Best lossless player

Best lossless player

Best Lossless Audio Players in 2023, According to Experts,1. Hysolid

WebVery expensive. Price When Reviewed: $3, Best Prices Today: $ at Astell&Kern. You’ll still need deep pockets to afford the world’s best digital audio player, Author: Theo Nicolakis WebFeb 7,  · Best MP3 player for portable music players from Astell & Kern, Onkyo and more. By Becky Scarrott. Contributions from. Olivia Tambini, Christian de Looper. WebApr 3,  · Best Overall: Agptek Lossless Music Player. Buy on Amazon. The Agptek Lossless Music Player should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. In Web5 rows · Feb 23,  · 5. 80GB MP3 Player. 9. Check Price. #1 Best for Budget: Surfans F20 HiFi MP3 Player. High-Res AdFind the right products that fits your budget and needs. Here you will find exactly what you need with the best products and prices! ... read more

And we stress the word 'reasonably': because while it pushes performance forward, it also pushes what is acceptable as an entry-level price. Still, if your budget can stretch to it, this is a truly stunning player with superb build quality to match. How about a customisable PMP with interchangeable DAC modules? That's the idea here — and we liked it so much, we gave it What Hi-Fi? To personally tailor your sound, the SE goes one step further than the slightly older SE which has two user-selectable DAC configurations built into the player in that it features an interchangeable DAC module design. Of course, these can be considered optional extras; experimental paths that can be taken or completely ignored. After all, the SE is an all-in-one player in itself, with the default module containing the ESS ESPRO DAC. It boasts a more powerful built-in headphone amplifier than the previous Kann series players it succeeds, too. And thanks to the rearrangement of various components and the use of smaller resistors and capacitors, it promises added power in a smaller and more portable chassis.

It's still slightly bulky but will fit in a coat pocket and supports most music file formats, including MQA, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WAV and native DSD It's similarly wide-ranging when it comes to wireless codec support LDAC , aptX HD, aptX, AAC and, naturally, SBC Bluetooth. There's bit and DSD file compatibility; three headphone outputs 2. The biggest selling point? Sound quality. We cannot fault its sonic chops. The Alpha is as meticulous and honest as it is zealous, with an expansive presentation, punchy bass and good levels of detail. Fundamentally, players such as this must deliver hi-res music in a portable design — and it delivers this in spades. Live recordings are leant a degree of spaciousness and realism rarely heard.

Our Product of the Year Award winner is still one of the best portable music players at around this price bracket a few years on. Boasting an easy-to-use interface, stacks of storage and plenty of hi-res file support — not to mention serious levels of detail and a dynamic sound that's synonymous with the brand — it promises a severe step up from your smartphone sound. Arguably the ultimate high-resolution portable music player in this price bracket, the Kann's solid build combines with impressive battery life and a long list of features. There are both unbalanced 3. Even when fed lower-resolution tracks via streaming services, the Kann maintains its character. Admittedly the aesthetics might raise a few eyebrows — and the newer Kann Alpha is a slightly more svelte model. But make no mistake, this is a talented machine you will struggle to put down.

Not many portable music players will find common ground with the SP — and that goes for price, build and performance. This is a one-of-a-kind player, which is as impractically portable as it is inaccessibly priced. If it were a car, it would be a Bentley Arnage — a luxurious ride for special occasions, rather than something to use for the weekly shop. This is a subtle presentation, rather than a barnstormer, which befits its high-end price tag. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers tests the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door, including the higher-end portable music players that might well be used in a portable hi-fi or desktop scenario.

These music players are placed in our pockets during the review period too, of course, so we can gauge how portable and easy to use on the fly they really are. Most important in our reviewing process is that each product is compared with the best in its price and class. What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, so we keep our Award winners nearby to enable comparisons between new products and ones we know perform highly in the category. We are always impartial and do our utmost to make sure we are hearing every product at its very best, so we try plenty of different types of music and give each plenty of listening time and time to run in.

