7 deluxe portable audio and video players for audiophiles

There was a time when the Apple iPod was very much coveted among audiophiles. Over time, more portable audio and video players have entered the market. With their sleek deluxe designs and luxurious finish, these portable audio and video devices are really something to own if you want to flaunt your style quotient and at the same time, desire a high-quality audio output.

• Astell and Kern A and Ultima SP1000 : This portable audio and video player has a storage space of 256 GB which can be expandable to 512 GB. It has a sleek design and does look quite like it is worth around $3299. The supported file types include DSD, FLAC, WAV, WMA, MP3, OGG APE, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF, and so on. This portable digital player has a high audio quality akin to studio sound quality. Also, this device has an excellent resolution. It has a 5-inch touchscreen display and a very intuitive interface. The device is bundled with a USB cable for charging and data transfer.
• Questyle QP2R : An award-winning portable player, the Questyle costs around $2700. It supports the following formats: DSD, MP3, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, AIFF, APE, WMA, DFF, DSF. With a fantastic audio quality, this deluxe portable audio player packs in a 65 GB built-in memory. It has an expandable memory of up to 200 GB. A single recharge of the battery gives a continuous playing time of 10 hours. Accessories include earphones, USB cable, and a cable adapter.
• HiFiMAN HM901S : This portable player costs around $1499 and supports file formats such as DSD, MP3, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, AAC, AIFF, APE, and WMA. It is a high-fidelity audio player that is available in with expandable memory up to 256 GB. There is no internal memory. The battery life is around 9 hours. You can listen to songs for 9 hours straight on a single recharge of the battery. The hardware of this device is top-of-the-line, and this renders a high quality to the audio output.
• Sony NW-WM1Z N : Resembling something straight out of the Transformers movies, this portable player from Sony is priced at approximately $2699. It has an expandable storage of up to 256 GB; it can store nearly 20,000 songs. It supports file formats such as DSD, AAC (Non-DRM), AIFF, ALAC, DSD, FLAC, HE-AAC, Linear PCM, MP3, and WMA. Packed with a superb audio quality, this portable audio device has a 4-inch touchscreen and offers 30 hours of playback time on a single charge.
• Lotoo PAW Gold 2017 : This portable audio player costs approximately $2399. Loaded with a great audio output, this player is truly made for luxury with its 24K alpha wheel and sapphire-glass display. Its powerful battery offers 12 hours of continuous playback time. Its expandable memory is upto 2 TB along with 128 GB of SD card memory; you can store thousands of albums. This device supports the following file formats: DSD, AAC, FLAC, MP3, WMA, DFF, DSF, ISO, APE, WAV, ALAC, M4A, and WavPack.
• Astell & Kern AK380 MP3 Player : This portable device costs around $2999. It supports the following file formats: MP3, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, AIFF, APE, WMA, DFF, and DSF. It has an internal memory of 256 GB which is expandable to 128 GB with an external memory card. It has a 4-inch touchscreen display. It has a built-in Wi-Fi to stream and download music. The music quality is quite high. The device does not come bundled with headphones.
• Cowon Plenue : This premium portable player is priced around $3999. It supports nearly all file formats including FLAC, ripped SACDs, and DSD. It has an internal memory of 128 GB, which is expandable to 256 GB. This device has a relatively shorter battery life compared to others; you can play songs for 8 hours on a single recharge of the battery.