Five top-notch players for music lovers

Sony NWZ-E383 4Gb

Sony Walkman MP3 players are popular with music lovers. It was the Japanese who created portable players and put a lot of effort into their development. If we talk specifically about the Sony NWZ-E383 4Gb, then this is a good option for music lovers. The player is compact, weighs only 52 g and is available in three colours (red, black, blue). The device works without recharging for up to 30 hours, and you can fill a dead battery with energy in just two hours.

The player can play MP3, WMA, AAC, PCM audio files, show JPEG images and WMV videos. But this model cannot be recommended for watching videos because of the 1.77-inch display with a resolution of 128x160 pixels. However, such a small screen is enough to navigate through the menu and select songs. In addition, the player has buttons on the front panel for control (for example, to switch songs), so it is convenient to use it.

The player has 4 GB of memory on board. It is a pity that it will not be possible to increase its volume due to the microSD card — there is no corresponding slot. By the way, there is version of this Walkman with 8 GB of memory. And if you get tired of listening to music that is loaded into the player's memory, you can switch to the built-in radio.

The player will delight fans of experimenting with the sound of music. With the help of a 5-band equalizer, you can adjust it to your favorite musical styles and achieve the desired result with different headphones. The proprietary Clear Audio technology is responsible for improving recordings in lossy compression formats. A dynamic normalizer will prevent sudden volume changes between compositions.

Transcend T.sonic 870 8Gb

Transcend has established itself well as a manufacturer of memory, flash drives and hard drives. Although her players are also high-quality. You can see this by the example of the portable T.sonic 870 8Gb player.

The player combines small dimensions and great battery life. With a case size of 82x42x13 mm and a weight of 62 g, the device can delight its owner with music for up to 22 hours. Dozens of albums of music can be stored in 8 GB memory, and if that doesn't seem enough, it's easy to expand it with a microSD card.

Support for lossless FLAC format is one of the advantages of the player. Thanks to the equalizer and good components, the manufacturer managed to achieve a wonderful (considering the price of the device) sound. An FM receiver and a voice recorder will be a bonus for the owner of the gadget. Even if, judging by the reviews of reviewers, the sound recording quality of the player is mediocre, this is not critical for music lovers.

Transcend T.sonic 870 is equipped with a screen with a diagonal of 2.4" and a resolution of 240x320 pixels. There is clearly not enough of such a screen to watch videos, but it is convenient to control the device with it. This is facilitated by the intuitive menu and the fact that the company releases new versions of the player's firmware from time to time, correcting minor bugs and improving the quality of its work. Another advantage of this model is the low price.

The Cowon iAUDIO 9 16Gb player costs more than Sony and Transcend models. There are several reasons justifying its cost. Firstly, it is a large amount of memory — 16 GB should be enough for a music collection in lossless FLAC and APE formats (which this model reproduces). Against the background of such a volume, the lack of a memory card slot does not look like a disadvantage, although there will be people to whom it would be useful.

Secondly, the model is distinguished by touch control. Here, however, the opinions of users on the Internet are divided. Some argue that for such small-sized devices (95x43x8.9 mm, weight 40 g), push-button control is more suitable and when pressed hard, the touch panel bends slightly. And others, on the contrary, praise the management system. Almost everyone likes that the player has a metal case: this makes it stylish and pleasant to the touch. And metal protects the filling of the device better than plastic from impacts when falling.

Thirdly, a high-quality screen. Yes, its diagonal is only 2", and the resolution is 320x240 pixels standard for this size, but at the same time it is bright enough, has decent viewing angles, and the designers have selected good fonts for the menu, which, judging by the reviews, is comfortable to interact with.

In addition, the player is equipped with a radio and a voice recorder, has numerous settings and an equalizer, and, finally, is able to play music for up to 29 hours without recharging.

Apple iPod nano 7gen 16Gb

The Apple iPod nano 7gen player differs significantly from previous versions of nano, but the change in the format of the popular player did not disappoint fans of the brand. The seventh-generation iPod nano received a 2.5-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 240x432 pixels. At the same time, the dimensions of its metal body are 76.5x39.6x5.4 mm, and the weight is only 31 g. The screen is more or less suitable for watching videos, and it's a pleasure to control the device on such a screen. By the way, it supports multi-touch and the player can be given commands with gestures. The iPod works for 30 hours when playing music and 3.5 in video playback mode.

The sound quality in the player is excellent. This is facilitated (in addition to the player components) by fine-tuning the equalizer and branded Apple EarPods headphones that come with the device. By the way, they are convenient to use during jogging and training — thanks to their design, they sit tightly in the ears and do not fall out even when moving. With such headphones the sound will be even better than with Apple EarPods.

The player can play music in popular MP3, WAV and AAC formats. But there is no support for popular lossless files like FLAC, but only Apple's proprietary Lossless. In the list of supported formats: MPEG4 and H.264 video, JPEG images. You can store such a collection of content on a built-in 16 GB drive (about 2 GB of them is not available to users), and there is no slot for a memory card. But there is a radio with a stream buffering function (up to 15 minutes of broadcast is saved) and the ability to transmit data via Bluetooth. And an unusual feature for the player is an accelerometer. It allows you to track the number of steps taken during the day and even organize workouts by sending data on the distance traveled and calories burned in this way to the Nike+ service.

Apple iPod touch 5gen 32Gb iSight

iPhone 5 without the ability to call — this is how you can characterize one of the best players not only from Apple, but in general on the market. And it resembles a popular smartphone both in appearance and functionality. The dimensions of the device are 123x58x6 mm, weight — 88 grams. It is equipped with a Retina display (diagonal 4", resolution 1136x640 pixels), that is, the same as the iPhone 5. Watching videos on this display is a pleasure. Therefore, the image is very high quality, with excellent viewing angles.

The player runs under the iOS 8 operating system and supports the corresponding games and applications. The capabilities of the player are very wide, although you will have to pay extra for the software or use free App Store offers. Facebook Instagrammer has a Wi-Fi module — in the wireless Internet zone you can use the browser, Skype, Facebook, Instagram and other applications, download programs and games from the App Store. And the presence of GPS allows you to use navigation services.