High-end hi-fi company YBA has made what it claims is the world's first "transportable" CD player for SACDs it's got the audiophiles in the office very excited, but it's not exactly a handheld model to slip in your jacket pocket

Date:
Thu, 21 May 2026 21:00:00 +0000

Description:
YBA has made what it claims is the world's first "transportable" CD player
for Super Audio CDs, but it's not exactly a handheld model.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter YBA unveils Design One, a new SACD player Claims it's the first "transportable" such model ever made It's not exactly an easily-portable model though Despite the format dividing audiophiles, Super Audio CDs are apparently making a comeback, and the clear bellwether sign of a retro resurgence is when hi-fi brands start making tech to play retired formats. Well, that's happening with SACDs, sure enough.

French hi-fi brand YBA has just unveiled its Design One, which is apparently the world's first-ever "transportable" SACD player, running on its built-in batteries, and the company claims you can bring it to cafes and offices to use. Banish from your mind the kind of retro-inspired compact model or feature-packed portable player that we've been covering quite frequently over the last few months those are pocketable, but this one is not so much.
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It weighs 1.34kg, measures 18.8 x 16.6 x 4cm, and has quite an angular body with sharp corners and easy-to-accidentally-press buttons. I don't see myself slipping this in my backpack when I'm off to do some work at the cafe, but then I feel less strongly about SACD compared to some in the TechRadar
office.

Perhaps that's why it's billed as a "transportable" model rather than a 'portable' one; an elephant is technically transportable if you have enough tranquilizer and a crane, but you wouldn't call one portable. But beyond the eyebrow-raising description, it seems like it has a few specs that'll impress certain audiophiles. A feature-packed SACD player (Image credit: YBA) The Design One has quite a few outputs for a portable model: you can output through 3.5mm or 4.4mm for headphones, RCA, SPDIF coax and USB-C (though it doesn't support SACD on the latter).

It has an AKM DAC, frequency response of 20Hz-40kHz, output impedance of 0.4 ohms (that's with 3.5mm; it's 0.8 ohms for 4.4mm) and a signal-to-noise ratio at 125 decibels. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

The unit will, apparently, last for up to 5.5 hours on a single charge, and can be plugged in via USB-C to power (via a separate port than the USB-C
audio out, so you can do both at the same time). There's a 2.79-inch screen, and beautifully retro mechanical switches which can be customized in use.

Given the shape and size of Design One, it's hard to view it as being a portable CD player akin to many of the other new models being released. But
it does still clearly to have value as a smaller-sized player of SACDs, and regular old CDs. It could fit quite nicely into a desktop set-up, or in a compact hi-fi setup, to save you buying a bigger option...

...if you can stomach the price. It's set to cost $1,699 (about 1,250, AU$2,500) when it goes on sale later in May. So it's certainly not a budget model. The best music players for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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 Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/audio/portable-media-players/high-end-hi-fi-company- yba-has-made-what-it-claims-is-the-worlds-first-transportable-cd-player-for-sa cds-its-got-the-audiophiles-in-the-office-very-excited-but-its-not-exactly-a-h andheld-model-to-slip-in-your-jacket-pocket


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