Cassettes are going the way of vinyl, with sales up 53 per cent last year in the UK, hitting 164,000 units. This is not solely a British phenomenon – 446,500 tapes were sold in the US in the same year, an increase of 17.5 per cent year-on-year.

Which got me thinking. Could we see the OG portable cassette player, the Walkman, make a comeback? And not as a Walkman-branded phone or digital music player, but as a proper, bona fide tape player? As the proud owner of at least two Walkmans during my childhood, I certainly hope so.

Here's why the time is right for the Sony Walkman to once again strut its stuff.

1. A big anniversary is coming

It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating the iconic player's 40th birthday – but its 50th is just three years away.

Mark the date in your diary: 1st July 2029. That's when the grandaddy of portable tape players hits the half century. The world of music on-the-go has changed massively since then, with first compact discs, then MiniDiscs, digital downloads and now streaming all having their time in the sun.

But the backlash against digital is building. As vinyl's sustained resurgence has shown, people are willing to put up with the inconvenience of physical media if it makes for a more rewarding experience. While no one's arguing cassettes are the last word in sound quality, they certainly have their appeal. A special edition Walkman would make the perfect 50th birthday present from Sony.

2. Sony is no stranger to special editions

Sony loves a special edition product. Recently we reviewed the Sony 1000X The Collexion, which was launched to celebrate a decade of Sony's world-conquering 1000X wireless headphones.

Sony deserves credit here. It would've been very easy for it to release the Award-winning WH-1000XM6 with a slightly different finish, but instead, it chose to launch a proper standalone product.

Admittedly they 'only' scored four stars, as opposed to the fives that Sony headphones are accustomed to. But it shows that Sony is not above celebrating its heritage, and in the most appropriate way possible – by releasing something new.

3. The digital backlash continues

No one's arguing with the convenience of streaming, but more and more people are seeing the appeal of physical media. It's tactile, it gives you more of a connection with the artist, and it's easy to display and show which artists you like. You can't put a stream on your shelves.

This cuts across age groups. Yes, there are those of us old enough to remember vinyl and cassettes the first time around, but Gen Z is also discovering the joy of cassettes. (It helps that they're much more affordable than vinyl.) As Sound Records' owner Gareth Simon told us earlier this year: "The kids have figured it all out – they see vinyl as a way to express their interests in a physical form."

I recently used the Gadhouse Miko Bluetooth cassette player, and while I wasn't enamoured with the sound quality (especially over Bluetooth), I did get an undeniable thrill out of feeling the cassette turning inside the player. As I wrote at the time: "Seeing the cassette's spokes revolve, and feeling the player's mechanism at work in your hand, makes it feel alive in a way that a solid-state device never will. It connects you to the medium as a physical thing, rather than a bunch of ones and zeroes flying through the air."

4. The nostalgia element

I'm not alone in feeling this nostalgic thrill. Whenever I told anyone I was trying out a portable cassette player that has Bluetooth, the reaction was the same: "Cool!" Or a slight variation thereon. Now admittedly these were all men of a certain age, but you get my point. Cassettes have made a comeback. And so should the Walkman.

Whether Sony should stuff it with mod cons like Bluetooth... sure, I mean, why not? As long as it sounds good. And if it can implement the mega bass feature of my childhood Sony WM-EX16, then even better.

But really this is about celebrating an iconic product that changed the face of portable music half a century ago. Make it so, Sony, and I'll get my pre-order in now.

MORE:

Sony Walkman turns 40: 6 things you didn't know about the iconic player

Feeling nostalgic? We Are Rewind's limited edition cassette player takes you back to the '80s

Is the cassette tape a viable hi-fi format in today's audio world? Discuss

Astell & Kern is expanding its A&ultima line of flagship portable players with the launch of the SP4000T. It arrives alongside a new pair of in-ear monitors, the Clarus. Both are set to make their debut at this year’s Vienna High End Show (4th June to 7th June).

Astell & Kern’s new A&ultima SP4000T teases a combination of “cutting-edge digital audio” with “classic analogue technology” thanks to its harnessing of vacuum tube amplification.

The new player uses independent dual-tube structures dedicated to left and right channels, the same separated configuration normally associated with classic tube amps. Further, dual flagship AK4499EX DACs and dedicated signal processors across each channel promise a “deep, refined experience” and enhanced “clarity, depth and sonic purity”.

The SP4000T offers three distinct tube sound modes, each of which has its own unique sonic signature. ‘Triode Mode’ emphasises rich harmonics and a warmer, more immersive presentation, whereas 'Pentode Mode' focuses more on dynamic impact and a cleaner, more energetic presentation.

For a third way, ‘Ultra Linear Mode’ promises a blend of the tonal richness of ‘Triode’ with the power and control of the ‘Pentode’ setting.

Astell & Kern’s valve-sporting PMP supports PCM files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside DSD512, as well as 256GB of internal memory which can be expanded out to 1.5TB via the included microSD port.

Bluetooth codec support is provided via aptX Adaptive and LDAC codecs, while a ‘Bluetooth Sink’ mode allows the SP4000T to function as a Bluetooth DAC for external devices.

The new A&K features a 6-inch HD touchscreen display and is available in either a stainless steel or copper finish. Prices are yet to be confirmed, but considering the established SP4000 player launched at around £3999 / $4000, we doubt the tech-laden SP4000T will come particularly cheap.

Also arriving alongside the SP4000T portable music player are A&K’s latest in-ear monitors, the Clarus, which will be making their bow at this month’s High End Show in Vienna.

Acting as the latest addition to A&K’s high-end IEM series, the new in-ears are built around a 10-driver architecture, with a dynamic driver handling the low frequencies, an array of balanced armature drivers focusing on the mid-range and a host of MEMs units promising to “render the upper frequencies with exceptional precision”.

Again, no prices or official release date are currently available, but we’ll let you know as soon as we have official facts and figures.

We are heading to High End Vienna 2026 very soon, so we’ll be in the best position to give you the low down on everything being showcased, including A&K’s latest releases.

MORE:

Let’s get physical: why I refuse to ditch wired headphones

Yes, there is an ultimate prog rock album for testing hi-fi – at least according to What Hi-Fi? readers

These are the best portable music players you can buy

Shanling has announced the EC Play, a portable CD player looking to take advantage of the format's blossoming revival with younger listeners.

With vinyl booming and even wired headphones making a comeback (thanks, Zoe Kravitz), Shanling has turned its attention to the shiny disc, with the EC Play promising a seamless blend of portability, ease of use and modern design for those trendy youngsters (and anyone else besides).

At the centre of the new CD player is Shanling’s active magnetic clamp mechanism, which continuously adjusts pressure on the CD to improve playback stability while seeking to reduce mechanical vibrations. The EC Play also makes use of a custom CD drive system for more accurate reading.

To get the most out of your CDs, the new player deploys a Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC alongside dual headphone amplifiers, which aim to let it offer a "natural yet fun sound". The amplifier stage, meanwhile, delivers up to 700mW of power at 32 ohms via a 4.4mm balanced headphone output to accommodate both sensitive in-ear monitors and more demanding headphones.

The EC Play comes with a choice of 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced outputs, while a selectable gain setting allows you to match the power needs of your wired headphones. The new CD player also includes a 3.5mm coaxial digital output if you want to connect to your hi-fi system, speakers or a soundbar.

In addition to standard CD playback, Bluetooth streaming powers offer two-way wireless connectivity, meaning that you can either use the EC Play to beam your music to wireless headphones and speakers, or receive music streaming from smartphones and tablets. Receiver mode supports LDAC, AAC and SBC codecs, while the transmitter mode supports SBC.

The EC Play can also function as a USB DAC, supporting PCM files up to 384kHz/32-bit and DSD256 via a USB-C connection.

Portability is, naturally, the name of the game here, with Shanling's new CD spinner offering up to 12 hours of continuous playback while weighing in at a modest 418g thanks to its slim aluminium design.

The Shanling EC Play is available now in three finishes – Feather Green, Onyx Black and Moonlight Silver – priced at £209 / $199 / €220.

MORE:

I bought Ikea’s £10 Bluetooth speaker – don’t make the same mistake

I tried this Bluetooth cassette player so you don't have to

Now Playing: check out the 5 blockbuster test tracks we’re using this May

As our Vinyl Week coverage probably showed you, we love physical audio formats here at What Hi-Fi?, and cassettes are no different. So when I saw the Gadhouse Miko Bluetooth portable cassette player, I had to have a go.

Cassettes? With wireless? I was sold.

As the proud owner of both the Sony WM-33 and WM-EX16 Walkmans in my youth (the latter inherited from my brother, who had since graduated to a Discman), I couldn't wait to hear the fuzzy hiss of a cassette again, and with the glorious convenience of wireless.

Reader, it wasn't quite how I imagined.

The bulk of it

First things first: this thing is chunky. I had forgotten just how big cassette players were – even to my pre-teen hands, my Walkmans felt smaller than this. It's like the opposite of shrinkflation. But I could be remembering it wrong – it was a long time ago.

There's no belt clip, which I'm pretty sure came as standard on my Walkmans of old. There's no way you'll get this thing in a jeans pocket, and with the weather warming up, I wasn't going to wear a chunky coat just to accommodate it. Which leaves you clutching it as you walk around, like a door-to-door bible salesman.

You get all the usual controls (play, stop, fast forward and rewind), plus a record button that activates the built-in mic. I dimly recall recording my own pirate radio station onto tape as a child, but that was mixed on this brown and beige bad boy.

There's a satisfying clunkiness to the buttons, but I do have a couple of complaints. First, depressing the stop button doesn't pop open the tape compartment – you have to prise it open by hand, which feels like the wrong kind of retro. And second, you don't get the sped-up chipmunk effect when you fast-forward or rewind a tape, though that possibly only ever happened in films.

It's powered by two AA batteries. On the plus side, this maintains authenticity while also keeping the price down. On the downside, you have to buy batteries.

There is a USB-C port as well, which can power it. But it has to stay plugged in – there's no built-in battery to charge. And who listens to a portable tape player while staying within reach of a plug socket?

Hunting the hiss

The next problem I found was where to source some cassettes. I threw out my collection long ago (farewell, Gladiators soundtrack!) and it turns out my local charity shops aren't quite the treasure trove of tapes I was hoping. (Vinyl, however, is another matter.)

Short of time, I did what most people would do and turned to Amazon, which threw up the soundtrack to Guardians Of The Galaxy. If we're going retro, we may as well go all in.

Gadhouse sent me a pair of its Wesley on-ear headphones to use with it, which are certainly in keeping with the Miko's style. And with my Sony WF-C710N wireless earbuds also on hand, it was time for some listening.

The listening experience

Now bear in mind I haven't listened to a cassette in over 30 years. But as a child, almost all my listening was on tapes: not only music, but read-along story books too (the ones that said "When you hear this noise, turn the page"). So I was very much looking forward to it; one man's static hiss of cassette is another's pop and crackle of vinyl.

And there's an undeniable charm to it. Seeing the cassette's spokes revolve, and feeling the player's mechanism at work in your hand, makes it feel alive in a way that a solid-state device never will. It connects you to the medium as a physical thing, rather than a bunch of ones and zeroes flying through the air.

Listening wired, the sound has a certain warmth. Norman Greenbaum's Spirit In The Sky has suitable bounce and a nicely fuzzy low end, while Bowie's Moonage Daydream hangs together nicely. It's not bad for the money (the Miko costs £70). There's even a bit of warble distortion when you hit play straight after fast forwarding. Oh, the memories.

Sadly, it all falls apart when listening wirelessly over Bluetooth. Even through the Award-winning Sony C710N, it sounds tinny and washed out, with almost no bass. No sound came through the wireless headphones when I was fast-forwarding or rewinding either, which rather cut me off from the experience. I had to supply my own chipmunk effect.

But then I'm probably being a bit harsh. You don't buy a device like this for the sound quality, just as you don't buy a penny farthing for the handling. You do so for nostalgic reasons, because you love the original format and long to hear it again, and if it can have a modern twist, even better. But it just goes to show that just because you can add wireless functionality, that doesn't mean you should.

MORE:

Is the cassette tape a viable hi-fi format in today's audio world? Discuss

Feeling nostalgic? We Are Rewind's limited edition cassette player takes you back to the '80s

My first time using a portable cassette player reminded me of what I love about listening to vinyl

We Are Rewind, in collaboration with Discogs, have announced a new portable cassette player built for "high-fidelity analogue listening".

A limited edition of the We Are Rewind WE-001, the new model comes in an exclusive matte black finish, adorned with the Discogs logo to distinguish it as distinct from We Are Rewind's established roster of portable cassette players.

The new player offers modern Bluetooth connectivity, meaning you can hook it up to your wireless headphones, although there's also a 3.5mm jack for your wired cans, too.

Like a lovelorn teenager in the 1980s, the new player lets you record your own mix thanks to the included Discogs x RTM C60 blank cassette, which grants around 60 minutes of recording time. Better choose your tunes carefully, then...

The We Are Rewind player features an in-built battery delivering up to 12 hours of playback, so there's no need to carry around a set of double-As everywhere you go.

The new model is housed within an aluminium alloy casing, designed to offer a blend of durability, tactility and sleek aesthetics to the special edition player.

Fancy digging out your cassettes? The Discogs edition of the Rewind WE-001 is limited to 150 units and is available in the US only, priced at $180.

MORE:

"It's not just a transaction, it's a conversation" – how vinyl record shops are thriving in the digital age

Vinyl Week 2026: Audio-Technica's premium turntable reviewed, forgotten hi-fi classics, record store trends and more

Gimmick or Godsend? I spent a week with FiiO’s retro cassette deck and Discman to test their modern-day merit

Vinyl might be well and truly back, but cassettes are also on the upswing: sales grew by over 200 per cent in the first three months of last year, according to Music Week. But you're going to need something to play them on.

While it might look retro – right down to its translucent cover that lets you see the tape moving – the Gadhouse Mike Cassette Player has a decidedly modern touch: Bluetooth. That means you can play your cassettes wirelessly through a Bluetooth speaker or some of the best Bluetooth headphones.

It's not the first Bluetooth cassette player we've seen – We Are Rewind's Edith model came out last year. But Gadhouse's effort is considerably cheaper.

It promises to combine "the warmth and character of traditional cassette playback with practical features that suit everyday listening".

As well as Bluetooth 5.3, it has a 3.5mm headphone socket for plugging in a wired pair. For the full retro effect, use it with Gadhouse's Wesley headphones.

Just like Walkmans of old, it has simple five-button controls for play, stop, fast forward, rewind and record. The built-in mic lets it double as a recorder for old-style voice notes, ideas, or for recording songs onto.

The Miko is out now for £69.99 / $99 (around AU$130). Better dig out those old cassettes.

MORE:

Pair it with the best Bluetooth speakers

Or the best wireless headphones

Gimmick or Godsend? I spent a week with FiiO’s retro cassette deck and Discman to test their modern-day merit

Astell & Kern has launched what it describes as the world's first digital audio player "to create a sound signature uniquely tailored to the user’s hearing".

The new A&K PD20 shapes its sound to fit your unique sonic preferences in pursuit of a far more individualised musical experience.

How, you ask? The PD20 features a 'Personal Sound' system, which analyses individual hearing characteristics and compensates independently for left and right ears to create a bespoke listening profile.

Dedicated earphones are included with the new player to give precise hearing measurements, with users completing a simple hearing test and then receiving a sound signature optimised exclusively for them.

To further customise the sound if necessary, the PD20 also features a 'Sound Master Wheel', offering a 160-step EQ control across bass, midrange and treble frequencies.

At its heart, the A&K PD20 houses an ESS ES9027PRO Quad DAC configuration, with four DACs operating independently to minimise interference and offer greater signal path separation for preserving sonic purity. The PD20 also supports native playback of hi-res PCM music up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512.

The new player is bolstered by Astell & Kern’s 'ESA' (Enhanced Signal Alignment) tech to reduce delay by precisely aligning frequency signals, all of which aims to minimise distortion and further improve audio clarity.

Astell & Kern’s 'Digital Audio Remaster' technology, meanwhile, which first appeared with the brand's five-star flagship SP4000 player, further strives for a more "natural and refined sound".

Astell & Kern's latest portable player grants 256GB of internal memory, expandable to up to 2TB via the provided microSD slot, as well as around 14 hours of battery life.

Bluetooth with hi-res aptX HD and LDAC codecs alongside wi-fi connectivity are supported, while physical outputs include USB-C for digital audio, charging your PD20 or using it as an outboard DAC for your laptop or computer.

The PD20 features a triple-amp architecture, allowing real-time switching between Class A, Class AB and Hybrid amplification modes, as well as a choice of spatial audio options.

Equipped with a 6-inch FHD+ display and housed in an aluminium chassis, the Astell & Kern PD20 will be available in late March, priced at £1799 / $1970.

MORE:

This budget brand's upcoming streaming products are directly aiming for WiiM's crown

12 of the most exciting products I saw at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2026

These are the best portable MP3 players money can buy

Chinese brand iBasso is looking to take the fight to the likes of Astell & Kern and FiiO with its latest premium portable music player.

The new DX340 is, says its maker, made “for discerning users who demand both sonic excellence and intuitive usability” teasing flagship performance and engineering in a portable, “elegant” form.

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor, the new player offers 256GB of internal storage, although this can be expanded to up to 2TB via the provided microSD slot.

The DX340 houses iBasso's latest audio engine featuring a 1-bit discrete DAC configuration, teasing “remarkable clarity, ultra-low distortion and exceptional timing”. The new unit also offers an impressive suite of high-resolution formats, with PCM support up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside native DSD512.

​Similar to the recently reviewed FiiO M21, iBasso’s premium portable player features a dual operating system experience, with users able to choose between audio-focused ‘Mango OS’ mode or a full Android 13 experience for more flexible streaming and easier app access.

In terms of connectivity options, the DX340 includes balanced and single-ended headphone outputs alongside a coaxial output, as well as Bluetooth 5.0 if you crave the convenience of a wireless connection.

Housed in a stainless steel chassis, the flagship player is equipped with a “vibrant and responsive” 6.0-inch AMOLED display, while physical buttons include a volume wheel alongside external power and play/pause controls.

​The iBasso DX340 is now available at £1499 / $1699 for the standard model and £1899 for a limited-edition titanium version. That puts it in direct competition with the Astell & Kern A&futura SE180 we tested at £1399 / $1499 / $AU2099.

MORE:

Rewind: New five-star Sony earbuds, Rega’s ‘ultimate’ amp, uber-affordable Dolby Atmos and more

Want to treat your headphones? Read our recent Rotel DX-3 review

These are the best portable MP3 players money can buy

Why would you buy a portable music player? In this age of smartphone ultra-convenience, bolstered by access to so many streaming services and extensive hi-res Bluetooth codec support, what's the point of having a dedicated digital device when you could just listen to streaming apps on your phone instead? Isn't that like buying a four-poster bed and then choosing to sleep on the floor?

Hopefully not. If your goal is simply to enjoy music to the highest portable standard you can, a dedicated digital audio player should help you to make the most of your library of tunes, especially if you've got plenty of downloaded hi-res music files that you want given the royal treatment.

High-end examples such as the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 will leave your smartphone completely in the dust, but you'll have to fork out around £3495 / $3699 / AU$5499 to get one of those.

Instead, FiiO promises that its far more affordable M21 player will offer potent performance and portability at a far more palatable price point – for £279 / $329 / AU$529, to be precise.

Is this far cheaper alternative still worth a separate investment? To find out, I've spent two whole weeks with the FiiO M21, assessing its strengths and weaknesses to answer that all-important question: would I want to own one for myself?

Like: better sound quality

Thankfully for FiiO, we’re starting with the obvious: a good dedicated player sounds better than most run-of-the-mill smartphones.

That’s not a guaranteed truth, and it would have been a kick in the teeth for FiiO had it been beaten by a standard iPhone, but the M21’s quad Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC chips and hi-res support for PCM files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside DSD512 mean it is primed and ready to give your music the proper treatment.

It’s always nice to break out those proper hi-res files and let them shine on a player that’s generally capable of doing them justice, and there’s no question that a decent source combined with good quality tracks makes for a far more rewarding sonic experience than simply a smartphone and some wireless earbuds.

Switch from your phone to a dedicated player and you’ll discern far more textural detail, clarity and spaciousness from your tunes. As we said in our review, the M21 offers a “smooth, weighty balance that still packs a punch when required”, granting meaty guitar tracks plenty of bite and texture without getting overly sloppy.

Tracks such as Alice in Chains’ Lesson Learned can easily sound like an ill-defined block of noise through lesser devices, yet the FiiO has the poise and insight to bring out the distinct textures hiding away within those crunchy power chords.

It's not entirely perfect, and you'll get a more dynamic and involving experience from more premium portable players, but as a step up from what your phone can do, the M21 makes sense as a savvy sonic investment.

Like: any excuse to bust out the best wired headphones

As much as wireless earbuds might be convenient, wired headphones will always deliver better sound quality. For me, there’s no excuse for having access to some of the best wired headphones in the business and not allowing them to stretch their legs once in a while.

Okay, while it may be overkill to hook up a pair of high-end Yamaha YH-5000SE to what is still a reasonably budget digital player, the M21 provides a powerful partner for the likes of the superb Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X (£189 / $199 / AU$399) and the ever-dependable Grado SR325x (currently £247 / $295 / AU$425).

Those happen to be two pairs of wired headphones on which I’m particularly keen. Hooking either five-star pair up to a smartphone (via an adapter) isn’t getting the best out of them, so it’s nice to give yourself an excuse to really revel in some great cans, safe in the knowledge that you’re feeding them a proper source.

My iPhone does nothing but breed laziness and complacency thanks to the convenience of Bluetooth, but when there’s a proper portable player involved, I’m far more motivated to crack out the wired Beyerdynamics and really get into my tunes.

