Sony's Signature Walkman and Headphones Are $5,500 of Ridiculous (theverge.com)

Some reviews liken the Sony player to the same music sound quality as the iPhone

Vlad Savov, writing for The Verge: 

Like a grand old dinosaur that's being left behind by the evolution of the tech industry, Sony is in desperate recovery mode here at IFA. 

The company has new phones, a rather nice pair of noise-canceling headphones, the imminent PS VR, and... a truly outlandish combo of music player and headphones that costs a mighty $5,499.98.

 I guess there had to be some outlet for Sony's classic wild-eyed grandeur. Sony's new Signature audio series consists of the gold-plated NW-WM1Z Walkman, which weighs in at 455g (1lb) and $3,200, the $2,300 MDR-Z1R closed-back headphones, and a desktop headphone amp whose price I haven't even dared to look up. First impressions? 
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The portable media player barely qualifies to be called portable. This new 256GB Walkman glints beautifully under IFA's bright lights, and its hefty case is machined to a perfect finish, but its weight is overwhelming.

 I simultaneously love it for its looks and hate it for its impracticality.

 Typical Sony, then!

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What they don't like you to realize is you can get the same or better music sound quality for $58.00 instead of $5,500!

And then there is my old "mini Disc" player that uses Sony Atrac encoding which is really great when compared to MP3.