Please make sure to click that Like button at the bottom of the page, also drop a comment and feel free to ask questions if you have them!
AK120
I feel like there is an epidemic looming over the heads of most Hi-Fi audio music player designers. Most just can't seem to get it right and so few end up with a solid performer, yet something actually portable. You know...not a distant relative to that cinder block that has been sitting outside of my house for years? I won't bore you with specification details in the beginning of this review, so I will start off with the conclusion first. That is just how I roll.
The End Credits
The stock AK120 by Astell and Kern did not mesh with my ears, sadly. Not that it was bad, I just didn't enjoy the sound signature at all with the headphones I currently owned. There was just something about the tonality that really bugged me, I really disliked it and it was purely a matter of preference and nothing to do with lack of clarity or anything like that. It had plenty of clarity and was certainly a few steps beyond it's little brother the AK100, as well as it's zombie mutant offspring cousin the iBasso DX50. I just could not find anything I owned that meshed with the player, so off it was sent for modifying to Red Wine Audio. Once I got it back, I realized that within 10 minutes of usage with the new modifications, the player would be one of the very few things I would try to take with me if the world were to suddenly end. If the zombie DX50's suddenly became sentient and started to attack the Earth, I'd build a pit and fill it with my X-girlfriends, I'd train them in the deadly arts and force them to listen to bad headphones to inspire rage so that they can defend me in the zombie outbreak of the future. Nothing better than ninja x-girlfriends
at your side ready to throw themselves into ravenous zombie hoards...am I right? No? Ah well.
For $1300US, this is a
bit crazy and leaves me shaking my head as to where the world of portable players is going.
Question:
Is the price of the AK120 justified? Yes and no would be my answer.
My wallet is screaming, my ears are singing. So if you have the cash and want the only real PORTABLE Hi Fi Audiophile grade music player, go buy one. Stop...wait a second, turn around. Throw another $250 onto that and send it off to Red Wine Audio for the standard RWAK120 mod if you are primarily using custom inner ear monitors.
Tone - Stock AK120
I did not enjoy it. But, don't let that sway you from buying as there are a ton of people...the majority actually that really enjoyed the sound of the AK120. I prefer a natural tone and it just so happens that I find the iBasso DX50/AK100 to produce a more dry sound signature with some hint of a coloration to it, whereas the AK120 seemed to have a more AKG house sound with a slight metallic sheen to everything, rounded edges that were not defined so well and everything just lacking overall on the CIEM's that I own. I still found it dynamic, very clear and forgiving. This was a problem with low impedance, the stock AK120 simply was not set up to drive very efficient and low impedance headphones well, which is why the experience with my JH16 FreqPhases sounded so lack luster. This was the case on all the portable headphones I've played with recently, even the stunning NAD HP50, something very easily driven and DEAD NEUTRAL in every way. Even that sounded bland and lacking pre-Red Wine. Directly fed into the Audeze LCD-3, the presentation is actually pretty great and highly enjoyable as a source when properly amped. My NAD HP50 seemed to really dislike the AK120 and the entire experience was passable at best. Not the fault of the HP50, it is an insanely incredible headphone that is very easily driven...but there lay the problem. Most easily driven headphones tend to sound not so good with the stock AK120.
Tone - Post Red Wine Mod
Huge improvement over the stock sound signature in my opinion, totally transformed into a different player entirely. Via the JH16, the tone of the headphone went from very bad to one of the best sound signatures I've ever heard for this ciem. Jet black background, finally properly driven due to the Red Wine guys messing with the resistors and improving the output efficiency. The stock AK120 was too powerful and ended up working poorly with every custom monitor I owned as well as most of the higher tier portables with low impedance. Something just didn't sound right. Thankfully, Red Wine Fixed it...and I love it. This is how it should have sounded and I really have to take points off for requiring a third party to set things straight. The experience is highly natural, a lot like switching from an AKG K712 to lets say an Audeze LCD2. The house sound signature changed completely for the better and everything is so much more well defined, articulated and dynamic due to the lack of a background fuzz with the stock AK120s higher output cap for low impedance headphones. I would never recommend you do it, but for giggles I have plugged my ciems into larger desktop amps and the result was the same general tone. Something was very wrong, over driven and receiving too much power. The Red Wine Mod reduces the output impedance down to 1ohm and is now hard wired direct from the output stage to the headphone jack. Such a seemingly simple thing fixed the dreadful performance the AK120 had with most earbuds.