Like: a break from my smartphone

Do you know what listening to music used to be? It used to be special. When you listened to full albums on a dedicated hi-fi system (and hopefully you still do), or on a dinky little CD player in your bedroom, or even on your first-ever iPod, you were only ever doing one thing: listening to your music.

Now, your tunes are an afterthought, just one of the many prongs on the infinitely versatile Swiss army knife that is your Samsung Galaxy S21, iPhone 16 Pro or Sony Xperia 10 VI.

It’s incredible to be able to access an infinite galaxy of songs on your favourite streaming service as you order your Ocado shopping, check your Instagram and then ping out a few emails, but it’s also in danger of relegating your music to a sort of tertiary background afterthought.

With a dedicated player, the music takes centre stage. The M21’s octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset does offer decent Android OS performance that goes beyond mere streaming (and you can even play Angry Birds if you’d like), but for the most part, you boot up your FiiO when you want to spend some quality one-to-one time with your tunes.

That’s a precious ritual, and one that should be protected at all costs.

Don't like: not another device

There is a flipside, of course, to the apparent benefit of tearing me away from the shiny umbilical cord that is my precious iPhone.

We’re so used to living in a world of multi-functionality. There was a time when you’d have to own a separate calculator, compass, spirit level, watch, music player (probably an iPod or Walkman) and camera. Now, they’re all housed in something slightly bigger – and certainly far slimmer – than a standard pack of cards.

The joy of your smartphone is that everything is all there in one place and easy to access in your hand, and while that might mean compromises in quality when compared with dedicated tools designed to do a specific job, that convenience is an unparalleled boon.

I know I just espoused the need for keeping your music separate from everything else, but when push comes to shove, resisting the urge to just pick up your phone and your best wireless earbuds is such a tough habit to break. I know that giving all my time and attention to my music is right and proper, but in practice? It's just so much easier to boot up Tidal on my phone. I'm not proud of that fact, that's just the way it is.

The problem with having another device, especially one as chunky as the FiiO M21, is that, well, you’ve got another device. That’s another thing to have to carry around if you’re planning on taking your tunes on the road; another thing to worry about getting damaged or scratched or lost; another thing that you need to keep charged and updated; another thing taking up space in your satchel.

It’s just more… stuff.

Don't like: not as slick as a smartphone

It’s easy to take your smartphone for granted. We’ve become so used to how incredibly slick, quick and precise the latest generations of devices are, it suddenly becomes jarringly apparent when a cheaper alternative just doesn’t have the same speedy functionality and usability as, say, the latest iPhone.

The M21 is still simple and effective to use, but it just doesn’t have the intuitive nature of my ever-dependable iPhone 15, nor does it have the same precision when it comes to those fiddlier controls or commands.

The responsiveness of the screen isn’t in any way bad, but it just feels so soft and slow when compared with the lightning speed of an Apple or Samsung heavyweight, and after a while, it's hard not to hanker for the familiarity of your supercharged smartphone.

A slightly unresponsive touchscreen? I might as well be back in the Middle Ages...

Don't like: I'm sold on portable players, just not this portable player...

Having spent a good deal of time with a dedicated portable music player, I can say that I’d definitely consider investing in one in order to take my wired listening to the next level. There’s just one caveat: it wouldn’t be the FiiO M21.

Much as I enjoyed my time with the wallet-friendly M21, and as much as I can patently see the advantages of a portable player over pinging Spotify or Tidal files to your smartphone via Bluetooth, it’s still slightly lacking in the key areas of musicality – namely rhythms and dynamics – to give me that proper immersion in my musical catalogue.

Whether you're spending £200 or £2000, if a product can't handle those core musical elements, it's hard to justify it as a worthwhile investment.

The M21 does so much so well, and it's a step up from a smartphone, but there’s still something rather meat and potatoes about the way it sounds – perfectly tasty and appropriately filling, but lacking a little bit of spice. I like the M21 very much, but do I love it, and does it make me love my favourite music? I'm not so sure.

Were it my own money, I’d splash the cash (and by that I mean, wait for a decent discount) on the Award-winning Astell & Kern A&norma SR35 instead. This is where you really begin to see the benefits of a dedicated hi-res player, and while I might not fork out £799 at full price, the A&K’s oft-discounted figure of £599 does make for a seriously tempting proposition. Having heard it side-by-side with the M21, there's little question which one I'd rather have hooked up to my favourite pair of wired headphones.

The thing about the SR35 isn’t just that it’s better than the FiiO, but that it’s better in the key areas that really make your music shine. Clarity, detail and cohesion are all correct and present, but the SR35’s subtle dynamic handling, its rhythmic spark and its fluid, effortless nature make for a hugely engaging listen.

Exceptional sound that makes you appreciate your music and gives you a great excuse to really get those wired cans firing? Now that’s something worth paying for.

MORE:

Now Playing: check out the 6 stunning tracks we've been using to test our hi-fi this month

These are the best portable MP3 players you can buy

I love spatial audio, but there's one feature I can't get my head around

The demise of the iPod Touch left a sizeable gap in the portable audio landscape. Sure, there have been a number of premium music players released in the years since the Touch died in 2022 to keep hi-res connoisseurs happy, mainly coming courtesy of South Korean brand Astell & Kern, but there are far fewer offerings for those seeking decent portable performance in a more affordable package.

A&K's sub-brand Activo took a swing at the more budget side of the spectrum with its Activo P1 player (tested at £399 / $430), but disappointing sound and a cheap-feeling build meant that it fell short of the mark. Sony’s NW-A306 (£349 / $350 / AU$499) gave it a good go a few years back, even if irritating quirks meant that it fell short of a five-star accreditation.

That’s the particular nut which FiiO is attempting to crack with the M21 (£279 / $329 / AU$529), a far more competitively priced alternative to Astell & Kern’s big-money offerings, which seeks to bring together flagship hardware and charming retro aesthetics for under £500 / $500.

Build

The FiiO M21 leans towards the chunkier end of the portable music player spectrum. Around the size of a slightly elongated deck of cards, it’s not a burly colossus, and you’ll still be able to slip it into all but the skinniest of skinny jeans without ripping a hole in your denim. But it’s a bulkier item than most of the slimline iPhones and Android smartphones to which we’ve all become so accustomed to holding in our hands.

Admittedly, we’re operating in a world of predominantly plastic and rubber here rather than the sleek, weighty metals in which the more premium Astell & Kern A&norma SR35 might be clad, but the FiiO is playing to a far more budget-conscious audience. For this price, it’s hard to take issue – from the scratch-resistant solidity of the back panel to the reasonable quality of the plastic buttons, we can find few reasons to feel actively shortchanged.

​The M21’s 4.7-inch touchscreen naturally takes up most of the space on the unit’s fascia, a screen which we find generally provides a tactile, responsive experience. It doesn’t have the absolute immediacy of a typical modern smartphone screen, and occasionally we find that the M21 struggles with commands requiring pinpoint precision (such as using Tidal’s track slider), but on the whole, our testing experience is still a positive one.

The FiiO player sports its fair share of buttons on either side of the unit, offering up/down volume controls on the left flank housed above a multi-function toggle which can be set to control a range of tasks, including switching filters, toggling listening modes or locking the screen.

On the right-hand side, a play/pause button is sandwiched between a skip track toggle and a previous track button, while the top of the unit sports 4.4mm balanced and 3.5mm headphone outputs.

Features

FiiO’s well-priced portable music player harnesses the power of an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset to deliver a quick and responsive Android OS performance. This does mean you get full access to Google and can download music apps (and others) via the Play store.

The M21 also grants 64GB of internal storage, although if that isn’t enough to house your extensive collection of Beethoven sonatas, you can expand this to a healthy 2TB via the microSD slot.

At the heart of the player’s performance are four Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC chips arranged in a matrix configuration, an architecture designed to reduce crosstalk and noise in pursuit of a "clean and dynamic sonic profile". ​

The FiiO M21 is capable of handling hi-res PCM files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside DSD512 and full MQA decoding, while SBC, AAC and LDAC Bluetooth codecs are all on the menu. We envisage that most users will use a dedicated hi-res player such as this with a pair of wired headphones rather than relying on a wireless connection, but the FiiO’s stable, easy-to-access Bluetooth powers are nice to have all the same.

Like many of its FiiO siblings, including the four-star M23, the M21 offers a handy 'desktop mode' so you can use it as a DAC/amplifier for your laptop-based listening. When connected via USB-C to an external power source, the FiiO bypasses its onboard battery to deliver up to 950 mW per channel to drive a 32-ohm headphone load without straining the player’s internal juice pack.

The M21 also offers a ‘Pure Music Mode’ which essentially closes all other apps and background operations to run exclusively on the FiiO Music app, aiming to reduce system interference and provide a clearer, cleaner experience as a result.

Speaking of batteries, the M21 claims to offer a healthy 15 hours of battery life when driving a standard pair of headphones using the 3.5mm output, though that will drop to around 11.5 hours for listening through the balanced output. Those aren’t bad numbers, even if they don’t get close to the 30 or so hours granted by the price-comparable Sony NW-A306.

Sound

We wouldn’t expect a player at this price to be charged with feeding a megabucks pair of audiophile headphones. Pulling out a set of Yamaha YH-5000SE would be straying into overkill, so we perform the bulk of our testing with the well-priced but supremely capable Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X (£189 / $199 / AU$399) and the ever-dependable Grado SR325x (currently £247 / $295 / AU$425).

What we discover is a portable player of considerable talent. With Tidal primed and loaded, we start our listening off with some smooth, sun-soaked folk courtesy of Waxahatchee’s Right Back To It, and sit back and delight in how the FiiO ably communicates the rich textures of the track’s twangy, laid-back guitar. The central vocal performance complements the guitar beneath, offering sufficient textural insight to track Katie Crutchfield’s vocals as they move from resonant mids to soaring highs.

Things get a little more complicated as we switch from summery Americana to a full-fat orchestral score – yes, it’s time to break out some Hans Zimmer and boot up The Battle from the Gladiator soundtrack. There’s a lot going on across that epic 12-minute runtime, rising from low horns and occasional percussive rumbles to a tidal wave of orchestral swell, but the FiiO has the clarity and cohesion to hold everything together, even when things get tricky.

The portable player’s cohesion is wedded to a smooth, weighty balance that still packs a punch when required. The M21 happily belts out Alice In Chains’ Lesson Learned with appropriate vigour, granting the tune’s meaty central guitar riff plenty of bite and texture without getting carried away. This is the sort of track that can sound sloppy or ill-defined, especially when the volume dial moves northwards, yet the M21 is insightful enough to stop those driving, crunchy riffs from sounding like a single block of ill-defined noise.

Our disposition toward the FiiO improves further when we switch Pure Music Mode on and dig out 24-bit/192kHz FLAC renditions of Tom Waits’ Rosie and Muse’s Panic Station. There’s a clear step up when we’re operating in a dedicated audio profile with appropriately decent files to play with – everything is sharper and more defined, with the M21 showcasing a nimbler, clearer profile than when operating in its standard, busy Android mode.

This is all sounding rather positive, especially for a player that will only set you back £279 / $329 / AU$529. Yet the more we listen, the more we realise that we’re enjoying a pleasant listening experience rather than a wholly engrossing one.

That lack of true musical engagement comes from the fact that the FiiO doesn’t quite have the rhythmic chops to really make our music shine. While Panic Station is clear and crisp in its delivery, that underlying propulsion pushing the track forward isn’t communicated as enthusiastically as we’d ideally like, and while the rendition doesn’t feel sluggish, it doesn’t clip along with the vigour we crave.

Dynamics, too, leave a good deal to be desired. The Battle may be well organised and fleshed out with rich detail levels, but it lacks the feeling of ever-building drama to make us feel as adrenalised as a Roman legionary about to face off against a horde of hairy-faced Germanic tribesmen. The portable player’s dynamic presentation is full-bodied yet frustratingly flat, failing to communicate fully the ever-building dread and drama of Zimmer’s masterful composition.

No matter the quality of the files we feed the FiiO, those limitations remain. That said, the M21 is perfect for when you’re seeking out a rounded, detailed and ultimately undemanding listen, and while it won’t necessarily stir your soul, there’s still plenty of musical enjoyment to be found.

Verdict

We’ve been crying out for more affordable portable music players with sufficient sonic chops, and there’s no denying that FiiO’s likeable M21 is a fine effort. It isn’t perfect, but you’ll have to spend a good deal more if you want to get something significantly better. For this sort of money, the M21 is a pleasing portable performer.

Review published: 4th February 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Features 5
• Build 4

MORE:

Read our review of the FiiO M23

Also consider the Sony NW-A306

Read our Astell & Kern A&norma SR35

Best portable MP3 players: our expert picks of the top hi-res music players

Astell & Kern has launched a copper-clad spin on its high-end SP4000 portable hi-res music player.

The new SP4000 Copper is teased as a "range-topping addition" to the brand's extensive arsenal of digital audio players, bringing together precision engineering and a 99.98 per cent pure copper exterior to bring the established SP4000 flagship player to a new level of audio performance.

This isn't the first time we've seen the Korean company send one of its portable players out to battle in shiny copper armour – the former AK380 flagship from around ten years ago also enjoyed a 'Copper' edition as an alternative to the duralumin-based standard model.

The new unit shares the same flagship specifications of the standard A&ultima SP4000 which we sampled at last year's High End Munich showcase. That means it's once again built around A&K's advanced quad-DAC, octa-circuit architecture and is capable of handling hi-res PCM files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside DSD512.

The addition of copper, however, promises to take take the player's performance to "another level". A&K claims the metal displays "ideal audio properties" which directly shapes the SP4000's sonic character, with copper's natural conductivity and shielding properties helping to preserve your music's finer details.

According to Astell & Kern, the SP4000 Copper delivers "deep, authoritative bass, a rich and articulate midrange" complimented by a "treble that decays with natural ease" thanks to its unique metal cladding.

The new model shares the same feature set as the standard SP4000, including support for the high-quality aptX Adaptive and LDAC Bluetooth codecs for 24-bit audio playback, as well as around 10 hours of continuous playback from a single charge.

The limited edition A&ultima SP4000 Copper is available now, priced at £3999 / $4499 / €4699. That's a modest advance on the £3799 / $3900 / €4499 for the standard iteration of the flagship player.

MORE:

These are our favourite portable music players around

Don't Look Back in Anger at these classic 1996 tracks turning 30 this year

I love spatial audio, but there's one feature I can't get my head around

We could never accuse FiiO of leaving us starved of new releases, so it's no surprise to see this year's CES showcase acting as an opportunity for the brand to announce yet another product launch.

This time, FiiO is adding to its burgeoning roster of portable music players with the new M33 R2R, which is aimed at listeners who "demand uncompromising sound quality, flexibility and performance".

Slotting just below the flagship FiiO M27 portable player, the M33 is capable of playing hi-res files up to 24-bit/384kHz and promises to deliver a "natural, analogue-like presentation" which prioritises "accuracy, dynamic realism and musical cohesion".

That R2R resistor array DAC architecture is twinned with a multi-stage audio amplifier which, says FiiO, produces clean signal amplification with exceptional control, while the brand's own 'DAPS' tech seeks to reduce jitter and reduce unwanted noise.

The M33 R2R boasts a total output power of 2200mW for driving a wide range of headphones. At the base of the player are a USB-C power port alongside a USB 3.0 input, while at the top you'll find 3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs.

At the heart of the player's operation is Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 running on Android 13, with the mid-range player offering 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

FiiO's latest hi-res music player teases up to 14 hours of battery life to keep you listening on the go, while a 5.5-inch HD display teases "intuitive navigation" and a crisp, clear experience.

The FiiO M33 R2R player will be available in the first quarter of 2026, priced at around £449 / $600.

MORE:

CES 2026 Live: we’ve got the inside scoop on new OLED TVs, Dolby Atmos treats and more

Sennheiser headphones, an affordable Dolby Atmos soundbar, a “proper” home cinema projector and more earn five stars

These are the best portable music players on the market

Although cassettes haven’t experienced the same resurgence in popularity as records in recent years, this form of physical media is also on the rise.

MusicWeek reported that cassette sales were up 204.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, and several companies have attempted to serve this growing market – one of which is We Are Rewind.

I recently got my hands on its WE-001 – my first experience of using a portable cassette player. Suffice to say, I was pretty excited to try it out, especially as it’s been decades since I’ve even been near a cassette.

The WE-001 feels well built, while the 404g (approximate) weight means it’s the best part of 200g heavier than than the iPhone 17 Pro Max (233g).

I had concerns it would be burdensome to carry around, and the 14.8 x 8.8 x 3.3cm frame wouldn’t fit into my fleece pocket.

It slipped in nicely, however, and while I knew it was in there, I didn’t feel dragged down. Plus, I felt confident that it wouldn’t fall out of my pocket if I made any sudden movements.

I had been given a cassette of Roxette’s Look Sharp to listen to. Instead of rewinding it back to the start, I hit play right away. This meant I caught the end of Shadow of a Doubt before it launched into Listen to Your Heart, the final track on the tape and a song I hadn’t heard for years.

Once Listen to Your Heart had finished, I was treated to the enjoyable snap of the tape coming to a sudden halt. I then took out the WE-001’s supplied pencil, which I assumed was for manual rewinding (I've since discovered it can also be used for taking up the slack of unravelled tape).

I'm still unsure whether this is due to the method itself or my novice winding skills, but it seemed as if it would have taken me about a week to get it all the way back to the start using the pencil.

Fortunately, I soon discovered the deck’s rewind button, so back in went the tape and down went the somewhat-stiff-feeling switch, and in mere moments it was fully rewound. Or, so I thought…

I had been watching the tape play through the circular window on the WE-001’s front, so I pressed down the button with two arrows pointing to my left, assuming it was rewind. But, after turning the tape deck around and realising this was the correct orientation, I realised I had pressed fast-forward instead.

So, after Look Sharp failed to return to my eardrums, down went the actual rewind button, and the tape began its journey back to the start – albeit too late to save my pride.

For someone whose portable listening career began with MP3 players, sitting and watching that cassette rewind felt like an eternity. Still, I soon began to appreciate the therapeutic whirring sound, and the quiet satisfaction of watching the tape move from one spool to the other via that viewing window.

I then listened to the entirety of Look Sharp through a pair of AKG K72, which I connected via the WE-001’s 3.5mm headphone input. Adjusting the volume to my desired level via the dial on the side also felt like a more precise process than using the buttons on my iPhone.

Roxette’s breakthrough album sounded what you’d expect of late ’80s pop rock: bouncy and uplifting; and a solid amount of detail came through. On the second play of Listen to Your Heart, for instance, the strings on the outro sounded particularly beautiful.

The WE-001’s presentation sounds a touch geared towards the top end at times, and with no EQ settings available to make tweaks, some may feel a little aggrieved. But bear in mind that my only frame of reference is a tape I have never heard before, so for all I know, Look Sharp is supposed to sound that way.

Thanks to Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, the We Are Rewind deck is suitable for those who prefer a wire-free headphone experience or playback through a Bluetooth speaker.

The one I received also came with a WE-C60 blank cassette, on which audio from an external source can be recorded via another 3.5mm input.

To listen to what you’ve recorded, you will need to stop the cassette, rewind it, and then play it back. While I didn’t make use of this feature, I can certainly see the appeal of recording directly from the radio or making a mixtape.

So, would I buy one?

Undoubtedly, there isn’t the same level of convenience that you get with modern music players; but to brand tape decks as inconvenient wouldn’t be fair either.

At £129, the WE-001 seems like a decent piece of kit too, while the Serge Orange finish is very stylish.

What I really like about it, however, is something that you only get from analogue listening formats.

My love for records, for instance, doesn’t stem just from their audio quality, or the format’s inherent collectability – it’s the experience.

For me, going into the record shop, browsing through its collection, picking a record out, taking it home, removing from the sleeve, lifting the turntable’s dust cover, placing the record on the platter and lowering the tone arm are hugely important aspects. All that happens before the unmistakable sound of any hisses or pops grace your eardrums.

Tape players feel almost like the portable equivalent of that. You’re interacting with a tangible music format, and the hiss is there between songs; this all adds to the format’s unique charm.

When listening to a tape, that’s all you're doing, too. You’re not scrolling through social media, or looking for the next song to queue up on whatever music streaming platform you use. You can head to your favourite park on a sunny day and take a deep dive into what an artist is really about.

Yes, you can do this with a smartphone or another type of modern music player, but it’s something that is missing far too often from the streaming experience, in my opinion.

So, to bring you back to my earlier question, would I buy one? Yes, I probably would.

MORE:

Gimmick or Godsend? I spent a week with FiiO’s retro cassette deck and Discman to test their modern-day merit

Retro lovers will be obsessed with We Are Rewind’s funky portable cassette player

What are the best portable MP3 players?

FiiO has added a new ‘entry-level’ model to its range of portable music players with the launch of the Snowsky Disc.

With a launch price of £80 / $80, it’s slightly more expensive than the Echo Mini and Nano, which also feature in the Chinese audio manufacturer’s Snowsky range.

The Snowsky Disc is fitted with dual audio DAC architecture to deliver “clean, detailed and natural sound across all file types”, while its compact size and circular touch screen give it an appearance that blends the look of a portable CD player with a sixth generation iPod Nano.

Thanks to USB DAC functionality, a USB audio output, and a digital SPDIF output, the Snowsky Disc can work with laptops and phones as well as hi-fi setups and wireless speakers.

There are 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs for wired listening.

For wireless playback, music can be streamed via AirPlay thanks to built-in wi-fi, and firmware updates are also supported for keeping the Snowsky Disc’s software up to date. The Bluetooth connection also supports the LDAC codec, which allows the FiiO to play hi-res audio files up to 24-bit/96kHz.

