> All smart phone has hardware volume buttons. My Bluetooth earphones have hardware play and pause buttons. I don't care much about volume buttons - it's usual

> All smart phone has hardware volume buttons. My Bluetooth earphones have hardware play and pause buttons. I don't care much about volume buttons - it's usually adjusted to what I think is right and rarely tweaked. What I care about is buttons to control the tracks: there are no next/previous track and play button on the smartphones I tried. > And the device we are comparing it against (the new Sony Walkman) is also touchscreen based like smart phones. It also has actual hardware buttons. > So there isn’t really anything between modern Walkmans and smart phones these days Well, if you exclude the buttons I care about, yes. > when I’m listening to lossy music You do, but I don't! > The real differentiator there is what (ear|head)phones Agreed, it's often the limiting factors. I had played with FLAC files before but couldn't find much of a difference. Now that I have proper headphones and earbuds, I do!! And it's actually why I'm waiting for proper neckbad earbuds to consider exercicing with music: just like I don't want to listen to lossy music, I don't want to be exposed to bad earbuds.