I'm a purist. I don't like listening to music on my phones, I have always had mp3 players. To tell you the truth, my phones have ALWAYS sounded "soft" in the whole spectrum and even my lowly Cowon's I have preferred over my phones. So, there's that. These Sony's have been one of the best DAPs I've had in terms of overall usefulness! The sound quality is not up to par to the FiiO X5 or my Astell and Kern 100 MK2 but the UI, the responsiveness, FM capabilities, Bluetooth, NFC, portability, BATTERY LIFE, etc. kills most players out there... So all in all, good unit!