Local music playback is possible too, thanks to a MicroSD card slot that supports expansion up to 2TB, while the battery provides up to 12 hours of continuous listening.

The circular touch screen, which can display album cover artwork and lyrics, can be used with the FiiO control smartphone app, blending retro aesthetics with more contemporary controls.

According to the FiiO, the Snowsky Disc ”combines CD-inspired design, enhanced connectivity, and audio performance far beyond most smartphones.”

Available from January, the Snowsky Disc is available in black, teal or pink finishes, and is priced at approximately £80 / $80.

MORE:

Check out our list of the best portable MP3 players

Is it a toy? Is it a music player? No, it's a portable DAC disguised as a tape deck!

FiiO's new portable CD player has hi-res Bluetooth and doubles as a DAC

• These are the best portable music players we've reviewed

Fiio has announced the new M27, marking its latest bid to dethrone Astell & Kern at the top of our best portable music player buying guide.

Representing a "bold evolution" of the brand's established portable line-up, the new PMP deploys precision engineering for what its maker describes as an "uncompromising sonic performance."

At the heart of the M27 is Qualcomm’s QCS6490 mobile platform, promising lightning-fast responsiveness, easy multitasking and a stable platform for streaming and playback across a range of audio formats.

That platform is complemented by dual ESS ES9039SPRO DAC chips designed to produce "stunning audio reproduction" with "breathtaking dynamic range" and outstanding detail without distortion.

A total of 10,000mW of balanced output power, meanwhile, should mean that the new player can drive even the most demanding headphones.

Aside from the unit's dual DAC chips, the M27 has been built to grant flagship levels of performance. The portable player's sonic architecture, for instance, uses independent power supplies for key components, resulting in a pure signal path and a cleaner sound.

Fiio's 'Digital Audio Purification System' has also been integrated, aiming to reduce jitter and ensure improved timing accuracy and a more spacious, precise sonic signature.

The M27 packs dual microSD card slots, with support for up to 2TB of additional storage per card, while 256GB of on board storage is available as standard if you've got a more modest music collection.

The flagship player boasts 6.35mm, 4.4mm, and 3.5mm headphone outputs, as well as a set of line-level and digital connections. If you're more into wireless listening, the M27 offers support for the aptX Lossless Bluetooth codec, as well as LE Audio and Auracast audio sharing capabilities.

Designed to be tough and travel-ready, the portable player employs titanium alloy for its chassis, combined with a glass fibre rear panel.

The Fiio M27 will launch in Autumn 2025, priced at around $1500. That puts it at a lower price than the Award-winning Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 (around £3500 / $3500 / AU$5499).

MORE:

Welcome to What Hi-Fi?’s inaugural Sustainability Week!

Buying second-hand CDs is my favourite way of discovering new music sustainably

These are the best portable music players you can buy

Kids are about to get a lot more choice of what to listen to on their Yoto devices. That's because the maker of the music-and-story-playing device is backing creators in a big way with two new schemes.

Loved by Yoto is an official stamp for makers of accessories (like the adorable robot case you can see below), giving them prominence when it comes to selling their wares. Think of it like a more low-fi version of Apple's 'Made for iPod' branding that launched in 2005 (and that lives on as 'MFi' for the iPhone and iPad).

But potentially the bigger change is the new Creators section, which lets regular Johnnies and Janes like you and I create our own audio content and sell it as physical cards on the official Yoto Card Store. As Yoto's co-founder Filip Denker put it at the recent launch event: "The playground is open to everyone now."

If you've ever been to a playground, you'll know this approach is not without its problems.

From Kickstarter to being backed by a Beatle

If you have children, chances are you know Yoto. Its audio players entertain kids aged three and up with stories, music, podcasts and more.

The firm was in the headlines last year when a certain model of Yoto Mini was found to be prone to overheating, causing a potential burn or fire hazard. Only a small number of devices were affected – the company issued new charging cables and sent out battery replacement kits to anyone with one of these devices.

The players are a big hit in our house. The content comes on physical cards the same size as a credit card that you slot into the top of the player, so the kids are in charge of what plays when, which they love. And because the screens on the Yoto Player and Yoto Mini are pretty basic and generally only show 8-bit icons related to what's playing, it means less screen time for the little 'uns, which my wife and I love.

The company launched in 2017 on Kickstarter (remember that?). It has since raised a lot of funding, and recently hit the milestone of 500 million hours of total listening. It has also poached staff from the likes of Spotify and Apple (including recent hire Jesse Dorogusker, who previously ran the accessories programmes for iPhone, iPod and iPad – and is likely to be heavily involved in the new Loved by Yoto accessories programme).

And now it offers music from the likes of Elton John, ABBA and The Beatles (Paul McCartney is an investor in Yoto), and stories from Roald Dahl, Disney, Julia Donaldson, JK Rowling and many more. As well as the aforementioned Johnnies and Janes like you and I, thanks to the new Creator Programme.

It's a similar approach to YouTube, albeit with one rather large exception: content moderation

The bouncer on the gate

Because the Creator Programme isn't quite as wide open as Yoto claims.

In order to reach the Creator Programme and have your content sold as physical cards, it's advised that you first build a following in Yoto's Open Mic section. This involves giving your content away for free, which some may be reluctant to do. But it will get you valuable feedback and – hopefully – get people talking about your work.

Think of it as the balance bike you learn on before graduating to pedals.

This isn't a necessity. But as any parent will tell you, going straight to pedals is a big step.

You then register to become a Creator. All content is reviewed by Yoto's Creators community team to ensure quality and age suitability before anything is put into production.

Clear this hurdle, and your card can start being made.

Obviously Yoto will want to keep a tight leash on what gets onto its online store, as keeping parents' trust is key. And as a recent Times column by Juliet Samuel shows, some parents are quicker to anger than others.

(Samuel took umbrage at kids' podcast Yoto Daily having a short segment on World Refugee Week.)

Hopefully Yoto's Creator Programme should keep the quick-to-anger brigade in check. Because there are guardrails in place, it's not quite the free-for-all user-generated content model of YouTube and social media. But content created by non-pros does appear next to that from the likes of established authors, musicians and entertainment behemoths like Disney and Peppa Pig.

Though at the moment at least, Yoto is keeping this content far from prominent. You have to scroll a good chunk of the way down page two of the Yoto Card Store before you find your first card marked as from Independent Creators (Truck Tunes, if you're interested, which is a series of songs about trucks – it's worth a listen if only to see what family-friendly words they rhyme with 'truck').

To me, this is sensible. If you flood a service with creator content, you have the same problem as social media, where you're giving world-class epidemiologists the same prominence as world-class ignoramuses. (It's the same reason Apple Music doesn't let you upload yourself singing in the shower to sit next to the collected works of Beethoven.)

But go slow, introducing only the best creator content, and gradually, and you'll keep the quality high and – crucially – maintain the trust of parents.

Admittedly kids care about this a lot less than their parents do. My son won't care whether the card he's listening to is from an independent creator or a mega corporation. As long as it keeps him entertained, he's happy. And to an extent, so am I.

But at the same time, parents want to be able to trust that their kids are listening to appropriate content. It's the reason my wife and I won't let our kids anywhere near YouTube (and that includes YouTube Kids).

Despite what Denker might say, the playground isn't open to everyone – there's a bouncer on the gate to keep out the undesirables. YouTube, take note.

MORE:

I bought my son some kid-friendly headphones – and one feature makes me jealous

Check out the best wireless headphones around

I set up an average portable projector in my son's bedroom, and now I'm "the best dad ever"

We've noticed a distinct lack of great budget portable music players recently. Since the demise of the iPod Touch, there have been plenty of great dedicated hi-res music players, mainly from the likes of Astell & Kern, offering exceptional performance for your personal listening pleasure.

The thing is, most of the best portable music players tend to cost some serious cash (at least over £500/$500), and that's not always ideal in these times of economic uncertainty. A&K's sub-brand Activo tried to bring exceptional quality to a more affordable price point with its Activo P1 player, but disappointing sound and a cheap-feeling build meant it was tough to recommend.

Perhaps Fiio will have better luck with its M21, a "sleek and powerful portable digital audio player" which seeks to bring together flagship hardware with retro aesthetics without costing an arm and a leg.

The new portable music player is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset, teasing a quick, responsive Android performance in your pocket. The M21 offers 64 GB of internal storage, which is expandable to 2 TB via a microSD slot.

The Fiio M21 is capable of handling hi-res PCM files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside DSD512 and full MQA decoding, while SBC, AAC and LDAC Bluetooth codecs are on the menu.

Central to the M21's performance are four Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC chips arranged in a matrix configuration, an architecture which minimises crosstalk and noise for a "clean and dynamic sonic profile". ​

The M21 also offers a handy 'desktop mode' so you can use it as a DAC/amplifier for your laptop-based listening. When connected via USB-C to an external supply, the Fiio bypasses its onboard battery to deliver up to 21 Vpp peak voltage and 950 mW per channel into 32 ohms.

The new player offers 15 hours of battery life for single-ended 3.5 mm headphones and 11.5 hours for balanced 4.4 mm listening, while digital coaxial and USB-C outputs are also onboard. An updated Fiio Control app is available for managing the player's settings and accessing a series of advanced filters.

​The M21 sports a 4.7-inch touchscreen, and if you're hankering for the days of the Walkman, Fiio even offers a retro cassette-tape-style protective case (sold separately) for that fully retro look.

The Fiio M21 is available now, priced at £279 / $329 / €329. That cassette case, meanwhile, will cost you around £20 / $50, although this may depend on the retailer.

We last tested the more costly Fiio M23 at £649 / $699 / AU$1199, but the brand seems to be targeting a more budget side of the market with the likes of this new M21 and the even cheaper JM21 model (£179 / $149 / €149).

MORE:

These are the best iPod Touch alternatives

And the best portable music players

Read our Sony NW-A306 review for a similarly priced alternative

The High End Munich show isn't the sort of place to admit that you still listen to your music on a primitive iPhone. Massive horn speakers aside, it's a place where headphones are taken as seriously as hi-fi, so you won't find brands such as Sennheiser, Meze or Austrian Audio powering their best wired over-ears with nothing but an iPhone 15 and some basic Spotify files.

There's serious desktop hardware around that can help bring the best out of your favourite cans, but if you still want a portable music player with proper pedigree, there's currently one name on the market dominating the competition.

Astell & Kern is currently to PMPs what Sony is to wireless headphones, leading the charge in making on-the-go something of an art form in its own right.

The Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 (£3799 / $3699 / AU$5499) was the brand's former high-end flagship, but now there's a new standard bearer courtesy of the big-money A&ultima SP4000.

We use A&K's players to try out the wired headphones that are worthy of a proper source, meaning we're familiar with their healthy array of chunky champions.

A PMP is also a great thing to try to test out if you're ever scampering along the floor of a busy hi-fi show; it can be tricky to gauge the performance of even the best loudspeakers given variations in noise, room material and running-in time, but with digital players, as well as headphones, it's just you and the music in your own little oasis of sound. Almost.

We've occasionally found A&K players to be a tad unresponsive when compared to the best touchscreens and interfaces offered by the likes of Samsung and Apple, but there's less of a hint of lag or ambiguity with the SP4000.

The screen itself feels precise and responsive, and while we weren't in a position to pull out an iPhone and do a like-for-like comparison, we didn't notice that frustrating feeling of vagueness or delay that can make operation feel like a chore rather than a joy.

What we would say is that the SP4000 is an absolute unit. A&K players are always large affairs, and it's one of the things we've pointed to in the past that may act as a limitation on anyone seeking hi-res sound that can be taken on the train in the back of a work rucksack.

The SP4000 is a mini behemoth, and while it feels well-made and has the sheen and allure of an appropriately premium product, you might need a bigger bag, plus a yearly gym membership, if you're planning on picking one up.

Some serious firepower

The new A&ultima SP4000 is built around A&K's advanced 'Octa' circuit architecture which "distils purest essence of audio engineering" to provide a "refined yet powerful sound that is remarkably close to perfection". We like the confidence.

The SP4000 can handle hi-res PCM files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside DSD512 and comes equipped with 256GB of internal memory for your digital library alongside support for microSD cards up to 1.5TB. There's also wi-fi and DLNA network support, and USB digital audio output and a USB-C port for data transfer and charging.

We're listening using a pair of A&K's own in-ear headphones, so we're wary that part of the sound we experience will be imparted by the Korean brand's in-ears. However much of the resultant profile comes from the IEMs or from the player, the sound that makes its way to our ears has a distinctly "hi-fi" flavour.

How does it sound?

This is an informative reproduction, one that puts you in the picture as clearly and accurately as the most steady-handed of professional photographers.

It's a sonic character that reminds us of the authoritative and detailed nature of the established five-star A&ultima SP3000, wherein tunes have the sparkling sheen and polish of a professional player with proper pedigree.

A&K has been kind enough to install a selection of test tunes onto its latest creation. We've had quite enough of Billie Eilish and Dire Straits for one hi-fi show, thank you very much, so we decide to wake ourselves up a bit with Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

The SP4000 feels forensic in the way that it tracks instrumental textures and the ebb and flow of rhythms, bolstering its credentials as an informative and detail-heavy performer.

Guitars are replete with bite and scratch, while Kurt Cobain is hearteningly throaty in his delivery of that irrepressibly iconic chorus. If you're looking for a player that gives you half a chance of understanding what he's actually saying, the A&K appears to be a fine candidate.

Its midrange clarity does, we say tentatively, appear to be one of the A&K's more potent strengths. We switch from one much-missed grunge icon to another, swapping out Teen Spirit for Audioslave's Like A Stone and discovering with pleasure how distinct the contrasting deliveries now sound.

Chris Cornell is less scratchy and raw than Cobain here, and his heartfelt delivery comes through as sincere and downtrodden as the track plays through.

It's those more indefinable or esoteric qualities that often go on to define greatness, and we often need more time with a product than a quick hands-on assessment can afford. The Who's Baba O'Riley is full of detail, but the sense of dramatic grandeur as things build is what separates the men from the boys.

We're wary that incredibly informative and detail-heavy players can sound off-hand or removed, so we'd like more testing time to discover whether the SP4000 can make us feel truly involved in our most adrenaline-inducing tunes.

Go big or go home

From what we've heard, the A&ultima SP4000 is an Astell & Kern portable music player through and through. It has that "hi-fi in your hand" sound that has made its predecessors and stablemates so appealing, even if we would need proper testing time to assess its deeper qualities and drawbacks.

What makes the A&ultima SP4000 notable is its size. It's a big, costly unit (prices are TBC but are set to fly north of £4000 / $4000 / AU$5500), so you'll end up with a very large, very high-end piece of kit in your back pocket.

That might be off-putting for some, but the allure of outstanding sound – if the SP4000 does turn out to be a class-leading performer – could well outweigh all other considerations.

For the right buyer, of course.

MORE:

High End Munich 2025 highlights: streaming amplifiers, large high-end speakers and more exquisite hi-fi

7 of the quirkiest and strangest pairs of speakers we saw at High End Munich 2025

These are the best portable music players you can buy

If you've checked out our list of the best portable music players right now, you'll have noticed that one brand is currently dominating the market. South Korean manufacturer Astell & Kern knows its way around a portable music player, returning again with a new flagship model which it hopes will continue a hot streak of Award-winning hi-res audio players.

The audio brand has a new flagship player, the A&ultima SP4000, which will make its global debut at next week’s High End Munich Show, arriving alongside two new pairs of in-ear monitors – the Luna and the XIO, both of which will launch fully later this year.

We don't have official figures yet, but we have tested Astell & Kern's previous SP3000 flagship, which launched at £3799 / $3699 / AU$5499, so we can expect the new flagship player to sport a similarly high-end price.

The A&ultima SP4000 has been constructed around A&K's advanced 'Octa' circuit architecture, distilling the "purest essence of audio engineering" to provide a "refined yet powerful sound that is remarkably close to perfection".

The hi-res player's new circuit architecture is designed so that digital signals are delivered more precisely to a single DAC without the need to distribute noise, enabling improved signal separation and processing.

Further features look to enhance the new player's sonic talents. A&K's 'New Advanced Digital Audio Remaster' technology aims to add refinement and naturalness to music by restoring lost harmonics and using more powerful upsampling. The SP4000 also incorporates an advanced circuit board in pursuit of minimal signal loss and enhanced audio quality.

The SP4000 is capable of handling hi-res PCM files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside DSD512, and the new player comes equipped with 256GB of internal memory for your digital library, and support for microSD cards up to 1.5TB. There's also wi-fi and DLNA network support, and USB digital audio output and a USB-C port for data transfer and charging.

The SP4000 grants support for the high-quality aptX Adaptive and LDAC Bluetooth codecs for 24-bit audio playback. The player's clever 'BT Sink' function allows the SP4000 to connect to an external device via Bluetooth, and to function as a wireless DAC.

A&K's latest player offers around 10 hours of continuous playback from a single charge, with charging taking around four hours to get fully juiced. The SP4000 is crafted from stainless steel, with a PVD-coated ceramic back, and comes with a Perlinger leather case.

What about those new in-ear headphones? Astell&Kern has collaborated with established headphones manufacturer 64 Audio to produce the XIO, a 10-driver IEM featuring an isobaric cone-to-magnet driver configuration. Housed in a stainless steel shell with a black coating, the monitor "combines technical sophistication with a rugged, luxurious finish".

Also arriving are the Luna, a new set of IEMs developed in-house by Astell&Kern. The Luna boast a full-range single micro planar magnetic driver, as well as hi-fi grade silver-coated and copper cables and an included 4.4mm balanced plug.

The new flagship SP4000 portable music player will go on sale this summer, with pricing to be confirmed. We'll let you know as soon as we have official figures. Both pairs of IEMs will be officially unveiled in Q3 of 2025, with more information set to land next week at Munich. Once we get it, we'll update you on prices and availability.

MORE:

These are our favourite portable music players around

8 tracks we've been using to test in the What Hi-Fi? listening rooms this month

High End Munich 2025 preview: what to expect from the upcoming hi-fi show

Astell & Kern has launched a clever twist on its tried-and-tested hi-res music player formula. The new A&K PD10 is a portable music player that you can listen to on the go, but it also comes with a docking cradle that transforms it into a music streamer for your home audio system.

The South Korean brand is no stranger to innovative products (check out the ACRO CA1000T desktop player), and the PD10's dual-purpose use is ideal for those who want high-performance audio but don't want to go down the traditional separates route.

The PD10 looks like most other Astell & Kern digital audio players (DAP), such as the Award-winning A&norma SR35 and high-end A&ultima SP3000, which are among the best portable music players we've tested.

The stainless steel and glass design features a Full HD 6-inch touchscreen display, with 256GB of internal storage that can be expanded with microSD cards up to 2TB. The customary tactile volume wheel of most A&K players has been replaced by buttons in this model, while a colour-changing LED ring around the power button signals the bitrate of the track playing.

A&K has taken plenty of care with the internal circuit of the PD10 to deliver "an astonishing level of sound". To do this, it uses the same HEXA audio circuit design first seen in the five-star flagship SP3000 player. The PD10 uses two AKM AK4191EQ chips for the digital signals and four brand-new AKM AK4498EX DAC chips for the analogue stages, thus keeping the digital and analogue signal processing stages completely separate.

Performance is optimised even further thanks to two separate audio circuits for the balanced and unbalanced outputs respectively. The PD10 also features two amplifiers with different sound tunings (Normal Gain AMP and High Gain AMP) so users can select the sonic character that suits their tastes and headphones best.

And finally, the PD10 has a smart gain mode that automatically selects the best amplifier mode match to your headphones' impedance. This is especially useful if you have multiple wired headphones of various types and impedances that you use regularly, so the PD10's ability to automatically distinguish between low and high impedances takes out a lot of manual tweaking.

The docking cradle, meanwhile, has a pair of balanced XLR outputs so you can directly connect it to a pair of active speakers or your home system's two-channel amplifier. Slot the PD10 into the cradle's USB-C connection and you'll be able to stream your digital library to your home speakers.

You can use the PD10's volume button to control output levels or set a fixed level by using the line out option. There's no display, but the cradle has a colour-coded LED that informs you of the current track's bitrate.

The PD10 can be used in conjunction with a variety of other hi-fi products and storages: it has wi-fi, supports AirPlay, is DLNA compatible and has Roon Ready certification. As a portable player, it has 15 hours of battery life.

Its USB-C port can be used for charging, file transfer and as a DAC, while Bluetooth 5.3 is on board for wireless compatibility. The PD10 supports native playback of high-resolution files up to 32-bit/784kHz PCM and DSD512, while aptX HD, LHDC and LDAC codecs are supported over Bluetooth.

Of course, you can achieve much of this set-up's features with an A&K SR35 player (£599) and a WiiM Pro Plus (£219) or Cambridge Audio MXN10 (£349) streamer, but the PD10 has a fair few more technological advances and it would be missing the point of this sleek two-in-one solution.

The Astell & Kern PD10 hi-res portable player/streamer is available from May with a rather hefty price tag of £2499 / $2499.

MORE:

Read our Astell & Kern SR35 review

Best music streamers: top network audio players tested, from budget to high-end

Want an iconic shot of David Bowie gracing your next speaker? Bang & Olufsen has you covered

What is the point of a dedicated portable music player? While your smartphone doubles up as your music player thanks to access to a multitude of streaming apps and internet radio, it has many other jobs to do as well. A dedicated music player’s job is to only play music, and free you of all the distractions that a smartphone brings, so you can enjoy your music library in peace, and in much better quality while on the move.

Dedicated portable music players have onboard storage for digital files, play CD-quality and hi-res files, support wireless and wired headphones, and have the technology dedicated to ensuring your music – even old MP3s – can sound their best.

