[expatinvietnam]

Just received my Sony MDR EX-1000 and listening for the last 2 hours on AK120. I must say that it sounds sweet and better than my Shure SE535 and same dynamic, soundstage and impact as the AKG K3003i on loan from a friend. However, the AKG K3003i is the winner in the high treble and clarity department. Overall, for $300 the Sony is awesome...

 

[DrSheep]

Just got mine yesterday and it was nothing short of amazing.  If fact, it was so good that it started to show the short comings of my UE900.  Listening to Lindsey Stirling in FLAC with my Momentum and AK120 was Godly.  Let see what happenes when my VentureCraft SDT comes in and pair with it, will be interesting since both support DSD.

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

Just got mine yesterday and it was nothing short of amazing.  If fact, it was so good that it started to show the short comings of my UE900.  Listening to Lindsey Stirling in FLAC with my Momentum and AK120 was Godly.  Let see what happenes when my VentureCraft SDT comes in and pair with it, will be interesting since both support DSD.

 
The SDT uses a newer DAC from Taiwan, SA9027, does the DSD conversion PCM h/w wise (but still not really native?). Whereas it appears the AK120 is doing that conversion via software/firmware.
 
Still though the AK120 seems to do a decent job in DSD conversion with firmware 1.32 at least.

 

[DrSheep]

Quote:

 
The SDT uses a newer DAC from Taiwan, SA9027, does the DSD conversion PCM h/w wise (but still not really native?). Whereas it appears the AK120 is doing that conversion via software/firmware.
 
Still though the AK120 seems to do a decent job in DSD conversion with firmware 1.32 at least.

Isn't the DAC suppose to be Ti's PCM5102A?

 

[AnakChan]

Isn't the DAC suppose to be Ti's PCM5102A?

You're right, the SA9027 is more a DSP chip that seems to be doing the conversion from DSD2PCM :-

http://www.kinstart.com.cn/backup/documents/pdf-documents/佰潤公司USB高傳真音頻解碼芯片.pdf

 

[Jason36]

I've Just sold my AK100 and replaced it with a AK120, which should hopefully arrive on Friday. I'm actually quite excited and cant wait to try it out with my Tzar 350, ASG2 and Beyer T70p.

 

[audionewbi]

This actually gives me an idea, it would be nice to make a list of all the gears that sound great right out of Ak120 without an amp.
 
So please share without your headphone/IEM experience with Ak120, what gears sound great right out of your AK120?

 

[expatinvietnam]

Here is my impression. All combination sounds great without amp.
 
AK120 -> Shure SE535 - Volume 50-60
AK120 -> Sony MDR EX-1000 - Volume 60-70
AK120 -> AKG K3003i - Volume 50-65
 
AK120-> LCD-2 Rev 2 - Volume Max 75 (good)
AK120-> LCD-2 Rev 2 - Schiit Lyr - Volume Max 75 & Lyr at 12 (Awesome)
 
My Favorite is AK120 & AKG K3003i, then AK120 & EX-1000... For certain songs, AK120 & SE535 is very nice...
 
I have on order Aurisonic ASG-2 and will share impression later... Tomorrow I will receive the Audio-Technica ATH-W5000. I bought it because I am curious, since on Astell&Kern website recommend this hp...

 

[kkcc]

This actually gives me an idea, it would be nice to make a list of all the gears that sound great right out of Ak120 without an amp.

So please share without your headphone/IEM experience with Ak120, what gears sound great right out of your AK120?

This is actually awfully hard to do as the list will be soooooo long!! Maybe more practical to flip it around and list the ones that sounded bad or worse than with "lesser" source. I still haven't find any of my IEM sounding noticeably better with amping on ak120.

 

[kerrys30]

i prefer the SE535ltd amped with JDS C5 purely to use the bass boost.   If do not want bass then they pair well with AK120 without Amp.  

 

[Mimouille]

All my iems sound great with the ak120 unamped.

 

[kenz]

Yes. With iems and customs, the AK120 drives them well.
 
With headphones ... well ... they could use a good amp.

 

[harryb]

Quote:

All my iems sound great with the ak120 unamped.

 
Sure, but great is always all relative.  The issue is whether they sound the same, better, or worse with an amp.  Have you had a chance to compare?  I'd be interested in what you found.

 

[expatinvietnam]

Today I tested the Optical Input and it worked flawlessly on all my device at home.
 
- iMac 27"
- MacBook Pro
- ASUS 27" Touch-Screen Windows 8

 

[audionewbi]

Here is my question AK120 does not have native DSD support so eventually it will convert to PCM of some sort (I am guessint 24/172.6) now my question is I really do not understand the logic on letting AK120 to do the conversion which seems to really take lot out of AK120 as the battey life is reduced to 4 hours and the unit heats up alot.