Solely supreme audio at a price point sadly crying for convergence.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great sounding audio, wonderful looking display. Brilliant touch-screen interface.

Cons: Expensive; questionable value. Limited functionality against its main adversary, the Apple iPod Touch.

The Bottom Line: 
The X-series Walkman is an audiophile's dream. Despite the wonderful interface, it's a shame it flails when doing almost everything else.

Author's Review
Another month, another MP3 player making it into Monoblocks Manor.

Sony's latest foray into the iPod fighter abyss--the highly anticipated X-series portable media player (particularly by the anti-iPod crowd)--has been a wonderfully enticing if somewhat flawed device over the past month that I've had it. It's a smart, sleek device, more compact than an iPod Touch and plays music with aplomb and excellence that sadly has been lacking with my own 2nd-generation Touch over the course of the latter device’s time with me this past 10 months.
 
What videos I've been able to load onto my NWZ-X1061 have looked marvelous on the player's brilliant OLED display. It offers Wi-Fi and a web browser and brings FM radio to the table, as well as direct links to YouTube and Slacker internet radio. There's a heft and solidity to the X-series that simply exudes a supreme built quality, something so rarely achieved these days by anyone this side of Apple. By nearly any media measure, the X-series generation of portable music player is a sublime, resolute and stunning achievement.

So why do I feel that for all of its merits, the Sony X-series is still so fundamentally lacking and brutally challenged on value?

The reason is actually quite obvious: the existence and success of its prime competitor, the Apple iPod Touch. The Touch has become the moving target that every media device competitor is gunning for these days, including Sony. The huge solid state data storage, the touch-screen interface, the slew of functions...the Touch in and of itself has redefined the role of the MP3 player, with the sort of impact to the marketplace that Apple had with its original Windows-friendly combo of iPod + iTunes. So Very Cupertino...and what we've come to expect from those folks who used to only make an alternative computer platform to Windows.

Apart from Sony, Samsung has brought its YP-P3 touch-screen to the table, Cowon has multiple sets of touch-screen devices for sale, Creative has announced its Zii OEM platform and Microsoft has the ZuneHD waiting in the wings for a fall release; all of their reticles trained squarely on the Touch, taking aim and their best shots at Apple's segment-leading device. But the problem for each is that the Touch is indeed a very much a swift-moving platform, one that so far has been exceedingly hard to hit and take much damage. This is made so by Apple’s persistent updating and the one key feature that the touch-screen competitors released to date have failed to emulate: Apple's iTunes App Store.

Installable applications like games or even productivity software are what make the Touch stand apart from its competition. The Touch is more an ultra portable computer than mere media playing device, and that's where its own brand of excellence lies. As great as the X-series is, and it IS a great device for what it does, it simply is in a different--and sadly lesser--tier than the Touch, even as the price points are the same. Fact is that no other pocket portable touch-screen that's been released to date--apart from cell phones like the Palm Pre, T-Mobile G1 or Apple's own iPhone--comes close to the versatility and functional flexibility of the iPod Touch.

I can't help but see the X-series as being a more finely honed, specialized tool than the jack-of-all-trades, Swiss Army knife character of the iPod Touch, which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. But in this day and age of device convergence it's also something akin to being a dinosaur when the world has already moved on with mammals. The X-series is indeed the sharp end of the spear...but Sony's problem is that the battle isn't about chucking sticks around but instead is a full bore artillery exchange--one that in fact has been well known and established whilst Sony was whittling away at their throwing staff--and as a result has Apple bringing one hell of a howitzer to the battlefield. The proverbial unfair fight, but one that's of Sony's own doing.

Its price point is by far the X-series' key stumbling block; for the same money as the Touch, the Apple device simply offers much more dynamics, function and versatility. Even in the best of times value matters a lot, and these days are far from being the best of times. No Sony, there is NOT a 'cash for chuckers' stimulus package brewing in Congress. Spear makers--and MP3 manufacturers--simply don’t get the sort of love that automakers apparently get.

Yes the X-series does audio much more resolutely and with greater depth and quality than a Touch does, but for anyone beyond an audio geek that's simply not enough value. For audio purposes alone I grab my X-series far more than my Touch, but when I want connectivity and versatility, the X-series stays in its storage pouch and it's the Touch that gets the workout.

And that's the Achilles’ heel of my Sony NWZ-X1061; it's a great music device begging to be much more, but floundering as it tries to be what it can't.

