Astell&Kern AK Jr Hi-Res Music Player

Overview

released in 2015, the AK jr was the most affordable (emphasis on "most" affordable, as the AK jr was by no means a cheap device, coming in $500US, or around $750 Australian dollars) DAP (Digital Audio Player) in Astellnkern's line up (Excluding Activo devices, of whom AstellnKern is the "parent company").
For $750 AK jr has: an all Aluminium body, a physical volume control and a glass backing covered in hundreds of tiny AstellnKern symbols, which makes it look all the better, while blatantly screaming I'M AN ASTELLNKERN. (it also means that there are a lot of sharp edges)

Basic information:
the AK jr supports up to 24 bit, 192Khz resolution, utilizing a single Wolfson CS4398 DAC, and It supports pretty much every format under the sun, apart from some obscure proprietary formats.
the AK jr also (Supposedly) has a 3.5mm balanced output, USB digital output, and the ability to act as a USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier.
the reason I said this is all theoretical, is that it doesn't have digital output, i've never got the USB DAC function to work, and there aren't many (if any) people with headphones ending a 3.5mm balanced cable. (i'm fairly sure AstellnKern experimented with this on their IEMs for a while, but nobody else that i know of have ever tried this, aside from Shanling, which use a system where a 3.5mm socket can be used with proprietary adapters to become balanced).

Features and Functionality
Features:
the AK jr isn't packed full of features, as the entire point of this device was to has some of AstellnKern's magic in a device that A: doesn't cost 1000s of dollars, and B: can be used on the go without having to carry around an Aluminium brick in your pocket, and they acheived this but cutting back on lots of the features in the higher end players. the AK jr only plays music files, no streaming, no video. in my opinion this makes for a better player at this price because it means that it is able to focus on SQ and not compatibility with streaming.

Play settings, EQ, etc:
The AK jr has shuffle, gapless, repeat,and repeat once, all the basic play setting are here, but no option to play through folder, repeat within a selected range, etc.
the AK jr has a 5 band EQ, which is pretty much only useful for reigning in overly bassy or treble forward headphones, i'm sure most people would want more than a 5 band (I know I do), considering that this is targeted at people who willing to spend $750 on something that only plays music (however, in my opinion, if you're going to bother getting a DAP in this price range, you're going to want some headphones that sound good without EQ, so you shouldn't need to do anything other than to do minor adjustments). the AK jr also has a PRO EQ feature, which literally does nothing apart from display a little symbol at the top of your screen.
note: when the EQ is turned on, the volume drops considerably, which is really annoying.

Battery life:
the battery life on the AK jr is enough to get through most long car/plane trips, with a capacity of 1,450mAh, this allows for a up to 8 hours (conservatively).

Sound Quality
The AK jr sounds excellent, smooth, rich and natural. I listen mainly to metalcore and alternative metal - the sort of music that sounds dreadful from a bad source, like a big, thick, distorted metal soup, no instrument seperation, no clarity, nothing worth listening to. the AK jr on the other hand is excellent for this sort of music, open, spacious and fast. i tested this against a cheaper device, the FiiO X1, which is by no means a bad device. listening to All of this is Fleeting by Polaris, using exactly the same file (CD Quality: 16bit, 44.1Khz WAV), the X1 sounded a bit muddled, due to a lack of Instrument separation. whereas the AK jr had a greater sense of overall space and instrument separation.

Summary
in conclusion, the AstellnKern AK jr is a DAP that offers premium sound quality, for prices nowhere near what you'll pay for a top of the line AstellnKern device.
the AK jr, despite a few annoying aspects, is very good value for money, and will impress with it's performance, despite it's comparitively small size.
the AK jr is discontinued now, but usually sells for around $300 -$350 AUD.

