SONY NW-ZX300, £600

Sony has crammed plenty into the NW-ZX300’S stylish aluminium case (119 x 548 x 148mm), meaning it can handle the highest quality hi-res recordings right up to 11.2MHZ DSD and PCM 384Khz/32-bit, can stream using aptx for betterthan-cd-quality playback and even enhances the sound of standard low-res MP3 files.

It’s a treat for the ears, offering space, clarity and realism that gives you the feeling of sitting centre-stage, but it’s definitely aimed more towards the techsavvy audiophile than the firsttime user. sony.co.uk