The New iRiver/Astell & Kern AK100: A High-End DAP
Jan 6, 2013 at 4:43 AM Post #1,606 of 9,165
Speaking of debt for those uk'ers  who want one of these advancedmp3players have these in for an eye watering £569.00!  That's me certainly out!
 
Cheers
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 4:44 AM Post #1,607 of 9,165
Why not order from somewhere else and bypass the scalpers? Are you intending to use it with harder to drive headphones though or IEMs?
 
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 7:16 AM Post #1,608 of 9,165
Quote:
Speaking of debt for those uk'ers  who want one of these advancedmp3players have these in for an eye watering £569.00!  That's me certainly out!
 
Cheers

 
£340 on Amazon japan the last time I checked 
wink.gif

 
Jan 6, 2013 at 8:36 AM Post #1,609 of 9,165
Quote:
 
£340 on Amazon japan the last time I checked 
wink.gif

 
Customs and shipping will make it close to £500.
 
Quote:
Speaking of debt for those uk'ers  who want one of these advancedmp3players have these in for an eye watering £569.00!  That's me certainly out!
 
Cheers

 
Can be had much cheaper from FleaBay.
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 11:54 AM Post #1,610 of 9,165
Quote:
Edit: Another update (and hopefully final) after 72 hrs.

 
Sorry I missed the 72 hr mark. Now my player has had 96 hrs burn-in - continuous.

At high gain, I find it hard to tell the difference between the DX100 and RWAK100 now. I find myself being fickle preferring the DX100 on one track but the RWAK100 the next. To me this means that really that they're on par and there is no clear winner - SQ-wise. I'm doing the tests on the Sony XBA-30 and the custom-tuned UM SE530x8.
 
After I've cleared the tracks on my DX100, it's now ready to be packed up.
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 2:41 PM Post #1,611 of 9,165
Quote:
 
Customs and shipping will make it close to £500.
 
 
Can be had much cheaper from FleaBay.

Shipping is unlikely to cost more than £20 through Tenso and you can avoid custom by altering the value of the package -at your own risk of course.
The cheapest on eBay is £455 and you very likely would have to add 22% import duty. I think I'll go for the £360 one. 
wink.gif

 
Jan 6, 2013 at 3:56 PM Post #1,612 of 9,165
How many db's +/- do you get from each of the EQ bands?
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 5:05 PM Post #1,613 of 9,165
Shipping is unlikely to cost more than £20 through Tenso and you can avoid custom by altering the value of the package -at your own risk of course.
The cheapest on eBay is £455 and you very likely would have to add 22% import duty. I think I'll go for the £360 one. :wink:


I don't think tenso will alter the declared value for you. They will just copy every info on the box and forward it to your address
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 5:14 PM Post #1,614 of 9,165
You can edit the value if you don't get it insured, but you have to do it before paying the fee. I have done it with my JVC FXZ200, which should arrive next week -if everything goes to plan 
rolleyes.gif

 
Jan 6, 2013 at 5:40 PM Post #1,616 of 9,165
Well, just joined the RWAK100 crew. Hoping it arrives with my JH16s before my next business trip. Figured I'd hold off on picking up a Benchmark DAC2 for a bit since I'm spending less time at my desk and with my HD800s.
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 6:03 PM Post #1,617 of 9,165
Quote:
Well, just joined the RWAK100 crew. Hoping it arrives with my JH16s before my next business trip. Figured I'd hold off on picking up a Benchmark DAC2 for a bit since I'm spending less time at my desk and with my HD800s.


Welcome onboard (and soon the Benchmark ship also)!
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 9:34 PM Post #1,618 of 9,165
Quote:
 
Sorry I missed the 72 hr mark. Now my player has had 96 hrs burn-in - continuous.

At high gain, I find it hard to tell the difference between the DX100 and RWAK100 now. I find myself being fickle preferring the DX100 on one track but the RWAK100 the next. To me this means that really that they're on par and there is no clear winner - SQ-wise. I'm doing the tests on the Sony XBA-30 and the custom-tuned UM SE530x8.
 
After I've cleared the tracks on my DX100, it's now ready to be packed up.

 
 
So, the SQ is on a par, but one device costs a lot more since after pruchasing the device it must be modified to reach this level of SQ. And also buying that same device would be putting money into the coffers of a company that has been far from a good corporate citizen.
 
Not to mention other intangibles like:  iBasso has already released several firmware updates, the most recent of which drastically improved SQ.  How diligent do you think iRiver will be with firmware updates?  Or will you have to rely on RWA for firmware updates?
 
To me, this is a CLEAR win, no, a clear TROUNCING by the DX100!  And you're ready to give up your DX100?  Why?  Simply because of size?  The Terra player is even smaller, why not just stick with that?

I'm sorry, I respect your opinions, and I mean no offense, but you're really not making much sense IMHO.
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 10:02 PM Post #1,619 of 9,165
Quote:
 
 
So, the SQ is on a par, but one device costs a lot more since after pruchasing the device it must be modified to reach this level of SQ. And also buying that same device would be putting money into the coffers of a company that has been far from a good corporate citizen.
 
Not to mention other intangibles like:  iBasso has already released several firmware updates, the most recent of which drastically improved SQ.  How diligent do you think iRiver will be with firmware updates?  Or will you have to rely on RWA for firmware updates?
 
To me, this is a CLEAR win, no, a clear TROUNCING by the DX100!  And you're ready to give up your DX100?  Why?  Simply because of size?  The Terra player is even smaller, why not just stick with that?

I'm sorry, I respect your opinions, and I mean no offense, but you're really not making much sense IMHO.

If you're like me who've been observing the thread in silence, then by now you must have known that if both players are on par SQ-wise, then the deciding factors would boil down to other aspects such as battery life, portability and usability. The RWAK might be a strech more expensive, but it wins hands down in the battery contest, is much smaller and has a more responsive touch screen. Take all of those into account and it makes sense to me why people do want to pay that extra over the DX100. Concerning firmware updates, IMO they are just there so that they could fix what was wrong with the DX100 in the first place and get it to work like how it's supposed to, rather than truly "improving" on the SQ front.
 
And let me be honest and say that IMHO I don't think you're making much sense by dragging the Tera Player into the conversation. Why on earth would you think a screenless player would be appropriate for comparison? 
 
Jan 6, 2013 at 10:14 PM Post #1,620 of 9,165
The J3 beats them all. Just kidding. Well, for battery life, 'tis true. Really guys, do we need to have a bitter feud over this stuff? 
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top