I'll go with colorful and boxy anyday over egg'd and black. Most of these guys don't have a lot to work with, the transport just needs a shell.
Be interesting to see the specs when they're revealed. I'm not expecting anything stellar. But you never know....
Interesting to see a walkman from Fiio, didn't expect this. From pictures the design looks promising and would assume it will be somewhat similar to the WeAreRewind one, but smaller. The fact they say it's a "high-res" player makes me think they will use some good low noise amplifiers in it. If that's the case it's good news. Not including record functionality, speaker and mic is a step in the right direction suggesting they're focused in making a good player not in features that are not needed. The mechanism, won't expect anything else than the Tanashin-type one, but there may be a better implementation of that mechanism depending on price (which I expect to be in the 200euros range). However right from the start noticed some things I don't like: 1. Non-removable battery. Ok, I understand the device looks better without having a door, I understand that door can be lost (this has a simple solution), but these are minor things which cannot justify it. Also, I can't see any screws on the case so have to assume it's similar to the WeAreRewind one. Would prefer AA/AAA batteries (or at least a user removable 18650) + the integrated USB-C port. The advantage of lithium vs NiMH is not really needed in this application, not to mention once the battery is discharged one will have to wait to charge before being able to use the device. With AA, I can simply swap the batteries with another set that is already charged (which is what I do on my vintage walkmans) eliminating this incovenience. 2. No 120/70μs EQ switch. Ok, I understand all new tape releases are on TYPE I, but if it's a "high-res" player I would assume they target a larger market and being Fiio would also expect them to do things differently than they have been done before. Maybe there's an automatic tape switch inside the cassette compartment, but I doubt it. This is way too simple (and cheap) to implement and there's nothing proprietary behind it, so really no reason not to do it.
