Portable Audio

Astell&Kern has announced an upgrade to 2021's "mass premium" A&norma SR25 MkII digital audio player. The SR35 comes with new amplifier technology, four DACs, a 20-hour battery life and a fresh new user interface.

There's often quite a price premium for folks who opt for hi-res portable audio. Indeed, the company who kicked off personal groove machines has been known to charge a small fortune – which makes the latest Walkman something of a pleasant surprise.

Astell&Kern has launched a combined a digital audio player and desktop headphone amplifier that's built around a dual-tube Triple Amp System and is the first product to feature the latest flagship DAC from ESS.

Last year, Audio Technica released an updated version of a quirky 1980s-era portable turntable to celebrate its 60th anniversary. That limited edition Sound Burger sold out in days, prompting the company to announce another batch for 2023.

For the last 4 years, high-end audio brand Devialet has been working to make the kind of impressive sound delivery found in its extraordinary Phantom speakers portable. The fruit of that labor is now available as the room-adapting 360-degree Mania.

Folks who are serious about their mobile music will already be familiar with Astell&Kern, which consistently aims high and is always pushing envelopes. And so it is for the launch of its newest flagship portable music player, the A&ultima SP3000.

Denmark's Audiocase has launched a pair of super-loud portable Bluetooth speakers on Kickstarter that can also serve as a battery powered PA, guitar or vocal amp, daisy chained sound system or party karaoke machine.

Last month, Teenage Engineering launched the first in a new line of portable audio products, the gorgeous but expensive TX-6 mixer. Now the company has revealed the second member of the field family, a modern reworking of its iconic OP-1 synth.

Back in 2019, Soundboks sent us a pair of crazy loud Bluetooth speakers to try out which, though certainly portable, each proved too much for one person in the long haul. Now a smaller and lighter – but almost as powerful – version has launched.

The masters of minimalist styling at Sweden's Teenage Engineering have added a feature-packed but tiny pro audio mixer to the company's lineup, which packs built-in sounds, beats and sequencing and can also serve as a USB audio interface.

Japan's Sonicware has developed a hand-held groove machine for folks who create music using sounds from the world around them. The SmplTrek is a sonic sampler with a built-in sequencer that can also serve as an audio interface for live streaming.

Sony has announced a pair of digital audio players that can stream over Wi-Fi as well as play Hi-Res stored music, boast native 11.2-MHz DSD and offer balanced and unbalanced headphone output. And one of those players is wrapped in gold-plated bling.