Astell&Kern SP2000 comes with dual DACs and a hefty price tag

You can’t really buy MP3 players anymore. Apple still sells the iPod Touch but it does much more than just play music – it’s got a camera and apps and costs £199 for just 32GB of storage. If you’re going to pay over the odds for a glorified jukebox you might as well really go for it and drop £2999 on Astell&Kern’s new SP2000. There’s no messing around with games or video calls here, just a pair of Asahi Kasei DACs and proper independent audio channels for a wider soundstage and better stereo separation. You do get a 5in touchscreen and a much more generous 512GB of storage to fill with tunes, which you’re going to need if you want to make the most of its 32-bit/768KHz hi-res audio support, although you can always use the built-in Wi-Fi to stream from Tidal as well. The SP2000 goes on sale in July, so you’ve still got plenty of time to save up.

Tom Wiggins Contributor

About

Stuff's other Tom has been writing for the magazine and website since 2006, when smartphones were only for massive nerds and you could say “Alexa” out loud without a robot answering. Over the years he’s written about everything from MP3s to NFTs, played FIFA with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and amassed a really quite impressive collection of USB sticks.

Areas of expertise

Gaming (OK, mainly just FIFA), weird Alexa skills, USB sticks