Astell&Kern A&ultima SP3000

[hAbIrAbI]

What is the official way to do this at A&K? I don't find much information online regarding support requests.

I'm assuming this website and then contact the appropriate regional contact from there.

 

[phiemon]

What is the official way to do this at A&K? I don't find much information online regarding support requests.

Daniel Noh dm@astellkernservice.de

 

[subguy812]

*yawn*

 

[LFC_SL]

@JasonNYC, @CharlyBrown, @anyone who is interested and considering the purchase of an SP3000 and others | crosspost in The Watercooler Thread

Topic: SP3000's Major Issues
So, I have now slowly lost the patience and I feel quite neglected and disregarded by the support service of A&K.
With this post, I now hope that something will move. It should also be a warning for all those who are considering buying an SP3000 or other A&K's products. Actually, the following problems also affect at least the SP300, CA1000T exactly or in a similar way (I mentioned and posted this earlier). And I'm pretty sure the same thing is happening with other A&K's products.
This is just to summarize the problems and possible solutions that I and many others here on the forum have had. Some had other problems as well, I can't find them anymore. With a quote of this post you are welcome to add them. Evidence can be found in past posts by searching.

JasonNYC has made the assumption that this only affects SP3000 from the EU. I am not sure. My guess is rather that other users have not tested this extensively, and it would be great if they did now.

1. Problem
If the SP3000 is 100% charged AND connected to the power supply OR to the PC/MAC, there will be problems with freezes and reboots of the device. I noticed that the problem does not occur immediately at 100%, but after some time. I tested it again yesterday and today and my SP3000 had to be at 100% and plugged in for a total of about 3 hours and after this time the problem occurs always quite quickly. A freeze/reboot happened to me 2 times between yesterday and today. 1. right after I disconnected the DAC connection with the PC when I operated the SP3000, 2. while I was listening to music with Tidal (without operating the SP3000 at all!). I have not had the problem in DAC mode so far, only after switching off this mode.

2. Problem
A kind of ground loop humming using while charging. This is pretty random but mostly at 100% as above. This humming stops as soon as I touch the SP3000, start playing a song or remove the charging cable. I had the exact same phenomenon with the CA1000T and @CharlyBrown with SE300.

3. Problem
If a cable other than the stock one is used, the SP3000 will not manage to be in operation and charging at the same time. At least in DAC mode (I have not tested other modes), the power display slowly reduces over time. So with the stock cable, the SP3000 is charging on the contrary.

Solution attempts
- stock cable
- other various high quality cables
- different power supplies
- PC (with older and newer bios)
- MacBook
- Surface
- stock apps (Tidal and Apple Music)
- downloaded APIs of Tidal and Apple Music (older and newer versions)
- no apps at all
- different time location
- different time zone
- various replacement of the SP3000

Yes, I really went crazy trying to find a solution. Now I've had enough. All this is simply unacceptable to me! A&K is a premium company, the SP3000 is a high-end premium product with an overwhelming price of 4200€. This simply must not happen and a solution must be found. Now I really hope for a reaction from A&K.

Best,

Stefano

I cannot offer solutions but support public sharing. Nearly every A&K product thread seems to contain something about 'software issues' or long wait times for software feature updates. A company that is responsive and transparent about long standing customer feedback tend to be the ones that earn the right to customers using private support channels instead of public social media.

 

[phiemon]

@JasonNYC, @CharlyBrown, @anyone who is interested and considering the purchase of an SP3000 and others | crosspost in The Watercooler Thread

Topic: SP3000's Major Issues
So, I have now slowly lost the patience and I feel quite neglected and disregarded by the support service of A&K.
With this post, I now hope that something will move. It should also be a warning for all those who are considering buying an SP3000 or other A&K's products. Actually, the following problems also affect at least the SP300, CA1000T exactly or in a similar way (I mentioned and posted this earlier). And I'm pretty sure the same thing is happening with other A&K's products.
This is just to summarize the problems and possible solutions that I and many others here on the forum have had. Some had other problems as well, I can't find them anymore. With a quote of this post you are welcome to add them. Evidence can be found in past posts by searching.

JasonNYC has made the assumption that this only affects SP3000 from the EU. I am not sure. My guess is rather that other users have not tested this extensively, and it would be great if they did now.

1. Problem
If the SP3000 is 100% charged AND connected to the power supply OR to the PC/MAC, there will be problems with freezes and reboots of the device. I noticed that the problem does not occur immediately at 100%, but after some time. I tested it again yesterday and today and my SP3000 had to be at 100% and plugged in for a total of about 3 hours and after this time the problem occurs always quite quickly. A freeze/reboot happened to me 2 times between yesterday and today. 1. right after I disconnected the DAC connection with the PC when I operated the SP3000, 2. while I was listening to music with Tidal (without operating the SP3000 at all!). I have not had the problem in DAC mode so far, only after switching off this mode.

