The New iRiver AK100: A High-End DAP - Page 188

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Originally Posted by jamato8 

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Originally Posted by feverfive 

Screw it...gonna order a stock AK100 from ALO.  When I (finally) receive my 4G Arrow, I'll give it try via mini-to-mini cable.  If it's not up to snuff, I'll send it Vinnie so he can do his thing.

You are still going to have the 22 ohm resistor in the signal path. Normally to amp, you want as low of an output impedance as possible since the AK100 will be acting like a preamp. 1 ohm or less into the amp unless you are going optical out to another dac.

Damn...hadn't thought it through; no way to get around the AK100 output impedance.  Crap.  Oh well, I'll give it a try stock & see how it works for me w/ my SM64's (98 ohm).  If the output impedance is audible, I'll send it to Vinnie.  I would've just had it done right away if I could buy direct from him, but he emailed me earlier today to say he doesn't have any units in stock.

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive 

Damn...hadn't thought it through; no way to get around the AK100 output impedance.  Crap.  Oh well, I'll give it a try stock & see how it works for me w/ my SM64's (98 ohm).  If the output impedance is audible, I'll send it to Vinnie.  I would've just had it done right away if I could buy direct from him, but he emailed me earlier today to say he doesn't have any units in stock.

You won't know the difference unless you compare. I have left mine stock for now and may bypass the 22 ohm resistor later on. I have the DX100 for what I consider the best from a player with a screen but the AK100 is nice to pack around but so is my modified iRiver H140 with Black Gates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive 

Damn...hadn't thought it through; no way to get around the AK100 output impedance.  Crap.  Oh well, I'll give it a try stock & see how it works for me w/ my SM64's (98 ohm).  If the output impedance is audible, I'll send it to Vinnie.  I would've just had it done right away if I could buy direct from him, but he emailed me earlier today to say he doesn't have any units in stock.

Yeah there's a huge difference between the Stock AK100 and RWAK100 when amping out with a mini-to-mini.

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Originally Posted by shotgunshane 

To be clear, do NOT use disk utility or some other utility to wipe anything.

x2, says the man who did it the wrong way.

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Originally Posted by VisceriousZERO 

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive 

Damn...hadn't thought it through; no way to get around the AK100 output impedance.  Crap.  Oh well, I'll give it a try stock & see how it works for me w/ my SM64's (98 ohm).  If the output impedance is audible, I'll send it to Vinnie.  I would've just had it done right away if I could buy direct from him, but he emailed me earlier today to say he doesn't have any units in stock.

 

Yeah there's a huge difference between the Stock AK100 and RWAK100 when amping out with a mini-to-mini.

Well, I'm going to test ALO's responsiveness to the "Contact Us" form on their site.  I just sent them a message asking them to drop ship my AK100 to Redwine Audio so Vinnie can apply the mod, and I have no time to deal w/ this on Monday via phone.  I'm hoping they see my request before actually shipping it directly to me.  Based on what you guys are telling me, I might as well just have the mod done right away.

Also, something I ran into:  I've seen comments scattered throughout this thread about issues related to library scans, inconsistent playback, etc.  Are any of you experiencing those problems using 64GB mico SD cards?  I ask because I know the mico cards used in the AK100 need to be formatted as FAT32.  However, I've seen comments elsewhere on the web (can't provide a link, but I just recall seeing it) that larger (meaning >32GB micro card) cards can be unstable if formatted in any file system other than exFAT.  I'm wondering whether that might be causing issues for some of you...  I'm thinking iRiver needs to fix something via firmware update to make larger capacity micro SD cards officially compatible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive 

Well, I'm going to test ALO's responsiveness to the "Contact Us" form on their site.  I just sent them a message asking them to drop ship my AK100 to Redwine Audio so Vinnie can apply the mod, and I have no time to deal w/ this on Monday via phone.  I'm hoping they see my request before actually shipping it directly to me.  Based on what you guys are telling me, I might as well just have the mod done right away.

 

Also, something I ran into:  I've seen comments scattered throughout this thread about issues related to library scans, inconsistent playback, etc.  Are any of you experiencing those problems using 64GB mico SD cards?  I ask because I know the mico cards used in the AK100 need to be formatted as FAT32.  However, I've seen comments elsewhere on the web (can't provide a link, but I just recall seeing it) that larger (meaning >32GB micro card) cards can be unstable if formatted in any file system other than exFAT.  I'm wondering whether that might be causing issues for some of you...  I'm thinking iRiver needs to fix something via firmware update to make larger capacity micro SD cards officially compatible.

