Music Player

While many of today's digital audio players aim for a slick modern aesthetic, the Shanling Q1 goes back in time for inspiration – to the curvy, colorful 1950s. The cutesy device supports Hi-Res music playback, and has cooked-in Bluetooth.

Astell&Kern released the first portable audio player with dual DACs in 2013, and it's the design of the AK120 that has informed the overall look of A&K's latest offering, the SA700.

​Astell&Kern has been striking fear into the wallets of mobile music lovers for a few years now, putting out high-spec portable audio gear with a hefty price tag. And so it is with the company's A&ultima SP2000 flagship, which was launched at High End Munich last week.​

Mighty Vibe is a tiny, water- and shock-resistant music player that clips to your clothing while you exercise. Think of it as an iPod Shuffle for Spotify users – you fill it up with your playlists, then it streams to your wired or Bluetooth headphones for over five hours.

Sony has introduced two new additions to its high-end Signature Series. The IER-Z1R earphones sport a hybrid driver setup for the promise of audiophile-grade listening, while the Hi-Res DMP-Z1 digital music player features a gold-plated volume knob and exclusive price tag to match.

Austrian company Rebeat is looking to fundamentally change the way vinyl records are mastered, promising to bring what it calls “HD vinyl”, with longer playing times and better sound quality, to stores sometime in 2019.

​Those who need musical motivation while working out know a phone is an essential gym buddy. Mighty Audio has lightened the load with the Mighty music player, a small clip-on device that stores Spotify playlists without a phone. The startup has also announced an official partnership with Spotify.

Vinyl continues its triumphant return to the mainstream in 2017, with sales of records at their highest point since the late 1980s. Sony is looking to tap into the trend by restarting vinyl production in Japan after a nearly 30-year break.

​Cassettes might not have the largest capacity or best sound quality, but they ooze retro appeal. Tapping into that hipster market is the Mixxtape, a portable Bluetooth music player that’s not only shaped like a cassette, it also plays in an old-school tape deck – if you still have one lying around.

The UK's JustBoom believes that a Raspberry Pi 3 with an audio add-on attached can essentially do the same job as high-end power amps, media streamers and DACs, but at a much lower price point. Intrigued, we agreed to take a power amp and a DAC board for a test drive.​

​If your idea of a music box is a tiny tabletop tinkler that plays chirpy tunes, think again. Niklas Roy's monstrous Music Construction Machine makes use of real instruments to play constantly changing tunes when the huge hand crank is turned.

The Nativ Sound Vita music player is designed to offer touchscreen access to all music with innovative voice control and wireless multi-room playback.​