Article: Astell & Kern AK100 Portable High Resolution Music Player Review

[wappinghigh]

^ Way to go! Hey if that's at the documented 90 Pico jitter, that is pretty darn good.. even for a desktop player.. I note it's got bluetooth as well for the car.. this looks like one pretty versatile little player Chris..

[esimms86]

^ I note it's got bluetooth as well for the car.. this looks like one pretty versatile little player Chris..

 

We really should get one for Neil Young to play in his Chevy Volt! : )

 

Esau

[shigzeo]

Vinnie at Red Wine does an iMod-type mod for it and sells it for $895 (or just mod for $250). This is from Vinnie's site...FYI:

 

"We bypass the 22-ohm resistors in the output stage, and hard-wire (via Cardas copper litz solid core wire) from the output stage FETs directly to the pins of the headphone output jack. Besides bypassing the 22 output resistors, this also provides the shortest, cleanest path from the output stage to the headphone jack - also bypassing the tiny circuit board traces, and the header that connects the main board to the smaller headphone jack board. It's essentially a direct connection from output stage to the headphone jack. Output impedance is now under 1 ohm..."

 

Not trying to be an ad for Vinnie but just a response to some who wonder about its use with other headphones.

 

That mod sounds great. I use FitEar, Jerry Harvey, and a few other very low Ω earphones. With an output of anything over 2Ω, an external lowΩ output amp is almost necessary to retain the original sound. As I mentioned, I've only heard the AK100 for a few minutes, and not with music I'm familiar with, but every time I've heard a player with a high Ω output, I've been unimpressed with sound quality for lowΩ earphones. Some people are not bothered by the differences, however.

[MarkS]

I just got an email about this from ALO audio 2 minutes ago. I would love to hear a shoot out between these two products.

 

-----------------------------------

 

With a focus on continually improving our offerings we are proud to introduce an all new portable amplifier: The International. A fully balanced portable amplifier with balanced input and output, single-ended input and output with the addition of an internal high resolution 24 Bit / 96 kHz USB digital to analog converter.

 

Utilizing the top of the line Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chip, The International sounds exactly what'd you'd expect from ALO audio. Full, rich and detailed; the chip found in many high-end SACD and CD players in now in a compact and portable amplifier.

 

All of these features are nicely fitted in a compact (71.5 mm x 85 mm x 25.5 mm) laser etched and individually serialized enclosure.

 

This is a headphone amp that has enough power to drive the most challenging headphones as well as enough sensitivity to pair nicely with your favorite custom IEM.

Just $599.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I just got an email about this from ALO audio 2 minutes ago. I would love to hear a shoot out between these two products.

 

-----------------------------------

 

With a focus on continually improving our offerings we are proud to introduce an all new portable amplifier: The International. A fully balanced portable amplifier with balanced input and output, single-ended input and output with the addition of an internal high resolution 24 Bit / 96 kHz USB digital to analog converter.

 

Utilizing the top of the line Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chip, The International sounds exactly what'd you'd expect from ALO audio. Full, rich and detailed; the chip found in many high-end SACD and CD players in now in a compact and portable amplifier.

 

All of these features are nicely fitted in a compact (71.5 mm x 85 mm x 25.5 mm) laser etched and individually serialized enclosure.

 

This is a headphone amp that has enough power to drive the most challenging headphones as well as enough sensitivity to pair nicely with your favorite custom IEM.

Just $599.

Hi MarkS - The products are a bit like apples and oranges though. I can see connecting the AK100 as the source to the International as the amp though.

[Audio_ELF]

To all those moaning about the maximum storage...

 

IIRC a 24/192 "album" (CD sized) is between 2 and 2.5GB as a FLAC - even limited to 96GB thats around 40 albums IF all are 24/192. Given that most people will have a combination of 24/192 and other lower resolution I'm sure you could easily fit 70-100 albums onto the AK100. Oh and you can always have a dozen SD cards in your pocket to swap out (I assume the SD cards are externally accessible?)

 

160GB on an iPod always seemed over the top to me.

 

Eloise

[MikeJazz]

Hello Chris...

 

How to you position A&K AK100 vs DragonFly?

 

I know - different products - but soundwise are they in the same class?

And how do they compare?

 

Because for me, both products would fit the bill for use on the go,

... with the added bonus for A&K that it can form the basis of a mini system (someone just called it the mini CAPS, a cool ideia), with both analogical and digital outputs to choose from.

 

vs Dragonfly added bonus of extreme portability if one alread has to carry a laptop.

 

 

Thanks!

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hello Chris...

 

How to you position A&K AK100 vs DragonFly?

 

I know - different products - but soundwise are they in the same class?

