NW-X1050

The NW-X1050 is a premium model in Sony's X Series Network Walkman. This high-end branch incorporated advanced display and connectivity features for music, video, and web access. It features 16 GB storage supporting MP3, AAC-LC (non-DRM), WMA (non-DRM), and Linear PCM playback. A WQVGA (432x240) OLED display presented track information with Li-Ion battery life of 33 hours for music or 9 for video. Touchscreen control, Wi-Fi, noise cancellation, direct USB and WM-PORT connections, video and photo playback, S-Master amplifier, DSEE, and various audio processing tools were standard along with OneSeg TV tuner, YouTube app, and NetFront browser.

The X1050 is where Sony made one of its boldest attempts to drag the Walkman back into the center of the premium portable conversation. Touchscreen, OLED, noise cancellation, Wi-Fi, a browser, and a much more modern visual identity gave the X Series a very different energy from the button-driven A and S models around it. This is the point when Sony stopped merely refining the classic flash Walkman and started asking whether the premium Walkman needed to become something else entirely.