j-project said:

  It looks like the AK100II and AK120II will only have 1 sd slot from the photos?  I wonder why they decreased the number of sd cards it can support compared with the previous AK100 and AK120, seems like a weird product decision.  Wonder if that's the final design or pre-production.

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kt66 said:

  I think they look horrible and clunky - part of the appeal of the AK100 was it's shape and size

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jlpan said:

tried the AK120ii the other day, along with the AK240. I find that the 120ii while sounding really good and comparable to the 240- it has a slightly narrower sound stage and a little less warm, even for flac music (vs reading somewhere that the difference between 120ii and 240 is only apparent in playing DSD) Anyone else have compared both? would like to compare impressions.
Auditioned with Shure 846 and Audio Technica ATH- IM04.

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jlpan said:

tried the AK120ii the other day, along with the AK240. I find that the 120ii while sounding really good and comparable to the 240- it has a slightly narrower sound stage and a little less warm, even for flac music (vs reading somewhere that the difference between 120ii and 240 is only apparent in playing DSD) Anyone else have compared both? would like to compare impressions.
Auditioned with Shure 846 and Audio Technica ATH- IM04.

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jlpan said:

Thanks for confirming. I think it's a deliberate move by A&K to protect the flagship... Have to justify the price gap and not penalize those who bought the 240. Well played in my opinion.

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jlpan said:

Thanks for confirming. I think it's a deliberate move by A&K to protect the flagship... Have to justify the price gap and not penalize those who bought the 240. Well played in my opinion.

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olisim said:

Ok, sooooooo, a couple days ago, I was at the headphone bar (vancouver) trying out a couple different daps to use with my shure se846. I tried the Fiio X5, ak100 II and the beyerdynamic a200p (just for the heck of it), although I quite liked the a200p and found that it added large amounts of clarity and oomph compared to the headphone jack straight out of my iPhone 5s, I quickly ruled it out because I'm specifically looking for something so I'm NOT having to use my phone for music listening.

So now I was down to the X5 vs AK100 II, they both had the same music loaded onto them (unfortunately, not the same music as on my iPhone, so I couldn't compare those at the time) and I did my absolute best to volume match the two of them, also, my friend was with me so all tests were done completely blind, not knowing which device was which. Long story short, I ended up picking the AK100 II for a variety of reasons, such as better ergonomics, it looks waaaayyy better (IMO) and most importantly, I thought it sounded better, a little more fullness to the sound, and better clarity.

Now, fast forward to last night, I've got all my music, (mostly flac) loaded onto the AK100 II and have been doing some listening, loving the sound, then I start doing some comparisons between my iPhone and the AK

Disclaimer: ALL tests were done blind and with the shure yellow foam tips and the blue filters and the stock cable.

Again, I volume matched them as best I could and started with the tests, so here's the thing, I consistently picked out the same traits corresponding to the same device EVERY time, those being, that the iPhone had more clarity, and sounded more forward, whereas the AK sounded more laid back and MAYBE more musical, that's where personal taste comes in, I really couldn't decide on which one I liked more.

I got 3 of my family members to do the same blind tests and they all had the exact same results, being able to consistently pick out the phone from the AK without knowing the differences before hand. One of my family members preferred the iPhone every single time, and the other two were able to pick out the same differences every time, but had different preferences for the sound depending on the track.

Now, I'm rather unsure of what to do here, I'll probably try throwing in the white filters to see if that helps, also, I was thinking of getting one of the silver Litz cables from headphone lounge, which may help bring out more sparkle in the sound. I'm just not sure if I want to throw down almost a thousand bucks on something that doesn't necessarily even sound better than my IPhone!

Sorry about the long post, just throwing my thoughts out there........ That being said, anyone out there who is using the AK100 II with the shure se846 I would be very appreciative if you could tell me what EQ settings if any that you use. (I haven't touched the EQ yet)

Thoughts anyone?

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silverears said:

Thanks for letting us know of blind test results.  So was the test to to pick out the preferred device or find which is the phone? Given that the phone was picked out every time, there is distinguishable differences between the two devides blindly.  