Astell & Kern is one of the brands that have dominated this market, with numerous five-star reviews heaped upon their excellent music players that sound fantastic, bringing out more detail, dynamics and power than even the best-sounding smartphone is able to. A&K’s players tend to be rather pricey, however, and so the Activo sub-brand was created to cater to a younger, more ‘active’ audience whose budgets can't quite stretch to four figures.

Enter the Activo P1 portable music player. Does it do its job in replacing your smartphone as a music player?

Price

The Activo P1 costs £399 / $430, which is a considerably cheaper entry point into the world of hi-res music players compared with parent brand Astell & Kern’s repertoire. Astell & Kern’s current ‘entry-level’ portable music player, the excellent A&norma SR35, launched at £799 / $799 in mid-2023. We’ve seen prices for the SR35 dip to £599 / $649 before, and this model remains our top Award-winning recommendation if you want a great-performing dedicated hi-res player on the go.

Around the Activo P1’s price we have the Sony Walkman NW-A306, a compact and likeable if sometimes clunky player that is a smidge cheaper at £349 / $350.

Build & design

Despite the large difference in price, we mention the SR35 player for two reasons: the same team behind our favourite portable digital audio player (DAP) is behind the conception and design of this more affordable Activo P1, so we aren’t surprised to find some similarities under the hood. But the physical design is chalk and cheese. The SR35 (and indeed most of A&K’s premium players) are all sharp edges, dark metal and glass, and sleek, expensive-looking designs that justify their high price points. The Activo P1, in contrast, is light, bright and smooth.

Going for curved edges rather than the usual sharp corners of its parent brand’s designs is an immediate differentiator. The P1 is more akin to the size of a slim smartphone than the smaller, palm-sized Sony NW-306, but we’re in two minds about how it feels in the hand. We like the smooth curves, but we’re not keen on the rather cheap-feeling body that is a mix of polycarbonate on top and aluminium on bottom. It’s slippery and we can never get a firm grip on it. The thicker width at the top section also feels inelegant and odd to hold in-hand. Sony’s NW-A306 manages to create a lightweight body that feels of a higher quality, and we like its scalloped ridges at the back that help us keep a firm, secure grip on the player.

The physical volume and playback buttons at either side of the P1 also feel a touch cheap when clicked, but they are textured so you know exactly which button you’re pressing, and they are responsive in use.

The bigger issue we have with the Activo P1’s design is the screen. The 4.1in 720x1080 display screen has a dulled, grey/blue undertone to the white balance that never looks crisp or clean. It has poor contrast, too, and we find it quite uncomfortable to look at. It’s not too dissimilar to the effect a too-bright cool-toned overhead fluorescent light offers – it’s an unpleasant quality that strains our eyes, especially when looking at the screen at night. We turn the screen to full brightness and even try the warm-toned night mode, but it doesn’t help.

The touchscreen itself is fairly responsive otherwise, and the interface is simple enough to get around and use. Downloading music, finding your music files, changing the settings and playback are all perfectly logical. We just wish the design was more polished and felt of a higher quality for the price.

Features

Where we can’t fault the Activo P1 is its extensive features list. You get two headphone outputs (3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced), a USB-C port for charging and transferring music files, and you can also use it as a DAC between your laptop and headphones. Along with wired headphones, you can even connect Bluetooth wireless earbuds to the P1, and higher-quality aptX HD and LDAC codecs are supported too.

The internal storage is 64GB – which is double that of the Sony NW-A306 – and it’s mercifully not taken up by unnecessary bloatware (only 1GB is taken over by the operating system, which is hardly anything). As with most A&K players, it runs on a pared-down Android OS but you get access to the Google Play Store to download streaming service apps such as Tidal, Qobuz, Apple Music, and even YouTube. It doesn’t try to mimic your smartphone like the Sony Walkman does, and that’s to the P1’s credit.

This also means the P1 runs fairly quickly and smoothly in daily use. If 64GB isn’t enough to carry all your digital music files, you can expand that storage thanks to a microSD card slot that supports a maximum of 1.5TB capacity.

The 20-hour battery life is decent, but it can be power-hungry when you’re playing hi-res tracks exclusively and drains the battery noticeably quicker.

Delving into the settings and technical specifications is where things start to get familiar, as we’ve encountered many of the features and technology in A&K players before – from its DAR (Digital Audio Remaster) upsampling technology and ability to use it as a source with the line-out mode, to various settings for filters, gapless playback and Roon Ready certification. There is a 20-band parametric equaliser that you can tweak to your heart’s desire.

Internally, the Activo P1 uses Astell & Kern’s Tetraton Alpha Amp technology and ESS ES9219Q SABRE dual DACs, while an octa-core processor keeps things speedy. Dual-band wi-fi is also on board, although we had some issues connecting to our home internet at first. We never had any hiccups in streaming songs from Tidal once connected, though. The P1’s file resolution support is extensive: it natively supports up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM, DSD256 and MQA files. The sampling rate, file format and whether you have DAR enabled or not are clearly labelled when playing a track.

Sound

We load up the Activo P1 with our usual mix of hi-res FLAC downloads, CD-quality WAV rips and a handful of MP3 files, and download Tidal too. We tried a variety of wired headphones during our testing, from the open-back Grado SR80x to the more premium Beyerdynamic Amiron, but the majority of our time was spent with the affordable Rode NTH-100 closed-back cans plugged in.

Playing tracks from Lorde, Doechii, Fleetwood Mac and Khruangbin, we hear a smooth, even tonal balance, with no undue harshness or flab at either end of the frequencies. It’s not too dissimilar from the pricier A&K SR35’s balance, and there is decent solidity, body and power underpinning each song, with a big sense of space too.

But there is a distinct lack of dynamics and rhythmic precision. Musically, it all sounds rather flat and one-dimensional, with very little energy or subtleties in the melody. Most songs rely on a sense of rhythmic drive, with a tune either going through quiet/loud/quiet moments or ratcheting up towards a crescendo or building momentum – the Activo P1 isn’t able to communicate those elements of a song with much subtlety.

It’s a rather blunt sound. Doechii’s animated, crystal clear delivery in Denial Is A River doesn’t have its zest or rhythmic drive, and while most Khruangbin songs have repetitive notes and motifs, we don’t get much of a sense of agility or instruments working in cohesion with each other. The brooding, bombastic tones of a Hans Zimmer soundtrack have a good amount of muscle and weight behind them when the orchestra starts to get dramatic, but we want the propulsive nature to grab us and keep our attention fully rapt with anticipation.

Switch to Lorde’s Royals and we also notice the sound from the P1 is a touch subdued. We never seem to get the right volume level, which further suggests an unsubtle handling of dynamics. We keep pushing the volume up higher (past the warning limit) and even then we’re still yearning for more punch and more immediacy from the song.

For curiosity, we plug the Rode headphones into an iPhone 12 with the Lightning-to-3.5mm jack adapter (which does have a DAC inside it) and while it isn’t as big-sounding, punchy or have as much body as the P1, we do hear a better sense of agility, more precise rhythms and much more nuanced and engaging dynamics. Play Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain and the bass notes sound taut and shapely, and have the feel of someone plucking at them with varying intensities and pressure, while the electric guitar has that whining sheen around the notes as Lindsey Buckingham wails a solo. Switching back to the Activo P1, and it has dulled all that shine; the bass is woolier, and the whole song loses its energy and verve. It never manages to achieve that lively spark and pizazz when listening through the admittedly leaner and less powerful iPhone.

Turning on DAR mode on MP3 files does give the music a touch more punch and muscle, while playing downloads (WAV and FLAC) sounds more solid and fleshed-out than when streaming over Tidal, but the same overall sonic presentation remains. Connection to a pair of Bluetooth earbuds such as the Technics EAH-AZ100 is easily done, with the pairing process swift, and the connection is stable throughout.

Verdict

To say we’re disappointed by the Activo P1 is an understatement. It’s rare that we come across a product these days – of any type or price – that delivers such an underwhelming performance. The player has a good concept and all the right ingredients, but it falls short of what we would expect for its asking price.

Considering the pedigree behind its conception and despite being an ‘entry-level proposition’, £399 / $430 is still a sizable chunk of money to spend on a dedicated music device and we expect and hope for a certain standard of build and performance at this level. We’ve tested much cheaper players from Cowon, iBasso, Fiio and Sony over the years that have delivered a more pleasing mix of sound and build quality overall; let’s hope the next iteration of the Activo can deliver a more satisfying experience.

First reviewed: February 2025

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Features 5
• Build 3

MORE:

Also consider the Sony NW-A306

Surprise! Samsung has blessed the Galaxy S25 with the missing audio feature I’ve wanted for years

Best portable MP3 players: top hi-res music players tested by our experts

Jack White doesn’t love his music being described as ‘retro’. “Anything that starts with ‘re’ – like retro, reinvent, recreate... it’s always like living in the past – copying, emulating,” he once said. But like many of us, he seems to love retro music playback. After all, he co-founded the vinyl-focused label Third Man Records and under it has released several of his albums on not only vinyl but also cassette. As have the likes of Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers with their music, and Disney with today's best-selling tapes, the Guardians Of The Galaxy: Awesome Mix volumes. White and his fellow tape-backing artists might perhaps then be fans of FiiO’s ‘Retro Product’ category. The Chinese manufacturer has incited nostalgia big time this year by launching two products in particular within it – and ‘retro’ is exactly the descriptor it’s going for.

There are currently three devices under that category umbrella. One is the TT13 fully automatic turntable, which in my mind is no less contemporary a product type today than an electric car, but the other two do, however, firmly fit the retro bill; they are a portable CD player (DM13) and portable cassette player (CM13). No arguments there, right? Unlike vinyl, they are, as technological concepts in the here and now, closer to dead than alive.

I don’t expect either legacy devices or formats to take off in the same way the turntable and record have done over the past decade, despite the recent rise in CD’s popularity and the efforts of some artists and film studios to release cassette tapes – but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t exist as niche offerings. The world now has cadence-measuring socks, for crying out loud. In fact, having spent a week rewinding my modernised brain and, more literally, what remains of my physical music collection, to play with them both, I’m rather glad they turned up.

FiiO DM13 portable CD player

Let me make this clear from the outset: both products will likely find niche audiences. 2025 isn’t going to be the year Discmans start lining shop shelves where iPods used to be, or when we see people using pencils to fix tapes on trains. The plausible scenario I imagine for the DM13 takes place on a sofa. Headphones – probably of the wired variety – are connected to it, and on the other side of that cable are the ears of someone who predominantly plays music on their laptop or on a home system, probably via a streaming service, but who still cherishes a CD collection that they want to play occasionally via a flexible and affordable source.

Yes, that’s a far cry from the product’s initial milieu in the late ’80s and ’90s, where they would go everywhere with you – as your phone does today. Mine (referred to as the ‘CD Walkman’ in my day) was mostly used in the car when my parents increased the volume on Andrea Bocelli (I know… but I was a rap fan as a teenager) or started talking about their next home improvement project, and tucked into the back pocket of the driver’s seat. Sure, you could carry the DM13 around with you – it’s a free world and the effective ESP (electronic skip protection) mode allows you to haphazardly carry it sideways-on or upside-down without much playback interference at all. I tucked it into the back of my jeans (pocket-size? No chance) while hoovering and had no issues. But ultimately it’s about as practical and comfortable to carry around as a pinecone.

Anyway, while my Discman days are obviously some time ago now, I initially unboxed the DM13 with confidence and tossed aside the Quick Start manual as if it was one of Wine Club vouchers you seemingly find inside every package these days. Using a Discman should surely be like riding a bike, especially for someone who considers themselves pretty damn tech-savvy. I was humbled, then, when I had powered the thing on, inserted my Kasabian Velociraptor! disc (found inside my case for The Cure's Greatest Hits – why, of course, some things never change), plugged in my headphones and yet couldn’t get sound out or the relentless ‘pairing’ wording off the screen.

‘Pairing’? That’s not something I remembered from my Discman days in the backseat of the car. I coyly picked up the manual; the thing has Bluetooth! The integration of this mod-con naturally means the player can wirelessly send your spinning discs to Bluetooth headphones or a wireless speaker/other audio component in ‘standard’ SBC or the higher-quality aptX/aptX HD codec. And to change its output to the 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphone jacks on the player’s front, either side of the screen, you must press the power button a couple of times… of course.

There are some visual giveaways that this is the brainchild of a product team or engineer in the 2020s and not the 1990s, too. Firstly, the blue-on-black LCD display is much more à la mode than the old players’ black-on-green/grey screens that used to match your bedside alarm clock, and thankfully it is bigger than the size of a thumbprint. It shows volume, track number and time, though sadly not scrolling song titles. If streaming has hampered the tactility of music playback it has also affected its visual experience as we press ‘play’ and click away to another screen, so it would’ve been nice for the DM13 to bring some of that back.

Secondly, on the rear panel are 4.4mm balanced and 3.5mm coax/optical outputs so that the player can be connected to powered speakers or used as a source in an audio system. Two USB-C ports – one for ripping CDs to your computer/laptop (handy) and another for charging the built-in battery (no compartment for AA batteries or clunky external chargers here) – complete the contemporary-as-they-come connectivity. Incidentally, the battery goes for 10 hours, lasting the week I dipped into it, but a Desktop Mode switch can be flicked on to bypass the battery and use power obtained over USB when connected.

So yes, the DM13 has been fitted out for the present. Naturally, its sonic architecture is up to date too, based around two flagship Cirrus Logic DAC chips and low-noise headphone amps (FiiO probably couldn’t have sourced the ol’ stuff if it tried) and making for a surprisingly decent-sounding spinner – significantly clearer, fuller, punchier and more musically adroit than either streamed albums sounded out of my Macbook (although the preference expectedly fell the other way once I added my most modest DAC, around £350, to the laptop chain). Do yourself a favour and pair the DM13 with at least a budget pair of wired headphones, though; you’ll make the most of its potential that way and save the extra few quid opting for the non-Bluetooth version of the DM13.

My only real reservation about this niche retro-inspired portable is how it looks, which is functional over fun – modern, minimalist, sleek and… square? Forget the fugly former players of the ’80s and ’90s, like the Sony D-Z555 and Technics SL-XP5, Discmans today should be round! Like they were in the noughties. While the player can be bought in a funky red finish, I still think FiiO should’ve had more fun with retro visual cues here. Then again, perhaps all the team’s creativity had gone into making the CP13 cassette player…

FiiO CP13 portable cassette player

Surprisingly rock-solid and rectangular casing (the shape is right this time), big and chunky playback push-buttons and a transparent window to watch those hypnotic cogs wind – now we’re talking. I reckon the Early Learning Centre design vibes are spot on for FiiO’s cassette deck, which wouldn’t look out of place as a prop in a Lego movie.

Music-listening hardware has ‘evolved’ over the decades to be more convenient and less tactile, so it makes sense that the CP13 is more physical than the DM13. It gives you feedback; the buttons are satisfyingly noisy, the cogs turn before your eyes, and, if you put your ear to the machine, you can hear the cogs’ mechanical whirr. The addition of the more sophisticated volume dial on the side panel offers another means of interaction. That said, the small indent on the door that allows you to prize it open and insert a tape is the hands-on (or rather fingernail-in) design trait I would’ve swapped for a brash and bold slider-switch (as on the DM13) any day. Us poor nail-biters.

There’s a USB-C power port (battery life is 13 hours claimed; I got a little less) and a 3.5mm audio jack, and that’s it. “We also chose to make the movement as simple as possible, removing the recording and auto-reverse functions, in order to focus on bringing max playback sound quality,” says FiiO. Indeed, despite the defiantly retro and perhaps relatively ‘crude’ aesthetic, under the hood is some serious business.

FiiO says that, regardless of the cost repercussions, it negotiated with its supplier to only use the highest-quality cassette heads (“less than 40 per cent of what is produced”) and that the head has a thicker-than-usual cover for better shielding. It also chose a larger copper flywheel that supposedly helps the tape reel move smoothly and keep wow and flutter low, as well as a higher-voltage power supply than is typical, which works alongside a motor speed stabilisation circuit to ensure stable speed and reduce rogue pitch changes.

No wonder I was slightly taken aback as the deep keyboard chords opening Tina Turner’s Simply The Best punched out through my Grado headphones. OK, so the presentation is a bit bereft of deep bass and may be a little forward for some tastes. If this is your first cassette rodeo, you may be surprised by the lack of refinement and polished cleanliness of digital music delivery these days. But it’s enjoyably sparkly up top, pretty detailed and spacious all-round, and overall nicely clear and coherent. Powerful enough to drive my mid-range Sennheiser earbuds and high-end Grado over-ears, too. Listening to a tape from start to finish is refreshing, while the challenge to forward-wind to just the moment a track begins is shamefully addictive.

So who is the CP13 for? Well, if the DM13 is akin to the niche cadence-measuring socks of the smart clothing world, the CP13 is more like its even nicher phone-controlling jacket. It would, however, well serve the small audience of cassette owners and listeners whose old player went bust or who have never owned one. I imagine they would be attracted to the evocative design, attractive price (£95 / $80 / AU$180 at Amazon) and decent enough performance in a market where options are very few. If I still had my original cassette collection (as opposed to just three tapes!) or the desire to get onboard with the newly released and limited-edition tapes being dropped nowadays, it would have been on my wishlist for Santa for sure.

As for the DM13, I’m not so sure, given I do own and occasionally play CDs but already have a disc player in my home system. Make it round and perhaps I’d consider it…

MORE:

CES 2025 preview: what to expect from the world's biggest tech show

14 exciting hi-fi and home cinema products we can't wait to review in 2025

We've built a versatile vinyl and streaming system that brings the best of both worlds – but doesn't cost the earth

Audio manufacturer Volumio has launched its new Rivo Plus music streamer. An enhanced version of the brand's established Rivo network player, this latest model incorporates additional features and upgraded performance for a price that puts it in competition with five-star class leaders such as the Cambridge Audio CXN100.

If you're unfamiliar with Volumio, the Italian company piqued our interest with its all-in-one integrated amp system (the Integro) and its music streamer with a tablet-like touchscreen (the Motivo) – all in a rather more compact and stylish form than we're used to seeing with hi-fi separates. This new Rivo Plus aims to offer a similar proposition for its premium billing: packing in plenty of streaming features and technology to deliver a performance that will sit alongside the established players.

The Rivo Plus' internal design aims to lower the load on the CPU for generating the audio digital stream in pursuit of better sound. The new unit houses several low-noise linear regulators, again aiming to improve the sound quality of the output signal, whereas the upgraded internal electronic 'MEMs' clocks aim for improved handling of jitter, better stability and less susceptibility to temperature variations.

The Rivo Plus supports high-resolution audio files up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD256 and supports numerous music streaming platforms. It supports Apple AirPlay via Shairport Sync, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Qobuz, as well as Bluetooth 5.0. The streamer is UPnP and DLNA compatible too, so can play any music files stored on the same network. For managing all playback and sources, the slimline, compact new network player can be controlled using the Volumio app, available for iOS and Android devices.

In terms of physical connections, the Rivo Plus offers digital coaxial and AES/EBU digital outputs and three USB ports for plugging in external DACs, hard drivers or CD drivers. There's also an ethernet port for a wired internet connection, as well as an HDMI input for hooking the Volumio directly up to your TV. There is also a micro SD slot at the back for expanding the internal 16GB storage.

The Volumio Rivo Plus music streamer will be available to order from today, priced at £1099 / $1399 / €1299 / AU$2299.

MORE:

These are the best music streamers you'll find anywhere

Buying a music streamer? Avoid these 10 easy mistakes

While I often long for mum-made spaghetti bolognese and Lion King Bug Pops from my childhood, it isn’t often I find myself yearning for the technology I owned as a kid. Funnily enough, not once does my technologically spoilt adult self recall pining for my old CRT TV that was too big to properly close the cabinet doors on, or the portable DVD player that I used to have to hold very still and squint at to watch in the car. Do I miss the minutes-that-felt-like-hours spent waiting for AOL dial-up internet? No more than you do.

But a few weeks ago, I read about a device from my early teen years that I would happily use today (or rather, one I would use a modern-day version of) – the iPod Shuffle. The article stated that Apple had added its last-generation Shuffle to its worldwide ‘obsolete products’ list, a tech graveyard for the company’s products that haven't been distributed for sale for seven years or longer and can no longer be serviced or have new parts ordered for. Indeed, Apple stopped distributing the 2010-released fourth-gen Shuffle (alongside the seventh-gen Nano) in mid-2017, leaving the iPod lineup comprising only two models of iPod Touch. (Those last-of-’em iPod Touches were abandoned by Apple in 2022, of course, marking the end of the iPod shelf-life and indeed era, and will therefore hit that list in 2029.)

What an ingenious idea the Shuffle was, particularly in its final, evolved form – a portable music player that was barely wider than a thumb, weighed 12.5g and could clip on to pretty much anything… even hair, as some Y2K-obsessed Gen Z influencers recently fashioned on TikTok, bless their creativity. How cool did I look (or think I looked) with my green Shuffle clipped onto my green basketball jersey, with my green Sennheiser earbuds coming up through the neck of it into one ear? Ah, the memories… thankfully not photographed. I barely left the house without it. Today, as my feelings of nostalgia travel in the same direction as my age, it remains my favourite-ever Apple product.

Sentimentality aside, the Shuffle was portable audio at its practical peak. Would it still make sense in today’s world? With a few tweaks, I think so. If Apple (because it would probably take a big tech brand to meaningfully revive it) released the best-sounding Shuffle it could possibly make in a similarly compact, clip-on and affordable form next year, and it had Bluetooth output and some manner of streaming functionality – modern must-haves for any such device – I imagine it would sell. I would use it, for runs and rides and maybe the odd overnight camping trip, when it isn’t convenient to carry my phone or eat up its battery. It would surely be less of a faff to play music on than my music-enabled Garmin fitness watch, whose music streaming ability I’ve more or less given up on now.

