Tested: The £1000 iPod-style music player which sounds better than CD

There’s something big happening in digital music in 2013 - downloaded music that actually sounds better than CD.

Most digital music is stored in formats such as MP3 which compress music - making it sound worse.

Music bought from stores such as Apple's iTunes is compressed - but a new movement aims to improve digital sound quality, in some cases beyond what is offered by CDs.

'HD' music has been around for years, but this year has seen the launch of portable players capable of playing music that sounds better than compact discs.

The music is not stored on disc - instead, it's downloaded via the net, and often stored in the same quality as the 'studio master' recordings used to create CDs.

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Neil Young appeared on the David Letterman show last year to promote his Toblerone shaped Pono player, a high quality iPod style system due for release later this year.

Warner Music and Sony Music are interested in the technology.

Already on sale in the UK, the AK100 portable music player looks like a fusion of a BlackBerry and an iPod.

The £569 player can handle ‘24-bit 96Ghz FLAC’ files - sounding better than CD - which the iPhone 5 can’t handle.

There’s hi-fi tech inside which converts the digital files into high quality analogue audio in a superior way to Apple products too.

Naturally, you’ll need a decent pair of headphones to make the most of the AK100.

Both Sony and Sennheiser have recently released £500 plus in-ear headphones designed for high definition players like the AK100.

We’ve tested he AK100 with several headphones and the difference compared to standard iPhone audio is huge. All tracks from Miles Davis to Paramore sound fresh, involving and really have a more detailed feel, closer to the original quality of high-end turntables.

There’s 32GB of storage inside the AK100, though you can add two 64GB MicroSD cards (around £60 each), meaning a total storage capacity of 160GB, over double the amount that the largest capacity £699 64GB iPhone 5 can manage.

An average album from iTunes is around 80MB while a high resolution FLAC file is around 10-12 times bigger, so there’s room for 32 albums off the shelf and 160 albums if you buy extra memory cards. You can also import your ripped CDs from iTunes or similar programs.

Hi-fi companies such as Naim and Linn have launched HD music download services. Naimlabel.com offers jazz, classical and ‘new’tracks under their Edge category, showcasing new bands and musicans as opposed to classic remasters and new mainstream artists.

Linn offer class albums as HD downloads for £18 per album via Linn Records.

Mark Knopfler is currently number 1 on the store. Island Records are ranked alongside independent musician Dawn Langstroth and videogame company Ubisoft who sell classical scores to their big budget adventure games such as Assassin’s Creed.

UK speaker specialists Bowers and Wilkins run Society of Sound, a HD music store which offers annual subscriptions for £33.95.