We use a range of headphones at levels likely to suit a certain player, too. It's not just about sound quality, of course. If a product has noteworthy features — such as a battery life, built-in streaming services and DAC-performing abilities, in the case of portable music players — we always ensure part of our testing involves testing the claims made by its makers. All review verdicts are agreed upon by the entire team, rather than an individual reviewer, to eliminate any personal preference and to make sure we are being as thorough as possible. There is no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict.

At What Hi-Fi? Looking for a bargain? See the best hi-fi deals. These are the best smartphones around right now. Get clued up, stat: MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC: all the audio file formats explained. Sign up below to get the latest from What Hi-Fi? Ruben is a Staff Writer at What Hi-Fi? and longtime consumer technology and gaming journalist. Ruben's a dedicated gamer, tech nerd, and the kind of person who misses physical media. In his spare time, you can find Ruben cooking something delicious or, more likely, lying in bed consuming content. Open menu Close menu What Hifi What Hifi What Hi-Fi? THE WORLD'S 1 TECH BUYER'S GUIDE. opens in new tab opens in new tab opens in new tab opens in new tab opens in new tab. AU Edition. Australian Hifi. Sound Image. Trending Best Buys Newsletter Best wireless earbuds Best TVs Bristol Show Our expert review:.

Specifications Storage: 64GB expandable by 1TB via microSD. Headphone outputs: 3. Battery life: 20hrs. Dimensions: Weight: g. Reasons to avoid - 64GB internal storage. Also, you can see our guides on Best Hifi Players , Best Lossless Players , Best Lossless Music Players and Best Music Players for a wider range of candidates. After carefully comparing almost 70 players, we think the best player, that suit most people, is metioned as first option below. Our final collection has the best products and we also managed to maintain variety within our picks for personal choice. Note: Just because we didn't mention a player in this guide doesn't mean it's not good. The following are simply our picks for the best players for most people - you may have your own specifications , that make a different player better for you. Customers say that getting a high resolution lossless music player , along with player is useful.

Following the rise in popularity of the hi-res audio player DAP in the past few years, audiophiles have a lot of options and it's getting kind of hard to keep up with all the new devices hitting the market. Lots of you want to know who has the best HD Music Player. Many of these Audiophile players have caught our eye and the range of features you can now get in a portable package is mind-boggling. Plus if you are going to be using some of the best headphones in the world then you don't want to bottleneck the sound with a bad DAP. With ever more competitive pricing, this makes choosing the right one pretty darn complicated.

We wanted to make things a little bit simpler so we created this top 10 list of the best hi-res players we could find. Everything we have listed here has been tested by us and if there is not already a full review up there will be one live on the site soon. Update: Lots of people have been asking, so I will tell you, that this is the DAP I am currently using on a Day to day basis Updated March , I am not saying it is the perfect model for everyone but it is for me right now. It sounds incredible. I have a lot of other units that I also use for testing but that is the one that has seen the most playtime over the past few months. Of course, it goes without saying that what is right for me might not fit your needs.

The truth is I could happily listen to any of these players listed below all day, every day. As I mentioned above the Ibasso DX is my high res music player of choice as I think it strikes a nice balance of features and price. Oh and not to mention it sounds ridiculously good. Whatever IEM or Headphone I throw at it the DX never seems to lack power and that is very important to me as someone who reviews a wide variety of hi-res headphones. I also love the big screen and smoothness of the Android operating system. I feel like I have never had it crash or lag on me even when sifting through a micro-sd card filled with GB of music. It works and works well. Finally, the connectivity is on point with high-resolution wireless formats at hand as well as wired ports for balanced connectors and standard 3. The interface is simple in that everything you need for switching settings on the sly is available through dedicated hardware buttons. Build quality is exceptional and despite the high price, I would recommend the PAW gold to anyone who wants to do critical listening on the go.