The Unboxing

From a green standpoint, the X-series comes with nearly an all-paper based packaging ensemble. "Ensemble" is actually an apt description, since it really is multi-layered to the hilt, to the point of over-packaging. The experience is akin to unbundling one's own self after a day out in sub-zero conditions; only in this case it’s multiple layers of cardboard peeled off just to get to the heart of the matter, the X-series player itself. Perhaps a bit unfairly, the term "overkill" was the one that came immediately to mind as I was unboxing this device. Instead of enhancing the drama, it seemed more like Grandma was at it again and wanted to use the ENTIRE roll of Christmas wrap on my single, lone present.

The X-series packaging starts with a thin outer cardboard sleeve that wraps over a heavier cardboard box, one that's reminiscent of the sort of quality that a higher end Seiko or Citizen wrist watch comes in. However in Sony's case, there's not fabric or felt liner inside its own box for cosseting the X-series--though considering its price there probably should’ve been. Rather, once the slip top cover is removed there's a sheet of clear acetate covering the X-series player that's been 'embedded' in its own cardboard tray. Once that tray has been removed, you'll find that there's yet another cardboard box underneath which contains the headphones, proprietary connection cables, adapters, software and miscellaneous paperwork. Aside from the hardware, software CD, a small plastic bag or two for the accessories and the Mylar cover film, the rest is all paper-based. Definitely it's high on the green, recyclable content if one chooses to dispose of all of this content in an eco-friendly manner. In all it's a classy presentation if a bit overdone.

The Device

The X-1061 itself is one solid feeling mechanism, one that can't help but exude the aura of well-built quality. For its size it doesn't feel as if it's a featherweight like so many other devices comparable in form often do. There's an obvious heft and substantial feel to this X-series that's missing from many media players, one that gives the sense of permanence and timelessness that even the class-leading iPod Touch is somewhat lacking in. Its initial impression is that it’s built like the proverbial brick.

The chassis underpinning is typical of and what I've come to expect from Sony these days for its portable media devices: a base of metal to build on, though this time with ample glass on the front over the OLED display. The edges are exposed beveled metal with a textured finish reminiscent of the sort of faux granite, spray-on paint that came along in the 1980s. While the appeal of the looks of this stuff is debatable, its non-slip character in my hands is not.

I haven't decided for sure on what exactly the back face is made from, but it appears to be some sort of black plastic laminate, albeit with a high gloss sheen and metallic glitter as a backdrop to the Walkman graphic logo evidently used to capture a bit of bling for the design. The back panel is perhaps the weakest surface from a quality standpoint; it tends to creak when I apply a point of pressure on the surface with a thumb or finger, and like the glass front of the player its glossy sheen is a woeful fingerprint magnet.

Putting a measuring tape to the device, the X-series is marginally larger than the current generation iPod nano but considerably more petite than the nano's larger sibling, the Touch. The OLED screen area measures 3" diagonally and is truly one with a widescreen aspect ratio. As with many other devices these days, video is viewed in 'landscape' orientation. The OLED display is vibrant, clear and bright, and works fairly well in an environment with strong, ambient lighting. Like the Touch there's no built-in microphone, but unlike the Apple device there's no onboard speaker.

For a touch-screen device, mechanical switches are abundant on the X-series player. On the display face is a single, top half-circle brushed metal Home button at the bottom of the front panel. On the top edge are mechanical duplications of the touch-screen play/pause and forward/back switches alongside the standard 3.5mm (1/8") headphone jack. On the right edge is the volume rocker and noise cancellation slider switches, along with a pin-activated unit reset switch. Finally on the back face is the Hold control slider switch, again in half-circle form though this time it's the bottom of the circle and placed towards the top as part of the cluster with the play/pause and forward/back buttons.

Functions and Features

Obviously the user interface is The Big Deal with the X-series, and in truth it doesn't disappoint. The device's touch-screen is a thing to behold; it's smooth, reactive, and sensitive in ways that my Touch can only dream about. About the only thing that's missing is tactile, haptic feedback, but even that's not sorely missed. Sony took their earlier Walkman interface, itself an extremely good navigation design, and deftly applied the touch-screen interface to it. Simple as that. For the most part it's a dream to operate, and far less cumbersome than some of the layers of menus I have to trundle through on the Touch to get something done or adjusted. Aside from Apple's (perhaps) proprietary multi-touch capability, for me this is an absolute winner over the Touch's interface design.

