Sony's Walkman NW-E395 is similar to the NW-E394, but has one major advantage over the alternative: double the storage. If you really just want a budget, portable MP3 player, SanDisk still makes its tiny Clip lineup, including the $35, How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Find Free Tools to Optimize Your Small Business, How to Get Started With Project Management, Have One of These Old Sonos Speakers? If you really just want a budget, portable MP3 player, SanDisk still makes its tiny Clip lineup, including the $35 Clip Jam and the waterproof $50 Clip Sport Plus. Or it could be those who simply want to work out to music. But this once-ubiquitous device from the early aughts is now niche, to put it mildly. A high-end MP3 player will also improve the quality of sound from your high-impedance, investment headphones. https://www.pcmag.com/news/whats-the-best-mp3-player. You Can Get a Discount on a New One, Getting Static or Crackling in Your AirPods Pro? If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. Physical buttons on the front control playback. Some models come with microSD slots now, so you can swap out cards loaded with music and essentially determine what the storage capacity is on your own. The HiFiMan SuperMini is a far more affordable option at $399, Sony still churns out various Walkman models (now all-digital devices, not portable cassette players) that do a serviceable job of reproducing audio, and the $299 Activo CT10 is a solid player. In addition to an FM tuner, the NW-E394 comes with a big battery that delivers up to 35 hours of playback on a charge. It may be hard to believe, but more than a decade after the iPhone started killing the iPod and people turned to their smartphones for music, MP3 players still live on. Key specs Display size: 1.8 inches | Storage: 8GB | FM tuner: Yes | Rated battery life: 35 hours | Size: 3.6 x 1.7 x 0.4 inches | Weight: 1.44 ounces. This article is an epic fail, since it didn't include any Fiio players. Best of all, it offers 18 hours of playback on a single charge. They'd already gone up in price by the time I saw they weren't being made anymore. If you're looking for a gym-friendly music source, it's hard to make a truly compelling argument for MP3 players. © 1996-2020 Ziff Davis, LLC. A good music player should also be able to handle 24-bit tracks with at least 48kHz sample rate (and ideally, much higher). Options like the $1,500 Astall & Kern Kann Cube do just that. Then along came the Apple iPod in 2001 to redefine and popularize the concept of the MP3 player. Yes, Apple still offers the iPod touch, which is, For audiophiles, the question becomes: What kind of file support do you need? I still have an ipod classic from the final generation with an mSATA (there are adapters) installed to replaced the hard drive that died a few years ago. At $40, the SanDisk Clip Jam is one of the more affordable MP3 players available. But it's also one of the smallest, with a tiny 1-inch display and physical buttons that let you quickly jump between tracks. In addition to finding the best MP3 player, you should also be on the lookout for the best wireless headphones, earbuds and noise-cancelling headphones to truly enhance your audio listening experience. If $1,000 and up is out of your budget, there are still some high-quality portable music players worth considering. Most Affordable: Sony NWZ-E390 Walkman; Best Features: Sony Walkman NW-A105 Lines then blurred until the dedicated, music-focused iPod was all but forgotten. It's also about more than just having a headphone jack. These are the best MP3 players for your money right now. The screen, which measures 1.8 inches, is designed to showcase album art and other information about the tracks you're playing. Cyber Monday deals: see all the best offers right now. A quality portable music player will be able to load most lossless formats, like AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, OGG, and WAV. Here are the best MP3 players you can buy in 2020. Thus, the higher-priced models often have better touch screens, built-in EQ, more impressive playback specs and internal amplification, and more built-in storage. Apple Will Fix It for Free, Corsair's Latest Headset Is Packed With Tactile Feedback, Apple Discounts Its EarPods and Power Adapter After Removing Them From iPhone Boxes, The Best Bluetooth and Wireless Speakers for 2020, The Best Bluetooth Headphones for Running, The Best True Wireless Earbuds for Running, AirPod Alternatives: The Best True Wireless Earbuds for 2020, First Listen: Spatial Audio on the AirPods Pro, Studio Wishlist: Top Picks for Offbeat Home Recording Gear, Holiday Travel Survival Kit: Audio Gear to Help You Block Out Noise, Distractions. Visit our corporate site. It looked cooler and stored a lot more songs than its non-Apple competitors, and its white earbuds (precursors to today's AirPods) were something of a hip status symbol. Just note that the display is on the small size at 4 inches. People still use MP3-only players? Pioneer’s MP3 Player is all about one thing: giving you premium audio quality, as long as you're willing to pay for it. With its design, feature set, streaming app support, and that excellent touchscreen, it's extremely well priced, and is actually one of the best value propositions on our list, especially if you're primarily concerned with audio quality. To quickly answer the question of whether you should buy a dedicated MP3 player, the answer is: Maybe. In 2019, the best portable media players for music lovers are far more similar to the original MP3 players than they are iPhones. The SanDisk Clip Sport Plus is a diminutive device that's compact enough to clip to your clothes and is water-resistant.