5 Hi-Fi Gadgets Any Audiophile Would Consider A Must-Have

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The pursuit of high-fidelity sound is fun and remarkably satisfying. If you enjoy listening to music, there’s little more pleasurable than integrating a new component into your system and listening to old favorites anew, picking out details and nuances you’d never noticed before.

That said, it’s not without pitfalls. For every truly transformational gadget, there’s a so-called snake oil product out there that doesn’t really affect the sound much, if at all. Products like high-end cables and megabucks power conditioners generally fall into this category, and while there are plenty who will argue that both are essential, I’d venture that neither of those is — at least, not ahead of other, more important gadgets.

What would an audiophile consider a must-have, then, beyond basics like speakers and an amplifier? Well, it’s impossible to speak for everyone, but I think I have a good idea. I’ve been obsessing over music and gear for about 20 years now. I started with a humble pair of affordable in-ear monitors before branching out to desktop DACs, turntables, tube phono stages, digital audio players, high-end in-ears, and so much more. I’ve also worked in a record store, selling records and talking hi-fi with customers, so I know my way around the scene. Here are some hi-fi gadgets that one could conceivably get by without, but which most would choose to have anyway.

A key part of any vinyl setup is, in my opinion, a good cleaning machine to remove the gunk and grime that gets stuck in a record’s grooves and negatively affects sound quality. There are many ways to clean records, and any cleaning method is better than nothing at all, but I’ve found that the best options are a vacuum-style cleaner like the $350 Record Doctor VI or, as many audiophiles have chosen, an ultrasonic cleaner.

Vacuum cleaners rely on a cleaning fluid and some elbow grease to dislodge any muck, before a vacuum sucks the dirty fluid up and dries the record. Ultrasonic cleaners rotate a record through an ultrasonic tank that uses high-frequency sound to agitate a fluid and dislodge any impurities stuck to the record.

If you’re interested in buying used vinyl records, you’ll probably end up with quite a few dirty ones. A vacuum record cleaner will get into playable shape, and is probably all you need if you only buy new vinyl. Some will likely require the cleaning power of the ultrasonic process, however, which will result in a much lower noise floor with significantly fewer crackles and pops. Ultrasonic cleaners are available at various price points, from the $140 Vevor Sonic Cleaner to sleeker and higher-end devices like the $600 HumminGuru HG01. If you’re curious, you can probably find local record stores that offer cleaning services, too, letting you try it out without committing to buying a machine outright.

Listening to music on a proper set of speakers is great, but speakers are highly dependent on room acoustics and most rooms will require acoustic treatment to sound good. That’s not a problem if you’re a homeowner, but those living in rented accommodation may not have quite as much freedom. That’s where a great pair of headphones comes into the picture.

In my experience, even the most ardent fan of speakers will still have at least one pair of good headphones on hand, be it as a backup or just as an alternative for late-night listening. They can also offer a different sonic experience, with the close-up nature of headphones great for those times when you want to dig into every little detail of an album or song. In those situations, I find that good headphones are essential.

Audiophile-tier headphones come in many styles at different price points, but a common starter choice is probably the Sennheiser HD600s. They’re bass-light but are amazing for those who want a detailed and natural sound — they are probably one of the best wired headphones for audiophiles. Sennheiser isn’t the only option, though: brands like HiFiMan, Final, and Audeze all make great products that many audiophiles would happily add to their collections. In-ear monitors are also an option, but headphones are probably safer. They don’t require you to stick stuff into your ears, avoiding the issues that saw AirPods Pro 3s cause some users’ ears to bleed.

A standalone digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is a key component for anyone who listens to digital music. These devices convert digital files’ 1s and 0s into analog signals and usually come in one of two flavors: DAC-only units like the $170 Schiit Modi 5 or DAC/amps that include a headphone amplifier, like the $300 Topping DX5 II. The former is more flexible, while the latter is much more convenient since you don’t need to buy a separate amp.

