[VictorRomeo]

So.... it's arrived.... my new bundle of joy!  All unboxed, charged and just finished updating firmware....  Copying over lots of hi-res audio and getting prepped for my first listen....  I have my UM customs with me (a 535 reshell + extra driver) and my Momentums so that should set me up for fun (and little work) this afternoon!  Included in the bundle was a Bon Jovi CD shaped and sized case with an MQS micro SD 'album' inside.... My first time seeing an album supplied in such fashion.  It'll be interesting to see how that goes.  Not a big fan of JBJ, but I'll give it a go.  My first album is my much listened to Morning Phase by Beck acquired fro  HDTracks.... Apart from my audio system at home (quite high end), I've only listened to that on my iPhone via the CanOpener app in 24bit FLAC - I know the iPhone downsamples and whatnot, but it's my reference point....  Am getting giddy now! 

 

[flymetothemoon]

  So.... it's arrived.... my new bundle of joy!  All unboxed, charged and just finished updating firmware....  Copying over lots of hi-res audio and getting prepped for my first listen....  I have my UM customs with me (a 535 reshell + extra driver) and my Momentums so that should set me up for fun (and little work) this afternoon!  Included in the bundle was a Bon Jovi CD shaped and sized case with an MQS micro SD 'album' inside.... My first time seeing an album supplied in such fashion.  It'll be interesting to see how that goes.  Not a big fan of JBJ, but I'll give it a go.  My first album is my much listened to Morning Phase by Beck acquired fro  HDTracks.... Apart from my audio system at home (quite high end), I've only listened to that on my iPhone via the CanOpener app in 24bit FLAC - I know the iPhone downsamples and whatnot, but it's my reference point....  Am getting giddy now! 

Congra.  can feel your excitement from the above writings

 

[delrosa81]

  So.... it's arrived.... my new bundle of joy!  All unboxed, charged and just finished updating firmware....  Copying over lots of hi-res audio and getting prepped for my first listen....  I have my UM customs with me (a 535 reshell + extra driver) and my Momentums so that should set me up for fun (and little work) this afternoon!  Included in the bundle was a Bon Jovi CD shaped and sized case with an MQS micro SD 'album' inside.... My first time seeing an album supplied in such fashion.  It'll be interesting to see how that goes.  Not a big fan of JBJ, but I'll give it a go.  My first album is my much listened to Morning Phase by Beck acquired fro  HDTracks.... Apart from my audio system at home (quite high end), I've only listened to that on my iPhone via the CanOpener app in 24bit FLAC - I know the iPhone downsamples and whatnot, but it's my reference point....  Am getting giddy now! 

Congrats and we all know how it feels when you look and play with your new toy for the first time! Enjoy and welcome to the ak120 club!

 

[samuelboy]

Has anyone actually measured (or at least take note) of the charging time? Recently my battery indicator seems to be rather off for the 2nd half... The battery went from around 1/4 to flat (auto shutdown) in just a few songs. I decided to charge it and run it down continuously to monitor battery life. There were some distruptions but to cut the long story short, it seems to be able to last around 12hrs, which i thought is ok, but the last few bars of indication apparently seems screwed.

This also made me more conscious of the charging time. All along i used the iphone 1A charger and it took several hours. This round i used the ipad 2.1A charger and surprisingly it still took >5hrs (went to sleep so still don't know actual duration). My friend told me he uses the 1A and it took around 5hrs odd. Then i looked at the manual and it refers to a "high power usb 2 port" corresponding to 6.5hrs charging time.

My question is, is there some sort of current control in the device that makes any higher power chargers pointless since 0.5A (i guess the manual probably isn't referring to a 1A) is all it "needs" to get 6.5hrs?

 

[delrosa81]

Has anyone actually measured (or at least take note) of the charging time? Recently my battery indicator seems to be rather off for the 2nd half... The battery went from around 1/4 to flat (auto shutdown) in just a few songs. I decided to charge it and run it down continuously to monitor battery life. There were some distruptions but to cut the long story short, it seems to be able to last around 12hrs, which i thought is ok, but the last few bars of indication apparently seems screwed.