Since the iPod Shuffle’s demise, matchbox-sized and clippable MP3 players have cropped up, such as the Shanling M0 Pro and several more dubious-looking copycats on Amazon. Some, like the Shanling, do have Bluetooth, not to mention hi-res support and even the accommodation of 2TB of storage (via a microSD slot). No streaming, though…

From a practical point of view, I’d argue that portable audio hasn’t been as attractive since. Superior-sounding? Absolutely. It’s quite amazing how good portable music players and similarly compact music machines can sound these days – but they’re phone-sized and often cost the same as the phone. They haven’t captured the hearts (and wallets) of the masses. Of course, we’ve become reliant on the phone for everything, including music playback, and with good reason; but can we look beyond it in the future? After all, innovative concepts like the AI-powered personal assistant Humane AI Pin device – tiny, clip-on, discreet – are trying to shift the way we interact with technology away from our phones, even if this headline-grabbing ‘pin’ is currently, according to the reviews, poorly executed.

If not Apple, then how about Spotify? It introduced CarThing, an in-car Spotify streaming player that lived a pretty short life. Would there be longer legs in a Spotify, er, BodyThing?

It’ll certainly be interesting to see where the future of portable audio lies, because as on-the-go music players (rather than versatile digital sources for a desktop or hi-fi system), the current PMP won't likely have much of one. With its increasingly niche status, the writing is on the wall. And there has to be something beyond the phone.

MORE:

Hi-fi and music streaming live harmoniously, but two Big Tech brands hold the relationship back

Best wireless headphones 2024: tried and tested by our in-house experts

The best early Black Friday 2024 UK deals: headphones, OLED TVs, Dolby Atmos soundbars and more

For many, the name Astell & Kern is synonymous with premium portable music players. We consider many of the Korean brand's PMPs – including the A&norma SR35 and SP3000 – to be some of the best players on the market today, so our ears certainly pricked up when A&K announced that its latest model, the A&Ultima SP3000M, was "the world's finest portable music player". Bold words from a brand that, for the most part, has been able to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

The A&Ultima SP3000M uses the same 'Hexa' audio circuit design pioneered in the five-star SP3000 model. This new model contains four AK4499EX DACs and two AK4191EQ chips for handling digital signals, with A&K promising "amazingly vivid sound" in the palm of your hand thanks to the player's circuitry design.

The SP3000M also uses an unbalanced and balanced independent dual audio circuit design, a configuration its manufacturer claims removes the usual limitations on audio performance to provide a cleaner, more delicate sound without delay or distortion. The big-bucks A&K SP3000 impressed us with its detail and authority, so here's hoping much of that DNA has made its way over to this latest model.

The new portable player's circuitry features a bespoke shield can which aims to prevent electromagnetic interference and noise from affecting the player's audio block. Further, the SP3000M also uses conductive, high-purity silver on the shield can to help separate digital and analogue signals and reduce noise.

Powering the new player is Snapdragon's 6125 Octa-core processor, while 8GB of memory should ensure you don't run out of storage space. The SP3000M offers hi-res playback, supporting 32-bit/784kHz PCM, DSD512 and MQA files as well as aptX HD and LDAC Bluetooth codecs.

The SP3000M is available in a charcoal grey finish, is constructed predominantly from aluminium, and boasts a 720 x 1280mm HD touch screen. The unit offers a USB-C input for charging, alongside three outputs: 3.5mm, 2.5mm balanced and 4.4mm.

The Astell&Kern A&ultima SP3000M is available now, priced at £2299 / €2599 / $2300. For context, the five-star A&ultima SP3000 was tested at a mighty £3799 / $3699.

MORE:

Read our full review of the Astell & Kern SP3000

Check out our pick of the best portable music players

Here are our favourite in-ear headphones for all budgets

• These are the best portable music players for every budget

Less may arguably be more when it comes to things like house furnishings, makeup and possessions you would save from a burning building, but with something as niche in today’s world as the portable music player, their makers clearly believe that more is not only more, but also necessary in order to remain relevant.

In recent years, PMPs have become more than ‘just’ performance-first, storage-plentiful audio devices; they often have wi-fi and built-in access to apps, they sometimes double up as DACs, and most can transmit music via Bluetooth to wireless headphones and speakers. As one of the biggest remaining players in the ever-shrinking market, FiiO has keenly participated in such feature expansion – unsurprising, really, considering its unbridled creativity in other markets; look no further than its recent reincarnation of the cassette player and launch of a DAC/amp-toting keyboard. Indeed, the mid-market FiiO M23 hi-res music player has plenty of tricks up its sleeve that go beyond the primary duties weighing on it.

Features

The M23 boasts all three modern-day functions mentioned above; the ability to receive audio from a Bluetooth device so that the player can act purely as a DAC and amplifier; and a couple more desktop-centric features.

FiiO’s patented Desktop mode (activated via a toggle switch on the right-hand side panel) and the inclusion of an additional, power-only USB-C port allow the M23 to be completely powered by a connected external power source. This mode bypasses the built-in battery, which is neither charged nor discharged in the process, ensuring the M23 can be used in a desktop environment without fear of damaging the battery. When connected to fast charging via that second USB-C port, the player’s ‘Super High’ gain mode can be activated for more gain and more output power (up to 240mW per channel at 300 ohms or 1000mW at 32 ohms) to more ideally drive higher-impedance hi-fi headphones.

In this mode, the other USB-C port (used as an input) can connect to a phone or laptop and the player’s USB DAC operation doesn’t affect the player’s juice pack, which by the way offers a quoted nine to 10.5 hours of middling-volume playback depending on whether it’s outputting via the balanced or single-ended sockets. Handily, only a one-hour charge provides 80 percent battery life.

FiiO is certainly gunning for its latest player to become an integral part of not only your on-the-go set-up but also your desktop one, then, but only you can decide whether such extra functionality will be useful to you.

As for more traditional attributes, the FiiO has 64GB of internal storage, of which roughly 46GB is available for music repository – enough for around 2000 CD-quality FLAC tracks, to give you an idea. PCM files up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD256 can be stored locally and played through USB DAC operation.

You see, the player’s ‘system’, which includes files necessary to run the Android operating system (version 10), takes up 18GB, which you’ll forgive, more or less so depending on how much you’ll benefit from the smartphone-like functions it offers. Remember that any music service apps you want to download onto the player from the Google Play Store will also eat up space, and for reference Tidal is 127MB, Spotify 153MB, TuneIn Radio 114MB and Roon 205MB. Naturally, a microSD card slot accommodates storage expansion.

Design

With that slot, the two USB ports, the desktop mode switch and various other sockets and buttons including 3.5mm and balanced 4.4m headphone outputs, a volume slider and playback controls, every edge of the M23’s chassis is busy. Indeed, the supplied transparent case for this ‘Deep Blue’ player (a black leather case comes with the ‘Stainless Steel’ version) is as holey as a pair of Crocs.

Thankfully, the front is anything but busy, taken up almost entirely by a bright, crisp and satisfyingly responsive 5.49-inch touchscreen whose 720 x 1140 resolution and 18:9 ratio are great for displaying album cover art.

That generous display size is enough to suggest that the M23 is as sizeable as portable players come; it’s coat-pocket rather than jeans-pocket suitable and dwarfs its closest rival, the Award-winning Astell & Kern A&norma SR35. With size comes substance, though: the M23’s tall, slim chassis with geometrically appealing protruding sides is sturdy and well-built and, in its sophisticated navy blue finish, looks dapper.

Sound

And now the time has come to see what is under the hood and how well it performs. At the M23’s engineering core are Asahi Kasei’s premium DAC chips combo (AK4499EX and AK4191) and the refined ‘+’ version of the THX AAA-78 headphone amplifier modules found in FiiO's M11 Plus and M11 Pro, the latter of which we awarded five stars to some years ago for its “engaging and energetic listen… controlled, poised, convincing and completely sympathetic to whatever sort of music you care to play”. That bodes well for the M23, not least as FiiO says this honed architecture “allows for greater power output with high fidelity”.

We get down to business first with a hi-res file of Elvis Costello’s Lipstick Vogue, and its hyperactive drum line fills a big, wide-open soundstage that has the space and organisation to keep tabs on the vocal, bassline and piano that join in as the frenzied composition reaches peak density. It’s a coherent presentation that never sounds flustered or congested, even when we fire up the instrumentally immense Goliath by The Mars Volta on Tidal. In this respect, the FiiO has an edge over its aforementioned Astell & Kern rival, whose soundstage sounds slightly compressed in comparison.

The A&norma SR35 does, however, reply by making more rhythmic sense out of the breakneck bass guitar in the Costello track – and this isn’t the first time an Astell & Kern player has trumped a FiiO rival in the art of musicality. As we switch to Public Service Broadcasting’s Gagarin, its harder-hitting dynamics come to the fore, too, as the brass punches out of the public announcement samples. It carries the track’s drive with greater impetus and more tightly stitches the instrumental strands together into a cohesive whole, making the FiiO's delivery feel a little sterile.

Despite the A&norma SR35 convincingly being the more engaging of the two, the FiiO isn’t exactly a bore – we still find ourselves nodding away to upbeat tracks in our library, such as Fleetwood Mac’s Don't Stop and Michael Jackson’s P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing). And even if you aren’t made to feverishly foot-tap until you get cramp, there’s every chance you’ll be engrossed by the amount of detail the M23 can dig up.

Indeed, we can’t help but admire not only the breadth of its presentation but how much information – both in the outlines and harmonics of notes – it conveys within it. In the Jackson track, stark clarity and texture are generously bestowed across the frequency spectrum, clinging to the cymbals, electric piano and bass, his youthful vocal suitably dripping with its intended playfulness.

Verdict

Much like a dad on the dancefloor, the FiiO M23 has the detail analysis and attentiveness to allure and be enjoyed but isn’t a natural-born mover. For that – and only that – it sacrifices that covetable fifth star. Elsewhere it barely puts a toe wrong, offering a pleasantly open and insightful sound alongside a nicely made design and above-par feature set.

Despite more, indeed, being more when it comes to the M23’s functionality, we just need that little bit more in the sound department as well.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Features 5
• Build 5

MORE:

Also consider the Astell & Kern A&norma SR35

Best portable MP3 players: top hi-res music players tested by our experts

Following the release of its popular Walkman-inspired CP13 portable cassette player, FiiO is continuing the fun with a Discman-esque portable CD player – the new DM13.

It's well documented that vinyl sales are seeing a big resurgence in recent years but the same is also true for CDs. The release of a portable CD player in 2024 definitely shows how the shiny discs are making a comeback, as more and more people start to discover (or rediscover) their love of physical music formats. 

The DM13 CD player features both a 3.5mm single-ended and a 4.4mm balanced headphone output, which means it should suit a wide range of different headphones. There are dedicated analogue line output, SPDIF digital output, and USB output options allowing the unit to be integrated into your existing set-up, used with active speakers, or hooked up to a portable speaker's auxiliary input.

It also includes aptX HD Bluetooth connectivity meaning the player can connect to wireless headphones or speakers. The DM13 plays CDs, of course, and supports FLAC, WAV, WMA, AAC, and MP3 file formats.

The DM13's built-in battery is said to last up to eight hours of playback on a single charge. If you prefer to use the player in situ, you can take advantage of its dedicated desktop mode to bypass the internal battery and use mains power instead.

The DM13 will be available from September for £179 / $179. It will be available in a silver finish and additional colours such as red, blue, titanium, and black will arrive later this year.

Want to try it out before then? The DM13 will be shown off at this year's CanJam London event between 20th and 21st July, so get yourself down there if you fancy taking a look and a listen.

MORE: 

Our picks for the best CD players available: budget to premium options tested by experts

FiiO's Walkman-inspired cassette player is a blast from the past

Quick! You can still get 5 months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free – but the offer ends today

Forget Prime Day, you won’t find these 10 spectacular hi-fi deals on Amazon

FiiO's CP13 portable cassette player is now available to buy, and it comes in a previously unannounced transparent finish. The player is also cheaper than we were told at launch, retailing for £99 / $129 (Australian pricing is TBC).

We first spied the CP13 at the start of the year, where our deputy editor promptly fell in love with it. Its boxy look is inspired by the 1979 Sony Walkman.

Unlike We Are Rewind's cassette players, there's no Bluetooth, though it does have a USB-C port to charge up the lithium-ion battery (which lasts 13 hours). Its audio circuit is all analogue, from the magnetic tape head to the signal amplification. This makes for a "classic, unmistakably analogue sound," according to FiiO. We'll let you decide whether that's a good thing.

The motor is powered by a 4.2V power supply, which is more than the 1.8V or 3V typically found in portable cassette players. This works with a custom motor speed stabilisation circuit to increase the drag when necessary to maintain stable movement speeds, mitigating against unwanted pitch changes.

It also promises a more stable signal transmission, higher signal-to-noise ratio and lower distortion than a typical portable cassette player.

Because there's no Bluetooth, you'll need a pair of wired headphones in order to listen. The CP13 is on sale now from Advanced MP3 Players and Amazon.

MORE:

This retro-tastic Bluetooth cassette player is a modern twist on a 1979 Sony Walkman

That Was Then... Sony Walkman

A look back at 1985 and the cassette tape's heyday

Lenco has revealed two new portable audio systems, the PDR-046GY portable radio, and more curiously, the transparent SCD-24TR CD player harking back to the glory of see-through tech in the late nineties and early naughts.

The SCD-24TR is a portable stereo system with a built-in CD player and radio that a mains connection or batteries can power. The unit weighs 1.4kg and measures roughly 22cm wide, making it fairly petite and lightweight. Thanks to its simple, compact design and ability to run off of batteries, it could be a great option for taking on the go or a simple way to help a younger person get started on their journey of audio discovery. 

The built-in CD player supports CD, CD-R, and CD-RW disc formats. Aside from a 3.5mm headphone output and a small display which displays track or station information, the system’s main feature of note is the programmable memory on offer. Lenco claims you can store and play your favourite music on the system, though it isn’t clear how much memory is available. We have reached out for more information and will report back here when we find out. 

Moving on to the PDR-046GY portable stereo radio. The system can receive DAB, DAB+, and FM signals and offers Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity that allows the system to be used as a portable streaming speaker with your phone, tablet, or laptop. It also has a 3.5mm auxiliary input for use with external sources. 

Like Lenco’s transparent CD player, this new radio is also designed to be travel-friendly as it includes an integrated rechargeable battery and sports a slim design, measuring 18cm in width and around 6cm in height and depth. There is a 2.4-inch colour display which shows detailed information about the music being played, and you can also program up to 30 different presets for convenient switching between your favourite stations.

The Lenco SCD-24TR CD player is available now for £60, while the PDR-046GY radio can be picked up for £90. 

MORE: 

Our picks for the best DAB radios – portable, Bluetooth and digital radio systems 

And the best CD players – budget to premium options tested by expert reviewers

Lenco's affordable USB turntable is here to get your DJ career off the ground

UPDATE 22/07/2024:  We originally reported on the arrival of the new Astell & Kern Activo P1 back in May during the High End Munich show (full story below), where we had our first glimpse of the new portable player and got details of all the specs and features for this new wallet-friendly alternative to the brand's more premium products. The Activo P1 digital music player has now been officially released and is available to buy for £399 (further prices pending) at Amazon.

That's considerably lower than the cheapest Astell&Kern player currently in the brand's main line-up – the Award-winning A&norma SR35 (which launched at £799 but can be picked up for £599 now) – and considering the dearth of options for a hi-res player in the more affordable end, could shake things up.

ORIGINAL STORY 09/05/2024: 

Some years ago, Astell & Kern and its parent company (then iRiver, now Dreamus) developed the Activo CT10 portable music player for the hi-res download and streaming service provider Groovers Japan. The affordable Activo packed plenty of proprietary Astell & Kern hardware, so it wasn’t surprising that it sounded superb for the money – but some technical gremlins and design impracticalities somewhat let it down.

Fast forward to today and Astell & Kern is relaunching the Activo sub-brand with an all-new player, the P1, at the Munich High End show this week. Pricing is yet to be revealed, but we expect the P1 and subsequent portable offerings to undercut Astell & Kern’s premium catalogue, which in the digital audio player category starts at the £799 / $799 / AU$1299 A&norma SR35.

The P1 certainly seems to address our criticism of the CT10’s small screen (“too small to allow for an easy, user-friendly interface”): the front of its aluminium/polycarbonate body is mostly a touchscreen measuring a respectable 4.1 inches and with a resolution of 720 x 1280. All told, it doesn’t look a million miles away from the modern Sony Walkman.

Features look on-point too, with the Activo P1 offering dual-band wi-fi with access to music streaming service apps for both online and offline listening, a 20-hour battery life, and support for 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256 audio files. Those wishing to store their own music have 64GB of internal memory to play with, though naturally a microSD slot can expand on that further. A balanced 4.4mm output sits beside the more typical 3.5mm jack, too, while Bluetooth aptX HD and LDAC support allow for music to be sent wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones, speakers and the like.

Despite the portable music player world’s decreasing size, it is arguably still short of budget offerings, with the current Sony NW-A306 Walkman our only true affordable recommendation following the demise of the iPod Touch, so we hope the Activo P1 is as good in practice as it looks on paper. We hope to find out in July, when the player is expected to ship. Pricing and retailer availability will be announced closer to that launch date.

MORE:

Best portable MP3 players 2024: top hi-res music players tested by our experts

Read our Astell & Kern A&norma SR35 review

The 9 best punk tracks even audiophiles should listen to

Portable music players, PMPs, DAPs, MP3 players – whatever you want to call them, these dinky, dedicated music machines will to many people seem as redundant today as car aux-cassette adaptors. Your phone can store and play music, access stored music from the cloud, and stream from any service to its heart’s content. It may not play all audio file formats or qualities, nor feed music to your headphones or connected system with the quality of a good music player – alas, that’s why they still exist! – but for most people a phone will be a good enough gateway to music playback. And that’s OK.

If you do, however, care for sound quality more than most and are on the fence about investing in such a source for your portable (and perhaps also hi-fi) set-up, perhaps I can give you that final little push over it. So, here it goes…

What if I told you that there are music players with a bonus feature that makes them more than just superior sounding to, and storage savvier than, phones? It struck me that a music player can be the ultimate portable and desktop device if it has the bonus functionality of accepting other digital sources and operating as a DAC/headphone amplifier. And an increasing number do.

Indeed, just this month FiiO launched the M23, which can receive audio over Bluetooth and use its built-in DAC and headphone amplifier to convert and output it. The Award-winning Astell & Kern A&norma SR35 is another player that can act as a Bluetooth DAC/headphone amp, as well as accept PC/laptop/computer audio via its USB-C input. Meanwhile, our favourite budget player, the Sony NW-A306, can also accept wired sources for alter-ego DAC operation (but not Bluetooth’d ones; it has a Bluetooth transmitter but not a receiver).

For a period I used an older version of the entry-level Astell & Kern player this way, as the sound-boosting middleman between my MacBook Air and wired headphones (and would still today had I not the fortune of having Chord Electronics' standalone Hugo 2 DAC). You shouldn’t expect a £500-odd (as it was) player to perform as well as a dedicated USB DAC costing the same money – just as you shouldn’t expect a £1000 phone to sound like a £1000 player – but the quality was in line with an external DAC I owned back then that was just under half the player’s asking price, and I liked how the tonal balance and character mirrored that when it operated as a traditional player.

It’s a not-too-dissimilar story with the current A&norma SR35 (£799/$799/AU$1299). As penned in our SR35 review, “that same sonic signature also shines through our favoured Grado RS1x headphones when the SR35 handily steps in as a budget-level DAC between them and a Macbook Pro. Think somewhere between AudioQuest DragonFly Red [£170/$250/AU$420] and Cobalt [£269/$300/AU$600] DAC levels.”

You could of course simply buy a standalone DAC to boost portable (phone-based) and desktop (laptop-based) setups, but for those who want to a) put their distracting phone down, and/or b) have one single device to deliver excellent on-the-go sound with better storage and battery life than a phone, plus a boost to their desktop sound, a music player with such talents is a fine answer indeed.

Bonus desktop DAC/headphone amplifier operation aside, PMP manufacturers are realising the logic of players working as player/DAC/digital source hybrids across portable, desktop and hi-fi scenarios and increasingly offer extra features. For example, the Fiio M23 can be powered over USB to enable a ‘Super-High’ gain mode that delivers a hefty 1000m/W per channel at 32 ohms, while several players out there can operate solely as a digital source when their USB output is connected to an external DAC or amplifier with a USB input. It all piles on the relevance points as a versatile digital device.

So are music players really redundant today? For most people, sure, but they do still sit in an alcove of significance.

MORE:

What is a headphone amplifier and why should you buy one?

Sony's latest Walkman could replace my iPhone if it wasn't for one major issue

Best portable MP3 players 2024: top hi-res music players tested by our experts

From reincarnating the cassette player to shoving a DAC inside a mechanical keyboard, Fiio isn’t unafraid to get creative with its products, but its two latest launches tread more familiar territory: the M23 portable audio player and K19 headphone amp and DAC.

The former slots into Fiio’s range of digital audio players towards the more affordable end, but still offers a suite of features that’ll catch the eye of the on-the-go audiophile. It combines two AKM DACs, the AK4191EQ and AK4499EX, which means it can play hi-res files at up to 24-Bit 384kHz and PCM/DSD256, while MQA support is also on the menu.

For those with suitably equipped wireless headphones, the M23 can transmit hi-res tracks over aptX HD Bluetooth and LDAC, but it also works the other way, so you can receive audio from a Bluetooth device and use the player as a DAC/amp. The option to power it over USB means the M23 can function as a desktop device, which enables a ‘Super-High’ gain mode that delivers a hefty 1000mW per channel at 32 ohms.

