sports Walkman WM-F5** — score 466/1000
   The first Sports Walkman, introduced in 1983 with a rubber-sealed, splash-resistant yellow body and a built-in FM radio.
7. **Walkman Professional WM-D6C** — score 466/1000
   A 1984 portable cassette recorder in Sony's Walkman Professional line that added Dolby C noise reduction to the earlier WM-D6, built for recording on location.
8. **Network Walkman NW-HD1** — score 466/1000
   Announced in June 2004, the first hard-disk Walkman, holding 20 GB and priced at $399.
9. **Walkman NWZ-X1050** — score 466/1000
   A 2009 X Series player (sold as the NW-X1050 in Japan) with a 3-inch OLED touchscreen, built-in Wi-Fi and digital noise cancelling.
10. **MD Walkman MZ-E10** — score 363/1000
   Sony's 2002 tenth-anniversary MiniDisc player, a playback-only model weighing about 55 g.
11. **Walkman NW-ZX1** — score 363/1000
   The December 2013 debut of the high-resolution ZX Series, an Android player with a 4-inch screen and a digital amplifier.
12. **Walkman NW-ZX707** — score 363/1000
   A 2023 ZX Series high-resolution player running Android 12 with a 5-inch 720p screen and 64 GB of storage.
13. **Network Walkman NW-MS7** — score 363/1000
   Sony's first solid-state Walkman, released in Japan on December 21, 1999, storing ATRAC3 music on a Memory Stick.
14. **Walkman WM-701C** — score 362/1000
   A slim late-1980s auto-reverse cassette Walkman with Dolby B and C noise reduction and a remote control, the model Sony used as the basis for its 1989 10th-anniversary WM-701S.
15. **MD Walkman MZ-N1** — score 0/1000
   A 2001 MiniDisc Walkman that launched Sony's Net MD format, letting music be transferred from a PC over USB.
16. **MD Walkman MZ-RH1** — score 0/1000
   A 2006 Hi-MD recorder that was the first MiniDisc Walkman able to upload recordings from standard MiniDiscs to a PC; production ended in 2011.
17. **MD Walkman MZ-1** — score 0/1000
   Released in 1992 alongside the MZ-2P player, this was Sony's first MiniDisc Walkman and could record as well as play.
18. **Walkman NW-WM1ZM2** — score 0/1000
   The 2022 successor to the gold Signature Series Walkman, moving it to Android and USB-C.

Tags: music, audio, sony, retro, gadgets, walkman