Want to step up to audiophile sound for less? This 5-star hi-res audio player has a huge Prime Day deal – and comes with perfectly paired earbuds

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Serious about sound? Get serious savings on this portable hi-res audio player and matching IEMs

The Activo P1 with earbuds and sign saying Lowest Price
(Image credit: Activo)

There's a really good Prime Day deal on one of our favourite music players: the Activo P1 hi-res audio player is now just £299 at Amazon. At its full price of £399, I thought it was a five-star buy, so with £100 off it's even more attractive.

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This is one of the best Amazon Prime Day deals that we've seen this year, and if you're also looking for quality wired in-ear monitors to pair with it, there's also a big discount on the P1 starter pack, which combines the P1 player with Activo's Volcano in-ears and a protective case. The P1 starter bundle is down to £399.

If you're not familiar with Activo, it's the more affordable lifestyle brand of elite hi-fi brand Astell & Kern – and there's a superb discount on one of its top hi-res audio players, the desktop CA1000T. That has a recommended retail price of £2,299, but right now the Astell & Kern CA1000T is down to an incredibly low £759. That's a saving of 67%.

Amazon Prime Day deal: Activo P1 hi-res audio player

Activo P1 hi-res digital audio player
Activo P1 hi-res digital audio player: was £399 now £299 at Amazon

We gave this portable player the full five stars in our Activo P1 review: it delivers superb sound for considerably less cash than many premium players, and it was very good value at full price; with 25% off to take £100 off the sticker price it's even better value. It says Activo on the outside but really it's a player from hi-res audio specialists Astell & Kern.

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Activo P1 starter pack with Volcano in-ear headphones and P1 protective case
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Activo P1 starter pack with Volcano in-ear headphones and P1 protective case: was £499 now £399 at Amazon

What's better than an Activo P1 digital music player? An Activo P1 digital music player with good in-ear headphones and a protective case. This bundle is currently 20% off, bringing it down to a very reasonable £399. The Volcano headphones here are very impressive: bright and clear, with tight bass that's powerful but doesn't overwhelm the rest of the music.

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These are great Prime Day Activo deals

The best hi-res audio players tend to come with frightening price tags attached, but the P1 player from Astell & Kern's more affordable lifestyle brand delivers the goods for a lot less cash – that's why we rate it as the best hi-res audio player for most people right now.

It has the same amplification as more expensive players, and is built around an ESS ES9219Q SABRE Dual-DAC. There are multiple connections including aptX HD and LDAC on supported hardware, and while the built-in storage isn't enough for tons of hi-res audio, you can add SD cards with capacities up to 1.5TB. And with a good pair of headphones, the P1 sounds sensational.

Did someone say "a good pair of headphones"? Yes, us, just there – and we've also tested Activo's in-ears that are available in that bundle, and found them very impressive indeed. Their dynamic drivers deliver a big sound with a detailed, wide soundstage, and we found them useful for casual listening and for more critical stuff such as mixing music, where it's important to hear all the fine details.

Astell & Kern CA1000T desktop system
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Astell & Kern CA1000T desktop system: was £2,299 now £759.05 at Amazon

If you're looking for something even more hardcore, there's an absolutely massive discount on the Astell & Kern CA1000T desktop audio system. It's a digital streamer and hi-res audio player with a powerful headphone amp to drive a wide variety of high-end headphones, and it has 3.5mm and 6.35mm unbalanced and 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced headphone output to cover all bases. It supports high-resolution audio playback up to native DSD512 and 32bit/768 kHz and a clever tri-amp setup that enables you to choose between, or combine, digital and analogue amplification.

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Carrie Marshall
Carrie Marshall

Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than twenty books. Her latest, a love letter to music titled Small Town Joy, is on sale now. She is the singer in spectacularly obscure Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

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