Getting into hi-res audio can sometimes feel less like looking at a rabbit hole and more like staring into a swirling void – it's very easy for research to carry you away into a world where the only way to listen to music properly involves spending thousands on the best possible system. Whether you've got the budget for that or not, you might want to try things out at a more doable level first.
For the longest time, Astell&Kern wouldn't be much help there, since even its most affordable digital music players cost a bomb, but it's re-launched a sub-brand called Activo to help bridge the gap. The Activo P1 digital player is its first hardware in years, and it looks like a pretty superb new music player for the money. I've been using it for a few weeks to see if it could turn me into an audiophile overnight.
