Brand Spanking New A&K AK120II and AK100II | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

seeteeyou · May 11, 2014 at 4:14 AM

http://www.astellnkern.com/eng/htm/ak100/ak100_2_feature01.asp

    AK100Ⅱ
    Single DAC
    DSD Playback (DSD to PCM)
    Balanced Output
    Wi-Fi MQS Streaming
    MQS Download Store
    64GB internal memory
    microSD card slot
    Optical Out
    USB DAC

http://www.astellnkern.com/eng/htm/ak120/ak120_2_feature01.asp

    AK120Ⅱ
    Dual DAC
    DSD Playback (DSD to PCM)
    Balanced Output
    Wi-Fi MQS Streaming
    MQS Download Store
    128GB internal memory
    microSD card slot
    Optical Out
    USB DAC

Not much about anything new yet, let's wait for more details @ Munich High End 2014

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20140511_647709.html

http://www.phileweb.com/news/audio/201405/11/14441.html

http://vaiopocket.seesaa.net/article/396760291.html

frekedech · May 11, 2014 at 7:46 AM

Impressive!

With AK240:

Levanter · May 11, 2014 at 8:27 AM

Looks just as sexy as the older version.
And looks like it's android based with wifi. Probably going to implement the same MQS streaming as the AK240 to milk more money.
Unfortunately only 1 sd card slot this time.

frekedech · May 11, 2014 at 8:50 AM

But I see no point releasing two models with the same name as the old one with the II variant (AK100mkII anyone?).
Just make an AK240 lil bro, name it AK200, keep classic AK100/AK120 duo in the line up or perhaps discount the price and called it a day.
Safe consumers from confusion

Just my two cents. Cheers!

Levanter · May 11, 2014 at 8:54 AM

frekedech said:
But I see no point releasing two models with the same name as the old one with the II variant (AK100mkII anyone?).
Just make an AK240 lil bro, name it AK200, keep classic AK100/AK120 duo in the line up or perhaps discount the price and called it a day.
Safe consumers from confusion

Just my two cents. Cheers!

I don't think they'll do anything to reduce their cash cow.. i have a feeling the AK100 II will be priced btw the AK100MK2 and AK120 at around $999 while AK120II will be btw AK120 Titan and AK240 at $1799

joshuachew · May 11, 2014 at 10:15 AM

frekedech said:
But I see no point releasing two models with the same name as the old one with the II variant (AK100mkII anyone?).
Just make an AK240 lil bro, name it AK200, keep classic AK100/AK120 duo in the line up or perhaps discount the price and called it a day.
Safe consumers from confusion

Just my two cents. Cheers!

I like his idea.

levanter said:
I don't think they'll do anything to reduce their cash cow.. i have a feeling the AK100 II will be priced btw the AK100MK2 and AK120 at around $999 while AK120II will be btw AK120 Titan and AK240 at $1799

But this seems more likely. Someone needs to tell AK folks that Head-Fi guys don't own a printing business.

frekedech · May 11, 2014 at 11:03 AM

The 7-year financial loss has really driven them to priced their product exorbitantly (in terms of value).
But credit to them pushing the hi-res audio player market and make them trendy again, It's year 2001 all over again!

Bluebear · May 11, 2014 at 1:43 PM

Are they serious? It is even bigger than AK240 in footprint and just as thick and a completely plain and ugly rectangular block look? AK should at least render the edges of the DAPs rounded so that it's more pleasant to look at. The current sharp design look is just jarring.

But at least they are porting the android UI technology features from AK240 down to AK100/120 now. Seems like both are also getting the new 2.5mm TRRS balance out feature.

j-project · May 11, 2014 at 3:59 PM

It looks like the AK100II and AK120II will only have 1 sd slot from the photos? I wonder why they decreased the number of sd cards it can support compared with the previous AK100 and AK120, seems like a weird product decision. Wonder if that's the final design or pre-production.

KT66 · May 11, 2014 at 4:20 PM

I think they look horrible and clunky - part of the appeal of the AK100 was it's shape and size

bmichels · May 11, 2014 at 5:17 PM

Saraguie · May 11, 2014 at 6:24 PM

What don't you people understand about making money? iRiver is a for profit company. They should be trying to maximize the amount of profit they can.
It's not water, food, electricity or air. We do not NEED to own a high end DAP to live well & healthy.
This is the world of business.
Enough of dissing them. Want to whine go someplace else.

SilverEars · May 11, 2014 at 6:31 PM

saraguie said:
What don't you people understand about making money? iRiver is a for profit company. They should be trying to maximize the amount of profit they can.
It's not water, food, electricity or air. We do not NEED to own a high end DAP to live well & healthy.
This is the world of business.
Enough of dissing them. Want to whine go someplace else.

Yes, now a days market for standalone DAP has died from the days of ipod and etc.. because of the insurgence of all capable smartphones. So, there is not a lot of margin for them trying to sell low cost players, so I think they just try to cater to audiophile market and price them ridiculously.

Anybody have the specs of these beasts?

goodvibes · May 11, 2014 at 7:53 PM

bluebear said:
Are they serious? It is even bigger than AK240 in footprint and just as thick and a completely plain and ugly rectangular block look? AK should at least render the edges of the DAPs rounded so that it's more pleasant to look at. The current sharp design look is just jarring.

But at least they are porting the android UI technology features from AK240 down to AK100/120 now. Seems like both are also getting the new 2.5mm TRRS balance out feature.

It will likely have a case.

aLm0sT · May 11, 2014 at 8:21 PM

Looks very interesting. I will be at the Highend show in Munich next week, so I'll definitely check these out. If they have the same UI and functions as the AK240 with the same or improved SQ of the previous versions and sell them at a reasonable price, it may be hard to resist for me.

Latest Thread Images

seeteeyou

Living encyclopedia of product accessories.

frekedech

Head-Fier

Levanter

Headphoneus Supremus

frekedech

Head-Fier

Levanter

Headphoneus Supremus

joshuachew

500+ Head-Fier

frekedech

Head-Fier

Bluebear

100+ Head-Fier

j-project

New Head-Fier

KT66

Headphoneus Supremus

bmichels

Headphoneus Supremus

Saraguie

Headphoneus Supremus

SilverEars

Headphoneus Supremus

goodvibes

Headphoneus Supremus

aLm0sT

100+ Head-Fier

Users who are viewing this thread