Astell&Kern A&ultima SP3000

[Kiwimac]

After a few days of listening to this amazing device through my Focal Clears, I’ve got to say it really is an extraordinary thing.

The ability to take upper end hifi quality anywhere you like is tremendous.

The Clear is overall very pleasing and seems to deliver most aspects of the sound very well. I like the general tone.

I might wish for a larger sound stage and a little more detail if anything but I’m not sure which reasonably priced headphones would deliver that. Any suggestions welcome.

Ideally closed back.

 

[Joebas]

After a few days of listening to this amazing device through my Focal Clears, I’ve got to say it really is an extraordinary thing.

The ability to take upper end hifi quality anywhere you like is tremendous.

The Clear is overall very pleasing and seems to deliver most aspects of the sound very well. I like the general tone.

I might wish for a larger sound stage and a little more detail if anything but I’m not sure which reasonably priced headphones would deliver that. Any suggestions welcome.

Ideally closed back.

I listen the SP3000 with the Focal Stellia headphones. They are closed back and sounds AMAZING. But are not reasonably priced!

 

[Caruryn]

It doesn't have bigger soundstage though.

 

[nfandi]

After a few days of listening to this amazing device through my Focal Clears, I’ve got to say it really is an extraordinary thing.

The ability to take upper end hifi quality anywhere you like is tremendous.

The Clear is overall very pleasing and seems to deliver most aspects of the sound very well. I like the general tone.

I might wish for a larger sound stage and a little more detail if anything but I’m not sure which reasonably priced headphones would deliver that. Any suggestions welcome.

Ideally closed back.

Hi Kiwi,

As I said before your obvious candidate for more detail is the Utopia or Nutopia. More recently the Composer is supposed to be very good with the SP3K and is about half the price of a new Nutopia. But, of course, they’re both open backs. I’m not up to date with any recent developments in the world of closed backs but when I used my SP2K I tried the Meze Liric, the ZMF VC and the Stellia. I think it was an unfair test because the Stellia was fresh out of the box and sounded very closed-in compared to the other two. The Liric was nice sounding but I descrided it as sounding as though the drummer and bass player were half asleep, it didn’t do anything for me from a rhythmic point of view. So I chose the VC as sounding the best for me. It continues to sound good now that I’m using it with the SP3K. I’m thinking if it‘s for life in the motor home then an IEM is more practical in terms of size and weight; but are you asking about closed-backs because of issues you’re having with the ie900?

 

[Petercalv18]

Has anyone tried using a 1.5TB card with the SP3000? SanDisk are now selling this size on Amazon, but I want to make sure it is compatible first.

 

[nfandi]

Has anyone tried using a 1.5TB card with the SP3000? SanDisk are now selling this size on Amazon, but I want to make sure it is compatible first.

Confirmed by Jason just 2 pages earlier in this thread. There’s a useful search facility in every thread.

 

[Petercalv18]

Apologies, I missed that post.

 

[nfandi]

Apologies, I missed that post.

None needed.

 

[Kiwimac]

Hi Kiwi,

As I said before your obvious candidate for more detail is the Utopia or Nutopia. More recently the Composer is supposed to be very good with the SP3K and is about half the price of a new Nutopia. But, of course, they’re both open backs. I’m not up to date with any recent developments in the world of closed backs but when I used my SP2K I tried the Meze Liric, the ZMF VC and the Stellia. I think it was an unfair test because the Stellia was fresh out of the box and sounded very closed-in compared to the other two. The Liric was nice sounding but I descrided it as sounding as though the drummer and bass player were half asleep, it didn’t do anything for me from a rhythmic point of view. So I chose the VC as sounding the best for me. It continues to sound good now that I’m using it with the SP3K. I’m thinking if it‘s for life in the motor home then an IEM is more practical in terms of size and weight; but are you asking about closed-backs because of issues you’re having with the ie900?

Partially due to the fact that I’ve never liked any form of iem from Apple AirPods upwards. I’ve got almost unused Shures somewhere, almost unused AirPods etc etc.

The only way I think iems will ever suit me is if they’re custom fitted. Otherwise they just aren’t comfortable enough for me to enjoy the music and that’s what this is all about, after all!

I was listening to the Clears last night in the lounge with the air conditioning on and realised that even the relatively quiet background of the a/c was intrusive, so given that camp sites often aren’t silent also, I’m thinking closed will just work in that situation better.
Edit: Focal seem to be pretty unavailable here in NZ now. There’s a few left over pairs of the lower echelon models here and there but very little.

Denon 9200 is available. $1999
HD 820 $3500
ZMF VC $5000

 

[JasonNYC]

Has anyone tried using a 1.5TB card with the SP3000? SanDisk are now selling this size on Amazon, but I want to make sure it is compatible first.

