[szore]

I have the SE200 and the M8. The SE200 doesn’t get much playtime from me, honestly. Had a few firmware’s and sound was not too altered between them if you control your filters. Depends on what you’d be wanting it for? Its smaller, more pocketable, less battery to charge, stable, etc. If you have an opportunity, take another look, but strictly on sound quality, the SE200 is not competitive to the M8 to my ears. It gets all the rough outlines right, but is outclassed by the details and timbre reproduction’s of the M8. The AKM side of the SE200 needs to have an ESS side, the M8 seems to handle everything you give it.

I agree. No, I'm done with A&K, at least for now. For a few years i was really into their house sound; detailed neautral. But now that I discovered the M8, I like Shanlings sound much better. I'm fantasizing about getting the M30, but that would cost 2 months of fun money....Thats a significant investment for me...

 

[szore]

I have the SE200 and the M8. The SE200 doesn’t get much playtime from me, honestly. Had a few firmware’s and sound was not too altered between them if you control your filters. Depends on what you’d be wanting it for? Its smaller, more pocketable, less battery to charge, stable, etc. If you have an opportunity, take another look, but strictly on sound quality, the SE200 is not competitive to the M8 to my ears. It gets all the rough outlines right, but is outclassed by the details and timbre reproduction’s of the M8. The AKM side of the SE200 needs to have an ESS side, the M8 seems to handle everything you give it.

Well, I was never interested in getting it, but as a A&K fanboy I was keen to try it. But it just sounded like they boosted the treble and boosted the bass, and that was it... I was shocked. But then, a few weeks later I bought the SR25, and I was surprised at how good it was.

 

[CharlyBrown]

No, It Is not included, with the original case You have to pay Attention if You want to use a 4.4 Adapter, the pw one don't fit through the cutout for example, don't know the others.

The case from miter has the upper side of the player completely free, but It Is pu leather...

The DDHifi 4.4mm adapter works perfectly together with the SE200 and also with the A&K case for the SE200. I think the Miter case would be the perfect solution if it was made of real leather. The pu stuff is too plasticy imo.

 

[Tristy]

Good luck with the H2. I sold it after comparing it to the AK SP1000; too sterile for me which is typical Chord house sound (IMHO); I also had the Mojo. I like the company though.

I’ve had the mojo before... the sound was anything but sterile to my ears? If anything it was overly warm haha.

 

[CharlyBrown]

I’ve had the mojo before... the sound was anything but sterile to my ears? If anything it was overly warm haha.

Everybody interprets their own 2c into the gear. As long as the technology is implemented well and enough power is available all good, the rest is pure psychology. Power and good implementation require not spending of thousands of dollars.

e.g. Funny how many M8 owners are currently raving over the DAP, it’s like they’re immune to Corona but infected by the Shanling virus lol. I bet 5 bucks they all can’t distinguish it from most other DAPs, playing the same source file and volume matched in a blind test. Might be that a specific tuning changes the outcome in little nuances. But how would it be possible that these changes match nicely each and every track played? Highly unlikely in my books.

Confirmation bias, expectation bias. That’s also why super expensive cables always only _improve_ the sound. Never would a 1000$ cable narrow the soundstage or losen the bass

I wouldn’t play, my audiophile life is expensive enough without that „fun“ that only drops you into the rabbit whole of never being satisfied and shell out more and more money chasing the impossible.

 

[fmkuz]

Well, I was never interested in getting it, but as a A&K fanboy I was keen to try it. But it just sounded like they boosted the treble and boosted the bass, and that was it... I was shocked. But then, a few weeks later I bought the SR25, and I was surprised at how good it was.

Really? I bought a SR25 I was really disappointed. Highs bad defined and weak, Qudelix 5K sounds a lot better with my OnePlus7pro over usb-c. I was using my Andromeda 2020.

 

[Skullar]

e.g. Funny how many M8 owners are currently raving over the DAP, it’s like they’re immune to Corona but infected by the Shanling virus lol. I bet 5 bucks they all can’t distinguish it from most other DAPs, playing the same source file and volume matched in a blind test.