The X-series handles the customary file formats that Walkmans have been running with of late; on the compressed end its supported formats are MP3, WMA (both DRM and non-protected) and AAC (non-DRM), up to 320k audio resolution (192k for WMA) and support for variable bitrate rips. On the lossless front LPCM (WAV) is the lone available format. A five-band, software-based equalizer with preset settings and user-customizable controls is built-in, as are a number of digital audio processing controls that have been carried over from previous Walkman devices.

Though I'm hardly a video junkie, I should add that video formats supported are MPEG-4, H.264/AVC and WMV9, but is often limited to 320x240 resolution even though the player's screen is capable of 432x240. Simple profile 480x270 is available for WMA9 files. However actual format availability is rather confining for the X-series given the preferred resolution that the player operates with; often most content will have to be converted in order to function correctly on this device, which with Sony's provided software has shown itself to me to be no simple task.

FM radio is also provided on the X-series, which is a nice add-on but among many of the more youthful generations of consumers is seen as something of a throwback, obsolete technology, so how well this works as a selling point is to be seen. Fortunately Sony provided a built-in app for Slacker, an internet streaming music service that the non-believers in the over-the-air broadcast model are more likely to cozy up to...just as long as there's a Wi-Fi connection around. Sony also provides an app link to YouTube as well, to satisfy those who simply can't get enough online video in their lives.

Other Wi-Fi uses on the X-series involve the built-in browser, though so far it's hardly been a user-friendly experience. Certainly the Touch and its Safari browser have been for me more satisfying, and I suspect that the upcoming ZuneHD and its stripped-down version of Internet Explorer will be superior to this Sony hack job. Suffice to say that given their effort here, Sony will NOT be the first place I'd look to for a web browser.

The one aspect and feature that Sony does clearly have over the Touch is its built-in noise-canceling function. Used in conjunction with the included earbuds, the X-series' noise-canceling abilities does do a decent to good job of zeroing out some of the background noise, but it's not as satisfying or complete as larger, over-the-ear active canceling headsets are capable of providing. One positive however is that these earbuds do provide decent to good sound quality to my ears; in unison with the noise-canceling function it's actually a rather pleasant listening environment.

What the X-series is not (and what it's sorely missing)

From my prior and much loved Sony NZW-A829, the X-series (at least to date) doesn't carry over the earlier superb player's stereo Bluetooth capability. Moreover, lacking this capability also puts it behind the second-generation iPod Touch, which got its stereo Bluetooth functionality with its 3.0 update of the onboard firmware. In this regard it's clear that my Touch has the X1061 handily beat. Couple this with the lackluster browser experience on the X-series, connectivity as it stands now is not a strong suit for the little Sony.

With no capacity currently to allow for additional installation of applications, the Sony is truly well behind the Touch. As mentioned previously, the Touch is very much a pocket-sized computer, taking up where the old PDA genotype left off. Moreover, the Touch can be an impromptu gaming platform, an arena that up until now only cell phones and the Zune platform have managed to compete in. The Touch's accelerometer makes up some of the functions lost with that device's lack of mechanical controls; the X-series sadly doesn't have anything comparable in return in order to accommodate such gaming sophistication in the future.

Speaking of said PDA functionality, the Sony again falls well behind the Touch in this area as well. There's nothing close to the sort of data convergence that's possible with the Touch, even if I only take into account what's built-in and discount any additional apps downloaded from the iTunes App Store. The Touch is as close as it gets to being a smartphone without the phone side of the equation. There's no notepad function, or anything close to an address book or calendar, not that there's any sort of data entry capability on the device to be able to service such functions. Sadly, this is another case of the Sony's limited function and focus going against the grain of the overall convergence marketplace.

Moving onto the video side, the Sony is dreadfully lacking in its ability to support that area of functionality. As mentioned previously, video files far too often have to be translated and converted to a format that's actually friendly with the X-series. While this isn't all that different from earlier video-capable Walkman players, it IS tiresome that Sony still hasn't rectified this issue by now. The OLED screen is capable of some truly great-looking display work, but the format translation abilities--or lack thereof--of the software for the X1061 and its current siblings is such that, unless you're a masochist, you'll won't even want to bother with watching vids on this player. It's that painful of a user experience.

While the X-series is capable of receiving FM radio (something that the Touch doesn't do), the soon-to-be-released ZuneHD ups that function with its ability to receive HD radio. Even against the Touch, FM radio capability hasn't been many consumers' wish lists. FM is relatively low fidelity media, and doesn't get the sort of listener traffic that it once did as a result. While some like me might see the X-series' ability to receive as a plus, even I have to admit that I rarely used the built-in FM tuner on my Zune 80 or my Creative Zen X-Fi, preferring instead to listen to my own, higher fidelity music rips and downloads.