The Kann is my favorite and one that I have personally owned because it is extremely feature-rich. The Kann is offering users dual Sabre DAC's, balanced headphone out ports, and great file support with native DSD, APTX, and MQA. I put the Futura SE below the Kann on this list for one reason. It's really bloody expensive. That's not to say it's overpriced but for many users, it can certainly be considered overkill when we are talking about driving headphones and IEM's to their full potential. The magic going on here is that you are kind of treated to two high-resolution music players in one device.

The SE is a multi DAC DAP. That means there are two DACs on the inside that can be switched to work independently. You can either choose between dual Sabre DACs or an AKM chip and each of those has its own independent amp section. It sounds incredible, easily one of the best in the world right now and it looks gorgeous as well. If you were thinking the above DAPs are expensive then stop right there. This music player is the most expensive on the list by a long way. Is it worth it? Well, I guess at a point all thought goes out the window when you are looking for completely uncompromised performance. Having spent over a month testing one I can say for a fact it is the best sounding portable music player I have ever used and it puts many of my desktop units to shame.

That sound is driven by a pair of dual AKM AKEQ chips and the whole unit runs off an eight-core CPU making it fast and responsive. I want to be clear, I don't think this is something anyone needs but there is no denying how good it is and if you can afford this without having to stretch for it then get it. It's one hell of an experience when paired up with a really good set of headphones like the Focal Utopia or Sony MDR-1ZR. The Fiio M6 gives us a look at the first mid-priced music player on our list. Despite being much cheaper than the above models it represents fantastic value to budget audiophiles looking to compliment a good set of hi-res earphones or headphones.

In terms of specs, it's a little dated with a single ESS DAC unit and only Bluetooth 4. However, it supports High-resolution music streaming through Deezer and Tidal and can be hooked up to your computer to work as an external DAC. The sound is clean and crisp with very little coloration I would say it sounds neutral. Power-wise it does well and in my tests only extreme planar headphones suffered from power draw. Some other plus points of the M6 are the large almost bezelless screen, USB-C charging, and 14 hours of battery life during the review. Links: Official Fiio M6 Webpage. Another budget music player on this list this time from Hidizs. This is the ultra-light, ultra-portable DAP you have been looking for.

It has a bug 2. The Operating system is rock solid even when we had a 1TB micro sd card installed with GB of music. Bluetooth is another draw and it includes support for the LDAC standard but ultimately we just like the sound on this little player. It works great at driving headphones up to ohms and does equally well with all but the most sensitive of IEM's. The only thing it lacked was a balanced output. The Surfans F20 has gained a bit of a cult following. It's a high res DAP with a focus on those who keep their music library on an SD card rather than using lossless streaming apps.

It's an old-school audiophile DAP that offers a lot of value for money. All major lossless file formats are included and there is also Bluetooth output should you wish to use it. Sound quality and the low price more than makeup for the lack of touchscreen and apps. It's a spacious sounding DAP with lots of power and a dark black background. Finally, the last thing I love about the Surfans F20 is the tank-like build quality and tactile clicky buttons, and scroll wheel. It really gave me that throwback to a simpler time where I wasn't tapping on screens and could just use my DAP for what it was meant for. Listening to music.

For a long time, Fiio has been in control of the cheap DAP market but in recent years they expanded their line and are considered one of the best music player and amp manufacturers on the planet. The M11 plus is the companies latest mid-priced offering and it's probably their best in terms of price to performance. The M11 Plus supports a range of high-resolution audio formats such as DSD: DSF: DFF PCM: APE: Flac: WAV: AIFF: ALAC: WMA: PCM: MP3: OGG: ACC. This music player packs a heavy punch for both its size and price and competes with many of AK's entry-level models on sound.