I've heard this many times. But actually on the contrary, i find it surprising how people can NOT tell the difference between daps.
Difference for me is relatively big, as a whole picture i mean. Between some daps more than others.
But then big factor will be Synergy. Ans this is where it all can get tricky. I usually dont own more than 2 iems at the time so i dont get try try many varios synergies. But at the same time i know quite well what changes different daps introduce to my iems.

 

[NCUS]

Yes. The AKM side of the SE200 clearly sounds different to the ESS. So it's logical to assume DAPs can sound very different. The M8 is huge and seems to have some manufacturing problems, which eliminated it from my consideration.

 

[Tristy]

I wonder if the M8 is having similar issues with its tidal app? I’m not sure if it comes preinstalled with the app so maybe not... I believe it runs a pretty old version of Android though.

 

[SMOoth Operator]

I wonder if the M8 is having similar issues with its tidal app? I’m not sure if it comes preinstalled with the app so maybe not... I believe it runs a pretty old version of Android though.

Tidal app is working fine on the M8. I use it every day since A&K sh!t the bed...

 

[SMOoth Operator]

Hi there, I'm sorry. Yes, I returned the 2000 on Amazon right when the virus hit last year, and everything was crazy. I decided to pool my resources. Honestly, I loved the 2000, but I think i would get the SS instead of the cu...Anyway, I got the SR25 out of curiosity, (because I used to own the SR15, but lost it when I left it on a bar top in Manahattan) but then I bought the SP1000M blue (2nd time I owned it) (before that I had the SE100)...But now I am the proud owner of the M8. Dual 99 Dacs, and it sounds amazing. 1 user on the forum at least, who owns both, said the M8 was better than the 2000. Now of course that's a subjective opinion. But I think the consensus is that the 2000 has the better sound stage and perhaps imaging, but the M8 has better layering, and musicality, as well as highly detailed.

The SE200 on AKM side is 95% of what the SP2000 is, but to me the M8 is far superior to the AKM side of either A&K. I must admit I do like the ESS side though, it is unique for softer sounding genras. The SE200 has such a different voicing compared to the M8, it is fun if you like tweaking sound for different genras and really is like having two DAP's in one. But the M8 IMO stomps the crap out of everything A&K makes, but that is because I like its ballsy,, warm, weightiness. Someone who wants a more mid/treble liquid focused sound would like the SE200 better. They are just so different in voicing.

 

[Mightygrey]

Well, I was never interested in getting it, but as a A&K fanboy I was keen to try it. But it just sounded like they boosted the treble and boosted the bass, and that was it... I was shocked. But then, a few weeks later I bought the SR25, and I was surprised at how good it was.

The great sound and added portability of the SR25 makes it a much more usable daily driver to me than the SE200.

 

[CharlyBrown]

The SE200 on AKM side is 95% of what the SP2000 is, but to me the M8 is far superior to the AKM side of either A&K. I must admit I do like the ESS side though, it is unique for softer sounding genras. The SE200 has such a different voicing compared to the M8, it is fun if you like tweaking sound for different genras and really is like having two DAP's in one. But the M8 IMO stomps the crap out of everything A&K makes, but that is because I like its ballsy,, warm, weightiness. Someone who wants a more mid/treble liquid focused sound would like the SE200 better. They are just so different in voicing.

If that’s true I definitely own the right DAP. My IEMs deliver the perfect amount of bass, no need to emphasize that part of the spectrum haha.

Guys, please take 1 thing into account. The AKM side is much louder than the ESS side of the SE200. Difference is about 7 volume steps!

In a blind test with 2 equal devices, equal source etc where 1 device was only 0.2 - 1db louder listeners found the louder device much better! I bet nobody here really performs a good and valid A/B test, sorry. Even streaming services etc. have different volume. That’s why the exact same song might sound better in the “louder“ service.

I know, nobody wants to hear that on head-fi

 

[SMOoth Operator]

Since @JasonNYC is not answering, does anybody know what day in May the embedded Tidal fix is suppose to roll out??

 

[CharlyBrown]

Since @JasonNYC is not answering, does anybody know what day in May the embedded Tidal fix is suppose to roll out??

I guess the old Blizzard rule comes into play here: When it’s done. And nobody outside of A&K knows that and probably not even they do (I mean the exact date, could always be it takes another loop after QA and will be released some days after the original planned date. That would be perfectly normal. I work in the IT/Software/DevOps industry…).