I appreciate that many enthusiasts may well have come a different route to me, into high quality players, but with a limited budget and the best chance to listen to music being when I drive to work, I first needed a player that I could easily use through the car audio and though I am anti-apple products, I got hold of a 6th Gen 120GB Ipod, which has served it's purpose pretty well, even when I took up cycling. However, having to convert all FLAC's etc into ALAC, to use an app like Floola to control the adding of music etc, the small screen I can hardly read with my old eyes, having to go with a preset sound based on a genre, I've been waiting for the budget allowance to move up. Through this forum and the users reviews, my 1st choice was a Lotoo Paw 5k and I'm still waiting for this to happen, but when an AK Jr. Special Red Edition (HK) came my way, I grabbed it, after getting my hands on a pair of 1More Quad IEM's.

The 1st thing I liked about the AK Jr was the head/earphone connection is on top. I cannot for the life of me understand why any "portable" player would have them on the bottom, since in any pocket this will just add stress on the cable etc. I picked up an Ipod Touch to hopefully increase the screen info size but the connection is on the bottom and I'd have to do a lot of software stuff to get it to rotate 180, so that's been pushed aside lol.

The 2nd thing I liked was the screen was bigger than the Ipod 6th, I could actually read the track text etc and it does justice to album art. As long as I add via tagging the album art, I have not found any issues, but just to be safe (as I read some people have had issues showing the album art), I add a jpg file when transferring within the folder.

The size of the player is great and it's really light (a little too light when out and about making me keep checking the pocket it's in). The Red Edition came with a red case which was nice as a protection, but the smaller size makes with the case on the 'previous', 'pause' & 'next' buttons on the side a little hard to "quickly" know which is which (feels a little like braille).

Being able to simply tag music files and plug the player in to the PC and it to be recognised easily, and selecting the choice to add folders of high res files was a joy compared to what I had to do for the Ipod.

With having the 1More Quads and the AK Jr., I've been using them as an excuse to play more music more of the time (not just when driving) over the past few weeks and overall, I'm really glad of my purchases as I feel the 2 products are giving me the sound I want (well at least 85%). The 1More quads I'm told need a good burn in period so I'm hoping the sound will only get better.

I prefer Mids to Highs rather than masses of bass (and all the 1More Quad reviews gave me the impression they would be a good fit). I like a little pop (specifically some albums such as Texas, Annie Lennox, Emeli Sande), some rock (The Faces, Bruce Springsteen, Daughtry as some examples), but mostly I listen to old & rare soul from the 60's (Remastered) which also brings in old RnB, Jazz (George Benson) etc as well as more modern stuff such as Incognito, Sade, Jaheim, Anthony Hamilton, Chante Moore. Whether through the 1More Quads or the 'general' car audio system, the AK Jr. sounds great. Through the 1More Quads, I'm understanding when people talk about 'spacial', it's as though I'm in the recording studio and can see where each musician and vocalist is actually standing (not talking about a simple stereo split here). I was listening to a track the other day and the only thing I could think would make the sound I was hearing, were spoons which I'd never been able to hear before to make this distinction.

I'm using v1.2 of the firmware although I have v1.3, but I cannot see any difference on the AK website between the two, what changes have been made and since they were issued on the same day as I recall, if anyone knows v1.3 has some hidden upgrades, please advise

A lot of reviewers have spoken about the 'laggy' UI. I've filled the 64GB's around 50%, and rather than 'laggy' I'd call it more 'sticky', as sometime it seems to stick and then rushes to catch up with your finger.

One more thing I think I should mention, playing FLAc or Hi Res FLAC's, I need the volume at a minimum of 50% with the 1Mores (perhaps they need more to drive them, I don't know, I'm not an expert in such matters).

The following things are what 'niggle' me and will keep me searching for a player of similar quality but allow me to use it better:

1 - I can't find any way to save the equalizer to different user settings, so as I change genre's, I either settle for one setting for ALL the genre's I play, or have to play around every time with the 5 band equalizer (which I'd like more than 5 bands depending upon the genre being played).

