Hi-fi company YBA has made what it claims is the world's first "transportable" SACD CD player - it's got audiophiles in the office raving about it, but it's not exactly a portable model to keep in your jacket pocket.

YBA presents Design One, a new SACD player
It claims to be the first “transportable” model of its type ever made.
Although it is not exactly an easily portable model.

Despite the format dividing audiophiles, Super Audio CDs are apparently making a comeback, and the clear sign of a retro resurgence is when hi-fi brands start creating technology to play retired formats. Well, that’s happening with SACDs, of course.

French hi-fi brand YBA has just introduced its Design One, which is apparently the world’s first “transportable” SACD player, powered by built-in batteries, and the company claims you can take 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 past few months; They are pocket-sized, but this one is not so pocket-sized.

A feature-packed SACD player

The ports of the YBA Design One

(Image credit: YBA)

The Design One has quite a few outputs for a portable model: it can output via 3.5mm or 4.4mm headphone, RCA, SPDIF coaxial, and USB-C (although there’s no SACD support on the latter).

It has an AKM DAC, 20Hz-40kHz frequency response, 0.4 ohm output impedance (i.e. with 3.5mm; it’s 0.8 ohms for 4.4mm), and a signal-to-noise ratio of 125 decibels.

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

Given the shape and size of the Design One, it’s hard to see it as a portable CD player similar to many of the other new models being released. But it clearly still has value as a smaller SACD player and regular old CD player. It could fit quite well in a desktop setup or a compact hi-fi setup, to save you buying a larger option…

…if you can bear the price. It will cost $1,699 (around £1,250, AU$2,500) when it goes on sale at the end of May. So it’s certainly not an economical model.