Hello y'all! I am looking at one of these and I'm about to take the early '90s Aiwa walkman plunge. Don't worry because I am good with SMD soldering/desoldering. Where would I get a battery holder for this thing? I've also considered this too.

So have you bought it yet? The battery holder is unique to this line of walkman from AIWA. I have a HS-P50 (Rest of world is a HS-P505) and I have the original battery box for mine. I doubt very much your chances of finding a battery box on it's own for one they are that rare.

The P50 series use only SMD capacitors. So, yes you will most likely encounter leaking caps and will have to draw on your experience for their replacement.

I have not bought it yet. Im also looking at a P50 that has a battery case but is missing a button and has a problem with the internal battery lid. we'll see

If it were me, I'd buy both assuming they are quite cheap. I'd then cobble the parts together to repair the P50. Why? because the HX head was dropped from the MKII version as a cost cutting measure. There were probably other acts committed to reducing cost in the MKII as well.

Or alternatively if the damage is too great on the exterior of the P50 substitute it into the shell of the P505MKII.