Build & Usage:
Good looking, very nice feeling player, it looks like a really sold build, and it's an all-metal construction. Not much to say about it, you can check pictures. I wasn't satisfied with the overall usage of the player because of quite a few flaws. The screen isn't so good both when it comes to viewing angles, colors and resolution, it is sufficient, but again, for this kind of money (~700$) more is expected in every segment, including that. It's also a touch screen (2.4 inches 320 x 240), and it's quite small for that, especially if you have thick fingers (and most of the people interested in audio things are men, that have larger fingers than women so...). It's fairly responsive but not nearly as responsive as an average smartphone or iPod touch for example, not nearly like that but it's ok; it's responsive.
Now one of the biggest flaws with usage was that volume wheel on the side. It's ridiculous. It's so badly designed it's unbelievable. It sticks out in a really bad way, so it's fairly easy to damage it while putting the player in a pocket that volume wheel is always bugged outside of pocket so you need to put it inside carefully. It's also so sensitive that volume will adjust itself by accident inside pocket, which can be truly frustrating (when you are placing it in the pocket it will adjust as you push it down your pocket). It's really badly thought out and even tho they fixed it with the AK120 (those shields next to the volume wheel) that doesn't make the life of AK100 any easier! It's a disaster in my opinion, especially for this kind of money. You can turn off volume wheel feedback in settings but then you will just have useless wheel sticking out of the right side of player that is not doing anything. Big flaw!
The user interface is decent, for that small screen it couldn't be much better, again it's not really fast UI (I found FiiO X3 user interface to be less laggy than AK100 for example) but it's ok, you are going to listen to music anyways, who cares if it's a bit slow while changing song, not a big deal but again, for this kind of money you expect something a bit faster. This is nowhere near iPods (classic or any other) or smartphones.
It also uses 2000 mAh battery, I didn't get battery life nearly as stated (up to 16 hours) but it wasn't bad, surely it will last a bit more than using a smartphone for music.
Sound & Comparisons:
It sounds good, no distortions on high volumes, no hiss on low volumes and runs good with all kinds of headphones, but then again, if you have some really hard to drive, you might need an external amp, tho it's not that different from other similar portable players. It uses Wolfson WM8470 DAC, which is fine, a good DAC. But the problem is to me THE SAME sounding FiiO X3 has the same DAC, that very same Wolfson DAC and it costs over two times less, which is... hard to find the word! Honestly, there isn't much if any difference with this player or any decent smartphone (iPhone for example) if you use low impedance easy to drive earphones (like I do, IE80) but if you try to drive something harder to drive it certainly outdoes the smartphone. The good thing is that it has two micro SD card slots, which is rarely seen with players (even the latest Astell & Kern ones have one slot).
Summary:
Honestly, not worth it. Yes, it sounds good and looks good but the flaws are way too big, price is way too high and the competition is way too good. For literally over half the money, there are the likes of FiiO X3 with the same performance and even exact same DAC but with fewer design flaws (such as frustrating useless volume wheel and somewhat slow UI). Let alone that for the money you can get new FiiO X3 second generation and have left for mid - high end 400$ headphones/earphones, or X5, which is maybe an even better option. My conclusion is that this is an overpriced product not nearly worth the trouble and hype. Some people are sold by nice and shiny aluminum built and "premium" feel but not me. I've returned mine and bought FiiO X3, and I'm more than happy with my decision. Don't get me wrong, it's overall a decent product, it's a good player, very nicely built and good looking, with sound to back that up but for the price it's unbelievable. Not worth even half of it.
Good looking, very nice feeling player, it looks like a really sold build, and it's an all-metal construction. Not much to say about it, you can check pictures. I wasn't satisfied with the overall usage of the player because of quite a few flaws. The screen isn't so good both when it comes to viewing angles, colors and resolution, it is sufficient, but again, for this kind of money (~700$) more is expected in every segment, including that. It's also a touch screen (2.4 inches 320 x 240), and it's quite small for that, especially if you have thick fingers (and most of the people interested in audio things are men, that have larger fingers than women so...). It's fairly responsive but not nearly as responsive as an average smartphone or iPod touch for example, not nearly like that but it's ok; it's responsive.
Now one of the biggest flaws with usage was that volume wheel on the side. It's ridiculous. It's so badly designed it's unbelievable. It sticks out in a really bad way, so it's fairly easy to damage it while putting the player in a pocket that volume wheel is always bugged outside of pocket so you need to put it inside carefully. It's also so sensitive that volume will adjust itself by accident inside pocket, which can be truly frustrating (when you are placing it in the pocket it will adjust as you push it down your pocket). It's really badly thought out and even tho they fixed it with the AK120 (those shields next to the volume wheel) that doesn't make the life of AK100 any easier! It's a disaster in my opinion, especially for this kind of money. You can turn off volume wheel feedback in settings but then you will just have useless wheel sticking out of the right side of player that is not doing anything. Big flaw!
The user interface is decent, for that small screen it couldn't be much better, again it's not really fast UI (I found FiiO X3 user interface to be less laggy than AK100 for example) but it's ok, you are going to listen to music anyways, who cares if it's a bit slow while changing song, not a big deal but again, for this kind of money you expect something a bit faster. This is nowhere near iPods (classic or any other) or smartphones.
It also uses 2000 mAh battery, I didn't get battery life nearly as stated (up to 16 hours) but it wasn't bad, surely it will last a bit more than using a smartphone for music.
Sound & Comparisons:
It sounds good, no distortions on high volumes, no hiss on low volumes and runs good with all kinds of headphones, but then again, if you have some really hard to drive, you might need an external amp, tho it's not that different from other similar portable players. It uses Wolfson WM8470 DAC, which is fine, a good DAC. But the problem is to me THE SAME sounding FiiO X3 has the same DAC, that very same Wolfson DAC and it costs over two times less, which is... hard to find the word! Honestly, there isn't much if any difference with this player or any decent smartphone (iPhone for example) if you use low impedance easy to drive earphones (like I do, IE80) but if you try to drive something harder to drive it certainly outdoes the smartphone. The good thing is that it has two micro SD card slots, which is rarely seen with players (even the latest Astell & Kern ones have one slot).
Summary:
Honestly, not worth it. Yes, it sounds good and looks good but the flaws are way too big, price is way too high and the competition is way too good. For literally over half the money, there are the likes of FiiO X3 with the same performance and even exact same DAC but with fewer design flaws (such as frustrating useless volume wheel and somewhat slow UI). Let alone that for the money you can get new FiiO X3 second generation and have left for mid - high end 400$ headphones/earphones, or X5, which is maybe an even better option. My conclusion is that this is an overpriced product not nearly worth the trouble and hype. Some people are sold by nice and shiny aluminum built and "premium" feel but not me. I've returned mine and bought FiiO X3, and I'm more than happy with my decision. Don't get me wrong, it's overall a decent product, it's a good player, very nicely built and good looking, with sound to back that up but for the price it's unbelievable. Not worth even half of it.
