The SR15 is a high-quality MP3 participant that gives the most effective music playback high quality and virtually precisely nothing else. With a price ticket like this, it is one for true audiophiles solely.
The design is gorgeous. An off-kilter display screen, properly clicky scroll wheel, and glossy geometric again all add as much as make this blocky MP3 participant really feel ultra-premium.
Below the hood, it is all in regards to the music. As you’d count on, you may play songs individually, by album, artist, style, playlist, or folder. You possibly can even choose ‘favourites’ and put them into their very own little playlists.
As you would possibly count on, given the value, the sound high quality is gorgeous – jaw-droppingly glorious. The most effective of the most effective. The participant can deal with what Astell&Kern calls Mastering Sound High quality or MQS, which is actually studio-quality sound. You will not discover a higher audio participant on the market (except for dearer variations from Astell&Kern.)
The standard is so good because of a specifically designed high-performance digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) and a few top quality processors. All MP3 gamers have these microchips however the high quality can differ. Primarily, the DAC is the chip which turns your music from a binary knowledge stream of ones and zeros into audio you may truly hearken to. Decrease high quality ones can’t sustain with some recordsdata’ knowledge charge, making music sound distorted or including undesirable additional noises.
Lengthy story brief, good high quality digital-to-analogue converter = good high quality music. And the SR15’s DAC could be very, excellent high quality: it will possibly sustain with music from the very best high quality recordsdata. That received’t imply a lot to the common particular person, however for true audiophiles the distinction will likely be instantly noticeable.
There’s additionally the possibility to obtain songs from WiFi. Nevertheless, you may solely get them from two providers: Groovers+ and TIDAL. Maybe extra will likely be added in future, however for now that seems like a waste of a function, provided that most individuals use iTunes or Spotify.
Nonetheless, different options greater than make up for it – though, once more, you will must be an actual music obsessive to profit from them. You possibly can, for instance, create your personal equaliser, which is neat however principally incomprehensible for the common person. (There aren’t any directions for many who want a tutorial on issues like this.) The management system itself is intuitive – swipe proper to carry up the menu, swipe left to carry up your present playlist – however the nuances of utilizing the equaliser had been primarily misplaced on me.
That apart, my solely actual drawback with the system is the quantity wheel. On one hand, it feels very satisfying to make use of. On the opposite, even the slightest nudge brings up the quantity controls, as you would possibly count on. Nevertheless, you may’t do the rest whereas the quantity controls are on display screen, so when you nudge the wheel accidentally (straightforward to do whereas merely holding the system) you are caught ready a couple of seconds earlier than with the ability to return to the menu you had been perusing or no matter. There’s a lock perform for the quantity wheel, however this solely works when the display screen is off.
In the end, this system is certainly not for the common particular person. True music lovers will adore the gorgeous audio high quality.
Purchase now
4. Victure M3 Music Participant
What we like about it: Low-cost and train pleasant
Worth: £21.99, Amazon