Bass
The quantity of the bass bumped a bit after the Red Wine Mod but not much, I am not even comfortable saying it is there, but something inside me saying there was more bass than before. If there really is, it's a small amount and I can attribute it to the clarity boost and the background of the player feeling much darker, thus allowing for more POP on the bass. I found the stock bass highly satisfying and never boomy, artificial or boosted. I enjoyed it very much and only that much more in post-mod. It is rich and well textured but still a step behind the Hifiman HM901 and even the HM801 on the low end, both of which seemed more pure and solid but also less forgiving. The AK120 bass seems softer, more gentle and not nearly as solid on my gear. This is a great thing if you desire that type of a sound like I do. I hate punchy bass. I prefer that soft, lush and velvet like low end experience and I find it much more musical than most other hifi portable players. Musicality seems lost in most of the expensive audiophile grade music devices. I'm unwilling to allow musicality to take a hit just for the sake of accuracy, thankfully the AK120's low end is highly musical. There are a few tracks from Jamie Foxx that and the Ministry of Sound that I really enjoy that worked out very nicely. I'm not into the pounding bass thing, but I am into the heavily weighted feel of low end. The softer and weightier, the more happy I become. I pretty much got everything I've always wanted on the low end in the stock form of the AK120.
The Mids
Very lush, very soft and forgiving yet again on the stock version, but more sharpened and well defined on the Red Wine version. The tone of the stock AK120 ruined the natural midrange I often desire, so I was happy to hear the RWAK120 drastically improve the definition of darn near everything. Vocals seem more clear as they are now properly driven and as a result sound noticeably sharper in a good way, they have just a little bit of bite to them, just enough to consider it highly engaging and never painful or annoying. It's just right. In fact, even the stock AK120 mid range was my favorite of the really expensive players that I've messed around with. I find them really nicely set up and perfectly spaced, I've never felt they were overly intimate, nor have I once felt they were too distant or lacking.
This is a vocalist Dap in my opinion
, due to the entire experience being softer and more rounded on the edges. Male or female, doesn't really matter, most of my vocal track favorites sounded incredible when the stock AK120 was used as a source and paired with an amp. When used with the easier to drive headphones I own, the experience wasn't as nice. It wasn't until Red Wine modified it for me that the experience leveled out and allowed the player to finally shine. All that hidden potential is in there, hiding and beginning to be released. You just have to pay $250 extra to get it out. I think it is certainly worth it. If you like the tonality of the JH customs or any similar sounding headphone, the Red Wine RWAK120 is a must. It really meshes well with them and as I mentioned previously, the JH16 FR and RWAK120 is just about the best portable experience I've ever had.
The Highs
Oddly enough, I found the stock AK120 upper region to be superior and more enjoyable than the Red Wine version. Why? I've not a clue and was unable to figure it out. The stock AK120 has the most beautiful and sparkly upper areas in a portable player that I've ever heard. The HM901 sounds bland by comparison and the Colorfly C4 doesn't even come close. It's beautiful and shimmering, exceptionally clear and very enjoyable. I prefer a hint of brightness to it, with that magical sparkle quality. Just a bit of snappiness to it, just like the midrange and far from painful or annoying. The Red Wine version seems to tone everything back down to unwanted levels to my ears and I find myself always wanting that shimmer back. The Stock sound signature of the player worked for only the upper region in my opinion, post mod I find it lack luster. Still very clear, maybe more so than the stock version but still very natural and lacking any special qualities on the upper regions. I find violins, screaming guitars and vocalists shoulder shrug worthy now, but I must bring back up the fact that the Red Wine mod really helped the Bass and the Mids significantly over their stock sound. There is always a trade off...but the post mod upper region is still extremely clear and textured. It is just lacking that bit of sparkle that I lust for and became something more natural.
Sound stage.
The stock sound stage was very nice on this player, but I cannot say that the player had any special qualities in this regard. It's an all star player with soundstage. Good width, good height, good separation and good depth...but nothing is great. Sadly, it's still not that good post modding and I think the HM901 certainly had a more realistic and layered approach to the stereo imaging, yet was about on par in width. I find the presentation itself very enjoyable and more than satisfactory for portable needs. As a Dac, you might want to look elsewhere for a better deal. Expect most qualities to be pretty good, but nothing truly amazing.