And how do they compare?

 

Because for me, both products would fit the bill for use on the go,

... with the added bonus for A&K that it can form the basis of a mini system (someone just called it the mini CAPS, a cool ideia), with both analogical and digital outputs to choose from.

 

vs Dragonfly added bonus of extreme portability if one alread has to carry a laptop.

 

 

Thanks!

Hi MJ - There isn't a simple answer to your question for two reasons. 1. The products are so different, and 2. it depends on the headphones used.

 

When traveling I use my Ultimate Ears IEMs. My Sennheiser HD600s are way to inconvenient for traveling. The DF wasn't the best match with my IEMs. The AK100 was terrific with my IEMs. Thus I prefer the sound quality of the AK100 for travel with my IEMs.

[astrotoy]

Hello Chris...

 

How to you position A&K AK100 vs DragonFly?

 

I know - different products - but soundwise are they in the same class?

And how do they compare?

 

Because for me, both products would fit the bill for use on the go,

... with the added bonus for A&K that it can form the basis of a mini system (someone just called it the mini CAPS, a cool ideia), with both analogical and digital outputs to choose from.

 

vs Dragonfly added bonus of extreme portability if one alread has to carry a laptop.

 

 

Thanks!

 

I thought the Dragonfly can't play 192/24. So all most of my hirez (the vast majority are 192/24 with some 176/24) files would be down sampled by the Dragonfly. Also I never have tried to balance my laptop on the elliptical trainer at the gym and listen to music. Does anyone use a laptop for music while exercising? Thanks, Larry

[The Computer Audiophile]

I thought the Dragonfly can't play 192/24. So all most of my hirez (the vast majority are 192/24 with some 176/24) files would be down sampled by the Dragonfly. Also I never have tried to balance my laptop on the elliptical trainer at the gym and listen to music. Does anyone use a laptop for music while exercising? Thanks, Larry

Hi Larry - Hope all is well and your A to D project is sailing smoothly.

 

I love the humor :~)

[MikeJazz]

I thought the Dragonfly can't play 192/24. So all most of my hirez (the vast majority are 192/24 with some 176/24) files would be down sampled by the Dragonfly. Also I never have tried to balance my laptop on the elliptical trainer at the gym and listen to music. Does anyone use a laptop for music while exercising? Thanks, Larry

 

Larry is funny, yes...

Larry, unfortunately I spend to much time at the laptop... In that specific situation, be at home or at offices, both would fit the bill - with very different storage and control options, agree.

But would be good to know broadly where they stand.

[wappinghigh]

Q. for those who copy their itunes tracks over in OSX..

 

Given the current memory constraints, so owners have to be selective of what music files to put on the A&K..

 

Can you just drag and drop whole playlists over straight from itunes into one of the folders of the A&K? Is that what you do? Or do you have to manually navigate into the itunes music library to copy the files over?

[One and a half]

Q. for those who copy their itunes tracks over in OSX..

 

Given the current memory constraints, so owners have to be selective of what music files to put on the A&K..

 

Can you just drag and drop whole playlists over straight from itunes into one of the folders of the A&K? Is that what you do? Or do you have to manually navigate into the itunes music library to copy the files over?

 

ITunes can be switched off, and can be totally bypassed it's a database only. The A&K appears as a mounted drive, like any USB stick, and you drag and drop compatible files (that the A&K accepts) onto the player's memory stick or native inbuilt memory.

 

The default application for file management is OSX Finder, garbage that it is, but it works. I imagine that synchronisation between libraries and players need to be outlawed, since most libraries are now measured in TB and portable players are still in the GB range.

[mitch751]

Yes, I bought it today, the hardware is nice, but the software is so poor and not user friendly.

 

Now, I understand that why iPods do not have SD slot, iTunes is much much better ...

[wappinghigh]

ITunes can be switched off, and can be totally bypassed it's a database only. The A&K appears as a mounted drive, like any USB stick, and you drag and drop compatible files (that the A&K accepts) onto the player's memory stick or native inbuilt memory.

 

The default application for file management is OSX Finder, garbage that it is, but it works. I imagine that synchronisation between libraries and players need to be outlawed, since most libraries are now measured in TB and portable players are still in the GB range.

 

Well I just tested again that you can drag and drop tracks straight from itunes onto a usb stick.. I always thought you could do this.... (but you got me worried, so I went and tried it again) So why wouldn't you do the same loading up the A&K? I mean use itunes to sort what you want then shift select, right click and drag and drop..Why would you want to do it any other way?

[ejlif]

Q. for those who copy their itunes tracks over in OSX..

 

Given the current memory constraints, so owners have to be selective of what music files to put on the A&K..