Playlists...the bane of my time with Walkman MP3 devices...and sadly (and maddeningly) it's no different with the X-series. Sony still hasn't provided the ability to make onboard playlists; it's as if they've locked onto the design of this operating system and user interface of theirs and won't develop it beyond anything that doesn't scream 'eye candy'. Functionality counts for a lot too, Sony...or don't you get that? Ironically, on a TOUCH-SCREEN device playlists become even more important than ever, since it's too easy to foul up the play mode that the device is set in because of the sensitivity of the screen interface, and the Hold control is far more often in play than on a device with a purely mechanical control interface. Making a playlist on-the-fly, then setting the device to Play and locking the controls seems OBSCENELY basic...why can't Sony see the obvious simplicity and practicality in this?

And while I'm on a subject involving the Hold control, it would've been NICE had some engineer at Sony had the vision and insight to make the slider switch into a two-tier control, one where the first detent locks only the screen inputs, and a second one where the mechanical controls are also locked, thus completely locking out any inputs. In reality, the provided mechanical switches are HARD to accidentally activate, unlike that of the touch-screen. It would be much more convenient and easier on the Hold switch if the player could just lock down touch-screen interface where the bulk of unintended inputs are going to take place anyways. Change the light bulb, Sony...it should've come on during the design process.

(Note: since the initial posting of this review, I've found the Hold switch settings toggle in the firmware that allows me--or any other user--to select the option of disabling the touch-screen only rather than putting on hold all of the switch controls in the default mode that the X-series player shipped in. While for me it's not as desirable as the two-tier hold switch I pined for, it does go quite a way in rectifying the possibility of inadvertent command inputs from the player's touch screen. I guess the light bulb was working, after all.

In addition, I discovered a number of other user-selectable controls/modes embedded in the firmware, including the ability to deemphasize the display intensity of the background wallpaper on the home screen, which itself can be customized with personal JPEG images loaded on the player in addition to selecting from the stock images Sony provides.

There is also a built-in USB connection mode setting for making the player appear as an external USB drive (UMS, for Universal Mass Storage and also often referred to as MSC--Mass Storage Class--as wall) rather than its default MTP (music transfer protocol) setting...pardon the techogeek acronyms. However, this become particularly useful when interfacing my X1061 to USB-enabled devices like my car stereo which doesn't use or understand MTP as a transfer/read protocol.)

The Final Cut

Once all the demerits are tallied, the X-series is indeed left with being primarily a music-playing device, albeit an extremely good one. It sounds fabulous with my Sennheiser IE8 in-ear monitors, and from a musical standpoint it's a winner. But that's the proverbial rub.

Portable devices AREN'T all about the music anymore, as if they ever were. In this age of convergence a device NEEDS to be versatile, particularly for the sort of money Sony wants for their X-series players. My X1061 does video quite well, except that it takes far too much effort and angst to get that video media onto the bloody player to begin with. The connectivity of the X-series is middling at best; while there's direct links to Slacker and YouTube, the browser experience is rarely satisfying, and there's no built-in Bluetooth capability for wireless headphones as there was only a couple of Walkman generations ago.

These sorts of problems were forgivable a year or two ago when my old A829 was shiny and new to the marketplace; they're unforgivable now given the time that's passed unfulfilled and with the developments from other makers that have taken place, evidently right under Sony's still-too snooty nose. This is particularly disappointing given the X1061's hefty price of admission. In light of all of the online talk on where the NEXT generation of iPod Touch is heading (camera, built-in microphone, possible VOIP capability), the X-series is indeed looking very behind-the-times. Not good for a device that's only been on the market for a month...and already being packaged with 100 free music downloads at the Sony Style store.

For such a device that's ultimately proving itself to be a one-trick pony (short of a total firmware redux from Sony), it's hard to recommend this for everyone. If you're a music lover first and foremost, the NWZ-X1061 is a hearty recommend. But for anyone else looking for value, functionality and versatility...keep looking.

So despite my high scores for epinion's five individual MP3 player categories and my blissful enjoyment of the X1061's supreme sonic quality, I find that I have a tough time giving an overall score much higher than average. Final verdict: three and 1/2 stars, and only conditionally recommended.