While most music lovers can’t afford Sennheiser’s $1699 HD 800 S headphones, you do want to use the best quality headphones you can afford with a high-res digital audio player. A DAP bearing this logo doesn’t necessarily mean that it outperforms one without the logo, it just means that its manufacturer has paid a licensing fee and has agreed to follow a set of product guidelines and performance requirements. Hi-Res Audio logo: Some DAPs bear the Hi-Res Audio consortium’s logo. If this feature is important to you, then check the manufacturer’s specifications carefully. Consequently, most DAP’s do not work with in-line headphone remote controls. Remote control: Many (if not most) of today’s high-resolution DAPs come with their own analog-style volume controls. If streaming services are important to you, be sure to buy a DAP that can connect to Wi-Fi networks. Streaming services: If you want to access streaming services such as Tidal (one of few that stream FLAC and that also supports MQA files), take note: Not all high-res DAPs are equipped with Wi-Fi adapters, and even fewer have integration with streaming services. You’ll get the best Bluetooth experience with equipment that also supports the aptX codec, which delivers near-CD-quality audio. Some high-res players support Bluetooth streaming and others don’t. Some players, like the Pioneer XDP-100R, will mount on your computer like a hard drive, so you can drag-and-drop copy others require software on the host computer (and in some cases, that software might be available only for Windows). 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. The location of the volume button can determine whether or not you can use a player with one hand. Volume button location: The location and size of the volume controls are surprisingly important. 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. Pioneer’s Android-based UI is our favorite.įont sizes and legibility vary greatly among the different DAPs, and some don’t you to adjust the font sizes. High-res DAPs have huge differences in user interfaces. The player’s user interface can influence what you can and can’t do on the player (such as searches) and how easily you can perform certain tasks (such as creating playlists). Other players have proprietary user interfaces with a touchscreen, a click wheel, or navigation buttons. Some players are based on the Android operating system and will be very familiar to Android smartphone users. User interface: Aside from physical characteristics, differences between user interfaces can be dramatic, and they can make or break your overall experience. WMAL (WMA Lossless) a lossless codec commonly used by Windows devices.WMA (Windows Media Audio) A lossy codec commonly used by Windows devices.Ogg-Vorbis A lossy codec that is popular, but less common than MP3.MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3) A very common lossy codec.MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) A digital audio file format that applies a digital fingerprint to a file to guarantee it was sourced from the original master recording.FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) A common free lossless codec.DSD (Direct Stream Digital) A high-resolution codec that originated with SACD (Super Audio CD).AptX Adaptive A near-CD-quality audio codec supported by some Bluetooth devices. APE A free and very efficient lossless codec from Monkey’s Audio. ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) Commonly used by iOS devices.AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) A lossy codec commonly used by iOS devices and at the iTunes store).These are the most common audio codecs you’ll encounter (in alphabetical order): 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. You need lossless, high-res music files to take full advantage of a high-res DAP. Along with ALAC, FLAC and DSD are two of the more popular lossless audio codecs you’ll see for high-res music.Īudio codec support: This spec is important.
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