WM-171

The WM-171 shared the same 17X-series chassis and playback hardware as the WM-170, including auto-reverse, Dolby B, Dynamic Bass Boost, the EX Amorphous head, and manual tape selection, but finished the package in a pearl white exterior instead of black. Like its siblings, it uses a metal frame beneath the bodywork and remained a playback-only machine with a single headphone output and basic mechanical controls. Functionally it is almost identical, but visually it landed in a slightly softer register.

This is one of those subtle late-1980s Sony variations where the difference is less about engineering than about who the object is meant to appeal to. The WM-171 reflects a period when the Walkman had fully crossed into fashion-adjacent territory, and surface treatment alone could be enough to justify a parallel model. Small distinctions like this mattered once portable audio became part of how people carries themselves as much as what they carries.