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Astell&Kern AK100II Digital Audio Player
01 / 06
Astell&Kern AK100II Digital Audio Player
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Product Description
The successor to Astell&Kern’s popular AK100, the AK100 II features a Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chip and a dedicated amplifier that outputs 2 volts in balanced mode and 1.7 volts in unbalanced mode. This portable player supports virtually all file formats up to 192 kHz, as well as DSD playback up to 5.6 MHz Read More
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keyboard_arrow_downscotm
7
May 1, 2019
The A&K website claims a single microSD slot with a maximum of 256GB, apparently contradicting the 2 slot 512GB spec here. Which is it, 256 or 512?
https://us.astellnkern.com/collections/closeouts/products/ak100-ii
jamato8
188
May 1, 2019
You can pay less and get a better functioning, more powerful and better sounding player. No software updates are available for this and haven't been for a long time.
Saleenjim
19
May 3, 2019
SoundzYes I own one after playing the upgrade game I finally gave in and could not be happier. It sounds great I use it when I travel with my campfire Solaris or noble Khan. Beat sound I have heard while on the go. It still can't beat my speaker setup though maybe one day.
Evshrug
4133
Keyboard Club Member
May 2, 2019
But why do you want wifi when you have bluetooth? Not trying to say you are wrong, I’m just trying to think it through.
ZX300 has two different bluetooth codecs that support lossless CD-quality level audio transmission (out to headphones, or in from a computer/smartphone/TV), and lower power consumption for both receiver and transmitter in contrast to WiFi. If you stream music from Spotify Premium or Tidal HiFi from your phone, you’re getting everything those platforms are serving you.
WiFi does use more power, but you do have the added flexibility of connecting to a local DNLA Server (if you have one) to stream better-than-CD-quality hi-res files. I don’t believe you can use the offline storage features of TIDAL on the AK100ii anyway, because TIDAL stated that they only allow that on the iOS and Android native TIDAL app. Maybe @Raider275 and other AK100ii owners can confirm that.
I had previously forgotten about the DLNA function of WiFi, is there anything else I am missing?
Evshrug
4133
Keyboard Club Member
May 1, 2019
center311This AK100 II predates the first USB C devices by a few years... I prefer USB C too because of its durability, but I think it’s more important that the AK100 II supports a DAC mode (the AK100 II can act as a DAC/Amp for a computer) and a digital output.
(Edited)
Raider275
63
May 2, 2019
Kyo9999Okay so in 4.4 and 2.5 bal, my Sage did not hiss at all, but my Legend X does hiss a fair bit. If I remember correctly CA iems are sensitive too..
rpeebles
1
Aug 13, 2018
I recently bought the AK100 II. Very happy with it but I cannot incorporate my music files: my PC Computer with Windows 7 Pro does not recognise the player.
Much appreciate you could tell me what can I do to solve this.
Thanks and regards,
Robert
Evshrug
4133
Keyboard Club Member
May 1, 2019
rpeeblesThat’s very strange! You can contact iRiver/Astell & Kern customer support for help (Windows might/probably needs a driver installed), or you could use a MicroSD card reader to transfer music from PC to card. I recommend formatting the MicroSD card inside the AK100 II first.
@roissy, Already? Wow, it only seems like a few years ago they dropped Windows XP support, and Windows 7 became the De-Facto choice OS. Is Microsoft accelerating their pace for dropping legacy users? I don’t even rely on my Windows box for business, I just have found Windows 8 and 10 to be obnoxiously slow and distracting with constant updates. Yeah, Windows has the games I want, but it’s such an annoying experience that I avoid it whenever possible and use game consoles instead (360 and PS4).
Jabberwocker
11
Jul 23, 2018
i hope this ak100ii gets better after some burn in time (hoping its not a myth) sibilance is quite glaring with or without eq. could this hissssss which cuts through my eardrums be the much touted 'shimmer' ....???
Edit: it seems that sibilance is only present when using it as a DAP (even when playing tidal). sounds really good when connected to a separate headphone amplifier as a standalone DAC.
2nd edit: reverted back to iems and it sounds much better now. Not sure what sorcery was unleashed but bass reverberations is more prominent compared to before, the hissss has toned down a lot too. Premature regrets swept under the carpet.
Edit: it seems that sibilance is only present when using it as a DAP (even when playing tidal). sounds really good when connected to a separate headphone amplifier as a standalone DAC.
2nd edit: reverted back to iems and it sounds much better now. Not sure what sorcery was unleashed but bass reverberations is more prominent compared to before, the hissss has toned down a lot too. Premature regrets swept under the carpet.
Evshrug
4133
Keyboard Club Member
May 1, 2019
JabberwockerCapacitor and resistor “burn-in” is real. My DAP’s manual even states that the sound quality will improve over the first 200 hours of normal volume, headphone-connected audio playback.
2013 Evshrug would be surprised to read this, but are you using AK’s included USB cable? Not all cables are equal... my cheap printer cable sounds awful enough that it’s a worse experience than listening to nothing, and the USB cables that came with my Blue Snowball Microphone and Chord Mojo clearly sound better than average USB cables. If you can’t find your AK cable, maybe snag a good one from Wireworld?
Jabberwocker
11
May 4, 2019
Evshrug I haven't tried mojo's cable with the ak yet. Mojo's cable is a bit too short and restrictive for connecting to my laptop so i've been using a longer generic usb cable - which is thicker than the AK one, and being inexperienced in such things, i assumed thicker is better. hahaha! Thought of curious cable but haven't taken the leap yet considering the cost of getting it shipped to my country plus customs. Thanks for the recommendations though! :D
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