As someone who cares a lot about sound quality, sometimes listening to a pair of the best wireless earbuds connected to my iPhone 12 Pro or OnePlus 11 Android phone just doesn't cut it. Don't get me wrong, I listen to plenty of music on the best headphones via both smartphones, but sometimes I find they're not enough and I need to up the quality with a dedicated music player tethered to one of the best wired headphones.
Although I've experienced several ways to boost audio quality from my iPhone and get studio sound via an affordable DAC add-on, the best way to get hi-res audio on the move is a portable Digital Audio Player (DAP). Sometimes known as MP3 players, the outdated term refers to a playback device capable of storing music files and today's models deliver seriously high-quality audio. For anyone who cares about listening to the highest quality audio possible, a dedicated music player is the only way to go, but you'll need to have the cash to splash.
