SurfansF20 HiFi MP3 Player with Bluetooth, Lossless DSD High Resolution Digital Audio Music Player, High-Res Portable Audio Player with 32GB Memory Card, Support up to 256GB

I didn't expect much from something that fits in the coin pocket of my jeans, yet this little metal slab has become my favourite commuting buddy. The body is proper zinc alloy, cool to the touch and heavy enough to feel trustworthy. Up front sits a modest two-inch display, and underneath my thumb that clunky ALPS wheel whirs exactly like the one on my first iPod Mini. The nostalgia is real, but the internals are very much 2023: a PCM510 DAC chews through FLAC and DSD files without blinking.Through a decent pair of wired headphones the sound is remarkably clean. Hi-hats shimmer, vocals sit forward, and the low end stays firm instead of turning into a muddy puddle. Wireless is available as well thanks to Bluetooth 5.2, it copes fine on the train, although my aptX buds sometimes hiccup when I wander off to make a cup of tea, so I keep a cheap 3.5 mm lead in my bag to be safe.The interface will never win design awards: plain icons, plain fonts and exactly three themes. Still, it is quick enough and, crucially, it always reloads the exact track and position I left off at, useful when the inspector appears halfway through a guitar solo.A full charge lasts roughly ten hours, which sees me through a shift and the ride home. The company throws in a 32 GB microSD card, and I have already earmarked a 256 GB one for payday. In short, the F20 sounds brilliant, feels bulletproof and, despite that slightly clunky menu, offers fantastic value for anyone who rates music quality above flashy wallpapers.

I have been using this device for a few days as an audio player (not a USB DAC) and I can tell you the following:The Bad:1. The software is very simple, you won't be changing any wallpapers or any fun stuff like that, it's designed to simply play audio, kinda like the old MP3 players.2. The bluetooth on the device isn't great, I had a pair of bluetooth headphones connected to it and it would have this issue where the audio would rhythmically cut out, it is fixed after restarting both devices, and it shouldn't happen, but it does and it is fixable with a restart of both devices. (In my experience)3. The software in "Category" (Music symbol in menu) reads the files to determine which folder the audio should be in, so if you are trying to organise your music via folders etc on your computer, it isn't going to work unless you are using the "explorer" function instead. (Folder symbol) However, this works fine but was a little confusing at the start.4. The scroll wheel does take some getting used to, it's not haptic like the old Ipods, it's a physical wheel you have to turn.The Good:1. It can play almost any audio file you put in it.2. It does support lossless audio files such as wav and it does play them pretty well.3. It does have memory play, so if you pause the music due to being busy, it will pick up the last song you played and you can even change it to remember the exact position of the song you were listening to at the time. (Can be changed in settings)4. The "M" button on the device is a multifunction button, while in a song you can add / remove a song from favourites, edit the EQ, edit the play mode etc. In the "explorer" and "Category" menus it allows you to delete files and add the song to a playlist.Overall it's a simple device that has the ability to play high quality audio. This obviously depends on the headphones you're using and the audio format you're trying to use. If you're using a basic MP3 file with £20 bluetooth earbuds from an unknown manufacturer, the audio isn't going to sound very great and you're not going to have a fulfilling experience.On the other hand, if you're playing Wav files which are uncompressed and have some good quality wired headphones, you're going to have a much better listening experience.I do recommend going through both the "settings" and "system settings" for the device and playing around to see what suits you.P.S If you're having issues with the music not syncing from the card, make sure "Music Sync" is set to automatic in settings, then remove the card and put it back in.

I've had this for about a month now, and have had enough time to get to know it. It's a very simple and straightforward player. You put music in, and it plays it back to you. There's no touch screen, radio, clock, or motion tracker or any of that. It just plays music, and it does that very well.Until now, I was using a 16gb Ipod loaded with MP3 files for space and convenience, but I knew that I wasn't getting the most from the music. It sounded OK, especially when paired with my Beoplay H6 2nd gen earphones, but it was still compressed and a little flat. The F20 can play pretty much any format you load on to the SD card with no issues at all. It can drive my over ear cans no problem, and it can easily drive my IEMs, although I would recommend that you use something with significantly higher impedance than the minimum recommendation of 8ohms. My cans are 32 and the IEMs are 30. Anything lower than that and you might find that there's a bit of noise, especially if they're particularly sensitive.Loading and playing music is very straightforward, although annoyingly the player doesn't offer folder support, or allow you to Play All Songs by an artist the way the Ipod does. That's something I would like Surfans to address when they next update the firmware. Making playlists is easy too. I use M3u Dropper, and have made about 20 lists with very little effort.It is important that you put the lists into the main folder, and don't nest them. The software will only look in the folder the M3u is in to find the songs. If you delete a song, or move it, the player will not load your playlist, and you will need to make a new one.Battery life is very good. I've had mine play continuously for 3 hours with only 25% loss. It's not as good if you use bluetooth, but that's to be expected. If you have bought this, then I would assume that you're not using BT anyway. There's little point in buying a lossless player and then not using wired earphones.So, it's a basic but very competent player that lacks few features that could easily be added. It's not going to give you the full audiophile experience, especially if you're not using good 'phones, but the cost of the high end stuff is getting harder to justify when you can buy this for around £100.