Now, any device with a headphone or line-out jack has a DAC. However, a standalone DAC can do a lot for you regardless. Some, like the excellent Chord Mojo 2, will give owners access to handy features like hardware-level crossfeed and EQ. Even if your DAC doesn’t have such features, it may still offer other advantages over using a motherboard’s DAC. These can include support for higher-bitrate audio files and audiophile-approved file formats like DSD. If a motherboard has especially bad audio output, a dedicated DAC may even sound better.

Even if a DAC doesn’t offer a magical upgrade, getting one makes a lot of sense if you’re already investing some combination of time, money, effort, and storage space tracking down high-quality digital audio. If you’re grabbing hi-res albums from HDTracks, do you want to risk not getting the most out of the music by running them through the potentially mediocre DAC on your laptop or PC’s motherboard? Probably not.

Admittedly, not every audiophile wants hi-fi sound on the go. However, there are many that do and, in those cases, a proper digital audio player (DAP) is a key part of their everyday carry. Sure, connecting a portable USB DAC to a smartphone is an entirely valid way to go, but I’m a big advocate of using dedicated devices over tying more of our consumption habits to our smartphones.

Now, I’m not suggesting going back to the days of the iPod here; almost all modern DAPs, from affordable ones like the Fiio JM21 to high-end ones like the Shanling M7T, run on Android and have Wi-Fi connectivity, providing access to major streaming services like Spotify and Tidal. That said, I enjoy going fully offline with my music whenever possible and listening to the CD rips and digital downloads I’ve accumulated over the years. 

Sure, it’s less convenient, but not only can I decide the specific master of the album I’m listening to (a choice we often don’t have when streaming), I also don’t have to worry about an artist or label pulling their music from streaming services. I appreciate that sense of control, and I suspect many audiophiles do as well. As I alluded to earlier, however, loading your phone up with FLAC files and connecting a high-quality dongle like the Cayin RU7 or iBasso Nunchaku is definitely an option — although it’s not quite as satisfying, in my opinion.

Digital music is convenient, but there’s still something about vinyl records that audiophiles gravitate toward. The sound is a big part, of course, but so is the tactility and overall feel of dropping the needle on a record and leaning back to enjoy it — and having a good turntable plays a huge role.

The meteoric rise of vinyl — the market topped $1 billion in 2025 — means that there are a ton of turntables to choose from, at almost any price point imaginable. As long as you’re not getting one of the worst record players out there, such as a Crosley suitcase player, you’ll generally do fine — you don’t have to spend a fortune to get into vinyl. However, as I learned many years ago (when I upgraded to a Technics SL-1200mk5 from a very cheap ’80s Sansui unit), better turntables can offer a more enjoyable listening experience.

Turntables can sound surprisingly different from one another, especially at the higher-end: Top-tier direct-drive turntables like the $2,000-plus Technics SL-1200GR2 offer rock-solid pitch stability and a clean sound that, to my ears, straddles the divide between analog and digital. Conversely, vintage idler drive units I’ve had the pleasure of listening to, like the Lenco L75, outclass cheaper turntables with a big, typically analog, and, if I may lapse into vague audiophile speak, “alive” sound. You will, of course, need high-quality components elsewhere, but a good turntable is the beating heart of any great vinyl setup.

Ask 20 audiophiles their top five must-have gadgets, and you’re likely to get a few different answers depending on their preferences and habits; it is, after all, a deeply subjective hobby. Selecting the product categories to discuss required a combination of my own preferences and experience (both as a music enthusiast and an on-again, off-again record store employee) and some general research to identify the types of products that audiophiles most often talk about. I based the latter primarily on forums (including Reddit) and, while it’s far from scientific, going through these discussions offered a solid idea about what’s hot and what’s not.

As for the specific products I mentioned, I based them on a mix of personal experience and reviews, prioritizing products I’ve used or listened to that have generally positive reviews across the board. Not every piece of kit is for everyone, of course, but the ones I’ve mentioned are, I believe, reasonably representative of audiophile preferences.