Audiophiles have lengthy appeared down on digital music as a result of the sound high quality was notably inferior for golden-eared listeners with distinguishing tastes. However the improvement of lossless file codecs (equivalent to FLAC) and low cost ample multigigabyte storage have made moveable high-fidelity music a actuality.
At this level, there are actually solely two main gamers within the high-end moveable music house: Astell & Kern and Sony (the place the Walkman model nonetheless lives on). We have used earlier variations of every model, however not the present fashions.
For those who’re the form of one that has arduous drives stuffed with uncompressed music audio information — and may hear the distinction between that and relatively low-resolution MP3 and AAC information — then, by all means, pair up a type of gamers along with your wired headphones of alternative.
That stated, almost the entire streaming music providers now supply lossless or excessive bit-rate choices — that is almost all the massive gamers, from Tidal and Qobuz to Amazon and Apple. (Spotify HiFi, weirdly, stays a no-show.)
For those who like what you hear, contemplate upgrading to a decent headphone DAC (that is “digital to analog converter”) just like the Audiofly Dragonfly and a severe pair of wired headphones. Then you definitely’ll have a strong audiophile possibility that is good for the street, with out the necessity for a standalone music participant.