Running on batteries it should last around 10.5 hours between charges, with 64GB of onboard storage to fill with files. If you run out of space for all your hi-res tunes you can expand it with SD cards up to 2TB.

A 5.5-inch touchscreen on the front allows you to navigate its Android operating system, with apps from Tidal, Qobuz, Apple Music and Deezer giving you access to those lossless streams.

Those who prefer a more traditional wired arrangement are catered for by 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs, plus both single-ended and balanced line-outs.

And, speaking of headphones, FiiO’s second new launch is a desktop headphone amplifier and DAC, packed with inputs and outputs.

You can feed audio into the K19 via coaxial, optical, USB-C, HDMI, and HDMI ARC, while it can be piped out again through 6.35mm single-ended, 4.4mm balanced, 4-pin balanced XLR, dual RCA line-out, and balanced 3-pin XLR outputs. Audio passes through dual 8-Channel ES9039SPRO DACs and dual 8-Channel THX AAA 788+ amps so you can plug in almost any pair of headphones and it can deliver up to 8000mW of power output.

A 31-band Parametric Equalizer (PEQ) lets you fiddle with the performance to your heart’s content, but whatever you plug into it FiiO reckons you’ll get an “impressively musical, detailed, and expressive sound” out of it.

The FiiO K19, which will be available to buy this month, comes in either black or silver and will set you back £1249 / €1300 / $1300, while the M23 follows in April in either Blue Titanium or Stainless Steel for £649 / €700 / $700.

MORE:

Our pick of the best portable music players

And the best headphone amplifiers to boost your personal listening

What is a headphone amplifier and why should you buy one?

Chord Poly users, this one's for you. The brand has announced a crucial new firmware v3.2.4 update that you won't want to miss.

The latest update will migrate units to a new server which Chord say will ensure smooth operation for your device in the future. 

If you're in doubt about how to do that Chord's already shared a useful guide, detailing the process.

The Poly is a portable music streamer/player that combines with Chord's Mojo or Mojo 2 DAC to stream audio wirelessly from a connected device. 

We tested the Poly out a few years ago and awarded it a full five-star review, praising the excellent combination with the Mojo to provide a sound that is articulate and rhythmically adept. 

The Chord Mojo 2 is also a five-star product and won at the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023, so together, as we said in our review, they form "a match made in hi-fi heaven".

The Poly is designed to only work with the Mojo and can't be used with any other DAC, however, together they provide an impressive streaming solution that won't be beaten easily.

If you're currently using a Chord Poly, it's worth installing this firmware update as soon as you can to avoid any potential performance issues.

MORE

Read our full Chord Poly Review

Our picks for the best music streamers 2024

And our choices of the best DACs 2024

Here's something we didn't think we would see launched at CES 2024: a cassette player. 

FiiO, a brand we normally associate with cutting-edge DACs and desktop streamers (such as the new R9), has gone retro. The brand revealed a surprise new personal cassette player, the CP13 – not too dissimilar from the iconic Sony Walkman. 

In fact, FiiO itself has said this CP13 cassette player is a direct homage to Sony's first Walkman player from 1979, even down to that "silver-blue" two-tone finish and simple rectangular design.

There are modern design flourishes and upgrades over the original Walkman, of course. The CP13 has large oval buttons for playback controls (play, stop, rewind, fast-forward) on one side, while down the other side you will find a sleek volume dial, a USB-C port for charging, a 3.5mm headphone input and a status LED. It's portable of course, with battery life lasting 15 hours to play your tapes.

FiiO first teased that it was working on the Walkman-inspired CP13 in December 2023, in a tweet (see below) that showed concept designs for the silver-blue finish and a black and white version too.

Our deputy editor Andy Madden is on the ground in Las Vegas and has seen and held the player on the show floor (pictured at top) and the final design isn't too far off the concept images. 

Available in early March, the FiiO CP13 will cost £129 in three finishes – white, black, or the blue of the sample we saw in Vegas.

FiiO isn't the only brand reviving the portable cassette player for a 21st-century audience. Last year, French brand We Are Rewind launched similar Walkman-inspired cassette players with 12-hour battery life, three finishes, and even featuring Bluetooth connectivity, costing £133 / $164.

The FiiO player doesn't include Bluetooth, so you'll have to plug in a wired pair of headphones – just like in the old days. We can't imagine this paves the way for a full-blown cassette revival, but if we can dig out our old cassette tapes (yes, we still have some!), we'll be interested in taking the CP13 for a spin.

MORE:

This retro-tastic Bluetooth cassette player is a modern twist on a 1979 Sony Walkman

That Was Then... Sony Walkman

Check out all the latest news and highlights from CES 2024

What do you associate with good ol' fashioned Americana? Cowboy boots and muscle cars? Bruce Springsteen? Bacon on a cheeseburger? Or, maybe, campsite cookouts with your favourite Bluetooth portable speaker.

That's the vibe we're getting from Klipsch's latest line of all-American Bluetooth speakers designed to celebrate the heritage of some of the US's most famous locations. The new Klipsch Music Series - comprising the Austin, the Nashville and the Detroit - pays tribute to three American towns with a reputation for a proud musical heritage. 

The Austin is up first, the smallest of the trio which looks somewhat akin to the palm-sized Marshall Willen or even the excellent JBL Go 3. Boasting 12 hours of battery life and a weight of just 397g, it's a dinky little portable that can pretty much fit into your backpack, even your pocket, without too much fuss. 

Next is the slightly larger, rectangular Klipsch Nashville, still a small model that would probably be best compared to the JBL Flip 6 in terms of its form, function and price. With dual 5.7cm drivers and 24 hours of playtime, the Nashville is the next step up from its dinky Austin sibling.  

If you want to go all out with something more substantial, Detroit is the place to be. With dual 7.6cm drivers and 2.5cm tweeters, as well as 24 hours of playback, the heftier Detroit is probably best compared to the Award-winning JBL Charge 5 as a portable yet weighty model that packs plenty of punch.

While there are certainly differences between the models, there are also some common threads. All are IP67 rated for dust and waterproofing no matter which city you visit, and all three can connect to the official Klipsch Connect App from which things such as EQ and setting personalisation can be controlled. Plus, long-ranging wireless connectivity means that each model will be playable up to 40 feet (12 meters) away from its source player.  

The new Music City Series certainly look the part, feeling somewhat akin to the dashing, even iconic looks of the fetching Marshall range of speakers. According to Paul Jacobs, Klipsch's CEO, “Our Music City Series is a celebration of music and culture. We wanted to pay homage to some of the most influential cities that have shaped the world of music, and we did so by crafting speakers that not only sound incredible but also embody the essence of Austin, Nashville and Detroit".

The Klipsch Austin and Nashville and available to pre-order now in the US (it will launch in the UK and other territories later), while the Detroit is due to arrive in the new year. Prices for the units are as follows (further prices pending): 

• Klipsch Austin: $99
• Klipsch Nashville: $149 
• Klipsch Detroit: $299 (arriving early 2024)

MORE: 

These are the best Bluetooth speakers around 

Read our JBL Go 3 and JBL Charge 5 reviews 

Happy Halloween! Here are 9 of the best Halloween tracks to test your hi-fi system

Astell & Kern was founded in 2013 and didn’t take long to become our go-to brand for portable music players. The pile of What Hi-Fi? Awards it has won over that time is enough to prove the company’s ability. Surprisingly, A&K has never gone for the budget market, preferring to stick to the ‘reassuringly expensive’ path that has served it well. Even its current entry-level offering, the excellent A&norma SR35, which retails for £799 / $799 / AU$1299, falls into the premium category by most judgements. 

Good as this and the company’s step-up players have been, we’ve always wondered what would happen if its engineers were tasked with producing a true cost-no-object offering. The arrival of the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 answers that question.

Build & Design

This player may be around the size of a large box of matches but it weighs in at just short of half a kilogram. While the SP3000 is certainly small enough to fit into a clothes pocket, it won’t feel comfortable there. The sharp-edged angular casework won’t help that cause either. It is made of highly polished 904L stainless steel, which is known for being durable and resistant to corrosion, so much so that the likes of Rolex use it for its watches. There are two finish options: black and silver. We suspect both will prove to be fingerprint magnets of the highest order. The supplied ALRAN leather case helps of course, and will protect the unit from scratches, if not careless drops. 

The SP3000’s main control interface is the touchscreen, of course. This is a relatively crisp 5.46-inch LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920. The touchscreen is responsive, though anyone used to the slickness of modern phones will find this player a little clunky to navigate on occasion.

The physical control count is minimal with three buttons on the side handling standard play/pause/skip and scan functions, leaving the crown-like volume dial to double as an on/off switch. There are three outputs on the top of the player: a 3.5mm that also serves as an optical output, a 4.4mm balanced and a 2.5mm balanced. It is clear that A&K is trying to cover all bases here. The unit is charged via a USB-C socket on the base, which also acts as the input when you want to download files into the player.

Features

There is no issue with file compatibility. The SP3000 can handle high-resolution files up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM files and DSD512. It will play all the standard file types as well as MQA. This is all thanks to the use of a quartet of Asahi Kasei’s new flagship DAC chip, the AK4499EX. This player is Roon Ready, too.

Elsewhere, the engineers have worked hard to reduce the SP3000’s internal noise levels and even gone as far as to have separate analogue circuits for the balanced and unbalanced outputs, all with the aim of optimising performance. 

Bluetooth is on the menu, so you can use wireless headphones with this player, and given the no-compromise nature of this design it comes as no surprise to find aptX HD and LDAC codecs on the spec list. The SP3000 can also stream files across your home network and has 256GB of storage built in. Those dealing in high-resolution files may find this somewhat limiting, particularly if you have a large collection, so will be happy to find a microSD card slot which can add a maximum of 1TB of memory.

The A&K’s battery is rated at a fairly hefty 5050mAh. This is claimed to give around 10 hours of playing time with a CD-spec file, a moderate volume level and the display turned off. Under normal circumstances expect around a third less than that. Recharge time is around 3.5 hours.

Loading files onto the SP3000 proves a breeze, being a simple drag-and-drop process from our MacBook Pro. Our files are a mix of high-res and CD-spec, allowing us to test how the A&K player responds to the different bit rates. There proves no issue as the player moves seamlessly from a DSD file of Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions to a 24-bit/192kHz file of Mahler’s Symphony No.4 with CD-spec albums from Kiasmos (Kiasmos) and Leonard Cohen (I’m Your Man) in between.

We try a number of headphones with the SP3000 ranging from the closed-back Sony MDR-Z1R to open-back designs such as Focal’s Utopia (2022) and Yamaha’s YH5000SE. Given the price of the player, these are the kinds of premium headphones any potential purchaser should consider.

Sound

There are certain traits that come through regardless of the music played. The SP3000 is a wonderfully detailed and insightful performer. It has the ability to shine a light on the subtlest of detail without losing track of the whole. The organisation of information is excellent, with the player sounding as cohesive and balanced as they come. While the leading edges of notes are as crisp as you like, there is an appealing fullness to the sound that stops the A&K from sounding cluttered or hard-edged. Tonally things are nicely judged and it is a pleasant surprise to find out just how authoritative and muscular the SP3000 sounds. Bass notes have palpable weight and plenty of power yet manage to blend seamlessly with the rest of the frequency range without dominating. That’s a neat trick few manage.

The SP3000 is great at delivering the scale and drama of the orchestra in the Mahler Symphony. Dynamic sweeps are rendered with conviction and force. Low-level instrumental strands are tracked with ease and no matter how dense the music gets, this A&K always sounds composed and in control.

The story is similarly positive when we stream from our Naim NAS over our dedicated network. The SP3000 is happy to deliver A Grand Don’t Come For Free from the Streets with the recording’s rough and ready charm intact. It reveals the limitations of the recording quality and production but still captures the drive, excitement and on some tracks, the heartache, in the music. Equally, we’re transported back into time when we listen to Coltrane’s 1960 release, Giant Steps, the SP3000 rendering the dynamic and rhythmic shifts of the music brilliantly.

Wondering just how much difference the balanced headphone output makes, we plug our reference Sony MDR-Z1R into both (not at the same time, of course) and form a clear preference for the balanced option. It sounds more precise and assured, delivering notably more power and grip at low frequencies. If your headphones offer the option of going balanced this is the route we would recommend. That said, we plug both the Yamaha YH5000SE and the Focal Utopia into the 3.5mm unbalanced output and the results are still excellent. 

The story is similarly positive when we connect through Bluetooth using the Mark Levinson No.5909 wireless headphones. The connection is swift and stable. While the sound isn’t as good as the high-end wired headphones in absolute terms, by Bluetooth standards it is terrific, and a clear level better than the sound we get using our iPhone 12 Pro Max for the same job. However, we will also say that if your main way of listening to the SP3000 is by Bluetooth headphones then you will never hear how good it actually is.

The A&K’s obvious rival is the similarly-priced Sony NW-WM1ZM2. Both are beautifully made though we feel the Sony edges it in terms of precision of build and quality feel. The Sony is also a little ahead in outright analysis though the SP3000 counters when it comes to dynamic contrasts, bass muscularity and rhythmic drive. Overall, the A&K is the more musical performer with a richer tonal palette, and so that’s where our money would go.

Verdict

Some people will never get past the SP3000’s price and we can understand that. This is a huge amount to spend on something that will be thrown in a bag and used out and about. But put that value judgement to one side and it is easy to admire Astell & Kern’s achievement here. The SP3000 sounds superb and is packed with useful features. It is good enough to be used as the main source in a premium home system, which makes that price just a bit more palatable. To sum up, the SP3000 is the best portable music player we’ve heard and the best of anything rarely comes cheaply.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Features 5

MORE:

High-resolution audio: everything you need to know

Also consider the Sony NW-WM1ZM2

These are the best portable music players you can buy

We see a lot of Bluetooth turntables these days, but Bluetooth cassette players are a little rarer.

We Are Rewind’s Cassette Player is a throwback to Sony’s iconic first Walkman from 1979, the TPS-L2. Its metallic casing and simple rectangular shape are a clear nod to the original portable cassette player, with modern touches bringing an additional 21st-century flair. 

The player includes all the controls you would expect to find on a classic portable cassette player – Pause, Play, Rewind etc. It also includes a Record function, so you can create your own mixtapes the old-fashioned way. 

Gone are the days of disposable batteries. We Are Rewind includes a rechargeable battery, which is said to last up to 12 hours. Alongside this is Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, allowing the player to be paired with Bluetooth headphones or speakers nearby. There is also a headphone jack and an auxiliary input for recording (both 3.5mm). 

Alongside appreciation for audio quality, nostalgia is a big part of what keeps physical media ticking over. There’s a certain magic behind tangible discs, or in this case, magnetic tapes. 

The devices being heavily featured in blockbuster hits such as Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t hurt, either. The BPI reports that cassette tape sales rose from just under 4000 in 2012, to more than 195,000 in 2022.

Some may sniff at the idea of playing an analogue media format over Bluetooth, citing issues in the analogue-to-digital (and back again) conversion process and the inherent loss of quality that comes with it. However, for those of us with mixed media music collections and wireless headphones or speakers, sometimes a certain record, CD, or tape isn’t available on our streaming service of choice. Sometimes a song, album, or mixtape needs to be heard, by any means. 

We Are Rewind’s Bluetooth cassette player is on sale for £133 / $164 / $268AUD and is available in three metallic shades: orange, blue, or grey. They also sell cassette tapes, either individually or in bundles if you find yourself in need of fresh stock. 

MORE:  

Best Bluetooth speakers: portable speakers for every budget

Best wireless headphones: Bluetooth headphones for every budget

When MiniDisc took on the mighty cassette: What Hi-Fi? magazine, January 1993

• Want more choice? Check out our long list of the best portable music players

"We're also currently using 100% recycled aluminium in the enclosures of all our MacBooks, Apple TVs, Apple Watch-" "What about iPod Shuffle?... It's a joke. Don't you people make Ted Lasso?" During Apple's iPhone 15 launch event, a throwaway comment regarding the unceremonious discontinuation of the iPod was included during the environmental section of the presentation, and while the environmental claims are impressive (if a little self-righteous), I'm not laughing.  

While to many people this would've been an easily forgettable dig at the brand's most influential audio product, it left me with a slightly bad taste in my mouth. As someone who dearly misses their green iPod Nano 5th Generation, seeing Apple mock the very product that proved pivotal in its journey up until this point just rubbed me the wrong way.

While iPods are by no means as convenient as loading Spotify or Tidal onto my iPhone, there's something about having a device dedicated to music and no other social distractions that I would still cherish today. And how could I forget about the click-wheel? That tactile interface made interacting with my playlists a joy, something that a music streaming service could never replicate. 

If Apple had a new iPod up its sleeve, then I'd be less bothered, but the reality is that its slow and painful dismissal hangs heavily over the company with no future iterations planned. Unfortunately, it is a sign of the times, as many people simply wouldn't opt for having a smartphone and an iPod, especially when the former can do the latter's job more efficiently (though not as well sonically), but there's something to be said for audio-specific tech without the distraction of other apps. 

Realistically, I know that we won't get an iPod any time soon, and that's something I've come to terms with, but seeing how Apple turned its most iconic product into a punchline just 18 months after its discontinuation is just #TooSoon.

MORE:

Check out everything you need to know about the iPhone 15

And read our latest portable music player review: Astell & Kern A&norma SR35 review

Feeling nostalgic? Streaming is better than ever, but has it killed the art of playlists?

We’ll start with an admission: I don’t actually listen to much music nowadays. (I know, don’t tell my employers at What Hi-Fi?.) But in my student days, it was something of an obsession, one fuelled by the proliferation of digital music and a dinky little MP3 player called the Rio 600.

This was around the turn of the century, and I was just dipping my toe in the rising tidewater of the digital music revolution. But once I’d been introduced to SoundJam MP – the software that would go on to become iTunes – and the Rio 600 portable player, that was it. I was swept out to sea.

Futuristic listening

The Rio 600 was a sportier model than its predecessor, the Rio 500. Gone was the 500’s boxy, Walkman-inspired design, junked in favour of a curvaceous style and more intuitive button layout. Which made sense – unlike a Walkman, it didn’t need to accommodate a cassette, hence it didn’t have to be rectangular. It even had interchangeable faceplates, just like the Nokia phones of the era.

The LCD screen was a thing of beauty. While small, it never felt cramped, with ample room for all the relevant text. (It also made the first-gen iPod’s display look like a Gameboy’s by comparison.) And the contrast was stunning – clearly visible by day and emitting a comforting blue glow in the dark.

By today’s standards, of course, the specs are pretty laughable. It ran for 10 hours on a single battery, so I ended up spending a large chunk of my student loan on AAs. The bundled headphones had uncomfortable ear clips and were objectionably awful. The 32MB memory could only hold about 30 minutes of music (upgradeable to an hour using the 64MB "snap-on backpack" that I bought), and that was at a paltry 128kbps.

But using it felt properly futuristic. Not only did it not skip with every step like my old Discman, but it also played what I wanted in whatever order I chose. Every morning, I could put together my own playlist for the day depending on what mood I was in and what I would be doing. That was when the trouble started.

Creating the perfect playlist

It’s often said that limitation enhances creativity. I don’t know about that, but only having 64MB of memory for a playlist definitely makes you think hard about every song selection. You try whittling down thousands of tracks into a playlist that’ll last you the day, varying the tempo (upbeat for when you’re walking to the bus stop; more relaxed for when you’re pottering around campus), genres, and combining first listens with old favourites, just in case the new tracks turn out to be duds. It’s exhausting.

Most students miss lectures because they sleep in. I missed them because I was busy making the perfect playlist.

At first, it wasn’t a problem. For most of my first year, I just loaded on both mixes of Brainfreeze and was done with it. But in the second and third years, it became more of an issue. That was probably due to my burgeoning music collection (every so often, friends and I would pool our MP3s, passing round music libraries on an external hard drive the size and weight of a house brick). But it could also have been a delaying tactic, a way of putting off leaving the house and dealing with the real world. Or maybe it was just plain old-fashioned laziness.

But for all its problems as a time sink, I do think there’s a real advantage to a limitation like the Rio 600’s. And it’s something that will be alien to most users of music streaming services.

A vinyl moment for millennials

I was born in the early 1980s, when cassettes were the dominant music medium. (Vinyl was still going strong, but the closest I ever came to it growing up was using my nan’s George Formby LP as a frisbee.) Pre-internet, I created mixtapes like everyone else by recording from CDs onto cassette. But being able to do the same in seconds using digital files, with the only hardware required being a computer, MP3 player and a cable to connect the two was game changing.

It was my generation’s vinyl moment. Making a playlist of MP3s in the morning and being stuck with it for the day was, for me, the equivalent of listening to an LP all the way through. Sure, you could skip a track if that guitar solo was starting to drag. But you’d just be back at the start of your playlist that little bit sooner, ready to begin again. Far better to listen to the tracks all the way through, noodling guitar solos and all.

By not pressing skip, I discovered songs and sections of songs that I had overlooked first time round. It opened my mind to more challenging music, those tracks that don’t grab you on your first listen, but are more rewarding weeks later when you come to appreciate them on their own terms. It taught me to really listen to music, rather than always searching for the catchy hook or the big break. And that’s something you won’t learn in any lecture.

MORE:

You're back in the room: best portable music players

Looking for a bargain? See the best hi-fi deals

Get clued up, stat: MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC: all the audio file formats explained

This week the team at What Hi-Fi?, specifically our staff writer extraordinaire, Harry McKerrell, had the opportunity to check out the Sony HT-AX7.

At first glance, I can safely confirm I nearly jumped out of my seat with excitement when I saw the package and started reading his hands-on.

