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My gadget is smaller than yours, big boy. It's true. And that is only one of the reasons I love the original iPod shuffle. I swear, there are dozens of audiophile reasons, too; but I ain't listing them here. You can find a few of them at Headfonia:
Back to the Future Friday: the original Apple iPod shuffle (512)
In its 1,5 years at market, the AK100 has been replaced/updated thrice. So, too, has its younger sibling, the AK120 (once called the Ultimate Joy of Music). Now there's the AK240 (which bears the dubious: BE THE ULTIMATE tag). If Astell&Kern had a porn name, it would be Prejack Luvpump. Its signature move would be ejaculating every time the word 'sex' was mentioned. Somehow that sticky icky appeals to Mono and Stereo.
“The AK100 II and AK120 II replace the Wolfson WM8740 DAC with the Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chipset found in the flagship AK240. The AK100 II features a single DAC chipset like its predecessor, while the AK120 steps up to two (2) DACs (Digital to Analog Converters) that output audio signals independently to each channel, making the AK120 II a true dual mono (dual monaural) setup like those found in expensive hi-fi equipment. The dual Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chips found in the AK120 II dedicates each DAC chip to a completely separate left and right channel. In result, the AK120 II provides far superior depth, clarity, and spaciousness to the audio. By providing a much clearer sound with lower distortion, the AK120 II truly replicates how the original music was recorded. ”
Maybe I just don't get it. Or maybe, my hopes for luxury goods are higher, and clearer than iRiver's.
Luxury is a category established by superiority in service or product quality. It is punctuated by follow through, by grace, by snob appeal, and almost always, by lucid, intelligible copy. It is not established by escalating prices. It is not established by products or services whose relevance expires within a season, or whose copy contradicts itself. It is not established by Google translate and primary school editors.
Willy-nilly upgrades are the marks of indecisiveness; and indecisiveness is a mark of the cheap, of the mundane, of the mass market. It is a mark of the sticky-sheets adolescent who still chews his pronouns.
The much-delayed, and rather impressive HiFiman HM901 receives good coverage over at Headfonics.
“Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was the HE6 and the HM-901. I am usually quite skeptical when it comes to anything other than Class A min of 5 watts per channel and preferably balanced and true enough the HM-901 doesn’t drive as authoratively as the Mjolnir or the EF6 but what it did seem to manage to do was to give me a competent level of volume control between 7 and 8 without clipping or sounding overly thin or tinny and definitely not sharp. Outside of the DX100 I think on experience this is probably the only DAP I could recommend at this price point to pair with the HE6 and even then I much prefer the more natural tonality the HM-901 with the balanced amp card over the DX100.”
While not boasting the same level of build and attention to detail as its Astell&Kern counterparts, the HM901 looks to be a solid contender for most-reaching all-in-one digital audio player.
Read the full review here.
Headfi's got the scoop on the first portable player that you won't be able to buy with the funds from the sale of a 2013 VW Passat.
;)
Not enough of the media attention sucked up by Neil Young's Pono portable music player and music service is about the qualitative improvements the player boasts over other players.
Ayre, the company engineering the Pono, released a white paper illustrating how their digital filters outperform the filters used in "99+% of all modern digital equipment" through, essentially, the elimination of digital pre and post ring. If Ayre's minimum phase digital filters do make it into Pono, Neil's player will have a real, audible leg up on the competition.
Ayre MP White Paper (PDF)
Thanks @Cymbacavum
Headfier Barra has published the most comprehensive English review of the Fiio X5 on the net. If you are in the market for a high-performance DAP but can't quite shell out for the AK120 or top-flight HiFimans, the X5 looks to be a good choice. There are conflicting reports on usability, but the majority of portable audiophiles do not invest in an audiophile player for its polish or ease of navigation.
Read the entire X5 review here.
While this DAP does go for a precious 2.500,00$ USD, there are those that will consider this DAP a very precious addition to their lineup.
Last weekend I enjoyed the thrills and soul-numbing cacophony of my first Japanese funeral. I’ve started to think different. It wasn’t just watching a man in white taxi driver gloves and train conductor garb bashing my aunt’s skull and pelvis bones with cooking chopsticks that did it; it was just as much the trip back, when my iPhone’s battery went out. You never know when your time is up.
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Tagged as 'The World's First MQS Player', the AK240 natively plays back DSD 128, and looks to heavily favour right-handed operation.
So far we know the following:
I expect we will find out more by following the Astell & Kern website. Fans at Head-Fi have already gone mad at the purported 3.000$ AUD price tag.
The always-trustworthy cymbacavum has published a telling review essaying why the DX50 may not be the player in which we should place our hope. (For a second opinion, check out Ω's review of the DX50, or head on over to headfonia for a third op.)
On the face of it, I agree with many of the interface issues cymba decry. However, the bar for audiophile players has already been set. It needs to be raised before we can judge audiophile players like the DX50 or the Fiio X3 to the same build and interface standards on which we judge mass market players.
The DX50 will not play or browse your music as flawlessly as an iPod will. But it is a good-sounding player. The question that both cymbal and Ω is asking is this: why can't the two be reconciled into a single package?
Tsukuba, Japan