now that everyone carries a far more powerful phone Power is hardly relevant in this day and age, as any device with a decent firmware should be able to handle

now that everyone carries a far more powerful phone Power is hardly relevant in this day and age, as any device with a decent firmware should be able to handle a ton of files and formats (this wasn't always the case, hence the need for rockbox). Smart phones have versatility, but you sacrifice a lot on the music side. The audio hardware within the smartphone isn't as good, and it took a lot of years until there was an android player that had the bare minimum of features required by an audio enthusiast, namely lossless support (flac), replay gain, and gapless playback. Additionally, there are now players that run android and have all the "fruit", so the benefits are dimished. But don't overlook the versatility of a standalone player, because relatively cheap devices like the Fiio X3 II that I am still running have other advantages compared to phone. It supports big sd cards (wasn't always a given on smart phones), has long battery life, has physical buttons (so can be operated without removing from pocket), and also functions as a USB DAC. So, lots of wins there.