[CharlyBrown]

You using the 5K? I have a Dragonfly but it's too much of a power drain on my iPhone (battery life). In fact, that's one of the reasons I got into DAPs, trying to separate my phone from my music listening.

Yes, that is definitely a big pro for a DAP. I have a 5k which has its own battery and now also a Hidizs S9 with AKM chip. And yes, the S9 draws quite some battery but I have the choice now and the display and operation on my iPhone is so damn smooth compared to the SE200 that I decided that I am fine with plugging the phone in 1x during the day.

 

[CharlyBrown]

I read in the SP2000 thread that A&K will support Apple Music and their new lossless offering. That sounds really good. Let’s see what they make out of it.

Looks like Apple Music just moves from being completely ignored by audiophile enthusiasts to the main stage

 

[cj3209]

...Looks like Apple Music just moves from being completely ignored by audiophile enthusiasts to the main stage

LOL...not until ROON has Apple Music, similar to Tidal and Qobuz.

 

[Tristy]

I read in the SP2000 thread that A&K will support Apple Music and their new lossless offering. That sounds really good. Let’s see what they make out of it.

Looks like Apple Music just moves from being completely ignored by audiophile enthusiasts to the main stage

AK haven’t even updated their embedded tidal app yet so I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one.

 

[NCUS]

It's a little strange their embedded apps are Tidal and Deezer. I'm not sure what made them pick those two versus Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Qobuz, etc.

 

[JasonNYC]

It's a little strange their embedded apps are Tidal and Deezer. I'm not sure what made them pick those two versus Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Qobuz, etc.

Deezer designed the embedded app for AK. Tidal, when it was first added in 2017 was the only streaming service doing better than mp3/AAC quality streaming. They did 16/44.1 FLAC. They also provided their apis for AK to create an app for the player.

Qobuz was included in older players like the AK240 when it was only available in select countries in Europe, but then they stopped providing the apis to create embedded apps. They only recently with expansion in the last two years started again. Not sure why AK did not redo the embedded Qobuz app.

Spotify, Amazon and Apple do not provide apis or connectivity for manufacturers to embed apps. All three would rather people use their own apps and connect via a Spotify connect or Apple Airplay.

 

[JasonNYC]

Update on Tidal app:

Thank you for your patience over the last month as Astell&Kern’s engineering and software development teams have been working hard to implement updates to the embedded Tidal app. As this is third-party software that needs to be integrated into more than a dozen different players, it has taken a bit of time to complete and test the updated firmware.

The new firmware is in the final stages of review by our partners and should be available within the next week or two once validated. We will begin rolling out the updated firmware model by model, so we ask that you please be patient as you wait for your model to receive the update. Please follow our social media pages, your regional dealers and distributors for additional updates on the firmware release.

More information can be found here - https://www.astellnkern.com/eng/con...ew.asp?search=&word=&idx=1000718&page=1&no=55

Thank you again for being part of the Astell&Kern family.

 

[Vincentaria]

Update on Tidal app:

Thank you for your patience over the last month as Astell&Kern’s engineering and software development teams have been working hard to implement updates to the embedded Tidal app. As this is third-party software that needs to be integrated into more than a dozen different players, it has taken a bit of time to complete and test the updated firmware.

The new firmware is in the final stages of review by our partners and should be available within the next week or two once validated. We will begin rolling out the updated firmware model by model, so we ask that you please be patient as you wait for your model to receive the update. Please follow our social media pages, your regional dealers and distributors for additional updates on the firmware release.

More information can be found here - https://www.astellnkern.com/eng/con...ew.asp?search=&word=&idx=1000718&page=1&no=55

Thank you again for being part of the Astell&Kern family.

Hi Jason, in case my question is overlooked in another post, I'd like to know if AK will add new functions like BT sink/sync and AK File Drop on SE180 to previous models like SE200 and SP2000? I believe these are software level functions, like SONY NW-ZX300A originally doesn't support BT Sync (Two way Bluetooth communication) function and they pushed firmware update to add this function later for this model.

 

[JasonNYC]

Hi Jason, in case my question is overlooked in another post, I'd like to know if AK will add new functions like BT sink/sync and AK File Drop on SE180 to previous models like SE200 and SP2000? I believe these are software level functions, like SONY NW-ZX300A originally doesn't support BT Sync (Two way Bluetooth communication) function and they pushed firmware update to add this function later for this model.

I apologize, I did miss your previous post. Not sure what new features from the SE180 will be added to the SE200. Right now, all software development is focused on resolving the Tidal issues.

 

[NewEve]

Hello everyone,

Anyone here got to compare the SE200 with Shanling's M6 Pro, especially using the M6 Pro in single-DAC mode?

Thanks in advance

 

[Nace]

I know what you mean but I am sure that the future SE180 buyers are going to me guinea pigs as well. The SE180 will also be a MVP regarding the software, it will pretty much have the same drawbacks, sideloaded apps, quirky baked in A&K Tidal, slow / bad / “if at all“ customer support.

I personally would only envy the SE180 if it solved these problems. That would *** me off.

The tiny hardware improvements (if any) don’t make me care. Femto clock. I have it in my RME ADI DAC FS (FS = Femto Second). I don’t hear any difference vs. anything else. It’s marketing hype, as always. Just like the rest like interchangeable modules. Hype train, I’m not gonna ride it.

Instead of releasing new DAPs every 6 - 12 months they should make much more pace improving the software and support.

It still has the same issue with sideloading apps; still no offline downloads on included Tidal

 

[blotmouse]

still no offline downloads on included Tidal

Tidal does not allow downloading outside their protected app. Until Tidal changes that, no one will be able to offer this, unfortunately.

 

[Nace]

Tidal does not allow downloading outside their protected app. Until Tidal changes that, no one will be able to offer this, unfortunately.

Apparently the sideloaded Tidal can do offline downloads just fine, same with Qobuz

 

[Nace]

Thanks both for impressions.

R8 software is indeed almost flawless. Though i think it has a moderate hardware QC issue. So not sure about working longer.
My unit is acceptable. One thing can really annoy is sensitivity to RFI. I also had some persistent reboot problem but it went away almost completely and does not bother me anymore.

Volume knob is really not the pride of dap. It sometimes takes few tries to make it react.
And ports at the base dont help for sure. As i need to reach down into pocket.

se200 wins hands down on portability. Except for potentially many broken cables due to 2.5mm jack in the pocket. Cant forget my experience with that.

Feature wise. I will be honest. I dont use any dap for anything but streaming and on board music listening. So this is not a problem if dap is stripped down of most smartphone features. Though streaming must be hicup free for me.

I will be giving it a try next week most likely, see how it feels and sounds. Who knows, it might change my mind over R8.

Keep us updated! I'm between the SE180 and R8 right now, gonna give the SE180 a little more time for consumer feedback before I pull the trigger on either.

 

[Nace]

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.

How does the M8 handle apps? Is it fully supportive like the Hiby R8 and rid of any sideloading like A&K? Also with Android 7.1... how does it hold up in terms of interface and speed?