This also made me more conscious of the charging time. All along i used the iphone 1A charger and it took several hours. This round i used the ipad 2.1A charger and surprisingly it still took >5hrs (went to sleep so still don't know actual duration). My friend told me he uses the 1A and it took around 5hrs odd. Then i looked at the manual and it refers to a "high power usb 2 port" corresponding to 6.5hrs charging time.

My question is, is there some sort of current control in the device that makes any higher power chargers pointless since 0.5A (i guess the manual probably isn't referring to a 1A) is all it "needs" to get 6.5hrs?

 
I use a 2.1A charger and it takes also approx. 5 hours to charge as well. I also notice my still new AK120 having a battery indicator that is off for the 2nd half, in the same exact situation as you. I am curious on why as well and I would like to think the firmware itself has error in the coding for the battery guage display.
 
As for this, most modern devices nowadays come with internal circuit to control the charging current, it might need 0.8A to charge, if you plug in a 2.1A charger, it will also only draw 0.8A max. When the term "high powered" chargers are usually mentioned, charging current is usually at 0.5A or more as previously the usual was around 0.5A or less, 1.0A and above are usually considered high powered chargers but to me, 2.0A and above are then considered high powered chargers. I do have a digital guage to show how much current my device is drawing when charging, I will try it out tonight and share with you what is the charging current for the AK120. IIRC it should be between 0.6A to 0.8A but will confirm again tonight and post it here.

 

[samuelboy]

I use a 2.1A charger and it takes also approx. 5 hours to charge as well. I also notice my still new AK120 having a battery indicator that is off for the 2nd half, in the same exact situation as you. I am curious on why as well and I would like to think the firmware itself has error in the coding for the battery guage display.

As for this, most modern devices nowadays come with internal circuit to control the charging current, it might need 0.8A to charge, if you plug in a 2.1A charger, it will also only draw 0.8A max. When the term "high powered" chargers are usually mentioned, charging current is usually at 0.5A or more as previously the usual was around 0.5A or less, 1.0A and above are usually considered high powered chargers but to me, 2.0A and above are then considered high powered chargers. I do have a digital guage to show how much current my device is drawing when charging, I will try it out tonight and share with you what is the charging current for the AK120. IIRC it should be between 0.6A to 0.8A but will confirm again tonight and post it here.

Wow great. Looking forward!

Btw are you on 1.37 or 1.4 firmware? I'm on 1.4 now. Mine is quite new too as it's a brand new rma unit. In the beginning i do remember even at red-cross state, it could play for quite long, maybe up to an hour or so. That was with 1.37. After that i've not consciously taken note, or most of the time also didn't run down till so low before charging. In total mine has only gone through about 10 recharge cycles.

 

[delrosa81]

Wow great. Looking forward!

Btw are you on 1.37 or 1.4 firmware? I'm on 1.4 now. Mine is quite new too as it's a brand new rma unit. In the beginning i do remember even at red-cross state, it could play for quite long, maybe up to an hour or so. That was with 1.37. After that i've not consciously taken note, or most of the time also didn't run down till so low before charging. In total mine has only gone through about 10 recharge cycles.

Yup Im looking forward to seeing how much current it actually draws while charging too.
 
Im on the 1.4 firmware, updated it the moment I got it so I have no means of comparison with other firmwares. I got mine in mid July 2014 brand new and have had like 3 recharge cycles as of now. Its been like this since after the first charge cycle so I thought its normal.

 

[flymetothemoon]

Has anyone actually measured (or at least take note) of the charging time? Recently my battery indicator seems to be rather off for the 2nd half... The battery went from around 1/4 to flat (auto shutdown) in just a few songs. I decided to charge it and run it down continuously to monitor battery life. There were some distruptions but to cut the long story short, it seems to be able to last around 12hrs, which i thought is ok, but the last few bars of indication apparently seems screwed.

