Astell&Kern A&ultima SP3000

[Progisus]

AK has set their priority on sound which they delivered and why I bought it. All the sideload apps can have effect on the sound and need integration for best sound. See my post re MQA and DAR above. AK has chosen to limit these apps in order to keep control of their sound.

 

[hAbIrAbI]

So…, Astell could do same thing….

If I understand Jason's statement correctly ARC puts out the file at normal Android sampling rate (48/16?) and then ibasso upsamples that to 768/24. How is resampling twice better than once?

 

[arftech]

AK has set their priority on sound which they delivered and why I bought it. All the sideload apps can have effect on the sound and need integration for best sound. See my post re MQA and DAR above. AK has chosen to limit these apps in order to keep control of their sound.

I just want the sound quality of the SP3k. The full implementation of Android means nothing to me on a DAP and as a matter of fact I don’t even like Android.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Well done

Thanks

I'm with you on this one...Since I sold my SE100 I had and heard many other DAPS, from low to high end, and none of them delivered what SP3k did (Sound, design and usability)

Always said that and will repeat...AK is still the best Android implementation for a DAP. I don't want an Android phone, I want a DAP that can have Streaming Apps.

I honestly, never experienced any of the SW issues anyone mentioned. maybe because I only use Apple Music and Tidal.

So SP3K is here to stay for the foreseeable future, for sure.


PS.: I understand people's frustrations... I had many before... I hope you find/sort your gig.

My new SP3000 is now set up and ready to go. It takes a while for me because I'm "All-In": Local files that need to be uploaded, Apple Music High Res, Spotify, Tidal - and I store my most important playlist locally which takes some time to download.

First (very positive) impressions:

It's weird and possibly expectation bias or whatever. But the SP3000 does sound better to me. Strange, I'm really in team science, but soundstage on my Odins really sucks on my Shanling. But with the SP3000 it is much better. Why?!?

Also, overall sound. Everything sounds just lovely.

Most importantly, I had a really ugly issue with my first SP3000. It rebooted as soon as I opened a streaming app like Apple Music while the DAP was connected to USB-C power or computer. This is not the case with my new one, I'm really relieved!!

Either it is because of a new FW (when was the last update, I had the first SP3000 early December) or the first unit was indeed faulty.

Nevermind, really happy now, everything that's important for me works!

 

[godlikegamer]

I just want the sound quality of the SP3k. The full implementation of Android means nothing to me on a DAP and as a matter of fact I don’t even like Android.

Market now is being spoiled by china counterpart brands like Fiio that have full/near full android, so they will expect such high price dap will do the same (cant wait they get their hands on LP)...

 

[NYanakiev]

Aliexpress silicone case has arrived. Instant win!

 

[NYanakiev]

Market now is being spoiled by china counterpart brands like Fiio that have full/near full android, so they will expect such high price dap will do the same (cant wait they get their hands on LP)...

Totally.
No matter how good A&K DAPs sound and feel, I wouldn't be back for round two after sp2k if there was no native Roon endpoint support.

However, one can only hope that Astell&Kern will try and go in the direction of the wider market sooner, rather than later. It is no longer enough to have a good looking and excellent sounding product when the competition is doing that and more at a lower price point.

 

[Kobe4ever]

È arrivata la custodia in silicone di Aliexpress. Vincita istantanea!

Aliexpress silicone case has arrived. Instant win!

I prefer the leather case, because it's very elegant and because it gives a good grip in my hands

 

[uncle b]

Aliexpress silicone case has arrived. Instant win!

Could you show a photo or two of the front (and sides) of the player with the case on? Thanks!

 

[uncle b]

I feel like my definition and/or expectations of a flagship DAP are maybe not in line with the current market. When I purchased the SP3000, my expectations leaned more to acquiring the highest-quality sound, along with a good, solid UI and software in a luxurious package. Maybe that doesn’t excite the market, but I didn’t (and still don’t) care at all about streaming services, apps, or a browser. I understand the appeal of those features, but I don’t think those are essential in a flagship, IMHO. I remember not many years ago, the death knell was being signaled for “music-specific” DAP’s, due to the “do-everything” phones!

 

[CharlyBrown]

I feel like my definition and/or expectations of a flagship DAP are maybe not in line with the current market. When I purchased the SP3000, my expectations leaned more to acquiring the highest-quality sound, along with a good, solid UI and software in a luxurious package. Maybe that doesn’t excite the market, but I didn’t (and still don’t) care at all about streaming services, apps, or a browser. I understand the appeal of those features, but I don’t think those are essential in a flagship, IMHO. I remember not many years ago, the death knell was being signaled for “music-specific” DAP’s, due to the “do-everything” phones!

I dare to extend your expectations a little bit with my expectations, if that's ok.

I also don't need or even want a full Android "experience". I've been a die-hard Apple user since 2008 for iPhone and 2003 for iPod. Never liked Android at all.

My expectation from a flagship DAP is just like yours, a luxury package with great sound, power and a beautiful UI. But for me, in 2023, a DAP without streaming services would be worthless. Absolutely worthless.

