Best Hi Res Audio Hd Music Player
1. IBASSO DX320
PROS:
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Fantastic build quality and screen
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A snappy, polished performance
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Class-leading sound
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Switchable Amplifier
CONS:
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Price (Although this is subjective)
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Battery life is shorter in real-life testing
As I mentioned above, the Ibasso DX320 is my high res music player of choice these days, and it replaced my already excellent DX300. It strikes a nice balance of features and price, especially when compared to more pricey options from Astell & Kern that don’t necessarily sound much better.
This unit sounds ridiculously good and delivers on both the power and transparency fronts, which are important when pairing it with capable HiFi equipment and headphones.
Whatever IEM or headphones I throw at it, the DX320 never seems to lack power, and that is very important to me as someone who reviews a wide variety of hard-to-drive gear. Speaking of reviewing and testing, that means I switch headphones a lot. I am less reliant on carrying external adapters because it includes three jack connectors (2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced and standard 3.5mm).
I also love the big screen and smoothness of the Android operating system.
I have never had it crash or lag on me; the Snapdragon 660 chipset, while not the flagship, is ridiculously overpowered for such a device; even when sifting through a microSD card filled with 500GB of music, it’s rock solid. Ram is a healthy 6 gigabytes, and internal storage is an admittedly small 128 GB.
There has to be one drawback, but of course, it’s the battery life. IBasso through the kitchen sink at this DAP and understandably, the draw on the battery is immense. While the company claims 10 hours, I got between 7-8 in real-world use.
2. FIIO M17
PROS:
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Class-leading sound quality
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Desktop DAC and Amp sections
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Full High-resolution codec support
CONS:
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Battery life is bad
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Its more transportable than a portable music player
Although I use the iBasso DX320 daily as my mp3 player of choice, if I were to switch to another, it would be the Fiio M17. For me, the sound quality is so good on both. Everything else comes down to personal preference; I have always been an iBasso user, so I stick with them. In a practical sense, both are elite and, in my opinion, the two best DAP’s you can buy in 2024.
What impresses me most about the M17 is how Fiio managed to cram so much desktop componentry into such a small package. The ES9038PRO DAC is found on full-size desktops and Hifi components, but the house (in collab with THX) amp also packs a punch.
Codec support is all there, including MQA 8 and DSD 512, which we like to see as many audiophiles will pair integrate this player into their full HiFi system.
Now, the issue here is this a DAP, well, yes, of course, but if I had one, I would see myself using it more as a transportable solution, taking advantage of its power system. While the componentry is good, it’s not as portable as the DX320.
The battery life is bad, especially when used in balanced setups. I found 6 hours was more realistic in my testing, so you must ensure you have the patience to charge it, as it takes over four hours from dead to full.
The Fiio M17 is an exercise in lunacy, a way to see how far we can push the hobby, and Fiio has certainly pushed this one, as for every bit, it’s crazy, but it’s equally brilliant.
3. FIIO M11 PLUS
PROS:
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Most feature-rich DAP for the money
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Massive support for high-resolution audio codecs
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Portable and pocketable (just)
CONS:
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Operating system, when tested, needed polishing (may be resolved via firmware updates)
For a long time, Fiio has been in control of the cheap DAP market, but in recent years, they expanded their line and are considered one of the best music player and amp manufacturers on the planet. The M11 Plus is the company’s latest mid-priced offering, and it’s probably their best price to performance.
The M11 Plus supports various high-resolution audio formats such as DSD: DSF: DFF, PCM: APE: Flac: WAV: AIFF: ALAC: WMA: PCM: MP3: OGG: ACC.
This music player packs a heavy punch for its size and price and competes with many of AK’s entry-level models on sound. The interface is less refined, but it’s still a hell of a bargain. Just look at this spec list.