To catch readers up, the HT-AX7 is a compact surround sound speaker system that combines a dinky, soundbar-shaped central speaker with two detachable disc-shaped satellite speakers.

The idea is that, when paired with Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping, which optimises the speakers' settings depending on where they are placed, you can use it to create a quick and easy portable sound system on the fly.

Is any of this new? For the most part no. There aren’t currently any featured in our best soundbar guide, but the idea of using wireless satellite speakers to create quick surround sound systems has been around for quite a while.

What separates it from the likes of the JBL Bar 1300, which has a similar system and which we listened to briefly at CES 2023, is the Sony HT-AX7’s dinky dimensions, and at first glance, reasonable price tag.

Most soundbars with satellite speakers are fairly expensive; that JBL, for example, has a £1300 / $1700 / AU$2000 RRP, double the HT-AX7’s  £550 / $500 / €550 (Australian prices pending) price.

I also want to flag how refreshing it is that Sony has made efforts to design it sustainably. Though it doesn’t meet external sustainability standards, as the stellar cradle-to-cradle Bang and Olufsen targets with some of its products, Sony has confirmed the HT-AX7 is built of a material made from 100 per cent recycled PET bottles, and incorporates recycled plastics.

But, going through the specification and perks, there was one key point that stopped me in my tracks: the fact it is limited to Bluetooth connectivity only. Yes, you read that right. There is no wi-fi connectivity and the unit is completely cable-free outside of its charge port. 

We reached out to Sony to find out why this is – after all, we have documented in the past the issues with Bluetooth for serious listening, which include the fact that it's fairly lossy and if you use it to connect multiple speakers it can suffer from latency. The reply we got from Sony was fairly simple.

Specifically, Sony’s representative explained to us:

“It’s a theatre system for your portable device. That’s not to say it won’t work with a TV (it would work if you really wanted to) but that’s not what it’s for. It's for your smartphone, tablet, laptop [...] We would like to avoid people comparing it with a soundbar if possible, as that implies it should be used for TVs.”

If you think of the HT-AX7 as a portable wireless speaker that makes sense. Jump over to our best portable speaker guide and you will see that many of the battery-powered units are Bluetooth only.

Still, I can’t help but feel Sony has missed a trick here by not giving it at least an HDMI input for the central speaker – for a couple of reasons.

First because, look at it. If that’s not the spitting image of a soundbar I don’t know what is. It’s hard to believe most buyers won’t look at it that way. I can see oodles of non-techie buyers looking at the HT-AX7 as a soundbar and buying it only to realise there’s no direct, simple way to connect it to their TV the moment they get it home.

This is especially true given the fact surround sound makes the most sense in a home environment. Would you actually lug the HT-AX7 to watch movies on your tablet in your local park, or any other outdoor space for that matter?

Second, if it did have just a single HDMI to connect to your TV, it would hit a woefully underserved segment of the soundbar market. This year, I and the wider team at What Hi-Fi? have made no secret of our desire to see more small, good sound tech hit the market. 

While there are plenty of soundbars around that nail the first part of that wish, there aren’t many, especially at Sony’s price, that manage the second. This is why many people in small apartments or with dinky, UK-sized living rooms, end up using good, but not great basic soundbars. It's a major reason I see the Sonos Ray in so many living rooms in my day-to-day life. 

If Sony had loaded the HT-AX7 with proper connectivity for home use, it could have been a unique, awesome option for this segment of the market. This is especially true given how positive Harry was of his experience using it during Sony’s press demo.

And that’s why, while I’m excited to see how the unit performs when we get it in for full testing, I can’t help but feel Sony may have missed a trick with the HT-AX7.

MORE:

These are the best soundbar deals currently available

Check out our list of the best soundbars we've tested

Need a new TV? These are the best TVs we've reviewed

The majority of my portable music listening is done through my phone. It's an Apple iPhone 12, and I use both Apple Music (great playlists, music discovery) and Tidal (great higher-quality Masters tracks) for everyday music streaming. Whether I'm commuting to work, picking up groceries or even just sitting outside for a quiet moment, music gets pumped into my ears from my phone through Bluetooth into wireless earbuds. 

But there are too many distractions from my phone to really concentrate on just the music. Fun apps, text notifications, cat videos, doom scrolling, the temptation to keep checking in on the latest news or searching for the next songs I might be in the mood for... My eyes are always glued to the screen and taking in other information, with the music taking a back seat. And my iPhone doesn't play high-res audio, either.

I need a dedicated portable audio player

A dedicated portable music player is what I really need, which focuses on doing just one job: playing music. It also means I can ditch my very convenient AirPods/Sony earbuds in exchange for a 'proper' pair of wired headphones thanks to all portable music players offering, at the very least, a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Astell & Kern's fleet of extremely capable hi-res digital music players is the obvious choice here. Every single player we've tested has offered genuine portable hi-fi quality and received five-star reviews, not to mention stunningly crafted designs and sleek performance in use. Its stripped-back interface also meant you could listen to albums in full, without skipping or any distractions, much like you'd get with the vinyl experience. It is, in many ways, such a pure and personal listening experience.

But as much as I've enjoyed listening to my small but curated library of hi-res albums on the A&K players like the latest A&norma SR35, I'm always worried my clumsy fingers will drop it, or the beautiful screen will get scratched amongst my keys and other random stuff I carry in my bag. It's rather expensive and very expensive-feeling for my personal everyday use; it's something I'm always aware of when using it. These players can also be rather bulky; forget even trying to fit one into the pocket of my skinny jeans.

Sony's new Walkman could be a winner

Enter the new Sony NW-A306 portable music player. This Walkman is not only more affordable but also plays all the hi-res audio formats you can dream of. Costing £349, it's more than half the price of the SR35, which is A&K's current 'entry level' player at £799. The Sony also has a modest design that prioritises a secure, grippy hold over high-fashion. It's compact, easy to hold in one hand, and has no sharp edges. In my time with the review sample we had for What Hi-Fi?, I was never worried about dropping it or getting it scratched. It was sturdy, durable and was begging to be used in my daily life.

I loved being able to plug in the terrific Grado SR325x or the super comfy Shure SRH1540 wired headphones to fully immerse myself in my digital music collection. And since the Sony NW-A306 can handle full-fat hi-res audio files (we're talking 32-bit/384kHz PCM/FLAC, DSD256, MQA – the very same file resolutions as the SR35), I could listen to hi-res albums through a player that offered greater resolution, ample precision and even-handed balance, with an openness and clarity that you just don't get with a smartphone. Even one as good-sounding as an iPhone.

But there's one slight issue

But there's one problem. The Sony doesn't just play music. It also acts, rather disappointingly for me, like a phone. The NW-A306 comes with a full Android 12 operating software baked in, meaning it works just like your normal app-heavy Android smartphone. Which is exactly what I wanted to get away from when looking for an iPhone alternative with a dedicated music player.

Not only does the Android OS bog the Sony's interface down somewhat (menu swipes aren't as smooth and selecting music to play is a tad delayed compared to using my phone), but it also takes up so much internal space (nearly half of what's available). Space that should really be given up to storing as many hi-res, CD quality and even MP3 music files as possible.

All the distractions I was trying to get away from in my iPhone are present there in the Sony. Yes, you can simply turn off every single notification, turn off wi-fi and not download any new apps, but the fact that they're there, waiting, ready to spring an unsuspecting app update on me is always on my mind. Swiping down on the screen reveals hidden notifications and updates, even if muted. There's no escape.

I can understand why Sony felt the need to include the whole suite of Google apps and the Play Store with this Walkman (more choice is better, right? Not always...) – it seems obvious to offer more features and at such a decent price. But we've enjoyed the more basic and functional interfaces of previous Sony models like the Sony NW-A55L (£160 in 2020) and NW-A45 (£180 in 2019), which didn't offer any smartphone-aping features that took away from the main job of playing your music. Both those models were five-star Award-winners.

My husband uses an even older Walkman model (NWZ-E585) which is entirely devoid of any fancy operating software, it doesn't even have a touchscreen (or even a backlit screen) and it doesn't do hi-res. But it has zero apps and zero notifications to distract him, he gets the full use of the onboard storage, and, despite looking very worn and used (and loved), it actually still sounds pretty decent. As much as I enjoy the feel, the sound quality and technical capabilities of the newer NW-A306 player, I did envy his distraction-free music experience.

Astell & Kern gets it right

You don't get this distraction (or the space-hogging OS issue) with the Astell & Kern players. There's simply no room for it, and there's a beauty to that limitation. It lets you switch off, gives you a wonderful sense of calm away from constant doomscrolling and screen use, and offers the unbridled joy of listening to albums (Agnes Obel's Aventine, Tom Waits' Closing Time, The Dismemberment Plan's Emergency & I) in full.

That's the experience I longed for with the Sony A306, which is such an otherwise brilliantly designed and ideally priced (and specced) player. It's a talented and mature performer and is easy to recommend. If you can live with the smartphone-like distractions, that is... 

MORE:

Read the full Sony NW-A306 review

And the Astell & Kern A&norma SR35 review

Where can you buy hi-res music? Here are the top download sites

19 best British rock songs to test your music system

When Sony announced a new Walkman earlier this year, we rejoiced. The Sony NW-A306 model packs in hi-res audio playback and multiple additional features that in essence marks it as a scaled-down version of the flagship, high-end Sony NW-WM1ZM2 player (£3299 / $3699 / AU$4999). 

And then there’s the tantalisingly affordable price tag. At £349 / $350 / AU$499, the A306 is one of the more affordable hi-res players we’ve come across in recent years, and undercuts by a large margin the stellar Astell & Kern models that have dominated this category of late.

In fact, it was a much cheaper model, the Sony NW-A55L (£160 / $220 / AU$339 in 2020), that last set our portable music player world on fire on the affordable side with a 2020 What Hi-Fi? Awards win, so we’re keen to see if this feature-packed new Sony Walkman can deliver a similar winning performance. 

Build & design

As a portable music player, the NW-A306 fits the brief perfectly. The player is compact and fits in palms and pockets alike with no fuss. We love the scalloped textured back that gives us a good grip, and how it doesn’t feel too expensive to feel like we need to be handling it with white gloves. It feels like a music player that’s meant to be used more than admired.

We spent a good month or so with the A306 sharing space with our keys, cables and mints in our bags and in our pockets, and the Walkman didn’t pick up any scratches or knocks. We would still take care not to drop it or dunk it in water, but this Walkman feels pretty sturdy in everyday use.

Whereas the more premium Astell & Kern players can need a bit of careful handling thanks to their fashionably sharp edges, the Sony’s curved edges and lightweight feel are far more forgiving and more friendly. The 3.6-inch touchscreen that dominates the front is crisp and sharp and shows album artwork in full colour, with a decent-enough contrast even in bright daylight.

The connections are minimal: you get the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port for charging and transferring files (a short USB-C cable is provided), a microSD card slot, and a slot for adding a lanyard loop. We like the simplicity.

There are multiple buttons on the side for power, volume changes and playback options (play/pause and skips). All buttons work responsively, although it does take us a while to get used to pressing the right buttons intuitively without looking every time.

Features

So far, so practical. But turn the Sony NW-A306 on and it suddenly becomes a bit more complicated. Because when you first turn the Sony music player on, you’re greeted with the rather cumbersome process of setting up an Android device. This NW-A306 runs on an Android 12 operating software, and much like in our review of its flagship sibling NW-WM1ZM2, we still don’t see the value in offering the full Android experience in a dedicated music player. You can, if you take the time, turn off every notification and alert that might distract you from enjoying your music on the Sony Walkman, but we wish that Sony had kept to a purer approach here. It feels at odds with the initial, beautiful simplicity of the A306 player.

The inclusion of a full Android OS and its Google apps has two real-world side effects on the A306, though. One, it makes the interface rather sluggish to use. There are intermittent stutters and delays when switching between apps, menus and selecting songs – it’s nowhere near the buttery smoothness we experience in current Android smartphones. In comparison, the more focused Astell & Kern players are far more seamless in use, responding more quickly and slickly to taps on the screen.

Secondly, the Sony NW-A306 claims 32GB of onboard storage. But a closer look at the technical specs states “actual available memory 18GB”. When asked about this, Sony told us that the "Android OS system and pre-installed Google apps including Sony original music app occupy around 18GB". That means more than half of the available storage space is given up to software that is not entirely necessary.

Before we load up any music we check the player’s settings and see it’s largely true: 14GB out of the supposed 32GB is already used up, with 12GB occupied by “System”. Considering we normally find players with even a full 32GB storage not enough to store a decent hi-res music library (we estimate that 32GB will hold roughly 1,000 CD-quality songs), the 18GB of internal storage on offer here is disappointingly measly.

After we’ve loaded up the player with about 20 albums and a dozen additional tracks (the majority in hi-res 24-bit FLAC and 16-bit CD quality, a handful of MP3s, two DSD tracks) we’re left with just 4GB remaining. That’s rather poor. There is a microSD card slot for expanding this storage (by up to 2TB thanks to SDXC card support), but this is an additional cost. 

Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, there is an upside if you listen to music from a variety of sources. Access to wi-fi and the Google Play Store on the A306 does mean you can download any music app – Tidal, Apple Music, Qobuz – to stream your favourite tunes alongside your hi-res files. You can also use the player as a DAC in your system, and connect it to your laptop. Hi-res file support is extensive for a player at this level: the Sony can handle playback of up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM, DSD256 and MQA file formats.

Elsewhere, it has Bluetooth 5.0, with aptX HD and LDAC codecs supported alongside the standard SBC and AAC codecs. This lets you connect wireless earbuds such as Sony’s WF-C700N or Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 to the A306, although be warned that any hi-res file will be downsampled considerably using Bluetooth.

Battery life varies depending on the file type and which app you’re using to play, but as standard you should get up to 32 hours if you’re playing 24-bit hi-res FLAC files (this plummets to 14 hours if you’re playing DSD256 files exclusively). We find this to be true in real life use, with the A306 lasting a good few days without us having to reach for the charging cable.

You even get the very same sound modes as the flagship NW-WM1ZM2 model, including the Vinyl Processor (which tries to emulate the ‘warm’ analogue sound), DSEE Ultimate (which upscales and enhances low-res compressed files to hi-res quality) and a Direct mode, which disables any extra processing and keeps the original file playback as pure as possible. We end up using this mode for the majority of our testing, but it’s worth trying each mode to see which you prefer, alongside tweaking the 10-band equaliser, to suit your tastes.

Sound

So how does the Sony NW-A306 actually sound? With the excellent Grado SR325x headphones plugged into the 3.5mm jack, we’re treated to a performance that’s admirably clean and composed with edges of notes neatly drawn. Elliott Smith’s guitar strums and soft vocals on Either/Or sound delicate yet stark against a low-noise background. Frances Quinlan’s raw, shimmering vocals rip through in Hop Along’s breezy, jangly indie-pop tunes such as How Simple. 

There’s an even balance across the frequencies, with no spikey edges or flabby bottoms in sight. It’s an easy listen. We could do with a bit more wallop to the brooding undertones in The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack to keep us on tenterhooks, though.

Play songs with a more complex arrangement (Radiohead’s In Rainbows album) or that could easily become too aggressive (Disturbed’s epic Down With The Sickness), and we find the Sony player doesn’t get confused at all. It’s easy to follow each instrument’s path and interplay with each other, and the lack of any hardness means it’s comfortable to listen to over long periods of time.

The Sony is adept enough to turn its hand to various genres and even discern the differences in file qualities, but it doesn’t make a meal out of it at all. In fact, there’s a familial throughline from the high-end NW-WM1ZM2 to the A306 in terms of just how mature and capable it’s able to sound. We can spot the same sound signature, even if the detail resolution is at vastly different levels. Where the A306 differs (and has the upper hand) is with volume: it had no problem driving the Grados, and we found it played more than loud enough for our needs. 

As with the NW-WM1ZM2, though, we find ourselves yearning for an ounce more dynamic punch and drive. We think the Sony A306 could sound a whole lot more fun and immersive if it let its metaphorical hair down and stayed up past its metaphorical bedtime. It’s a polite, undemanding listen that could become an absolute barnstormer with just a bit more bite, fluidity and insight.

Verdict

On the whole, there aren’t too many viable options at this end of the market if you’re after an affordable but decent portable music player. So it’s great to see that Sony has stepped up with a likeable player that can handle hi-res audio (even DSD).

Ultimately it stops short of getting the full five stars due to a culmination of usability issues and a lack of sonic verve, but overall the Sony NW-A306 is worth considering if your budget doesn’t stretch to the more premium Astell & Kern SR35.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Astell & Kern A&norma SR25 MkII

Also consider the Astell & Kern A&norma SR35

Read our FiiO M11S review

Best portable MP3 players: budget to hi-res music players

“It’s déjà vu all over again,” one of the famous malapropisms by late Yankees legend Yogi Berra, feels like a fitting reaction to unboxing the Astell & Kern A&norma SR35. We get the overwhelming sense that we have been here before. And again before that. It’s understandable really, as the new SR35 is the fourth iteration of this portable music player we have reviewed in as many years, and the model’s appearance has varied little more than Mickey Mouse’s over their careers.

Either the South Korean portable audio specialist is needlessly determined to compete with the annual smartphone launch cycle, or it keeps finding ways to improve upon its entry-level player and cannot resist sharing it with the world. Let’s go with the latter.

Price

Compared to its predecessor, the A&norma SR25 MKII, the SR35 has indeed evolved both the features offering and performance, though it should be said that it hasn’t done so without hoisting up the launch price by £100 / $50 / AU$200.

The SR35 might test the definition of ‘entry level’, and is a rung or two up the ladder from the budget Sony Walkman and most affordable Cowon and FiiO hi-res players, but it is still considerably more affordable than Astell & Kern’s next-model-up Kann Max (£1199 / $1300 / AU$1899).

Features

The new SR35 is the first model in the A&norma line to feature the company's in-house-designed New Generation AMP technology and a quad-DAC arrangement which allows the owner to engage all four of its Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC chips for a more engaging sound. (Alternatively, Dual mode can be selected for times when power consumption might be more of a priority than outright sound quality.) 

Found on its more premium players too, these technologies are part of Astell & Kern’s “ultimate sound” Teraton Alpha platform to reduce noise and maximise performance.

Furthermore, Dual Band Wi-Fi (2.4/5GHz) is now supported to deliver bolstered network stability when the player is making use of its brand-new Roon Ready support or streaming from Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Apple Music or any of the other services downloadable from the player’s menu. Two-way Bluetooth now supports the 5.0 standard, alongside the aptX HD and LDAC codecs, and a new user interface has been implemented.

Aside from these functionality upgrades and promised performance enhancement, the SR35 boasts many of the features that made its five-star, What Hi-Fi? Award-winning predecessor so successful – including three headphone outputs (3.5mm, 4.4mm and 2.5mm), native playback of MQA, DSD256 and PCM up to 32-bit/384kHz files, 64GB of built-in storage (expandable by up to 1TB via a microSD card), and the neat ability to use the player as a performance-enhancing DAC device between your wired headphones and, say, laptop.

The 20-hour battery life remains, though that claim is supposedly based on the continuous playback of CD-quality music at middling volume in Dual DAC mode, so expect a more modest endurance if you’re going bananas playing a hi-res library loudly in Quad DAC mode.

All in all, the SR35 is a very well-specced player – and not too well-specced either. We have seen portable music players frequently adopt a full Android operating system and all the apps and phone-like density that goes with it, and most of the time it feels overwhelming and unnecessary for such an audio device. We like the SR35’s stripped-back functionality, which begins at the necessary device settings and ends with integrated streaming service support. It should be noted that the interfaces of the integrated streaming services can differ slightly from their Android and iOS versions, though are still familiar and easy to navigate.

Design

To labour the point, reviewing Astell & Kern’s entry-level portable music players over the best part of a decade has been somewhat akin to showing up to every Wes Anderson movie at the cinema in that same period – visually, we’ve known what we’re going to get. Much like Anderson movies, though, that’s no bad thing. We have always liked the player’s geometrically quirky aluminium casework and sleek, shiny finish, not to mention that nicely tactile volume dial which has found our favour with each generation. We are big believers in the ‘if it ain’t broke’ mantra.

Its compact dimensions (108 x 64 x 16mm) make it perfectly pocketable and easy to hold and operate in one hand – much more so than, say, the FiiO M11S – though what with the player’s increased asking price, it doesn’t do anything for its perceived value. Does the SR35 look like a £799 / $799 / AU$1299 device? In our minds, no it does not.

Another consequence to that physicality is a relatively small screen (3.6 inches) and, with it, relatively small areas on which to point your thumb or finger at the touchscreen keys. This is generally fine for playback operation and menu navigation, though precision is required when the keyboard pops up to type in our Tidal login credentials.

While there would be little to ring in a spot-the-difference of the SR35 and outgoing SR25 MKII’s casework, the new model does introduce a crimson red and black music player interface that is, we think, nicer to look at than the previous grey. Astell & Kern says the colour combo “lowers visual fatigue” too.

Sound

Sonic fatigue won’t be an issue either, unless your listening session includes playing the whole of The Cure's Disintegration album at the volume level it deserves (and demands in the liner notes!) That’s because the SR35 has the punch and rhythmic drive to keep you tapping along to upbeat tracks, and the insight to draw you into the details of those calmer ones. This is the kind of musical machine we have come to expect from Astell & Kern, and while the company has done well to differentiate its models of varying prices with regard to resolution and overall transparency, it has remained consistently loyal to a full-bodied, entertaining character across them.

It’s a very likeable presentation, with a tonal balance slightly on the rich side and a combination of power and finesse that feels very mature for a source at this level and that most headphones will get along just fine with. Thankfully, that same sonic signature also shines through our favoured Grado RS1x headphones when the SR35 handily steps in as a budget-level DAC between them and a Macbook Pro. Think somewhere between AudioQuest DragonFly Red and Cobalt DAC levels.

