The audiophile community keeps them kicking around! Whathifi usually have good reviews and recs. Let me find a link
this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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I know we're talking audiophiles here but the budget option is Β£350!
Yeah i was also a bit shook π π π but if you think about a device with Bluetooth, a decent chip for processing (they all will aim for high bitrates), touch screen, good quality DAC, youd maybe expect 200 ish.
Then when you factor in that these will be very low volume runs since not many people buy them, it makes a bit of sense.
However, I'm sure there are some decent more cut down options out there that they could have found.
A kid i know has one from fiio, which he likes
Its small, not 512gb by itself, but features bt and sd card reader
Has physical buttons and a small display
Fiio echo mini
They probably has other models too
I've got one of these. Aka Snowsky echo mini, fiio's brand aimed at accessible/fun audio. It still has the pedigree of a higher end digital audioplayers, including a nice DAC and 4.4mm balanced output. Its also got a firmware update to be used as an inline DAC.
Qualms: lower end Bluetooth codec and lack of gapless playback.
I wouldn't use it if Bluetooth was a must, but I've enjoyed using it with a cheap pair of IEMs.
I kinda want one of those, they're cute. No bluetooth support though, and only supports up to 256GB on the MicroSD slot. Fine if you just have MP3s but you'll eat that up pretty quick with FLAC.
I don't have a specific recommendation, but I believe the key words to search for these days are "Digital Audio Player".
I've been following the open hardware Tangara for a while, but they're between production runs right now so you can't buy from them (you might be able to build your own though, the design is all there)
As a heads up, like so many other technologies the middle has fallen out of the market thanks to the proliferation of smart phones. You'll be paying a lot for anything decent from what I've seen
The Tangara is interesting technically, but the firmware is a bit half-baked, and large parts of it are written in Lua, and thus slow. I had one but sold it, and got a Rockboxed HifiWalker H2.
If you want to self-host and store the files on a home server instead of your phone, you could try out Navidrome
Edit: I guess you specified that you know there are other solutions, sorry if this was unsolicited. I have a love for physical tech too so if thatβs the reason you want an mp3 player, I get it. Iβm collecting records myself :)
While researching this very thing, I came across this site hifioasis and used it to guide my first purchase.
The reviews are pretty good and they account for a lot of variables.
If you don't want the cost of a walkman, old LG phones like the V30 were renowned for having high quality DACs and 3.5 mm headphone jacks.
You can pick used ones up on eBay. They don't have 5g or a ton of ram so I wouldn't use it to replace my phone, but it has great audio quality and an SD card for not much money.
If you don't mind a bit of DIY tinkering you can get an older music player and upgrade it with a new battery, new drive, and rockbox. If Bluetooth is a must you could also get a 3.5mm adapter. Here is an example upgrading an iRiver player.
some of LG's older android phones have good builtin DAC and all the features you mention
ipods are also a good option if you can find one cheaply. the full sized models can be modded to take large storage and custom firmware
Just yesterday I saw a post about using retro game handhelds as a music players. That might interest you.
I used to use my PSP as a music player because my subwoofers would cause my CDs to skip. Good times.
Rockbox has a 3DS port in progress.
From the sbcgaming subreddit, the one I see constantly popping up is the TrimUI Brick (Hammer for metal case).
Of course any retro games handheld with Android will work just as well as any other phones with Android. And you can just put it on airplane mode or just don't install any apps that'll give notifications.
Additionally, there's a rockbox app for portmaster.
I went through a handful of devices, and none of them ticked off all the boxes for me.
Now I use a Unihertz Jelly Star. It's tiny, it has Bluetooth, Wifi, expandable memory, headphone jack, and in a pinch it's also a phone with a camera and flashlight and so forth. The battery charges very fast, and it's got a halfway decent external speaker. More dedicated audiophiles than me would have to weigh in on if it's pumping out audio signal in all the right bass and treble frequencies at appropriate levels, but it does everything I wanted from a digital audio player.
The Jelly Star will even get an Android 16 update this month, after staying on Android 13 for ages. Unihertz got pressure from the competition. :)
I recently got a HIFI Walker and I really like it. They also have full android versions if you want more functionality.
Note that you might want to get something supported by the Rockbox open-source firmware, just in case the player's own software is less than ideal.
