Can anyone remember Kenwood producing DAPs? Probably not, because they have only released their players in Japan up till now because they have stayed pretty low profile (read comments for more).

This is a shame really, seeing that Kenwood has a cool feature in their players - a digital amplifier and this supposedly makes the sound quality a whole load better. I can remember someone on the iAudiophile forums comparing the the Kenwood HD20GA7 to the iAudio X5 and they really were impressed with the output.

Now Kenwood has just released the Media Keg HD30GB9, which apart from having a really lame name, also has a digital amp.

You can load tracks onto the 30 GB hard drive by either using Kenwoods own application or WMP 10. It also supports a whole load of formats including "Kenwood Lossless audio files". I myself would much rather see FLAC support, because this has basically become the industry standard for lossless on portable devices (a few companies that are now supporting FLAC: Cowon, Meizu & Trekstor).

The player also has a sports a really sweet 2.2 inch screen with a resolution of 240x320. Even though the screen is so good, there is no video support on the device. I am guessing that Kenwood wanted to focus on the audio features more than anything else.

I doubt that we will this player will ever be released internationally, but I sure would love to see it (or rather hear), because the HD30GB9 does look like a solid device.

Babled Press Release via Anything but iPod