Acoustic Research AR-M20 Digital Audio Player

The Acoustic Research AR-M20 combines the user-friendly interface of a smartphone with the features audiophiles want—all in a super light, slim package. This wireless-enabled music player can run the apps of popular streaming services, like Tidal and Spotify, and it also includes Bluetooth for connecting to external devices. It’s equipped with the highly regarded 32-bit/384-kHz Burr-Brown PCM5242 DAC and powered by a Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor, which allows modern streaming apps to function with speed. Promising an impressive 16 hours of playback on a single charge, the AR-M20 plays a variety of high-res audio file types on internal memory, micro-SDXC card, or micro-USB memory.

Describing the sound, a Head-fi reviewer writes, “Presentation is full-bodied and powerful, smooth and resolving, but still remains linear and carries across all the details present in the recording. The dual crystal oscillators with their variable native sample rate tackle any kind of format with apparent ease, rhythmic precision, and timing with everything from progressive psytrance to jazz instrumentals and hard rock."