Sony NWZ-X1050 review

Sony’s latest player, the X Series, uses a 3in OLED screen, which gives noticeably deeper blacks and richer colours than the older LCD technology. It’s a capacitive touchscreen, which accesses a surprisingly intuitive and responsive user interface. Wisely, though, Sony has provided physical buttons for the main skip, pause and volume controls.

There’s also a switch to enable noise cancelling. Turn it on and the X Series uses audio feedback from the supplied high-quality, two-way headphones to suppress external sounds. It works astonishingly well, although of course it’s a feature you lose if you want to use your own headphones.

Still, that’s not a high priority, as sound quality with the standard pair is perfectly rich, if a little lacking in weight compared to the Creative X-Fi 2. Video performance is as good as we’d expect too, with videos appearing vibrant and smooth. If there’s a problem, it’s the high-quality 240 x 432 screen showing up the effects of heavy-handed compression.

There’s an FM radio, and even Wi-Fi – not for transferring files, but for viewing YouTube clips and browsing web pages in areas with wireless internet access. It all adds up to a very attractive package. As with the S Series, though, it’s disappointing that the X Series requires a special Sony cable, rather than standard USB, to connect to a PC – and at this price, it’s decidedly a luxury.