WM-WX1

The WM-WX1 is the final model in Sony's WX wireless cassette Walkman line, released in 1995 as the closing expression of the company's long-running cord-free portable experiment. It retained the familiar wireless headphone system, auto-reverse playback, Dolby B noise reduction, Automatic Music Sensor, AVLS, and Extended Dynamic Bass Boost inside a compact upright metal chassis with a visible tape window. The overall package was less about introducing a new wireless concept than refining the one Sony had already been iterating for years.

This model is less of a beginning than a graceful ending. By the mid-1990s, Sony had clearly decided the wireless cassette Walkman would remain a niche branch instead of the mainstream future, but the company still gave it one final, fully features send-off. It stands as the end of one of the stranger and more charming side roads in the Walkman family.