Build, Software and Dac
The player feels rock solid in my hand and has a noticeably better build quality than any of the mid-fi level music players. Nuked the iPods and even the iBasso DX50 for sure. It is heavier than I originally thought it would be and I enjoy the overall grip I have while holding the player on the go. It fit my hands perfectly and to be honest I thought the protruding volume knob on the side of the Dap would annoy me, but I was very wrong. It offers great grip and is also solidly built. I was worried about damaging the knob with continued usage over time but it never took a scratch over all this time. The knob itself lays perfectly in between my middle and pointer finger when I hold the unit with my left hand. This is pretty cool, actually. I can toggle the volume knob and hold the player with one hand. The same cannot be said for any other player with a natural approach to gripping and actually holding the player itself. Awesome. It comes with a cool leather carrying case for protection and seems very rugged, but is prone to scuffing. It's stiff hard leather and seems to take damage quite easily. A protective screen is a must for this player, thankfully it also came with one. Overall, I think the build quality earns top marks and shines above most others. It is wisely designed and not huge, it is my pick for the
only real portable hifi music player. Sorry Altmann, but you guy's don't even have a pause button on yours.
The Firmware and software seems solid, slick, easy and properly setup. Everything has an easy access and hey would you look at that? A home button, EQ, Presets, and oh my gosh is that a Playlist favorites feature on a hifi portable music player? No...it can't be!? Yep, it is! Thank you Astell and Kern for being the only expensive hifi player who put a Playlist function that works perfectly into your product. To date, this is my favorite OS on a digital music player. I enjoy it very much and I find navigating all the menus a breeze. The problem is that the player is capable of large storage with dual micro sd cards as well as an internal 64GB spacing. So, if you wanted to browse your tracks via track listing, forget it. It is going to take forever if you have a track that begins with a letter near the end of the alphabet. Thankfully, other menu search functions work nicely and as they should. However, I want to see a "back to the beginning" function added to the scrolling experience windows, one that lets you skip from Z back to A instead of needing to scroll back up through all the alphabetized artists, tracks or albums just to get to the early entries. Beyond that, I've no experience in general gripes, it's a great thing and stress free.
It isn't without bugs though, I've encountered minor freezing, slugishness and stuttering often, but nothing serious that required a reboot. The player isn't quick on the draw and takes a long time to scan your library, 128gb of flac took about 15 minutes for me each time I ran the Library Scan. The player also isn't fast to cycle through now playing tracks, there is certainly some hang time between each track if you are tapping track skip, too fast on that tap and you are likely going to freeze the player completely for a few seconds. But again, it held firm and never once bricked or needed a manual override. The player caught up and resumed playing usually within a few seconds of a freeze.
**The Dac section is a big bonus for anyone looking for the entire package deal. You can find comparable dacs for 1/3 the price in a full size, but none of them are portable in my opinion. Some claimed a few HRT models were better, I disagree. I found the dac section on the stock AK120 to sound very nice. The high res track capabilities are also a huge plus. I don't want to spend any more time on this section because this should stay a portable music player review and not a Dac experience review. However, despite that sentiment the Dac is still good and I find no issues with it. It sounds fantastic with my JH16s and NAD HP50.**
The After Credits Scene
All in all, Astell and Kern did a good job but need to really take a step backward and get off this ultra pricing for their portable players. Then again, so do all the other Hifi Dap makers. iBasso reset the bar and bargain price to performance ratio and I hope everyone else tries to best them somehow. The AK120, even modded is not 8x the clarity of the AK100 or the Ibasso DX50, despite having 8x the price tag. You are paying a huge premium for a marginal upgrade, but still the best you can get in my opinion despite being 25% better than the AK100. That 25% makes a big difference to me and if your wallet can manage it, I'd recommend it. Boasting exceptional build quality, an excellent software experience, a free Dac as well as a portable music player, dual micro sd card slots and a great leather case included, I've nothing really to complain about. It's a great player...it's the only wisely designed hifi player on the market beyond $1000. Everything else seems oddly...not at all portable despite the claims of the product being portable. Great job, Astell and Kern, but an even better job to Red Wine.
Thanks for Reading. Please rate and comment if you enjoyed the read!
-24bit