4. SHANLING M6 ULTRA
PROS:
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Immensely powerful for its size
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Very polished hardware
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Best value for money high-end DAP
CONS:
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External DAC function had issues on release (may now be resolved with firmware fix)
Shanling has been working away on refining the M6 line for years now, its the company’s mid-range MP3 player, and it just keeps getting better and better. The original was so good it was my go-to DAP, and just recently, I replaced my iBasso DX240 with the ultra and have been loving the performance in the small and familiar package.
Quad DACs and dual amps drive this bad-boys sound portion, while the hardware is driven by the outstanding snapdragon 665, which is even a step up from the more expensive HD music players on this list. That means it’s one of the most stable and smooth user experiences I have had on one of these devices.
Sound quality is second to none when paired up with capable headphones it produces a vibrant, detailed, and true-to-source material sound. Codec support will help as this has 16x MQA and DSD512 baked in.
Battery life is also really good if using a 3.5mm jack, I got 13 hours of playback and 10 when using balanced, which, when you consider the size and power ratio, is very good.
5. FIIO M11S HI-RES MP3 MUSIC PLAYER
PROS:
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Best all-round DAP of 2022
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Polished experience (Hardware & UI)
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Loads of power
CONS:
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Screen is only 720p
The Fiio M11S is a beast of a digital audio player (DAP) for its price and gives many of the features of the more expensive models without cutting out the important stuff.
It has one of the best battery lives on test, and that’s even with the size being manageable by actually being pocketable. It uses the powerful Snapdragon 660 chipset with Android 10 that Fiio’s engineers have tuned, and it’s very smooth and stable.
I like that they have given me multiple balanced options, as I can switch between my full-size cans and IEMs without using a dongle, and the power it produces is immense. I never felt like the power was lacking.
The sound is very transparent, almost to the point of being dry, so I suggest using them with some cans that have a little warmth to them.
Overall I think the best thing I can say about the M11s is that it is a very well-polished product. It does a lot right and very little wrong, which is probably why you don’t ever hear criticism of this player from its owners.
6. HIDIZS AP80 PRO-X
PROS:
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Small and Portable
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Big performance able to drive powerful IEM’s
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Combination of touchscreen and physical buttons
CONS:
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Battery life is too short
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The angular shape is divisive
Now we get into the portable and affordable stuff, and what better way than to introduce the Hidizs AP80? This diminutive DAP packs lots of high-resolution goodness for your music, such as extensive support for audiophile-grade codecs like MQA 8X, LDAC, and Aptx; it even has DSD support but is limited to 256, which is to be expected given the size.
The internals are solid, too, and while they saved a little on the Ingenic chipset, it doesn’t seem to impact the performance, even when scrubbing through large music libraries on the external micro SD slot. The really good thing is that the budget was allocated to give us dual Sabre DACs and lots of power from the amp section.
From the 3.5mm jack, the sound is nothing to write home about; in fact, it was almost indistinguishable from my Sony Xperia headphone jack, but when I hooked my hard-to-drive impedance Beyerdynamic headphones, I couldn’t believe how much power it was putting, our and thus driving them to their potential.
The battery life again took a hit as I got 6 hours balanced from a single charge, but recharge times were fast.
7. SURFANS F20
PROS:
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Affordable
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Simple user interface
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Very good sound for the price
CONS:
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No balanced outputs
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Limited DSD support
The Surfans F20 has gained a bit of a cult following. It’s a high-resolution MP3 player focusing on those who keep their music library on an SD card rather than using lossless streaming apps. It’s an old-school audiophile DAP that offers much value for money and is one of the top players on our best cheap DAP list.
All major lossless file formats are included, and there is also Bluetooth output should you wish to use it. Sound quality and the low price more than make up for the lack of a touchscreen and apps. It’s a spacious-sounding DAP with lots of power and a dark black background.
Finally, the last thing I love about the Surfans F20 is the tank-like build quality and tactile, clicky buttons and scroll wheel. It gave me that throwback to a simpler time when I wasn’t tapping on screens and could use my DAP for what it was meant for. Listening to music.
