[musicday]

Jude will you video review the AK120 please?

 

[kkcc]

Quote:

Do you guys charge this with it on or turn it off?  
 
Just got my first listen, yes top notch but battery came low.

 
Congratz!
 
Charging with it off seems a little bit faster and get to fully charged.  With it on it tops out at almost full but you won't get the "fully charged" screen.
Also with the FT334 I can hear hiss when charging with it on during silent or very very quiet passage of a track.

 

[dallan]

Well so far so good, but i seem to have to use the files since many of the cd's i have downloaded go to unknown artist.  
 
The other thing is i can't seem to find how to reset the time to my area.  It takes me a few to figure out how to use new toys.  Can't find the setting on the home screen, only on music for options.  Otherwise i have not upgraded to the new firmware.  I am downloading to a micro chip now so we will see how the initial software handles that.  My mac is Snow Leopard so it is not supported for the dac anyway.  I don't want to upgrade because of other software i have may not be compatible, ie weatherunderground and Amarra(which must be at this point).
 
So how do you find the settings on the home screen or did i miss it in the initial setup?

 

[musicday]

I am getting mine tomorrow...hurrrrrray.

Have anybody tried AK120/100 with inear Soundstage SD3?
I really like those IEM's and I would like to place an order..
Anybody please?

 

[kkcc]

Quote:

I am getting mine tomorrow...hurrrrrray.

Have anybody tried AK120/100 with inear Soundstage SD3?
I really like those IEM's and I would like to place an order..
Anybody please?

 Enjoy!  I think you'd rather like how it pair with your W4R.  I sure love the pairing

 

[Greed]

Quote:

Well so far so good, but i seem to have to use the files since many of the cd's i have downloaded go to unknown artist.  
 
The other thing is i can't seem to find how to reset the time to my area.  It takes me a few to figure out how to use new toys.  Can't find the setting on the home screen, only on music for options.  Otherwise i have not upgraded to the new firmware.  I am downloading to a micro chip now so we will see how the initial software handles that.  My mac is Snow Leopard so it is not supported for the dac anyway.  I don't want to upgrade because of other software i have may not be compatible, ie weatherunderground and Amarra(which must be at this point).
 
So how do you find the settings on the home screen or did i miss it in the initial setup?

 
There's a golden cog wheel at the top right on the main screen. All of the settings that you can adjust are there. 

 

[musicday]

Quote:

Quote:

I am getting mine tomorrow...hurrrrrray.

Have anybody tried AK120/100 with inear Soundstage SD3?
I really like those IEM's and I would like to place an order..
Anybody please?

 Enjoy!  I think you'd rather like how it pair with your W4R.  I sure love the pairing

Thank you.
I sold my W4R, want to purchase the SD3.Anybody tried them with Ak120?

 

[spkrs01]

Quote:

Thank you.
I sold my W4R, want to purchase the SD3.Anybody tried them with Ak120?

 
I have ..... as my good friend was kind enough to send me his pair of SD3.

 

[dallan]

Quote:

 
There's a golden cog wheel at the top right on the main screen. All of the settings that you can adjust are there. 

Thanks, i didn't see that or get it.  All set now.

 

[musicday]

Thank you.
I sold my W4R, want to purchase the SD3.Anybody tried them with Ak120?

I have ..... as my good friend was kind enough to send me his pair of SD3.

Then please tell me more. Cheers

 

[silverlight]

So been spending some time listening to the AK120 which I received a few days ago.  I've had it running at least 75 hours for break-in (and it's softened mellowed over that period).  Listening to it with it's built in amp (rather than using an external amp, which was the point in ordering it, easy carry around).  I am using it with JH13's, and also a pair of recabled TripleFi 10's.  I have a TWag v3 8 conductor cable showing up soon from Whiplash as well which I'll add to the mix.  However I have to say the sound is a little tinny, thin, lacks a natural sense of fullness of bass and mid range.  Has nice HF detail, but in the absense of a natural presentation in the spectrum it sounds imbalanced.  Same results stand alone or functioning as USB DAC.  As a comparison, I have the Pico DAC/Amp from Headamp which I compared as a 1-box USB DAC+amp.  The Pico unit is meaningfully better at the lows and mids and has a natural HF presentation (but rolls off sooner in the highs than the AK120, but a minor tradeoff given the better balance, ease, and natural sound).  So not sure what to think of the AK120 and a little nervous about having just spent big $$ for this.  My reference setups for absolute comparisons are desktop electrostatic headphone setups (SR009, SR007, HE90, BHSE, WES, Aristaeus, etc.).  I suppose my brain could adapt to the sound and be happy with it relative to an iphone of course.  Highly doubt if further burn-in will compensate for what I'm hearing now, although I recognize it will probably close the gap somewhat.  No axe to grind here whatsoever, just passing along my personal impressions per the intent of the thread (and YMMV of course!).