This also made me more conscious of the charging time. All along i used the iphone 1A charger and it took several hours. This round i used the ipad 2.1A charger and surprisingly it still took >5hrs (went to sleep so still don't know actual duration). My friend told me he uses the 1A and it took around 5hrs odd. Then i looked at the manual and it refers to a "high power usb 2 port" corresponding to 6.5hrs charging time.

My question is, is there some sort of current control in the device that makes any higher power chargers pointless since 0.5A (i guess the manual probably isn't referring to a 1A) is all it "needs" to get 6.5hrs?

I'd recommend to use low amperage charger to make the life of the battery longer.  The higher the charging current the shorter battery life and should you have a slow charger...use it.  I leave my 240 charge overnight as I'm using slow charger (i.e. your small iPhone charger is the best, but not the full size iPad one)

 

[samuelboy]

I'd recommend to use low amperage charger to make the life of the battery longer.  The higher the charging current the shorter battery life and should you have a slow charger...use it.  I leave my 240 charge overnight as I'm using slow charger (i.e. your small iPhone charger is the best, but not the full size iPad one)

Yup i do have 0.5A (Belkin), 1A (iphone) and 2.1A (ipad) chargers. I tend to lean towards slower charging too. Then again if there is really a current control circuitry at the device end, then it shouldn't matter (to the battery life) which charger is used, am i right?

 

[delrosa81]

  I'd recommend to use low amperage charger to make the life of the battery longer.  The higher the charging current the shorter battery life and should you have a slow charger...use it.  I leave my 240 charge overnight as I'm using slow charger (i.e. your small iPhone charger is the best, but not the full size iPad one)

 
From what I have read, modern devices have internal circuitry to set the charging current at the desired level to ensure longevity of the battery, I have innergie 2.1A universal USB chargers and I use that with all my devices. so far so good though.
 

Yup i do have 0.5A (Belkin), 1A (iphone) and 2.1A (ipad) chargers. I tend to lean towards slower charging too. Then again if there is really a current control circuitry at the device end, then it shouldn't matter (to the battery life) which charger is used, am i right?

Yes you are right.

 

[flymetothemoon]

Yup i do have 0.5A (Belkin), 1A (iphone) and 2.1A (ipad) chargers. I tend to lean towards slower charging too. Then again if there is really a current control circuitry at the device end, then it shouldn't matter (to the battery life) which charger is used, am i right?

Not sure about a current control in the machine but my 240 charge quicker with higher amp charger which means either it "agrees" with higher current feed or it doesn't have circuitry  limitation.

 

[delrosa81]

  Not sure about a current control in the machine but my 240 charge quicker with higher amp charger which means either it "agrees" with higher current feed or it doesn't have circuitry  limitation.

You might be right but it could be that the 240 requires a current of more than what your low current charger can supply and when you plug in a higher power charger, it gets the proper current and charges faster. I might be wrong though. Let me check out tonight how much current the 240 draws and compare with the specs of the 240 on the charging current it requires and post back here.

 

[midnightwalker]

Does anyone successfully stream the music from Ak120 to the car stereo system? I've just recognized the Ak120 has bluetooth and tried it today but didn't success. 

 

[delrosa81]

  Does anyone successfully stream the music from Ak120 to the car stereo system? I've just recognized the Ak120 has bluetooth and tried it today but didn't success. 

It seems like the bluetooth function on the Ak120 is receiving rather than transmit as I understand it can receive bluetooth streaming from bluetooth 3.0 devices and above. You can use an iphone or android and bluetooth stream music to the Ak120 but I am not sure nor tried the bluetooth to transmit or to stream music using the Ak120 as a source though. Will check out and revert bk here.

 

[SenG]

 
It seems like the bluetooth function on the Ak120 is receiving rather than transmit as I understand it can receive bluetooth streaming from bluetooth 3.0 devices and above. You can use an iphone or android and bluetooth stream music to the Ak120 but I am not sure nor tried the bluetooth to transmit or to stream music using the Ak120 as a source though. Will check out and revert bk here.

I have used the AK120 as a bluetooth source to Bose Soundlink II Bluetooth speaker before, so I'm sure it can transmit.
 
Perhaps it is a compatibility issue or requires some setting on midnightwalker's car stereo?