Sony out to get Neil Young with high-res Walkman A15 audio player

Sony has announced a new walkman at IFA 2014, but the hi-res Walkman NWZ-A15 portable audio player is anything but ordinary.

The Sony Walkman NWZ-A15 is a high-end portable audio player that might be seen as a rival to the Neil Young Pono Player, which caused such a fuss back in early 2014.

As well as offering support for high-end audio formats like ALAC and FLAC, the Walkman NWZ-A15claims to have a much better-than-average headphone amplifier thanks to its use of a fancy POSCAP capacitor.

It also features lead-free solder points and thicker internal power cabling to avoid them becoming the weakest link in the audio chain.

It is overkill? If you don't already own an expensive pair of headphones, probably.

Aside from its solid audio cred, the Sony Walkman NWZ-A17 seems quite basic in other respects.

Designer retro

It has a 2.2-inch 320 x 240 pixel screen and basic media player software that certainly won't let you check your emails or play Android games.

You do get 64GB internal memory and a microSD card slot, and at just 44mm wide and 8.7mm thick, it's a good deal smaller than most phones.

The Sony Walkman NWZ-A15 also features Bluetooth and NFC, to let it pair with wireless headphones and speakers. There's even an FM radio for when those 24-bit FLAC files just get a bit too much for you.

The Sony Walkman NWZ-A15 will sell for US$299.99 from September. UK and Australian pricing has not yet been announced.