 

[kkcc]

So been spending some time listening to the AK120 which I received a few days ago.  I've had it running at least 75 hours for break-in (and it's softened mellowed over that period).  Listening to it with it's built in amp (rather than using an external amp, which was the point in ordering it, easy carry around).  I am using it with JH13's, and also a pair of recabled TripleFi 10's.  I have a TWag v3 8 conductor cable showing up soon from Whiplash as well which I'll add to the mix.  However I have to say the sound is a little tinny, thin, lacks a natural sense of fullness of bass and mid range.  Has nice HF detail, but in the absense of a natural presentation in the spectrum it sounds imbalanced.  Same results stand alone or functioning as USB DAC.  As a comparison, I have the Pico DAC/Amp from Headamp which I compared as a 1-box USB DAC+amp.  The Pico unit is meaningfully better at the lows and mids and has a natural HF presentation (but rolls off sooner in the highs than the AK120, but a minor tradeoff given the better balance, ease, and natural sound).  So not sure what to think of the AK120 and a little nervous about having just spent big $$ for this.  My reference setups for absolute comparisons are desktop electrostatic headphone setups (SR009, SR007, HE90, BHSE, WES, Aristaeus, etc.).  I suppose my brain could adapt to the sound and be happy with it relative to an iphone of course. Highly doubt if further burn-in will compensate for what I'm hearing now, although I recognize it will probably close the gap somewhat. No axe to grind here whatsoever, just passing along my personal impressions per the intent of the thread (and YMMV of course!).

Thanks silverlight for the detailed impression. I can definitely relate to your impressions especially if you came from a pico amped sound. Which firmware version you have on the AK120? If it is 1.21, you may find some improvement by downgrading to 1.00 as and when iriver made it available.


AK120 is still in a class of its own that provide excellent sound in a sleek small pocketable package. I also got it for this specific purpose. But it won't really trump a high end amp or bigger DAP like Hifiman 901.

 

[silverlight]

Quote:

Thanks silverlight for the detailed impression. I can definitely relate to your impressions especially if you came from a pico amped sound. Which firmware version you have on the AK120? If it is 1.21, you may find some improvement by downgrading to 1.00 as and when iriver made it available.


AK120 is still in a class of its own that provide excellent sound in a sleek small pocketable package. I also got it for this specific purpose. But it won't really trump a high end amp or bigger DAP like Hifiman 901.

 
It's definitely the perfect form factor and the UI is very good notwithstanding the fact I keep everything in itunes in WAV and so have to resort to folder navigation   (all the tagging and artwork is in the itunes database file and was a PITA to build out over time).  Going to keep it running hopefully it will fill out more.  Just not going to do a 2 box path (separate amp) as I travel light for business and so dual box or a big 901 is not in the cards.
 
I just updated to 1.21 this evening, and was running on 1.0 before.  Did read the feedback about the change in bass, not sure where to find the 1.0 FW (which is prob. fine for me to use b/c I don't really need the USB DAC capability).

 

[Mimouille]

Quote:

So been spending some time listening to the AK120 which I received a few days ago.  I've had it running at least 75 hours for break-in (and it's softened mellowed over that period).  Listening to it with it's built in amp (rather than using an external amp, which was the point in ordering it, easy carry around).  I am using it with JH13's, and also a pair of recabled TripleFi 10's.  I have a TWag v3 8 conductor cable showing up soon from Whiplash as well which I'll add to the mix.  However I have to say the sound is a little tinny, thin, lacks a natural sense of fullness of bass and mid range.  Has nice HF detail, but in the absense of a natural presentation in the spectrum it sounds imbalanced.  Same results stand alone or functioning as USB DAC.  As a comparison, I have the Pico DAC/Amp from Headamp which I compared as a 1-box USB DAC+amp.  The Pico unit is meaningfully better at the lows and mids and has a natural HF presentation (but rolls off sooner in the highs than the AK120, but a minor tradeoff given the better balance, ease, and natural sound).  So not sure what to think of the AK120 and a little nervous about having just spent big $$ for this.  My reference setups for absolute comparisons are desktop electrostatic headphone setups (SR009, SR007, HE90, BHSE, WES, Aristaeus, etc.).  I suppose my brain could adapt to the sound and be happy with it relative to an iphone of course.  Highly doubt if further burn-in will compensate for what I'm hearing now, although I recognize it will probably close the gap somewhat.  No axe to grind here whatsoever, just passing along my personal impressions per the intent of the thread (and YMMV of course!).

If you are just using the JH13, try some other iem if you can...does not pair so good with my Miracles but great with all the rest...maybe low impedance iems pair less well ?

 

[silverlight]

Quote:

If you are just using the JH13, try some other iem if you can...does not pair so good with my Miracles but great with all the rest...maybe low impedance iems pair less well ?

Everyone seems to rave about the Senn IE800 so maybe they're worth a go?  Bit of an incremental "tax" but I place a high premium on the form factor / convenience.  Thanks for the suggestion.  Will also use the TripleFi's a little more, only spent a few min's with them early on.