You did say difference of preference depending on the track.  Which tracks were preferred for which device?  I think it's important to try better masters than modern tracks that have heavy dynamic compression to get a better idea of the sonic differences.  Compression doesn't really show off the real performance of the device in terms of transparency.

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olisim said:

Ok, sooooooo, a couple days ago, I was at the headphone bar (vancouver) trying out a couple different daps to use with my shure se846. I tried the Fiio X5, ak100 II and the beyerdynamic a200p (just for the heck of it), although I quite liked the a200p and found that it added large amounts of clarity and oomph compared to the headphone jack straight out of my iPhone 5s, I quickly ruled it out because I'm specifically looking for something so I'm NOT having to use my phone for music listening.

So now I was down to the X5 vs AK100 II, they both had the same music loaded onto them (unfortunately, not the same music as on my iPhone, so I couldn't compare those at the time) and I did my absolute best to volume match the two of them, also, my friend was with me so all tests were done completely blind, not knowing which device was which. Long story short, I ended up picking the AK100 II for a variety of reasons, such as better ergonomics, it looks waaaayyy better (IMO) and most importantly, I thought it sounded better, a little more fullness to the sound, and better clarity.

Now, fast forward to last night, I've got all my music, (mostly flac) loaded onto the AK100 II and have been doing some listening, loving the sound, then I start doing some comparisons between my iPhone and the AK

Disclaimer: ALL tests were done blind and with the shure yellow foam tips and the blue filters and the stock cable.

Again, I volume matched them as best I could and started with the tests, so here's the thing, I consistently picked out the same traits corresponding to the same device EVERY time, those being, that the iPhone had more clarity, and sounded more forward, whereas the AK sounded more laid back and MAYBE more musical, that's where personal taste comes in, I really couldn't decide on which one I liked more.

I got 3 of my family members to do the same blind tests and they all had the exact same results, being able to consistently pick out the phone from the AK without knowing the differences before hand. One of my family members preferred the iPhone every single time, and the other two were able to pick out the same differences every time, but had different preferences for the sound depending on the track.

Now, I'm rather unsure of what to do here, I'll probably try throwing in the white filters to see if that helps, also, I was thinking of getting one of the silver Litz cables from headphone lounge, which may help bring out more sparkle in the sound. I'm just not sure if I want to throw down almost a thousand bucks on something that doesn't necessarily even sound better than my IPhone!

Sorry about the long post, just throwing my thoughts out there........ That being said, anyone out there who is using the AK100 II with the shure se846 I would be very appreciative if you could tell me what EQ settings if any that you use. (I haven't touched the EQ yet)

Thoughts anyone?

Click to expand...

dpastern said:

   
Anything is possible.  Question, are the other family members all iPhone/iPod users?  I presume so.  Perhaps they are familiarising themselves with what they know and recognise?
 
If I understand correctly, the iPhone had mp3s, and the AK100 II flacs?  And they still preferred the iPhone...
 
The problem that I see hear, and it is rampant imho, is that people, as a whole, have been dumbed down.  For a good number of years now, they've been taught that mp3 is good enough.  And people. being mostly pretty stupid (no offence) have taken this BS hook, line and sinker.  
 
And, Apple products are so pervasive, it's sickening.  Yes, I use an Apple product (not for much longer though).  Apple is one nasty company.  Worked for them a few years back, would never work for them again, and would never work for a US owned company ever again.  

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dpastern said:

Anything is possible.  Question, are the other family members all iPhone/iPod users?  I presume so.  Perhaps they are familiarising themselves with what they know and recognise?

If I understand correctly, the iPhone had mp3s, and the AK100 II flacs?  And they still preferred the iPhone...

The problem that I see hear, and it is rampant imho, is that people, as a whole, have been dumbed down.  For a good number of years now, they've been taught that mp3 is good enough.  And people. being mostly pretty stupid (no offence) have taken this BS hook, line and sinker.  

And, Apple products are so pervasive, it's sickening.  Yes, I use an Apple product (not for much longer though).  Apple is one nasty company.  Worked for them a few years back, would never work for them again, and would never work for a US owned company ever again.  

Click to expand...