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Any love for the Activo CT10?
May 20, 2021 at 10:08 PM Post #541 of 609
jhog said:
I have and love my little CT10, it's incredibly good for its size and price. Am tempted to upgrade to the A&K SR25 however, mainly based on the significantly improved battery life, the ability to drive slightly hungrier headphones and a bigger form factor - basically Tidal and Spotify are almost unusable for me on the CT10 because typing is nigh on impossible.

I suspect I'm not alone in pondering this - has anyone else made the switch (or decided against), or sampled both players? Is there going to be any significant SQ improvement?
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No, you are not alone. I thought about upgrading for a long time and did a lot of research. There is little in the way of comparisons, in fact none that I recall, that would tell you whether there will be a substantial increase in quality between the CT10 and the SR25. After contemplating many other less expensive DAPs, one thing I noticed is that there seems far fewer SR25s up for sale on ebay than other models such as those by Fiio and iBasso. Most reviews of other DAPs seem to include a comparision with the SR25. It seems the SR25 could be considered a "gold standard", at least for what they call "entry-level" but is actually mid-level. Anyway, I found an open box unit at Music Direct and took the plunge. What I can tell you is that there is a substantial increase in sound quality. With my Etymotic er3se earbuds, the music seems to surround you. In fact, it was so immersive, I was mesmerized. The sound on the CT10 is wonderful, no doubt and was a great way into Hi-Res. The SR25 is steps above, but the right earbuds help. For some reason my Moondrop Starfields sound better on the CT10, but they don't fit like the Etymotic, so that may account for some of the difference. The SR25 is also just beautiful. It feels like a piece of artwork in your hands compared to the CT10. It is a steep financial upgrade compared to the CT10, but in my opinion, well worth it. I can only imagine how much better the higher end AK units must sound.
 
May 21, 2021 at 4:17 AM Post #542 of 609
bubbles said:
No, you are not alone. I thought about upgrading for a long time and did a lot of research. There is little in the way of comparisons, in fact none that I recall, that would tell you whether there will be a substantial increase in quality between the CT10 and the SR25. After contemplating many other less expensive DAPs, one thing I noticed is that there seems far fewer SR25s up for sale on ebay than other models such as those by Fiio and iBasso. Most reviews of other DAPs seem to include a comparision with the SR25. It seems the SR25 could be considered a "gold standard", at least for what they call "entry-level" but is actually mid-level. Anyway, I found an open box unit at Music Direct and took the plunge. What I can tell you is that there is a substantial increase in sound quality. With my Etymotic er3se earbuds, the music seems to surround you. In fact, it was so immersive, I was mesmerized. The sound on the CT10 is wonderful, no doubt and was a great way into Hi-Res. The SR25 is steps above, but the right earbuds help. For some reason my Moondrop Starfields sound better on the CT10, but they don't fit like the Etymotic, so that may account for some of the difference. The SR25 is also just beautiful. It feels like a piece of artwork in your hands compared to the CT10. It is a steep financial upgrade compared to the CT10, but in my opinion, well worth it. I can only imagine how much better the higher end AK units must sound.
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This is absolutely what I was after, thanks so much for taking the time to write... the increased battery life also feels like a major step forward as well, because if anything annoys me about the CT10, it's the constant need to charge it. I will keep my eyes out for a good deal on the SR25, and am really happy to know how much you are enjoying yours :)
 
Jun 6, 2021 at 5:12 AM Post #543 of 609
desaisankalp said:
Hi all,

I recently bought this DAP. I'm unable to use Tidal or Spotify even after trying all kinds of APK files from apkpure.com. I have been able to somehow login to Apple Music, but before I go and plonk my money on a new Apple Music subscription, I wanted to hear from fellow users of Activo CT10, who might be using Apple Music on this device.

Anyone would like to share their experience?
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I've got Tidal and Spotify apps loaded as per https://us.activostyle.com/blogs/news/open-app-feature-explained
I've not gotten any of the versions on APKPure.com to even work (not even the XAPK with the installer).


Tidal

The latest version I've been able to install is 2.31.0 from https://mobile.softpedia.com/apk/tidal/2.31.0/
Any version after this appears to need an android version higher than the CT10 has.
Installed using the service feature as described on activostyle.com.
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Spotify

Previously following the link from @JasonNYC I was able to download and install this APK directly from spotify.
v8.4.0.539 http://download.spotify.com/android/SpotifyAndroid.apk

However today I've installed the 32bit arm version that is almost the latest release:
v8.6.28.700 arm (NOT arm64) https://mobile.softpedia.com/apk/spotify/8.6.28.700/arm/ :thumbsup:
This release was June 3 2021 so pretty up to date!
The only bug I've found on this is I'm unable to "exit the app" back to services without restarting the CT10. I can now exit from Spotify with Firmware 1.33.

Edit: The latest v8.6.74.1176 version also works https://mobile.softpedia.com/apk/spotify/8.6.74.1176/

All of these versions were installed using the service feature as described on activostyle.com.
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Successfully playing on both, and using both to download to the MicroSD card!
Installed version numbers can be seen here.

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Jun 6, 2021 at 3:39 PM Post #544 of 609
Is there a way to install Amazon Music?
 
Jun 14, 2021 at 4:09 AM Post #547 of 609
Just installed the latest version of last.fm hoping I would be able to scrobble my plays from other apps. Unfortunately when I try to enable last.fm access to device notifications the app crashes.

Doesn't seem like anyone else has had success getting Last.fm scrobbling to work based on previous comments here but I just thought I'd ask. Any insight to this @JasonNYC? The Last.fm app is rather useless without scrobbling capability.

BTW this is with the latest firmware (1.33) installed on my CT10 w/ last.fm apk v 2.4.0.1. Maybe this works with an older last.fm version?
 
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Aug 26, 2021 at 4:46 PM Post #550 of 609
Aug 26, 2021 at 5:29 PM Post #552 of 609
Astell&Kern Stay updated on Astell&Kern at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/astellnkern/ https://twitter.com/astell_kern https://www.instagram.com/astellnkern.official/ https://astellnkern.com astellnkern@astellnkern.com
Aug 26, 2021 at 5:48 PM Post #553 of 609
Aug 27, 2021 at 12:02 PM Post #555 of 609
bismay said:
This doesn't ship to where I am from, and even if it did, it would cost me almost half as much as it did for the CT10 itself. Seems like too much to spend on a PU leather case.
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If you're going to 3d print, what material are u going to use? just curious...
 
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