2. Problem
A kind of ground loop humming using while charging. This is pretty random but mostly at 100% as above. This humming stops as soon as I touch the SP3000, start playing a song or remove the charging cable. I had the exact same phenomenon with the CA1000T and @CharlyBrown with SE300.

3. Problem
If a cable other than the stock one is used, the SP3000 will not manage to be in operation and charging at the same time. At least in DAC mode (I have not tested other modes), the power display slowly reduces over time. So with the stock cable, the SP3000 is charging on the contrary.

Solution attempts
- stock cable
- other various high quality cables
- different power supplies
- PC (with older and newer bios)
- MacBook
- Surface
- stock apps (Tidal and Apple Music)
- downloaded APIs of Tidal and Apple Music (older and newer versions)
- no apps at all
- different time location
- different time zone
- various replacement of the SP3000

Yes, I really went crazy trying to find a solution. Now I've had enough. All this is simply unacceptable to me! A&K is a premium company, the SP3000 is a high-end premium product with an overwhelming price of 4200€. This simply must not happen and a solution must be found. Now I really hope for a reaction from A&K.

Best,

Stefano

1. Update
I received an answer from A&K Germany:

"
Thank you for your love and interest in our products.
We will forward the problem report you gave us about SP3000 to our quality team and software team.
We will do our best to fix the problem.
Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you very much. / Many Thanks
Yours sincerely / Best regards

Daniel Noh
"

Now I'm definitely going to stay tuned and I'll update that respectively!

 

[Progisus]

For the Roon ARC users out there. Ver 1.0.38 is available for sideload. This adds MUSE - a digital sound processor c/w EQ, crossfeed, leveling, headroom, balance control and the saving of individual presets. The EQ is very easy to use and seems quite effective. Hopefully we will get bit perfect with the SP3000 dac soon. The 48k resample is very good though, imho.

 

[gryphonos]

For the Roon ARC users out there. Ver 1.0.38 is available for sideload. This adds MUSE - a digital sound processor c/w EQ, crossfeed, leveling, headroom, balance control and the saving of individual presets. The EQ is very easy to use and seems quite effective. Hopefully we will get bit perfect with the SP3000 dac soon. The 48k resample is very good though, imho.

@Progisus
Thanks for the information.
In Europe ist's still version 1.0.36. No chance to update to 1.0.38 (including MUSE)
Maybe availability is delayed in Europe or due ro a different rule-out schedule !?

 

[Progisus]

@Progisus
Thanks for the information.
In Europe ist's still version 1.0.36. No chance to update to 1.0.38 (including MUSE)
Maybe availability is delayed in Europe or due ro a different rule-out schedule !?

Download the latest apk from apkpure and copy to services folder. Install from the services menu. Hope that helps. https://m.apkpure.com/roon-arc/com.roon.onthego

 

[DarginMahkum]

Oh, wow! I am impressed. Not just the sound, but becase the EQ works not only for the local applications but even for the Bluetooth DAC mode. I guess this is the only DAP that does it.

 

[karlex01]

Dargin. I also have the Fioo fa9 and they are decent

 

[jz520]

Very nice can you share where this was purchased?

got mine from same guy.. case for my H2 coming soon..

 

[CharlyBrown]

Is there any way to use the SP3000 as a DAC/AMP for iDevices iPhone or iPad?

 

[phiemon]

Is there any way to use the SP3000 as a DAC/AMP for iDevices iPhone or iPad?

USB-C -> Lightning?

EDIT: I try it later!

 

[CharlyBrown]

USB-C -> Lightning?

EDIT: I try it later!

I tried that already, no avail

But please try it out. Maybe you have the right equipment.

I'm still hoping for some kind of trick (cable, adapter etc.) that might work...

 

[Utah dude]

Is there any way to use the SP3000 as a DAC/AMP for iDevices iPhone or iPad?

It looks like the SP3000 only works as a DAC with a MAC or windows computer. I can use it as a DAC with my laptop, but not with my phone. When I connect it to my laptop, it gives me the option to use it as a usb DAC (swipe down). It does not show this option when I connect my phone via an iFi usb-c to lightning cable. That same cable works well with my phone and the iFi Gryphon and lets me use the Gryphon as a DAC. The phone sees it as na output option. When the SP3000 is connect with the same cable the phone does not give me this output option.