As far as the scanning issue goes, I think only a couple of people have had major issues.  For me, I only started having problems when I tried to do a scan immediately after transferring files using a usb connection to the ak.   However, this can be completely avoided by directly copying files from your computer to the cards.  The scans also seems to go smoothly if you reboot the ak100 before trying to do the scan (if you transfered files to the ak using usb that is).

You also have the option of playing music by navigating by folders - instead of the database.  Some users actually prefer that option.

You can't really blame iRiver for the issue with the cards.   Sansa designed them to be used with exFat.  This is ridiculous as that very few devices support exFAT.   This is why they have to be formatted to fat32.  You have to do this if you are using it on almost any device. Not a problem just for the ak - assuming you have problems using it on the ak.  In general, i have not experienced any issues using these cards on my phone, ak or sansa clip.

Re: cards:

- I'm using 2x 64GB (Class 10 / UHS 1) Sandisk cards and haven't had issues with scanning itself at least, separately from the naming/tagging/artwork issues.

- I have ~5000 songs for now between them, and usually I get the spinning wheel for less than 2 seconds when I navigate around (mostly either album view or occasionally the direct folder navigation)

Re: amping:

- As far as I understood the whole impedance issue, it only affects negatively IEMs with drivers that have (strongly) non-linear response curves, and thus at the higher impedance level react unpredictably. Shouldn't any halfway decent amp have a clean linear, flat response and thus not be affected by the impedance level in that way? And the only difference between the original and modified AK100 would be a perceived higher gain at the same (max.) volume setting on the AK100?

- I have an E17 myself and like it fine for what I use(d) it for, but I haven't heard a single of my headphones & IEMs (incl. theoretically "bad" matches) sound better through it than straight from the AK100, actually most that require more omph sound worse and more distorted when pushing the E17's theoretically louder output vs the AK100 which still sounds clean even at max. volume (as it should, given its price). If you really feel the need to amp separately, I would suggest getting something higher-end.

Generally though, when it comes to higher-end equipment other than the actual headphones, I'd take any claims of night-and-day differences in sound quality ("great" vs "unlistenable" etc) with a biiiig grain of salt around here (i.e. audiophile forums, not just this particular thread or subject) Don't forget to give -yourself- enough time to enjoy and listen to the music and equipment before worrying spending more $$$ to "fix" or improve things...

Remember the cheap "if you can hear the difference in impedance" test only cost the price of a E5, if it doesn't sound better with the E5 then its theoretically not the impedance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive 

Damn...hadn't thought it through; no way to get around the AK100 output impedance.  Crap.  Oh well, I'll give it a try stock & see how it works for me w/ my SM64's (98 ohm).  If the output impedance is audible, I'll send it to Vinnie.  I would've just had it done right away if I could buy direct from him, but he emailed me earlier today to say he doesn't have any units in stock.

Don't worry about it. The resistor doesn't have a sound of it's own and won't be current limiting into a resistive amp load. Amplifier input impedances are almost always above 10k ohms. That's makes a minimum 45/1 ratio and will show no ill effects from the resistor. You are simply changing the output impedance from 22 ohms to whatever the added amp's is (plus whatever sonic character the amp brings with it). It's one of those situations where double amping can be beneficial.

The E5 may not be good enough here. I could 'hear' and E11 on an Ipod touch.

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Originally Posted by pappkopf 

Wow, it took me 4 days to read me through that thread but it was worth it!
I own a AK 100 for 3 weeks now. First tried it with my Shure SE 535 which sounded not that good. There was very little bass.
So I had the chance to buy a 14 days old Sennheiser IE800 and what a difference! This is what I was looking for, a tiny player with good sound and earphones you just have to plug in and forget it. This combination sounds great.

and how do you find IE800 to work with that stock AK100 with the whole output impedance issue? is there no need at all to mod it to a RWAK100 when using IE800's ?

anyone got to know how to create a playlist for ak100?

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Originally Posted by airkitoy 

anyone got to know how to create a playlist for ak100?

With the crumby software (bloatware more so) that iRiver provides. It's garbage & iRiver has no plans to make playlist properly work.....