This new music player is like a hi-res iPod nano, but with microSD storage — and you won’t believe how cheap it is

Fiio has become our favorite budget audiophile brand, thanks to products like the Fiio FT13 headphones, the Fiio BTR17 DAC/amp, and the Fiio JM21 music player.

It's the last one that's most relevant here, because Fiio's sub-brand Snowsky has just unveiled a new super-cheap hi-res music player that looks like a cross between an iPod nano 6th gen and a MiniDisc player, and costs just $80 / £80.

It's called the Snowsky Disc, appropriately enough, and while Snowsky's info calls it a "CD inspired" design – and I can see it – it's the resemblance to other bygone music players that got TechRadar's audio team talking. My colleague Becky Scarrott immediately recalled her much-beloved Sony Network Walkman MP3 player, which came in almost the same shade of pink.

Despite its small size and price, there's great tech in here. It promises around 12 hours of battery life, and you control it using the touchscreen on the front.

There's a dual-DAC architecture (Fiio hasn't mentioned what the DAC is yet, but we've asked for more info), Wi-Fi including Apple AirPlay support, a 3.5mm port with SPDIF, a 4.4mm balanced output, USB-C audio output, LDAC higher-res Bluetooth, and – perhaps most importantly – a microSD card slot for storage enabling you to take up to 2TB of music files anywhere with you.

That'll be especially easy because it's so small – Fiio hasn't said exactly how small yet (again, I've chased for information). Still, I've done some very scientific comparisons of the USB-C port's size in the images, and the Snowsky Disc appears to be basically the same width as my iPhone 16 Pro, and a little thicker.

That will make it around 72mm or 2.8 inches wide and tall – between the iPod nano 6th gen I mentioned above and an iPod mini. In fact, that's basically the size of a MiniDisc.

I love the look of this, and if it sounds good, it could easily become the new budget pick in our guide to the best MP3 players.

Fiio has shown three colors so far – black, turquoise, and pink – and it goes on sale in January. That's a bit of a shame – it would have made the perfect last-minute Christmas gift if it were out now, though you could always look to Snowsky's cassette-inspired Echo Mini MP3 player instead if you want something like this.

The best music players for all budgets

➡️ Read our full guide to the best hi-res music players
1. Best overall:
Activo P1
2. Best budget hi-res player:
Fiio JM21
3. Best step-up hi-res player:
Astell & Kern A&norma SR35