With the Snowsky Echo Nano, you can sprint straight back to the early 2000s, when portable MP3 players were all the rage.
Almost everyone seemed to have one in the early years of this century: a portable MP3 player. They quickly became very affordable and, as a result, essentially turned into the digital successor to the good old Walkman. After all, smartphones didn’t exist back then, so you needed a separate little device for almost every application.
Still, those MP3 players certainly had their charms. Simply fill one up with your own music and off you go. No messing around with internet connections or streaming subscriptions, while power consumption was extremely low. In fact, many of the later models happily ran on a single AA or AAA battery. What more could you want?
And—as tends to happen these days—interest in everything retro is growing rapidly. Therefore, Snowsky, a sub-brand of FiiO, decided it was time to breathe new life into the classic MP3 player, albeit with a few modern twists.
For starters, the Echo Nano looks considerably less plasticky than its predecessors. In addition, it supports lossless file formats including WAV, FLAC and DSD. Compressed audio formats such as MP3, OGG, M4A and—even now—MQA are supported as well. D/A conversion, meanwhile, is handled by a Cirrus Logic CS43141.
Functions as portable DAC too
The Snowsky Echo Nano does not have any internal storage of its own. However, that is hardly a problem: simply insert a microSD card of up to 256 GB and you’re ready to go. If desired, the little device can also double as a portable DAC, making it surprisingly versatile. A small OLED display and rotary control provide some welcome ergonomics, while the built-in rechargeable battery offers up to 7 hours of listening on a full charge.
And—just like in the old days—the Echo Nano can certainly be called affordable: €69.95. It is available in a variety of colours. Prefer a different retro-looking player? Snowsky has several other models in its range as well.