In my latest YouTube video, I fawned all over Cowon’s Plenue D2 and I’m miffed. Miffed that, loaded or unloaded, the 2400$ SPM1000M shows a sizeable step back from Cowon’s little engine. And, in several categories (mainly loaded), the SPM1000M is worse than its older, bleeding-edge, sibling, the AK380. Sure, we’re splitting hairs- atoms even. Dynamic range differences between 110dB and 120, let alone 117dB and 121dB, are minuscule on a test bench, and positively homeopathic at the ear. And if you’re listening to music louder than 100dB, you’ll not be listening to anything for long. I doubt anyone even listens to sensitive earphones at iPhone maximum volumes. But if you do, note that matched to that output level, the SPM1000M certainly tests better than an iPhone SE, but apart from stereo crosstalk, not by leaps and bounds. And it hisses more. 

I love the AK70 MKII’s new volume pot. I dig its new lines. I even dig the new colour accents. However, I’m not ecstatic about its measured performance, especially when compared back to back with that of its predecessor. I can confirm that the AK70 gets similarly loud, that its boot up screen is smooth, and that, like its predecessor, its signal is cleanest at a setting of 136, where stereo crosstalk, which tops out around -87 at max volume, breaks -100dB. Of course, the MKI measures -118dB without load, and -75dB connected to an Earsonics SM2. As far as I can tell, that is the only improvement the MKII brings. 

I consider myself something of a skeptic. Not a real skeptic. I let narratives carry me away far too often, and question things I’m down with far too seldom. But I try to make it a point to distain the belief in listening and believing. For audio stuff: that test has to be hardware, standardised, volume-matched, and snarky.

Consider this article a happy follow-up to the 'dud' MS-AK100 RMAA results I just posted. The results below describe the unit I originally reviewed at Headfonia. They describe a DAP which largely outperforms the AK240, and which, in many metrics, stays toe-to-toe with the 3500$ USD AK380.