Sony made a $5,900 gold-plated Walkman MP3 player

This render with a transparent background is the closest we’ll ever come to touching one of these things. | Image: Sony Sony has announced a trio of new Walkman portable media players that start at an already absurd $1,899.99 for the NW-ZX900 and climb all the way up to $5,899 for the gold-plated NW-WM1ZM3.

Sandwiched in between is the $2,999.99 Walkman NW-WM1AM3, which is nearly identical to the WM1ZM3, just minus the gaudy gold shell.

All three devices are aimed squarely at the audiophile market, if the price tag didn't make that clear.

All three feature Sony's DSD ( Direct Stream Digital ) Remastering Engine, which upsamples standard PCM audio to an 11.2MHz DSD stream, which it claims delivers a more analog-like sound.

They also all feature gold-plating on … Read the full story at The Verge.