[lee730]

Their software is a joke. I cannot be bothered with that mess. They just simply need to give proper m3u support that works on programs like Media Monkey and J River.
 

 

[Fafner]

Quote:

Bluetooth is the most useless feature invented for such high end devices. Who the hell really needs it. If you gonna use it with bluetooth headphone, don't buy high end dap then, you will not get the sound you are supposed to get. Pair it with your smartphone it will do more than fine.

 
 
Don't see the point of complaining. One doesn't need it? He just doesn't use it. It's not that its presence renders something else bad. One has some use of it? He has it. As far as I'm concerned, my car does have Bluetooth, and I find it nice if I can stream my stuff if I want, without having to reencode everything and fill my phone. I don't expect nor I pretend reference grade sound, that's not the point. I didn't buy my AK120 for car streaming, but if it's there...nice.

 

[LCfiner]

You guys are missing the point of the bluetooth. It’s not about using wireless headphones. It’s about getting a notification from your phone that a call is coming in while you are using your DAP. That’s what Tyll tested and that’s the function he had problems with.

The problem, according to Tyll, with the AK120 implementation was the extra noise that existed from enabling this function. Which would make it a deal breaker, since it’s a high end DAP.

 

[sidrpm]

From the review
 
"The AK120 can also be paired to a Bluetooth speaker, and this is how I intended to use it on my trip."

 

[LCfiner]

That’s the second paragraph for the BT feature. The leading paragraph describing the use for BT has this to say:

“...put a Bluetooh receiver chip in the portable player, pair it with your phone, and then answer your phone through the player. Astell&Kern have attempted to implement this with the AK120, and it does have a Bluetooth chip in it. Unfortunately it isn't well implemented. When paired with your phone and the phone rings, the AK120 will deliver a ring tone to the earphones, but as soon as it does it disconnects the Bluetooth pairing and you have to pull out your earphones and manually answer your phone. Worse, with the Bluetooth transceiver paired to your phone, you get significant RF noise in the audio. This is a high resolution file player, and to introduce clearly audible noise just so you can hear the phone ring is an abomination to an audiophile. Fail again."

 

[Sam Edwards]

I love the device for it's delivery of the core values as a high quality player that drives my IEM's so well. 
But I'm not sure we're doing ourselves or the device's future any great service by apologizing for it's deficiencies in some of the convenience features that the reviewer discovered. 
I'm not sure that I want the device to interrupt my listening sessions with phone calls but I can imagine a situation that it would be helpful, especially on a motorcycle. It would suck if such a feature ruined the sonic experience. 
And another poster pointed out using the AK120 wirelessly in the car. Sounds like fun. I'd love to give it a shot. Hopefully iriver read the review and can address the issues in firmware updates. 

 

[Kaadian]

So I tested the AK120 bluetooth paired with my new Sony Xperia Z Ultra.
Wife called me and AK120 popped up with notice of incoming call and number. Very nice.
 
Pulled out headphones, answered call. (This btw is going to save me strife from missing calls from wife while working)
 
Back to AK120 and bluetooth was still paired and got notification of another call.
 
Worked perfectly as advertised.
 
Now the thing I am having trouble with is the the Sony Xperia has a wireless play mode called "throw". It works over wifi with my Zepplin Air but try as I might I could not get it to work with the AK120. I guess it's because the AK120 sends audio to headphones, doesn't receive audio data from another source.

 

[kkcc]

Want to share my ak120's bluetooth call notification works perfectly fine with my Note2 (n7100) (without dropping the pairing after the call and cannot hear the RF noise) WHEN the initially pairing was successful. I have had a few instances where I thought they are paired when it's not. Ended up like an idiot on the subway with my phone ringing and me stupidly ignoring it.....

 

[PEM75]

I now have an EM6 with my AK120 : ciem from earsonics.
The SQ is wonderfull, marvelous ......
I ear so many things I didn't previously :eek:
I'm just so happy :

 

[audionewbi]

I've just tried some binarual recording with AK120 which I had from society of sound, before I was lurk warm about them but boy do they sound great from AK120. 

 

[DrSheep]

Quote:

I've just tried some binarual recording with AK120 which I had from society of sound, before I was lurk warm about them but boy do they sound great from AK120. 

Interesting, I have a ton of those and always found them sounded kind of thin.  Time to give them a second chance.

 

[audionewbi]

Quote:

Interesting, I have a ton of those and always found them sounded kind of thin.  Time to give them a second chance.

This was my view as I really did not care for them but the dual DAC seem to do its job. 

 

[Steven R. Rochli]

The Bluetooth noise is faint yet easy to hear with high-sensitive IEMs like the UE 18, especially during critical quiet passages. As for pairing, did use the Note II and SIII and it works, though with occasional hiccups like not fully mating at times. Included software is a bit of a hodgepodge, thus avoided using it as much as possible. As said in my review of the AK120 on Enjoy the Music.com, I see it as this is all in its infancy and early adopter/beta territory in some ways.
 
By next year...

 

[Kaadian]

Quote:

The Bluetooth noise is faint yet easy to hear with high-sensitive IEMs like the UE 18, especially during critical quiet passages. As for pairing, did use the Note II and SIII and it works, though with occasional hiccups like not fully mating at times. Included software is a bit of a hodgepodge, thus avoided using it as much as possible. As said in my review of the AK120 on Enjoy the Music.com, I see it as this is all in its infancy and early adopter/beta territory in some ways.
 
By next year...

I'd more put the hiccups down to Bluetooth itself being a bit **** rather than anything on the AK side.
 
Top Tip: If you delete a BT pairing on your phone and want to re-add it to the AK but you can't because it already exists? Swipe left like you would on a song on the BT entry on the AK and you can select delete. Then you can re-pair with your device.

 

[goodvibes]

Quote:

Does anyone here have experience with the RWA modifications?  I spoke with Vinnie and he is soon to be offering two versions for the AK120 (similar to the mods on the AK100).  The second level mod which reportedly sounds the best disables the digital volume control and would require use of an external amp.  I guess the issue is that one would need to decide to give up the ultimate portability of the AK120 for yet unheard better sound.  Anybody have thoughts or insights to help inform my decision about this?  Thanks.

Personally, I wouldn't since the resistor removal isn't s big deal on the AK120. Goldenears measured it into 16 ohms and it was perfectly flat. I also wouldn't want to lose the super portability BUT the 8741 DAC using the minimum phase filter is better so if you're willing to use an amp all the time, I bet it sings.