With lots of players now offering topclass sound quality it tends to be other things like ease of use and material design that sets something apart from the crowd. Its a beautifully crafted digital music player, with angled edges that create an interesting interplay between shadow and light. While ive heard more lush, ripe presentations, the ak240viso combination delivered every last. At that time, the ipod was seen as the best mobile digital player on the market. One ergonomic area where i found the ak240 to be glitchfree was firmware updates.
After all, these are the ferraris of the dap world and im kind of a beerbudget audiophile when it comes to mobile. When a new firmware version is found, a firmware update guide window will display on screen. Sony nwa45 16gb highresolution digital music player walkman green. You will notice the different angles of surface design as you view the ak380. The ak70 just feels special, its a joy to use and it sounds incredible with the majority of my headphones and earphones.
The astell and kern ak240 impressions thread page 150. For most readers, the question is academic and probably irritating. Select one of the latest dap models from the menus below for an interactive comparison of features and specifcations. Inside a lapis blue aluminium body, an octacore cpu attends to the spms gui fluidity and file playback.
After a few glances at online pictures i decided that i didnt like the 240s design. I dont listen to dsd music, so i wouldnt use the native dsd technology that the ak240 has. Audiopax maggiore m100, audiopax l50, audiopax model 5se sold, apl nwo master edition, apl nwo 4. But this is the best portable audio player ive enjoyed to date, with unassailable build quality, sweet aesthetics, nothalfbad ergonomics, and stupendous sound, including the special attraction of uncompromised dsd playback. Drilled and filled, the ak240roughly the size of a deck of cardshouses dual cirrus logic cs4398 dac chips and, through a topmounted, 2. The battery life of the ak70 mkii is largely the same as the ak70, though it does take a fairly big hit when streaming tidal over wifi. The ak music player if properly connected will show in the devices list on.
The life cycle on these things tends to be more like what youd experience in the smartphone space as opposed to traditional audiophile gear. I usually dont like the design of most daps on the market but that is personal. The flagship model ak240 has been highly regarded for delivering masteringlevel quality instrumentals with its improved dual dac and analog amplifier circuit system. The ak 300 is the newest attempt from astell and kern to the affordable price of the high res player keeping the same stateoftheart dac and scalability as applied to the. Much like honda did with acura, toyota with lexus, and nissan with infiniti, sometimes it makes sense to carve out a unique subbrand that embodies.
Steven stone tests out the player to see how its high. Do not use a microusb cable other than the one supplied with the device to. Apple has just killed the innovative, shapeshifting ipod nano and the puny ipod shuffle, leaving only the now unprecedentedly cheap ipod touch, basically an iphone without the phone. For an optimal connection, quit all unnecessary programs before connecting the device to the computer.
But its actually the offspring of south koreas iriver, which has made sweetly overbuilt, true hires music players since the debut of the excellent ak100 five years ago. You can find topoftheline music players with plenty of memory to store your highresolution files. When wifi is turned on from ak240s setting menu, it also activates the automatic detection of firmware updates. The ak380s design was inspired by light and shadow. Unit only does not include books, physical microsd cards or stand. That means new andor refreshed designs on a consistent basis, with existing models being phased out more quickly. While the design of the ak240 captured as a moment in time of light and shadow wtf. The ak240 came preloaded with a bunch of music, including led zeppelins ii in 24192, and the flipping and fading from one channel to the other in whole lotta love was pure headspinning pleasure. That means new andor refreshed designs on a consistent basis, with existing models being phased. Lo amaba, sonido, calidad, diseno, funciones, software, potencia, salidad balanceada, dsd nativo, etc, etc.