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Transferring songs: Copying songs to external microSD cards is drag-and-drop simple, but the way a DAP handles copying music files to its internal storage varies from one DAP to the next.

Many of us have sacrificed fidelity in pursuit of convenience and portability, adopting inferior audio codecs such as MP3 and making them our new benchmarks.

Lossy formats such as that strip music of its dynamics, detail, and vitality.

Pick up a high-resolution digital audio player (DAP) and you can have your cake and eat it, too.

Unlike old-school MP3 players, Apples iPod touch, or the typical smartphone, high-res DAPs are designed with high-end audio circuitry, high-powered digital-to-analog converters (DACs), and amplifiers that can drive a wide range of audiophile-class headphones.

Their exclusive purpose is to play music, and while they can play just about any type of music file, theyre really designed for the formats and codecs that deliver better-than-CD quality.

Updated February 28, 2020 to add our AstellKern SA700 review.

This high-priced player wont fit in everyones budget, but the exquisite piece of kit easily knocks our previous favorite playerthe AstellKern KANN Cube from its perch as our favorite high-res digital audio player.

It also boasts elegant industrial design and can be used as an external DAC and headphone amp with a personal computer.

Runner-up.

If your budget cant support the 1,499 KANN Cube, consider the companys AstellNorma SR15.

It substitues dual Cirrus Logic DACs for the ESS Sabre parts in the Cube, and it doesnt have that players five-pin mini XLR balanced headphone output, but it does support aptX HD and it is capable of handling 24bit192kHz PCM audio and DSD64 files.

How we tested We state which headphones were used to review each player, but our standbys include the Bowers Wilkins P7, BW P5 Wireless, and BW C5 (Series 2) headphones in a variety of listening environments.

Test files were encoded with 24-bit resolution at sampling rates ranging from 48- to 192kHz.

Features to look for when you shop Selecting a high-res DAP can be daunting.

Best High Resolution Audio Full Advantage Of

You need lossless, high-res music files to take full advantage of a high-res DAP.

We recommend that you look for a player that supports, at a minimum, ALAC, DSD, and FLAC files since those are the most common codecs that high-resolution download sites use.

These are the most common audio codecs youll encounter (in alphabetical order).

Some players are based on the Android operating system and will be very familiar to Android smartphone users.

Other players have proprietary user interfaces with a touchscreen, a click wheel, or navigation buttons.

The players user interface can influence what you can and cant do on the player (such as searches) and how easily you can perform certain tasks (such as creating playlists).

If you have trouble reading small font sizes, then you should consider a model that runs the Android OS, which will provide font-sizing options and other accessibility options.

Volume button location: The location and size of the volume controls are surprisingly important.

The location of the volume button can determine whether or not you can use a player with one hand.

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