Per my post a few days ago, officially tested and confirmed no issues - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astell-kern-a-ultima-sp3000.965000/post-17949673

 

[Aurimasx]

Hello, i do have a question about buying second hand unit, is there a way to check age of the unit and hours played

 

[HeavenlyD]

Hello, i do have a question about buying second hand unit, is there a way to check age of the unit and hours played

I’ll send you pm as just going to advertise mine, 1 month old after buying a Cayin N30LE today.
Will be in classified in the next 2 days.

 

[nfandi]

Partially due to the fact that I’ve never liked any form of iem from Apple AirPods upwards. I’ve got almost unused Shures somewhere, almost unused AirPods etc etc.

The only way I think iems will ever suit me is if they’re custom fitted. Otherwise they just aren’t comfortable enough for me to enjoy the music and that’s what this is all about, after all!

I was listening to the Clears last night in the lounge with the air conditioning on and realised that even the relatively quiet background of the a/c was intrusive, so given that camp sites often aren’t silent also, I’m thinking closed will just work in that situation better.
Edit: Focal seem to be pretty unavailable here in NZ now. There’s a few left over pairs of the lower echelon models here and there but very little.

Denon 9200 is available. $1999
HD 820 $3500
ZMF VC $5000

Hi Kiwi
The Denon seems to be popular and has a lot of positive reviews, but as usual we all have our own unique HRTF and so the usual precautions remain. Also are Amazon fully active in Kiwiland? The Denons are available from Amazon and are therefore subject to their usual returns policy. Soundstage is an interesting one that I’ve been reading about recently. Apparently it’s just an illusion brought about by manipulation of the frequency response, unless it’s either a binaural recording or one where the engineer has been very careful to portray real depth and width in the recording itself. Focals are known to have a narrow soundstage compared to some others but they have very good imaging within that soundstage. Are you able to tap into the second hand market in Australia by any chance? A second hand Stellia could possibly be your best option. Those Senn and ZMF prices look way too much to me. Looks to me that whatever you get you will not be blessed with much after-sales support.

 

[Kiwimac]

Hi Kiwi
The Denon seems to be popular and has a lot of positive reviews, but as usual we all have our own unique HRTF and so the usual precautions remain. Also are Amazon fully active in Kiwiland? The Denons are available from Amazon and are therefore subject to their usual returns policy. Soundstage is an interesting one that I’ve been reading about recently. Apparently it’s just an illusion brought about by manipulation of the frequency response, unless it’s either a binaural recording or one where the engineer has been very careful to portray real depth and width in the recording itself. Focals are known to have a narrow soundstage compared to some others but they have very good imaging within that soundstage. Are you able to tap into the second hand market in Australia by any chance? A second hand Stellia could possibly be your best option. Those Senn and ZMF prices look way too much to me. Looks to me that whatever you get you will not be blessed with much after-sales support.

Amazon works yes although in terms of returns, shipping is now verging on extortion between RoW and NZ.

For example I have a custom seat for my Can Am Spyder being made in the USA at the moment and shipping alone is US$250.

Sony Z1R headphones aren’t available in NZ as an example. If I ordered them from B&H, shipping and taxes add US$770 to the cost! And I’d have no warranty here so would have to ship them back to the USA if required.

Unless a product has international warranty - something a lot less common than it used to be - it’s not really worth the hassle of getting it overseas.

I’m thinking I might grab a pair of the Denon 9200 which are on sale at the moment for the equivalent of US$1200.

At that price they seem like a good buy. My age related hearing loss will probably tame any tendency to brightness too!

 

[nfandi]

Amazon works yes although in terms of returns, shipping is now verging on extortion between RoW and NZ.

For example I have a custom seat for my Can Am Spyder being made in the USA at the moment and shipping alone is US$250.

Sony Z1R headphones aren’t available in NZ as an example. If I ordered them from B&H, shipping and taxes add US$770 to the cost! And I’d have no warranty here so would have to ship them back to the USA if required.

Unless a product has international warranty - something a lot less common than it used to be - it’s not really worth the hassle of getting it overseas.

I’m thinking I might grab a pair of the Denon 9200 which are on sale at the moment for the equivalent of US$1200.

At that price they seem like a good buy. My age related hearing loss will probably tame any tendency to brightness too!

Crazy prices you have over there. Not sure how balanced for you that is against your beautiful country. I’d probably go for the Denon‘s as well given that you’re looking for them primarily for when it’s a bit noisy or you don’t want annoy your better half. The Clears are always there for when you’re able to use them. The SP3K does have EQ capabilities if the treble needs taming but I cannot comment on it as I’ve never needed to use it.