WM-EX651

The WM-EX651 is part of the last dedicated playback Walkman Sony produced for the Japanese domestic market, and effectively the closing domestic EX-series model. Built around a simplified mechanism related to the earlier EX631, it kept the format's late essentials intact: auto-reverse playback, AMS track search, blank skip, Mega Bass, AVLS, and flexible power support through both gumstick rechargeable and AA battery operation. A jog-style control wheel and charging cradle gave the machine a slightly more resolved and efficient feel than the simpler entry-level players around it, even though the overall concept had become very stripped back by then.

This is part of the clearest endpoint models in the entire Walkman story. The EX651 was not trying to modernize cassette or dress it up as something it was not. It reads as Sony reducing the playback Walkman to its last stable domestic form: compact, familiar, and built for the people who still wanted exactly this and nothing else.