The SR35 effortlessly flows with all music it is handed, conveying a very decent amount of dynamic expression and ultimately more detail than we’ve been previously presented by a player at this price point. Playing Peter Broderick’s Eyes Closed And Travelling, the player captures the undulating dynamic subtleties of his spirited piano-playing to a level that’s unique until you reach further up Astell & Kern’s lineup. Over to The Tallest Man On Earth’s I Love You. It’s A Fever Dream and the SR35 offers a pleasantly wide window into not only the acoustic textures of his guitar and raw vocal but also the space he’s recording in.

There’s plenty in the way of verve when we chuck it Elvis Costello’s Lipstick Vogue and Drake’s What Next, but also the organisation and control to ensure nothing feels rushed or messy. The SR35’s soundstage isn’t as wide-open or big-sounding as the admittedly cheaper FiiO M11S’s, but nor does it feel small or congested – and the player reveals its superiority (and justifies its premium price) over the FiiO through greater clarity, subtlety and rhythmic cohesion anyway. As the SR35’s price demands, this is a more sophisticated, next-level performance than the few budget players still around are capable of.

There are noticeable losses when you gear down to Dual DAC operation – most notably in clarity, dynamism and subtlety – so we would only select that mode when battery life forces your hand. For the record, we prefer the player’s performance in Quad DAC and Normal AMP modes, with the ‘Low Latency Fast’ DAC filter activated – though the differences between the four available are small and only apply to 24-bit/192kHz PCM files or less. The balanced connection is also a route worth going down if you own a decent set of balanced headphones. As we found plugging the Sony MDR-Z1R into the SR35’s 4.4mm jack, the delivery is that bit clearer, bolder and more precisely drawn compared to through the 3.5mm output.

Verdict

It’s a pity Astell & Kern no longer appeases the budget (sub-£500 / $500 / AU$1000) music player market. Maybe there isn’t much of one, perhaps the company’s ambitions are just too high. But at this mid-range music player level, where you would be looking to build a serious four-figure personal listening set-up (that perhaps your hi-fi system might also benefit from), the company certainly comes to your aid. The A&norma SR35 may not exactly be dressed for its not-insignificant price, but there’s no uncertainty over whether it performs to it.

Review published: June 2023. Review updated: November 2024.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Features 4
• Build 5

MORE:

Read our review of the FiiO M11S

Also consider the Astell & Kern Alpha Max

Best portable MP3 players: budget to hi-res music players

The beauty of portable music players is their simplicity. Load them up with music, pair them with decent audiophile headphones, and away you go – into the revered sonic realms of portable hi-fi that are often only reached by speaker-fronted systems costing significantly more.

With the FiiO M11S, there is, however, an additional accessory and slight cost you need to factor into its £489 / $499 / AU$819 price tag – a microSD card. While many owners of music players might end up purchasing a storage card to boost internal storage capacity, it’s almost a requirement of buying the M11S, which has a mere 32GB built in – half as many gigabytes offered by the pricier but most entry-level player in Astell & Kern’s catalogue, the SR25 MkII. As that would accommodate roughly 1,000 CD-quality songs, those who have modest libraries, who perhaps also rely on a streaming service, may believe they could get by on that. But when you fire up the player and get stuck into the menus, you soon realise that half of that internal storage is already eaten up by various functions of the player’s Android 10 operating system. And if you want to download any apps such as Tidal (100MB) or Apple Music (45MB) from the Google Play Store, that will leave even less room for your music files. So do budget a little extra for that microSD card, whether it’s a 128GB or 2TB (the maximum supported) one you need.

Features

Because then you really will have everything required to nurture a serious-sounding digital music library and player. FiiO players we have tested in the past often major on features, and built-in storage aside the M11S is no different. It has all the mod cons of a music player in 2023 – file support that extends to 32-bit/384kHz, DSD256 and MQA; access to music streaming services (plus every other app available on Android); and even a choice of 3.5mm, balanced 2.5mm and balanced 4.4mm headphone outputs. But it also goes the extra mile to become a bigger part of your music-listening life if you so wish, thanks to its extracurricular duty as a USB DAC for your computer/laptop, not to mention its ability to stream music to wireless headphones and speakers via Bluetooth (LDAC, aptX HD, LHDC) or AirPlay.

Considering the reliability of Android and the fact the M11S is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 660 chip (the same used in FiiO's flagship M17), we weren’t surprised that every task we asked of the player was performed with haste and without issue.

What you use and how you use it will determine how much action the FiiO can deliver from a single charge, though the claimed figure is 14 hours for single-ended use. During our testing, we found that it ran for around 11 hours continuously playing 16-bit to 24-bit files at a middling volume – not bad for real-world use, though bettered by the aforementioned Astell & Kern player. So long as you don’t want a player to loudly blast music into your ears for the entire length of a long transatlantic flight, the M11S’s battery life should be satisfactory for most use cases, whether that’s at the heart of your home desktop or hi-fi system or accompanying you on your daily commute.

Build

You’re certainly getting a lot of player for your money here, with the player measuring  12.5 x 7.4 x 1.9cm (hwd). To put that into perspective, it’s just shorter than a Samsung Galaxy phone but wider and almost three times the depth. Indeed that makes it more coat pocket than jeans pocket-sized, though more desktop-suitable than both. The headphone output's position at the bottom of the player emphasises this too.

It’s suitably heavy for such dimensions, presenting a reassuring sense of build quality, though the fact that the chassis corners are pointed and much of the player’s front is a 5-inch touchscreen display (albeit with a factory-fitted tempered glass protector) wouldn’t leave us in any doubt as to whether or not to use the supplied clear case. It’s not pretty exactly, but neither is scratched aluminium.

The FiiO saves itself from being a boring rectangular chassis by being almost a boring rectangular chassis, save for its left-hand side angled protrusion, on the outer edge of which you’ll find power and multi-purpose buttons as well as a nicely sized, slightly textured volume pad. Our eyes lit up at the sight of the latter, presuming it would be a slider control to allow for one-finger volume adjustment when the player is sat on a surface. Disappointingly it isn’t, but like the rest of the controls (pause/play and skip tracks on the player’s right-hand edge) it is reliably responsive and ergonomic while in the hand.

FiiO has been in the game long enough to know how to produce an intuitive music player both from hardware and software perspectives. The FiiO Music app gives a positive first impression – open it up and it prompts you to scan local files on the device (which are easy to copy across from a computer using a free third-party software such as Android File Transfer) and any networked files you may have on a NAS device. And it builds on that during our testing with a logically laid out and pleasantly attractive interface that most people will get to grips with within minutes. Album artwork takes up most of the playback screen’s real estate, though we are equally pleased to see full format and size information for every track just below it.

Sound

Android device users will be comfortable with the familiar interface and dropdown shortcut menu, though we would encourage owners to set aside time to deep-dive into the menus to explore player-specific settings. We found, for example, that switching on all ‘All To DSD’ (conversion) and Pure Music Mode (which restricts operation to the FiiO Music app only) enhanced the sound quality, pulling everything into focus a little more thanks to an extra dose of clarity and precision.

Those two adjectives are two of the M11S’s strengths, existing below the player’s two most dominant characteristics – smoothness and openness – on its CV. This all makes for a very comfortable listen that invites you to sink into an armchair, relax and switch off the outside world. Its soundstage has that lovely balance of being wide-open enough for music to feel dimensional and spacious while also having the sheer clarity to pull everything into direct audible focus. Add to that a tonality on the richer side of neutral, and a particular lushness in the midrange, and we come back to its sonic comfort. It’s very likeable.

Playing The National’s I Need My Girl, the FiiO conveys the guitar melody and Matt Berninger’s baritone vocal with just the right amount of weight and body to allow the track to soothe, with the extent of the lilts in his delivery intact and evidence too of the M11S’s expression. Over to Ocean Alley’s Yellow Mellow (Tidal) and that funkadelic instrumentation has enough space to bop around in, with everything nicely balanced from top to bottom and a forward treble bite it just about gets away with.

While you are forgetting about the outside world, though, you might also forget how dynamically punchy or driven a song is, such is the FiiO’s easygoing nature. It’s not a slouch exactly, but a low priority given to timing means it struggles to underpin the rhythmic elements of a song, as its rendition of Elvis Costello’s charged Lipstick Vogue opener lays bare. For all of its impressive articulacy, it’s too laid back to be considered particularly fun – and, depending on what kind of music you tend to listen to, that could be a reason to choose an alternative. Indeed, the Astell & Kern SR25 MkII (and MKI, actually) is a better timekeeper and consequently a more musically gifted component.

Verdict

That would inevitably require upping your budget, considering the FiiO more or less occupies a barren segment of the market that can now firmly be considered ‘entry-level’. But for its asking price (plus a little more for a storage card), it’s a very fine option and, needless to say, a huge upgrade on a smartphone. Prioritising maturity over merriment, the M11S might not be the most thrilling performer. But it’s more sophisticated in other ways – sonic clarity and openness, and feature-set – than this level has demanded in the past, and for that it deserves an audience.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Features 4
• Build 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Astell & Kern A&norma SR25 MKII

Best portable MP3 players: budget to hi-res music players

South Korean music player purveyor Astell & Kern has launched the A&norma SR35 portable music player and AK ZERO2 in-ear headphones.

The announcement comes hot off the heels of the company's recent reveal of its limited-edition version of the Award-winning SR25 MKII with improved storage capacity and a new colour scheme. Considering the SR25 MKII is our favourite portable music player at the more 'budget' level, we’re excited to see what a fully-fledged upgrade looks like in the shape of the just-announced SR35.

By the sounds of it, it could look pretty tasty. The new SR35 is the first model in the 'entry-level' A&norma range to feature the company's New Generation AMP technology, an in-house amplifier that “eliminates noise at a high-power output” in an attempt to provide “the clearest possible, distortion-free sound”.

The SR35 offers 20 hours of continuous playtime, as well as adjustable sound and power output via Dual/Quad DAC switching mode. The firm's patented Teraton Alpha technology, meanwhile, provides “balanced dynamics and class-leading resolution throughout listening sessions”.

Further, Dual Band Wi-Fi (2.4/5GHz) should deliver bolstered network performance, available across a variety of streaming and Roon Ready platforms.

There are more visible changes, too. Firstly, the SR35 opts for a reimagined user interface, as well as a new album artwork search that lets “audio connoisseurs rediscover the joy of the art form.”

Secondly, when it comes to the player's physical shape, things are decidedly abstract, with the SR35 sticking with the distinct and architecturally ambitious shape of the company's other designs. According to A&K, the shape indicates the "strength and consistency of the unrivalled audio performance”.

This may all sound like marketing hyperbole, but "unrivalled audio performance" is a phrase that Astell & Kern has earned the right to use. Considering how superb we found the SR25’s audio delivery, this could be more than mindless rhetoric. Either way, we’re excited to find out. 

We’re also excited by the prospect of A&K’s upgraded AK Zero in-ear headphones. The big draw of the sequel comes from the ZERO2’s angled aluminium design and the Planar Dynamic Driver. Added to the mix come two Coil Parameter Dual Custom BA Drivers to reproduce both full range and mid-to-low range frequencies with an “ultra-low distortion design” for better vocal clarity, coupled with a 10mm Dynamic Driver with Piezoelectric Transducer tech that A&K asserts will deliver greater tonal range.

There’s also a four-core oxygen-free copper cable, MMCX connectors, an ear-conducive shape for enhanced listening comfort and an “array of ear-tip options”, although what number “array” actually amounts to isn’t entirely clear. 

The AK ZERO2 earbuds are available for £1099/$1050/AU$1849, while the A&norma SR35 media player is on sale at £799/$800/AU$1299.

MORE: 

These are the best wired earbuds

Here are the best portable music players around 

Check out our five-star Astell & Kern A&norma SR25 MKII review

South Korean audio brand Astelll & Kern has announced a new limited edition version of the award-winning A&norma SR25 MKII hi-res player featuring double the storage capacity of the original and a brand new colour scheme. 

The limited edition version of SR25 MKII boasts a hefty 128GB of internal storage, twice the original’s rather limited 64GB. It’s not just what’s on the inside that counts, though, with the new limited-edition model getting a new lick of paint in an attractive hue that A&K has dubbed “Deep Blue”. 

We were huge fans of the original A&norma SR25 MKII, giving it the best portable MP3 player of the year Award for 2022 for players under £1000. It looks great and has enough features to satisfy most users, but it was the level of high-quality audio that really blew us away when we tested it last year. With dynamic insight, scalpel-like precision and a superb sense of rhythmic drive, the SR25 MKII truly earned its accolades at last year’s Awards.  

Our only frustration with the SR25 MKII, aside from some worryingly sharp corners and limited choice of colours, was the player’s rather miserly 64GB of internal space. It’s clear that A&K has listened to such concerns regarding limited capacity, making this new version a very tempting proposition indeed for those with larger digital music libraries. There’s the scope to expand this even further via the memory card slot, of course.

The Astell & Kern SR25 MKII Deep Blue limited edition player is now available to buy either direct via astellnkern.co.uk or at selected retailers. While we tested the original model at £699 back in the second half of 2022, this Deep Blue edition with extra storage currently retails at £729 in the UK, with other territories getting this version in due course.

MORE: 

Check out our original A&norma SR25 MKI review 

These are the best portable MP3 players around

Got even more to spend? The Astell & Kern A&futura SE180 is another award-winner 

We just happened to be reading a Steve Jobs biography the other day. Among all the interesting insights and anecdotes, we came across a story about the original Apple iPod. It is said that throughout the development of this landmark music player, Jobs feared that Sony would get to the market first with this type of product. 

It is easy to understand his logic. The Japanese brand had obvious expertise in audio and computing – and what is a personal music player if not a portable computer dedicated to sound – but crucially it was also a music company. Factor in the allure of the hugely successful Walkman sub-brand, and Sony, perhaps uniquely of all the electronics giants, already possessed everything it needed to produce a rival machine to the iPod and develop the ecosystem needed to make it work.

History shows that Sony didn’t join those dots, and never managed to transfer its success with the cassette Walkman into the digital age. The iPod? Well, everyone knows what happened to that. Still, Sony did go on (much later) to make a decent fist of digital music players, but for us at least, it is the company’s more premium models that have shone the brightest. Despite having some issues, the impressive new NW-WM1ZM2 player on test here is a fine example of what happens when Sony aims for the stars.

Build

The Sony NW-WM1ZM2’s price (£3299 / $3699 / AU$4999) puts it at the top end of the market as far as portable music players are concerned. Take a close look and it doesn’t take long to see where the money has been spent. While the gold plating on the casework grabs the headlines, this interests us less than the high-purity oxygen-free copper chassis it adorns. Sony’s engineers experimented with copper of different purities and found that the 99.99 per cent variant sounded best, citing better digital grounding and improved rigidity as the benefits.

Let us hope that the copper chassis brings big sonic improvements, as it accounts for a large part of the NW-WM1ZM2’s hefty price. The step-down model in the range, the aluminium alloy-cased NW-WM1AM2, shares most of the specifications and engineering of this range-topper but costs only a third as much. Sure, the cheaper model only has half the internal storage capacity – 128GB VS 256GB – but the shared ability to accept a microSD card nullifies that advantage. The pricier model also uses more exotic cable to connect its amplifier module to the 4.4mm balanced headphone output, but pretty much everything else looks the same. The proof, as ever, is in the listening.

Build quality, as far as the hardware goes, is impeccable. The NW-WM1ZM2 is superbly made and feels reassuringly solid in the hand. Every control works with absolute precision, particularly the control buttons on the right-hand edge (as viewed from the front). Given the use of dense copper in the case, it is no surprise that this is a chunky thing at 490g. It is about as big as a typical smartphone but around twice as thick. The display is a crisp 5-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels.

Features

Inside the NW-WM1ZM2 you’ll find Sony’s S-Master HX digital amplifier technology that’s specially optimised for the Walkman. Great care has been taken in every part of the circuit design from the use of high-grade capacitors and low dielectric circuit boards (where the locating holes for components are pre-loaded with copper) to the use of special solder that contains gold. This is obsessive stuff in the extreme with extensive copper shielding of the digital block, generously specified power supplies and dedicated crystal oscillators for the multiples of 44.1kHz and 48kHz sampling rates to ensure clock stability.

The NW-WM1AM2’s USB-C connection accommodates charging and input – apart from downloading music from your computer, the NW-WM1ZM2 can also work as an outboard DAC. Sony claims an 18-hour battery life with an empty to full charge taking 4.5 hours. Battery life claims are vague at best, with much depending on how demanding the connected headphones are, and the volume level set. Even the file type has an effect, with DSD files using up power three times as fast as 128kbps MP3s. We used a wide range of files during testing and typically got less than 10 hours.

There is a choice of headphone outputs. You can use the standard 3.5mm socket or the balanced 4.4mm Pentaconn connector. We tried both outputs with the same pair of headphones and there are certainly benefits in terms of clarity, precision and dynamics by going the balanced route. But, they are fairly small and if the best headphones you have only have a 3.5mm connection, use those. The benefits of a balanced connection don’t outweigh absolute headphone quality for us.

This player runs on an Android 11 operating system and can be used to do everything a smartphone does bar making phone calls. You can watch YouTube or answer emails, for example, and download the likes of Tidal, Deezer and Spotify to your desire. Pretty much anything on the Google Play Store is fair game.  

On the surface, all that versatility seems like a good thing, but we’re not convinced. Anyone willing to spend this amount of money on a portable music player values music replay above all else. They, in all likelihood, already have a smartphone, so all that other functionality is already taken care of, and the last thing anyone deeply engrossed in listening to music wants is a random notification or similar interrupting their enjoyment. Of course, notifications can be switched off, but we think this kind of unit makes the most sense when it concentrates on music replay and nothing else. 

Our view is reinforced by the clunky way the NW-WM1ZM2 works when we swap between apps or use the touchscreen in general. Too often it's the kind of slow and stuttering experience early Android phones used to suffer from, and is a world away in terms of slickness from current phone flagships, including those from Sony. There is no excuse for this given the unit’s price.

Compatibility

That’s not our only issue with this product. Ours is a European-spec sample, which means its power output levels are limited compared to those available in other parts of the world. This is part of an admirable drive to protect the hearing of the user, but the problem is that the NW-WM1ZM2 simply doesn’t go loud enough with the majority of high-quality headphones we try. Note, we generally don’t listen at particularly high levels as a rule, because we understand how easily our hearing can be damaged.  

It was surprising just how many of our favourite high-end headphones – Focal Utopia, Beyerdynamic T1 Mk 2 and even Sony’s own MDR-Z1 – struggled to reach the kind of normal listening levels we wanted. It is an issue compounded when we listen to older tracks that are naturally recorded at lower levels than more modern recordings. We’ve never had such an issue before, certainly not with the Astell & Kern SP2000 or Chord 2go/Hugo 2 combination that are direct rivals to this Sony.

Sound

Put volume levels to one side, which you mostly can do if you partner the NW-WM1ZM2 with care, and you’ll be greeted with a sonic performance that is deeply impressive. All that engineering effort can be felt in the way this player resolves the layers of instrumentation in Stravinsky’s The Rite Of Spring (16-bit/44.1kHz). The Sony delivers an impressive blank background for the music, which points to very low noise levels, and renders instruments with breathtaking precision. Leading edges of notes are crisp without sounding edgy and there’s an overriding feeling of control and composure. This is a player that never sounds stressed or flustered no matter how demanding the music gets.

Initially, we felt that the NW-WM1ZM2’s presentation erred towards leanness, but giving it a chance to settle – staggeringly long at over 100 hours – made the presentation more full-bodied and substantial. Even so, the class leaders at this level typically produce a richer, more robust presentation that sounds more dramatic.

We’re pleased with the sense of spaciousness the Sony imparts, and the fluidity in its presentation. There are many sound modes on this player, from one that tries to emulate the warmth of vinyl to another that changes the phase of low frequencies to give the character of an analogue amplifier – remember the internal S-Master amp is digital. We try the full range of modes but in the end we only like using the Direct option and the one that converts all PCM signals to DSD during the digital-to-analogue process. The choice between the two modes comes down to the music being played. Direct is the most insightful, while the DSD mode adds a likeable degree of smoothness and flow to the sound.

We switch to Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall (24-bit/96kHz) and the unit continues to impress. It has a clean and agile sound that works well here. Every instrumental strand is tracked with ease, no matter how complex the music gets. Voices come through with a lovely naturalness and texture, so the energy and passion in Jackson’s delivery comes across well. 

The tonal balance is even, with no part of the frequency range gaining undue emphasis. This is a highly polished sound; one packed with refinement, yet still having enough in the way of attack to satisfy. Would we like more rhythmic drive and dynamic punch? Yes we would, though it would be a stretch to say that the NW-WM1ZM2  is lacking in these respects. It is only in comparison to the likes of Chord’s 2go/Hugo 2 pairing that it is clear more is available in these areas.

We switch between different file types from Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions on DSD to The Unthanks: A Restrospective (24-bit/44.1kHz) and the NW-WM1ZM2 moves between them seamlessly. We try the unit as a DAC for our MacBook and it works well. Using Audirvana music software on the laptop, we hear a performance and character that’s consistent with that which the Sony produces as a portable player.

Verdict

The Sony NW-WM1ZM2  is a cultured-sounding player and beautifully made. It is an immensely capable performer that verges on excellent, even considering the money. Our issue with this product is much more about the limited power output, which means we struggle to use our favourite headphones, as well as the lack of sophistication in the way it works. Sony, by all means improve the sound for the next generation, but what you really need to do is concentrate on making that version better to use.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Chord 2go/Hugo 2

Also consider the Astell & Kern SP2000

These are the best portable music players