roofus
100+ Head-Fier
Seriously, you are going to be the Go To guy for A&K comaprisons!
That's too much pressure!
Astell&Kern AK380
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That's too much pressure!
Jazzi
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Jazzi
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Has anyone expressed a position on whether there's any difference between the AK380amp and the AK380CUamp, other than obviously the material/color used?
mmm......same dilemna but since this will be a one-off purchase for me, I'd rather follow a sage advice: measure twice, cut once. So, I'm on wait mode.
Jazzi
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The wait may not be long. Read a Dignis Japan twitter post that release is scheduled for 'mid-April.'
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In addition they're limited to 30 pieces per colour (in e-earphone Japan at least?). I reserved 2 for a friend.
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Hey Gav, I realy enjoyed playing with your Ak380cu. I don't even mind the weight of the 380cu, but with the amp, it really go beyond my limit. I wish I had more time to compare the the difference between the dap and the amp. But the 380cu/Hugo struck me so hard I was wowed. Now you get me thinking about a 380cu (bad influence from a friend). Also, since the 380 has been out almost a year now, do you think I should hold out for the 480 or 520?. That's exactly what happened to me last year at the socal canjam, I bought the 240ss and two weeks later they announced the 380.
Jazzi
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Reserved? I didn't realize you could reserve them. Guess I should check out e-earphone. Thanks for the heads up!
Edit: Is there an English version of this website, and do they ship to U.S.?
mmm.....I'm having problems loading the e-earphone website into Google translate. All it says is reservations and mid-April release in the shopping basket. I'm trying to find out what the shipping options are or whether they ship internationally. That's when the webpage fails to translate/load. It is around Php 10,000.00 (more than 200 usd) for the Dignis Scutum. Reasonable price
Japanese stores do not usually ship out of country...need third party agents to ship to, and they forward overseas........
Jazzi
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Okay, thanks spkrs01. Hopefully they'll end up on Amazon, or maybe I'll go the other way with Aesopica.
mmm....There's an FAQ about ordering abroad and shipping abroad. Switched from Google Translate to Bing Translate. One snippet, as Bing-translated: "this company does not ship internationally." (under user guide).
prismstorm
100+ Head-Fier
@Apina @speedracer1
Just an update, I have picked back up my RWAK380. The partial short circuit has indeed been fixed and there's no problems with the buzzing / noise floor / clipping / distortion or unusual battery drain anymore.
However, the sound was not what I expected. In the 1.5 days that I had the RWAK380 before I sent it back for repair, I heard a dynamic, powerful sound with brutal, slaughtering bass and incredibly forward mids, made everything super immersive despite all the noise and battery issues. Having picked up the repaired unit for 2 days now and having tried 2 - 3 earphones out of it, I'm not warming up to it .... Maybe it's too early to tell and I need to settle in to the sound, but I do not detect the stated improvements and it sounds quite stale and dull as of now. It is almost a total opposite of what I heard the first time, too laid-back and emotionally detached. It is very ironic that the sound was so much better when the short circuit was in place, and now that it's fixed and everything's supposed to be seamless, the sound is not moving me.
I did try the RWAK380 out of my unmodded 380 Amp also, and the improvements were more apparent than with the DAP alone. It is stated that RWAK380's sonic improvements are also paseds along to the 4-pin BAL line out jack on the bottom of the player, and I'm guessing this is why the RWAK380 + stock 380 amp combo sounds better than before (Unmodded AK380 + amp)? With the Layla this is easily observable, the audio is clearer and much more powerful with the amp even on low gain. The high gain is somewhat overly powerful and some delicacy and soft details are lost, sibilance is also augmented to borderline unberable levels.
What am I doing wrong here? Are my iems a mismatch now that the 380 has been modded?
@onlychild I'm looking forward to your impressions too once your modded units are back!
Just an update, I have picked back up my RWAK380. The partial short circuit has indeed been fixed and there's no problems with the buzzing / noise floor / clipping / distortion or unusual battery drain anymore.
However, the sound was not what I expected. In the 1.5 days that I had the RWAK380 before I sent it back for repair, I heard a dynamic, powerful sound with brutal, slaughtering bass and incredibly forward mids, made everything super immersive despite all the noise and battery issues. Having picked up the repaired unit for 2 days now and having tried 2 - 3 earphones out of it, I'm not warming up to it .... Maybe it's too early to tell and I need to settle in to the sound, but I do not detect the stated improvements and it sounds quite stale and dull as of now. It is almost a total opposite of what I heard the first time, too laid-back and emotionally detached. It is very ironic that the sound was so much better when the short circuit was in place, and now that it's fixed and everything's supposed to be seamless, the sound is not moving me.
I did try the RWAK380 out of my unmodded 380 Amp also, and the improvements were more apparent than with the DAP alone. It is stated that RWAK380's sonic improvements are also paseds along to the 4-pin BAL line out jack on the bottom of the player, and I'm guessing this is why the RWAK380 + stock 380 amp combo sounds better than before (Unmodded AK380 + amp)? With the Layla this is easily observable, the audio is clearer and much more powerful with the amp even on low gain. The high gain is somewhat overly powerful and some delicacy and soft details are lost, sibilance is also augmented to borderline unberable levels.
What am I doing wrong here? Are my iems a mismatch now that the 380 has been modded?
@onlychild I'm looking forward to your impressions too once your modded units are back!
Apina
100+ Head-Fier
My only question would be has the partial short circuit done something else internally to the unit?
It took around 50 hrs before the sound started to sort itself out and I left it for 100hrs as Vinnie suggested before putting some serious listening time on it.
Never had a stale sound out of the system even when there were only a few hours on the system.
Personally I am using the system with the RWAK380 Amp so haven't spent that much time with the 380s outputs.
Unfortunately I am IEM less at the moment so I can't spend some time comparing the RWAK380 out to the Amp out.
Soon as I have some I will post feedback for you but this may take some time.
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