 

Can you just drag and drop whole playlists over straight from itunes into one of the folders of the A&K? Is that what you do? Or do you have to manually navigate into the itunes music library to copy the files over?

 

So can you copy playlists too? What kind of features does the AK100 offer for shuffling playback? For me portable listening is all about discovering new music I make random shuffled playlists of new stuff and I can rate the music with the iPod and then keep track of the things I liked when I hook it back up to iTunes. I'm guessing this might not work with this player. But I would be interested to know if it that easy to get a playlist from iTunes transferred into the AK100

[JohnMH]

I actually prefer for the portable device to allow management of music files just like any other files. I've never used random play or playlists. My poor man's player, the Sandisk Sansa Clip +, acts just like a USB stick or other standard storage for purposes of loading it up. FLAC player on my wife's older iPod (v3, I think) must be attached to an iTunes running computer to transfer music as far as I can tell. So I think A&K got this right. But $700? Hope it sounds really good. I'll be trying my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with the Dragonfly or with ODAC and O2 amp instead.

[mitch751]

I always do respect Chris's review, and a follower too.

 

I purchased the AK100, yesterday, and have played around with it, below is my comment:

 

1. It does sound great and around 10-15% better than my iPhone 4S,

 

2. But if it compares with my MacBook Pro with Audirava plus (tested with IE800), with no doubt, the Macbook Pro outperformed AK100 with more than 20%

 

3. However, the UI of AK100, is quite bad as compared with iPhone, the river 4 is poor design and not user friendly. In term of transferring the music files, the speed is so slow, a 4.5 GB files took around 2 hours to complete (connected the AK100 directly with MacBook Pro, it may be faster if the transfer is done via micro SD adapter and connecting directly with MBP).

 

4. I have not idea why all the AIFF tagged files when transferred into AK100, the artist name, album, album cover are all not appeared.

 

My conclusion, yes, it does sound better and it can play HD music files, but whether it is worth to pay US$800 for just a 10-15% improvement vs iPhone 4S, my answer is clear, "NO", bear in mind I really do not like the UI and the software, unless it can be sync with an iTunes.

[smrnov1001]

Does anyone know if AK100 recognises FLAC with cue sheets?

[smrnov1001]

3. However, the UI of AK100, is quite bad as compared with iPhone, the river 4 is poor design and not user friendly. In term of transferring the music files, the speed is so slow, a 4.5 GB files took around 2 hours to complete (connected the AK100 directly with MacBook Pro, it may be faster if the transfer is done via micro SD adapter and connecting directly with MBP).

 

I wonder whether this is an indication of AK100 using USB1?

[mitch751]

The third day to play with AK100, really annoyed with following :

1. Some of the AIFF 24/192 files can't be read probably (treated as 16/192 instead of 24/192 e.g. The Eagles Hotel California and Jackson Browne Running of the Empty), once it got a problem, the machine stuck and needs to reboot.

 

2. Again, reading the AIFF files is not stable, and sometime it refused to play and showed an Error message "The format can't be read", needs to reboot the machine to fix up

 

3. When connecting with Bluetooth headphones, sometime it skips while playing HD music e.g. 24/96, unless keep the both device near as close as one foot distance

 

In general, despite the above issue, its sound quality is excellent.

[mitch751]

I wonder whether this is an indication of AK100 using USB1?

 

I am not sure, anyway, I have to transfer the files via an adapter (card reader) instead of directly connecting the AK100 with my MacBook Pro .

[wappinghigh]

I am not sure, anyway, I have to transfer the files via an adapter (card reader) instead of directly connecting the AK100 with my MacBook Pro .

 

Everyone says you can mount the device and each SD storage comes up as a folder. Are you saying this doesn't work properly?..ie there is a bug or something?

[mitch751]

The third day to play with AK100, really annoyed with following :

1. Some of the AIFF 24/192 files can't be read probably (treated as 16/192 instead of 24/192 e.g. The Eagles Hotel California and Jackson Browne Running of the Empty), once it got a problem, the machine stuck and needs to reboot.

 

2. Again, reading the AIFF files is not stable, and sometime it refused to play and showed an Error message "The format can't be read", needs to reboot the machine to fix up

 

3. When connecting with Bluetooth headphones, sometime it skips while playing HD music e.g. 24/96, unless keep the both device near as close as one foot distance

 

In general, despite the above issue, its sound quality is excellent.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Mitch - Do have a way to verify those albums are in fact 24 bit rather than 16 bit? I have a distant memory of those being 16 bit. One way to tell is use a DAC with real bit meter rather than just reading what the file says.