Sony's MDR-3R went on sale Thursday for $59.99, a remake of the on-ear headphones that came with the first Walkman in 1979. The thin metal headband is back, and so are the foam pads, with blue and orange pairs both in the box. It keeps the old 23mm driver size and weighs just 38 grams. The 3.5mm plug is gone, though. You get USB-C instead, plus an in-line remote and a microphone for calls. There's also a $79.99 Stranger Things edition with black and red pads and a logo engraved on the headband, due November 6.
Sony's support pages warn against using USB-C headphones with its Walkman players, SoundGuys found, because the volume controls may not work and playback can get stuck at maximum volume. On the $5,899.99 NW-WM1ZM3, SoundGuys says, you won't hear any music at all. So they're for phones, tablets and laptops, and the people nearby will hear them too. Sony says the open design leaks some sound, and in one early test a roommate a few feet away could tell music was playing even at normal volume. The reviewer was still surprised by how clear they sound, though there isn't much depth.