Iβm pretty happy with my FIIO Snowsky Mini.
It mimics a miniature Walkman and looks really great, and has a cassette playing interface that lets you totally ignore obtaining / managing album artwork. I really donβt care about seeing album art when I play music, but equally I hate seeing a ? or something when an interface expects you to have artwork. This solves that perfectly.
Itβs only up to 256GB, and it only lets you scroll through all artists or all albums so navigation isnβt the quickest.
It sounds amazing. People go on about how good certain iPod classics sounded, but this is audibly better than any iPod ever was.
Doesnβt do gapless playback.
Can get them for Β£40-Β£50.
i was coming in here to recommend exactly that!
I still have a FiiO X1 (not sold anymore) it has very robust navigation for a device without a keyboard, and does gapless playback.
The newer budget offerings kinda feel like a downgrade.
Sounds ideal!
To be honest Iβve been half-looking at audio players for 2-3 years but never pulls the trigger as all I had to go on was Amazon and Reddit reviews of how things sounded, which is so subjective as to be almost useless.
I saw the Echo Mini in the Guardian for an article about DAPs and trusted that a little more and finally bit the bullet.
Apparently someone from FIIO in the forums said the Echo Mini wasnβt capable of gapless, which feels unlikely when iPods from about 2006 could.
Your device definitely sounds like it addresses my biggest βwantsβ for mine.
It doesn't solve the album art issue, which also really annoys me. I spent a lot of time adding art back in the days of using that thing...
It probably also feels less premium than the newer offerings. It's pretty old, irc I bought it in 2014 or thereabouts.
~~Do you ever have the issue where FLAC files play at a slower speed than they're supposed to? Maybe I just need to update firmware or something (though I haven't been able to access the fiio forum to download it in a couple days which is super frustrating)~~
Whoops. It was an adblocker issue. I updated and it's all good now. π
I find every firmware update fixes something but also breaks something.
Great theyβre working on it but super annoying also.
Some updates crash the mini refreshing my library, and since about 2.7 a lot of multi-CD albums donβt show the tracks in the right order anymore.
Still a fan, but definitely not the easy ride that iTunes + iPod was on that front.
Oh, and cool you can use it as a nifty HQ external DAC also.
You can easily find a cheap old phone with an SD slot. If you have music downloaded then you don't need good specs, just put it in flight mode so the battery lasts longer.
I use a $50 anbernic handheld that runs a nice mp3 player, has a 3.5 jack, and has physical buttons. It is a great little ipod. This one and the ones you should consider generally have dual microSD slots and that should offer the storage you are looking for.
How is the audio quality on those? I've got the sp and was considering setting it up as an mp3 player for when I'm off grid but I don't have the spoons to do if it's gonna suck.
Depends on the model but my R40xxv sounds about as good as a $20 bluetooth speaker.
Fiio makes some good ones. I have an old X1 that has always been flawless.
I love my FiiO X5II. It's basically like a modern, hi-fi version of the first iPod without the shortcomings (i.e. the hdd).
It can play almost everything, from MP3s to DSD128, and it's pretty decent at driving headphones up to I wanna say 600 Ohm. It's very nicely built, too, and the battery is stupidly easy to swap. It has two slots for microSD cards (up to 512GB seem to work fine per slot)
Bought mine defective on eBay for 80β¬, fixed it up and now it's my daily driver. Doesn't have Bluetooth, though.
Can always go with a modded iPod. The great thing about digital audio is it doesn't really degrade. If you have the money to spend though the fiio's are in a league of their own at the high end.
I hate .mp3 as an audio codec. However, if you must use .mp3 that why not just get a used Android phone with a McroSD slot? You could even get a USB-C DAC to go with it for better sound.
Try Dankpods' YouTube channel, I believe he is into them and has some favourite, though I can't remember exact model numbers from the top of my head.
You could try rummaging around at 2nd-hand stores or pawn shops.
I bought this little speaker box from "August" that has AM/FM radio with a weather display and a USB and SD slot for external mp3 files. It mainly doubles as a bluetooth speaker but does this other stuff as well. It was under 50 bucks.
I'm not sure how 'modern' this is, but you could pick up an iPod Video or Classic, whose audio section is still competitive by modern standards, and then flash-retrofit it and Rockbox it.