Yeah I think you and I will end up in the same "bucket". From a sound perspective, I've definitely found quite an improvement from my previous player. But the hardware part (outside of the music related components) are, IMO, keeping the SR15 back. It's big, but the battery life isn't great. The...

I mean we kinda know. The manual states that the balanced output on its own is... well... unbalanced. You have to combine both the 3.5 and the 2.5 using their proprietary cable (last I checked I could only find listings at $900 a pop) to really be unbalanced.

See https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astell-kern-sr15-a-norma-impressions-reviews.885313/page-156#post-15633693 Note the part where you have to use a VPN from the US. That's what I had to do :) I doubt this has the right architecture for the SR15 off the bat.

Yeah that's the one I found but I only found listing at $900. Which... is just stupid for a cable. Any other knock-off our source?

Hi everyone! I'm sure the information is available out there but I haven't been able to find a clear answer I trust so far. I'm a bit confused with the outputs of the SR15. The 3.5mm is labeled as "regular". The 2.5mm is labeled as "balanced". However, when reading the manual, it clearly says...