The interface is less refined but it's still a hell of a bargain. Just look at this spec list. Stunning doesn't even begin to describe the chassis of the NW-WM1Z. The entire body is milled out of copper and then gold plated making it a premium feeling mp3 player as well as a handsome one. When Sony goes big on any product they really go all out and you do feel that even at the ridiculous price point they aren't cutting corners. The internal cabling is an all-new design with a Kimber design braid. The special FT capacitors made for the player give tonnes of power. Even the amplifier is bespoke with their own S-Master - HX delivering rich detailed sound into the balanced headphone jack.

A big beautiful touchscreen adorns the front of the player making it easy to operate and we loved the clean and tactile feedback derived from the physical playback buttons on the side. To top it off it's another high-resolution DAP with large internal memory GB and a micro SD card slot to expand it by a further 1TB to hold all your high res music files. Link: Sony NW-WM1Z Music Player Webpage. Dethonray blew me away with their Honey H1 which we declare the best portable headphone DAC in or tests. They make end-game products that deliver outstanding sound quality and have loads of power to drive audiophile headphones. The first thing you will notice is there is no large touchscreen on the DAP.

It has its own Linux operating system that relies on physical input buttons. With that of course there is no app support. The screen is also terrible, low resolution, and not that bright. However, the sound is ridiculous and there are a lot of techs that go into it to make it so. For example, there are separate power sources for amp and decoding. EMI shielding for components. If you have hard-to-drive headphones and want one of the cleanest and most transparent soundings DAP's on the market then this is the one for you. The AP80 Pro by Hidziz is an ultra-portable hi-res music player packed full of features you find on bigger DAPs.

It's meant for people on the go who don't want to carry obscene large music players as a second device. It's small and discrete but has enough power to drive most high-end IEM's. The all-metal body feels premium and durable, it's also available in three separate colors to suit your style Black, Blue, Silver. It has music playback control buttons on the right-hand side allowing you to play, pause and skip tracks. Just above it is a small volume pot to allow you precise control over listening levels. Using dual flagship ESS Sabre DACs the AP80 Pro handles lots of high-resolution music formats including native DSD.

On the bottom the even made room for dual outputs with a standard 3. Storage can be expanded to GB via the micro-sd card slot and the battery lasted for 8 hours balance and 12 hours regular respectively during our review. Link: Hidzis Website. This is the second Ibasso player to find its way onto our list and it makes for a great day-to-day listening device.

Best high-resolution digital audio player: Which DAP reigns supreme?,How we test portable music players

WebFeb 7,  · Best MP3 player for portable music players from Astell & Kern, Onkyo and more. By Becky Scarrott. Contributions from. Olivia Tambini, Christian de Looper. Web5 rows · Feb 23,  · 5. 80GB MP3 Player. 9. Check Price. #1 Best for Budget: Surfans F20 HiFi MP3 Player. High-Res AdFind the right products that fits your budget and needs. Here you will find exactly what you need with the best products and prices! WebApr 3,  · Best Overall: Agptek Lossless Music Player. Buy on Amazon. The Agptek Lossless Music Player should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. In WebVery expensive. Price When Reviewed: $3, Best Prices Today: $ at Astell&Kern. You’ll still need deep pockets to afford the world’s best digital audio player, Author: Theo Nicolakis ... read more

There are still quite a few available on sites such as eBay, and if you can get one for a sensible price it's not a bad buy. Many of these Audiophile players have caught our eye and the range of features you can now get in a portable package is mind-boggling. Reasons to avoid - Pricey compared to competitors. It also has four DACs onboard, along with support for both balanced and unbalanced headphones. And each new generation invariably proves more talented than the last.

It also has a user interface that matches every single detail of the material design guidelines. This is the second Ibasso player to find its way onto our list and it makes for a great day-to-day listening device. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and European users agree to the data transfer policy, best lossless player. High quality sound that is crystal clear and does not miss a beat. When he's not writing, he's usually busy making wine, tinkering best lossless player his android device, or hiking some mountains. org be sure to listen on the best-quality headphones or speaker system you have. Reasons to avoid - No Micro SD.