When in conversation mentioned company Astell&Kern, some horrified, others in delight. In the first case because of the price, which many still consider to be unreasonably high, while in the second design, the quality of workmanship and sound for which players Astell&Kern has almost no equal. Disputes about price, let’s leave others, because today our editors are incredible “catch” Astell&Kern AK100 II and… Yes, AK320. We will unexpectedly test not with headphones for 100 thousand rubles, and with quite budget.
So, the older model — AK320, listening with bass in-ear headphones Dunu DN-26M. They are quite cheap (a few thousand), but the sound issue is excellent. In a box of six pairs of silicone ear tips, clip, hard carrying case earphone.
Case DN-26M is made from aluminium, the cable is made qualitatively, has a remote control with a button control playback and microphone. Fit earphones deep, decent isolation — in General, everything as it should.
The second generation AK100 tested with headphones easier — Dunu Trident DN-12. Included with them is the leather cover, belt clip, and a lot of shops and it’s at a price a couple of thousand rubles.
Headphones look very cool, no wonder they are called replacement for expensive branded devices. They are made of chrome metal, has a conical shape and distinctive metal pattern. By the way, here are a few features:
- Driver: dynamic, 6.8 mm
- Frequency range: 10-20 000 Hz
- Impedance: 16 Ohms
- Sensitivity: 95 dB
- Cable: 1.2 m
- Plug: angled, gold plated
- Weight: 22 g
Both players admired from the first glance — yet none of the manufacturers managed to achieve the same level of design. Someone can be called the asymmetric bars “bad taste” but all that being said, individually, that the majority still finds the appearance of players Astell&Kern is a handsome devil. And although the design of the second generation AK100 and AK320 different, something still gives them signs of the family — at least the physical the volume wheel on the side.
Picking both players royally rich cables, cases, documentation — except that the headphones included do not put, although then the price would increase at least in half. For AK320 available case genuine leather from Conceria Walpier, AK 100 II fabric in a solid basis. Is it worth to have such player in case — you decide, but, in my opinion, they look much better without any accessories. Not for designers nights worked on legendary appearance, then it was wrapped in a “blanket”.
Controls and a lot of AK320, and the second generation AK100. Both have a touch of 3.31-inch AMOLED-display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels: not Full HD, of course, but for the player is enough. The Assembly is mechanical buttons, which turn on and off devices. On the side panels — button play and pause, and two more buttons, which are responsible for switching tracks.
One of the main chips of the players Astell&Kern — the volume control, it is a 150-step analog potentiometer mechanical. It perfectly complements the body of metal and does not violate the ergonomics and the players fit comfortably in the hand, although initially it’s not even hard to believe.
Play music using a microSD card, and for connection to the computer is compatible with the microUSB connector. “Fill in” the tracks from the computer simply through MTP mode: in addition to it, you can choose the mode the DAC Input to use player as external DAC.
Provides connection for headphones with balanced and unbalanced outputs — you can use them in mode line output. Unbalanced output maintains the output of the digital stream on the SPDIF TosLink interface. Among the supported music formats — WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE (Normal, High, Fast), AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF. Of the supported wireless interfaces — Bluetooth 4.0 version and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, 2.4 GHz. With AK Connect for iOS and Android to access the media library of the player AK320.
In AK100 II for digital-to-analog conversion meets one chip Cirrus Logic CS4398. AK320 boasts a pair of DACs AKM AK4490 (in pieces per channel) and without problems reproduces the audio format 24 bit/192 kHz. Actually talking about the sound characteristics of both players can be very long, but all of these names and figures, as a rule, most do not say anything, as strange as it may sound. Astell&Kern choose eyes and ears; everything else is superfluous. However, the fact that players can play the sound in the Studio Mastering Quality Sound format that carries information 6.5 times more than CD, not to mention. No wonder the manufacturer calls its creations are not players, portable and full studios.
Interface is both players are very similar — it’s Android, albeit in a slightly unusual shell. The main screen is divided into three parts: the cover art of the current track and status bar, media library, block AK with the service Connect. All implemented convenient and intuitive, so even someone who never kept in the hands of players the manufacturer will be able to get used literally for half an hour.
But all this was only the beginning, and not the most necessary, when the review includes such device. Sound, sound, sound! And here let us examine each player individually.
Paired with AK320 headphones DN-26M revealed more than full. This family gives a convincing, powerful, clean and transparent sound with smooth bass tone. The scene worked out on a solid five, at the level of localization and focusing of sound. Still a couple AKM AK4490 does the job.
How do the DN-12 proved from the AK100 II? Very, very cool. Tonal balance, deep bass close to the natural timbre of the instruments. The “uninitiated” it is unlikely that the sound will differ from player AK320, but a true audiophile will immediately feel the difference in the imaginary stage.
However, both players work fine with any genres — rock, jazz, classic, hip hop sound luxurious.
There must be some conclusion, but make it very difficult. That is to say, it’s the players for the true connoisseurs of sound. These players are designed to satisfy the needs of the most demanding audiophile quality sound. Most of those who argue about the pricing Astell&Kern, believe me, not even held the device in his hands, not to mention a full testing. However, if the price still seems high, note the headphones from the review — this is a great budget option that boasts a high level of sound.
Budget headphones Dunu and player Astell&Kern. What happens?
Alexander Bogdanov