I counted my (manually managed) discovery playlists from Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify from end November until today and there are whooping 234 newly discovered songs in this timeframe alone. I am using a great sync-service (tunemymusic), so every playlist exists in all three services all the time (synced daily and automatically) and I get (High-Res) lossless for pretty much every song + I save my favorite and new-songs playlists locally to be independent from wifi coverage.

I can't see any fact that speaks against the use of streaming services, absolutely not. Only the opposite.

For the rest - email client, twitter and all the noisemakers and 'frustration-bringers' - I don't want them on my music device. That's why I follow Astell & Kerns approach 100%. They nailed it for me now with being completely music focussed but still offering seamless usage of streaming services with pre-checked versions and leaving out the distractions that are possible with full Android.

 

[wj18]

I dare to extend your expectations a little bit with my expectations, if that's ok.

I also don't need or even want a full Android "experience". I've been a die-hard Apple user since 2008 for iPhone and 2003 for iPod. Never liked Android at all.

My expectation from a flagship DAP is just like yours, a luxury package with great sound, power and a beautiful UI. But for me, in 2023, a DAP without streaming services would be worthless. Absolutely worthless.

I counted my (manually managed) discovery playlists from Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify from end November until today and there are whooping 234 newly discovered songs in this timeframe alone. I am using a great sync-service (tunemymusic), so every playlist exists in all three services all the time (synced daily and automatically) and I get (High-Res) lossless for pretty much every song + I save my favorite and new-songs playlists locally to be independent from wifi coverage.

I can't see any fact that speaks against the use of streaming services, absolutely not. Only the opposite.

For the rest - email client, twitter and all the noisemakers and 'frustration-bringers' - I don't want them on my music device. That's why I follow Astell & Kerns approach 100%. They nailed it for me now with being completely music focussed but still offering seamless usage of streaming services with pre-checked versions and leaving out the distractions that are possible with full Android.

I totally agree even further, I bought my flagship DAP with only 3 expectations, Nirvana music quality, impeccable and innovative build quality and seamless streaming, all my music is downloads from Tidal streaming service and I don't have any bought albums, furthermore I would never pollute my DAP with Android apps - what's the point when any phone does that, a DAP should instead free us from the strangulating octopus tentacles of social media, so if my flagship DAP hadn't had Tidal (or any other streaming app) I wouldn't have bought it, my only gamble is that streaming services last longer than I do but then any choice in life is a gamble!

 

[Utah dude]

I totally agree even further, I bought my flagship DAP with only 3 expectations, Nirvana music quality, impeccable and innovative build quality and seamless streaming, all my music is downloads from Tidal streaming service and I don't have any bought albums, furthermore I would never pollute my DAP with Android apps - what's the point when any phone does that, a DAP should instead free us from the strangulating octopus tentacles of social media, so if my flagship DAP hadn't had Tidal (or any other streaming app) I wouldn't have bought it, my only gamble is that streaming services last longer than I do but then any choice in life is a gamble!

I am with you. I want my DAP to sound fantastic, which the SP3000 does in spades and I want it to be well built, and AK knocked it out of the park for me. I do like the heft of it actually. Streaming is a big plus, but secondary to me as is the software, which I think is reasonable. The last 2 items can be fixed / improved with software updates, the first 2 cannot. While there are certainly quirks in the software and some missing functionality, all the important stuff works and Roon ARC is awesome. I personally do not want anything not music related on my DAP.

 

[uncle b]

I dare to extend your expectations a little bit with my expectations, if that's ok.

I also don't need or even want a full Android "experience". I've been a die-hard Apple user since 2008 for iPhone and 2003 for iPod. Never liked Android at all.

My expectation from a flagship DAP is just like yours, a luxury package with great sound, power and a beautiful UI. But for me, in 2023, a DAP without streaming services would be worthless. Absolutely worthless.

I counted my (manually managed) discovery playlists from Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify from end November until today and there are whooping 234 newly discovered songs in this timeframe alone. I am using a great sync-service (tunemymusic), so every playlist exists in all three services all the time (synced daily and automatically) and I get (High-Res) lossless for pretty much every song + I save my favorite and new-songs playlists locally to be independent from wifi coverage.

I can't see any fact that speaks against the use of streaming services, absolutely not. Only the opposite.

For the rest - email client, twitter and all the noisemakers and 'frustration-bringers' - I don't want them on my music device. That's why I follow Astell & Kerns approach 100%. They nailed it for me now with being completely music focussed but still offering seamless usage of streaming services with pre-checked versions and leaving out the distractions that are possible with full Android.

I hear ya! I guess I should preface things with I personally have no interest in streaming, I have a huge library of music that I have collected and continue to collect to this day. I totally am respectful of your (and so many others) interest and preference in streaming.

 

[Benesyed]

I have streaming and a growing music library. I find streaming a good way to sample a lot of songs and then pick what ultimately makes its way into my permanent collection so to speak.

I'm not sure I fully understand what people's criticisms are of the AK 3000. from what I understand it has a pretty responsive implementation of streaming services. What other capabilities do you want from your music player.

I ultimately went with the Sony because of the battery life benefit and I like the Sony sound signature.