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

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi

 

I have bought one after some listening test at my favorite seller.

 

The+

Great sound

Good interface (at least for those who are not bewitched by Apple, navigation by Genre, Artists, Albums and Folders is OK for me)

 

The -

No gapless, and greater gaps with greater sampled files

 

Album art: it seems that you need to have the images included in the files (flac for me). And i refuse to include an image in each file for various reasons, the first one being that it is not fully portable, and then it can screw some network players. Then my "folder.jpg" in each folder cannot be seen.

It is not to see nice pictures, but it is so more convenient to find quickly an album by its picture, than reading its name...

 

Best regards

Hi ThierryNK - I don't want to get too far off topic, but what network players have you found that don't work well with embedded art work? I always use both embedded and folder.jpg for my FLAC files.

[Gregor Samsa]

I bought this from ALO in a package with a Continental amp and a short cord. A wonderful combination with either the dazzling Audez'e LCD 3 or venerable Etymotic ER-4p. I was hoping that the Astell & Kern could drive the Etys without external amplification, but even they sounded much better with the Continental in between. I wonder if the mod helps. It would make a much more compact package without the Continental. Chris, you have these IEMs. What's your verdict?

 

I can confirm that 64 GB microSDXC cards work just fine if reformatted to FAT32. Windows can't do this on its own. But this guy's Ridgecrop Consultants Ltd little ap does it without problem. Do use it and donate a couple of quid for his trouble.

[ThierryNK]

@The Computer Audiophile

When Network Players have a screen to show Album Art, the image is arriving to the network player by the same "link" as music.

 

According to the buffer size on the network player, the size of the image, etc, if you have an image in each file, as the UPNP server has to send a new image for EACH track, you can break for example gapless play.

 

I have bought online HD music with a 4 MB image in each file....

 

Best

[ejlif]

My buddy picked up the ak100 and I heard it and like it a lot. I could notice a nice improvement even plugged into my car stereo compared to the iPhone. He is saying after updating the firmware that it is taking a long time like 30-45 seconds just to get the ak100 up and running from power off. Can anyone confirm that this takes this long to power up

[ThierryNK]

Your buddy should have taken the SSD option.

[roccoriley]

My buddy picked up the ak100 and I heard it and like it a lot. I could notice a nice improvement even plugged into my car stereo compared to the iPhone. He is saying after updating the firmware that it is taking a long time like 30-45 seconds just to get the ak100 up and running from power off. Can anyone confirm that this takes this long to power up

 

My AK100 loads 630 flacs totaling 18 gigs in 20 seconds using firmware 1.33.

[roccoriley]

I received my AK100 yesterday.

 

It’s an interesting device, obviously well made; the anodized aluminum case gives a sense of value when you handle the AK and I do not share Chris’s criticism of the volume wheel.

 

The documentation is poorly done. The interface is adequate but the small LCD screen limits the interface designers in any attempts to provide a more functional interface.. Setup takes place automatically when you turn the thing on and most people likely to be purchasing this device will figure out how it works without having to bother with the unfortunately designed quick start guide and user manual. The iRiver plus4 software, which is limited to PC only, does not have any useful purpose as far as I can tell. To get going, all you need to do is plug in the USB cable, select either “charge” or “connect disc” on the screen and you are off and running. Experiment with moving around the screen and you will figure everything out quickly. (You will have to experiment anyway since many things are not addressed in the documentation), When you select “Connect Disc” you will see the AK100 memory and any memory cards appear in your finder just like any other devices and you can drag and drop from whatever source you wish to whichever of the three drives you choose. I transferred files simply by dragging from a MACRiver playlist to the AK with all files being properly copied and I understand the same thing works with iTunes.

 

My unit has the “Vinnie” mod and the sound is great. The AK100 really “shines” with properly mastered recordings and high-resolution stuff. When you compress a 160 GIG high resolution portable stereo system into an aluminum box 2.3” x 3.1” x .57” that weighs a little over 4 ounces and get a result this good it really makes the criticisms of the system largely irreverent because none of the criticisms that I have experienced or read about have a significant impact on the ability to use an enjoy this little device.

 

Now I’m motivated; I think I’ll get a FitEar To Go 334 if I can find one somewhere.

[ThierryNK]

Good news and bad news.

 

Good

Confirmation that 64 GB SDXC cards work fine. So I upgraded the available space to 160 GB

 

Bad

- Writing to those cards inside the device is much more slower than directly from a USB adapter.

Those little micro cards are very tiny, and getting them in and off the device is not so easy, and I do not have so big fingers

 

- With about 110 GB of music, mix of Flac, ALAC in 16/44, 24/88-96-176-192, each time you add a single track, updating the library requests a full parse, and it takes about 10 minutes. Painful.

 

Cheers

Thierry

[roccoriley]

Did you update the firmware to 1.3?

[ThierryNK]

yes....

[Swansong]

I bought this from ALO in a package with a Continental amp and a short cord. A wonderful combination with either the dazzling Audez'e LCD 3 or venerable Etymotic ER-4p. I was hoping that the Astell & Kern could drive the Etys without external amplification, but even they sounded much better with the Continental in between. I wonder if the mod helps. It would make a much more compact package without the Continental. Chris, you have these IEMs. What's your verdict?

 

I can confirm that 64 GB microSDXC cards work just fine if reformatted to FAT32. Windows can't do this on its own. But this guy's Ridgecrop Consultants Ltd little ap does it without problem. Do use it and donate a couple of quid for his trouble.

 

I was thinking of the same combo, with Fostex TH600 phones. The 600's are 25ohm the continental should drive them fully? What about direct, do you think it can drive 25ohm cans?

 

Can you add some pics of the stack?

[Panda Jiong]

Can we manage the song sequence in iriver 4 like what we can do in playlist in itunes???

[star]

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.

 

why not consider HM801 even better then ak100 ! meizu, sony, tera ,are highest end as well

[sspiper]

Hi Chris are you planning a review of the AK240?

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Chris are you planning a review of the AK240?

Not in the near future, but I'd love to review it.

[labjr]

Hi Chris are you planning a review of the AK240?

 

Anyone here planning to buy one?

[The Computer Audiophile]

Anyone here planning to buy one?

 

A friend just purchased one. He said its great.