2 - The battery remaining icon is really tiny and the difference between the chosen black and grey scale colour leaves me never knowing how much power I actually have left, and no other way to determine if I need a recharge for my next outing. I can't tell whether the dark or grey is the charge or empty part. My old Ipod was much better for this I'm sad to say

3 - After playing an album, I must be sure of touching the screen in the right place to go back or I run the risk of mistakingly hitting another tiny icon (like repeat), taking me back to "Now Playing" the album, which I then have to tap the screen again to get back to the 'album' menu choice, which if I'm riding my bike (I know, no need to tell me I should never select music when driving lol), the screen for album art and text goes like my old Ipod (too small), and if I don't select another album quick enough, the screen goes into powersave mode, making me have to turn the power back on that puts me back to the last track played and on a merry-go-round.

4 - To avoid No. 3 above, I can hit the "Home" icon and then I have to select which method of viewing the music to select the next piece/folder/singer/album etc

5 - Tagging is suddenly a headache (& fast becoming my biggest bugbear to date), since I'm very familiar with tagging and have a system for tagging, completing ALL required fields, but dependent upon my choice of Album, Genre, Folder etc I discover the tagging system gets used in different ways (leading me to use the folder structure option more, but that gives me the hassle of No's 3 & 4 above). In Album view, it uses the Album field, meaning if I have more than one album by one group or artist, they will be separated A-Z. So now in my tagging Album field I have to put in the Artist name 1st followed by the year and then the album name. When playing, on the screen below the album art is a thin area that is black turning orange as the time goes from zero to the track end, and in the middle shows track x of y total tracks. Maybe it's my old eyes, the colours or whatever, but again this info is too small. When driving, I want to see this info as big as the track name text, so I know whether to change to another album or not (at the traffic lights since I need to hit the screen 'just right' or I'll not get to hear any music when the green light comes on (traffic light green lol)). So now I need to retag everything for the track name too, to give me track x of y. Since a lot of my music genre choice comes in 'compilation' albums, Song view is a waste of time unless I retag all of these too, and the same applies for Genre (since 1960's RnB is not 2k styled RnB and 1960's Soul is not today's genre of what's called Soul etc) & Artist views.

Funnily enough, despite all the time it took to get high res music onto my old ipod, I didn't have these 'identification & tagging' issues and once an album finished, one click of the old wheel took me back to the Album list & album just played (highlighted I might add to know where I was).

Supposedly, in my mind, the beauty of Android is to have an OS that you can define and control as yours (in opposition to Apple's).

After selecting music/album etc, you must turn off the screen before putting back in your pocket, or the sensitivity of the screen suddenly goes into overdrive.

I have no issues with the build quality of the player or the sound it gives me - excellent. All my issues lie with the OS/UI, and that's a bad thing since it interferes with the reason you pay so much more to buy such players; to play and listen to music in the best quality possible, in a relaxed environment. With the only methods to fully retag each track of each album is to retag each track of each album individually, I'm stressed and starting to think of playing my old Ipod instead. AND, with absolutely no way AK will ever update the firmware for the Jr., my search is back on to find a Hi Res player that works "for me"!!! And that's a shame, because the Jr's sound with the 1More's is pretty much exactly what i want

I hope the above helps another HeadFi member

And I definitely hope AK reads this for the benefit of future AK buyers.

I'm not going into details about how good this player sounds. There are plenty of reviews that will explain it better than I would.
So let's get to the bad stuff.

1. The UI is straight up unusable. I didn't make this video, but it illustrates my experience/frustration with it perfectly:
2. There is a gapless playback switch, but it doesn't work. All it does is make the gaps shorter. I'm not joking. Look it up if you don't believe me.
   
3. This may not be an issue if you don't use IEMs. But with sensitive IEMs, there's a very noticeable background hiss. Comparing to some of the other players I've owned/tried, the background noise of AK Jr is significantly louder than Walkman A35 and FiiO X5 2nd gen.
4. The USB DAP function doesn't work. Well, too much has already been said about this one.
5. This may be the worst part. This player seems to have been abandoned by AK. The latest firmware for this player was released in 2015. There are PLENTY of things that should have been fixed, but they never did. Like lots of other people, I've lost hope at this point. If this is how AK treats its customers, I don't know if I'll buy anything from them ever again.