[fiascogarcia]

  I really do not understand all the fuss about the price of the AK 380,
that goes on and on, page after page.
Every company is free to ask for their products what they like, it's a luxury product after all.
I never see these discussions in the forums about high end watches or cars.
If you can't afford the Mercedes, move on and get the Volkswagen. 
Besides that there is enough choice if you wanna spend less money.
And I am actually amazed that there are so few questions about the possibilities the 380 has to offer,
like for instance the CD ripping in combination with the AK portable CD player.

You'll see that this happens with virtually all new products for which a thread is started before anyone has a chance to demo or purchase. AK seems to be particularly susceptible because of the large price jumps they have made with new products in the past.  In any event you are correct, we can all choose to buy or not to buy based on our own criteria. Personally, the CD ripping feature is not all that interesting given that all my CD's are already ripped to my computer, and that's the source of downloads I make to portables.  But who knows, maybe it will be a viable feature for some who want to share music on the run.

 

[musicday]

The price i should say is ok, but no 512 GB memory, nor SDXC support and no battery life around 15 h in DSD is not good.

 

[Troisanneaux]

@ ZAROFF
Me too, that's why I was surprised there were no reactions yet.
All I know is that the AK CD player is connected to the cradle of the AK380
and that no computer is needed. So the 380 will need to contain the software,
I assume, but I hope that someone who visited the Munich show last week,
will jump in here.
 
 
,

 

[DrSheep]

 
@ ZAROFF
Me too, that's why I was surprised there were no reactions yet.
All I know is that the AK CD player is connected to the cradle of the AK380
and that no computer is needed. So the 380 will need to contain the software,
I assume, but I hope that someone who visited the Munich show last week,
will jump in here.
 
 
,

Me too, but as I mentioned before, AK needs a way to verify the rips.  Currently you can do this post rip with CUETools or dBpoweramp via AccurateRip database from a computer, but I don't see how can the AK380, and by extension, the AK500N, do this as a stand alone.   BTW, it will be nice if you can do the rips from a non-AK CD player too.

 

[threephi]

The CD accessory is the thing that has me scratching my head the most. What is the market for this?  Wealthy audiophile who doesn't have a computer?

 

[Uncle E1]

CD ripper for senior hifiers who are not computer savy?

 

[DrSheep]

  The CD accessory is the thing that has me scratching my head the most. What is the market for this?  Wealthy audiophile who doesn't have a computer?

Same reason for LOD I suppose: streamline process and minimize noise.
 

  CD ripper for senior hifiers who are not computer savy?

I try not to judge as I was with a pretty exclusive CS Ph.D. program for a while, and still know jack crap about Linux.  Some basic commands and ADB to my Android devices is about as high as go.

 

[bflat]

I would have preferred a Mac OS syncing utility from AK instead of them developing an integrated CD player. Really have to question the priorities on that one. Also, even with CD player, don't see any way of loading album cover art for those CDs. What's even more concerning is how do the ripped files get backed up in case the AK380 malfunctions or gets lost? This is perhaps my biggest criticism of AK for all of their players - for the price they charge where is the PC/Mac/Linux utilities and premium bit perfect player? So the answer to this is an overpriced CD ROM drive that I have to buy?

 

[Zaroff]

https://translate.google.co.kr/translate?hl=ko&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fvaiopocket.seesaa.net%2Farticle%2F418862472.html&sandbox=1
 
Review.

 

[Jalo]

  https://translate.google.co.kr/translate?hl=ko&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fvaiopocket.seesaa.net%2Farticle%2F418862472.html&sandbox=1
 
Review.

Wow, that is a workout to read through the google translate.  50 percent of the time I was guessing but I think I get the jest of it.  Regardless, I think I will skip this version.  AK will probably bring out the 512 Gb, improved battery life and better software implementation in the SS version in the next six months.  As it is quite clear that AK is not going to develop any new software versions for the previouslt released products.  So, until there is no bugs reported in the 380, buyer beware.

 

[kahkityoong]

 
I have not said that Hykhaleif, don't twist my words!

Since he drones on about the price of AK, he should be able to cope with a few who aren't fazed by the prices too.

 

[high-fidelity]

@Jalo
 
I heard something about new firmware for AK240.It will be released in next month.AK can't leave 240 and users of 240 I think. 

 

[Zaroff]

  Wow, that is a workout to read through the google translate.  50 percent of the time I was guessing but I think I get the jest of it. 

 
Yes, that's a mouthful Generally positive, but battery life seems not that have evolved that much. Pity.

 

[Audiowood]

The review sound promising.. I would luv to hear it from Anak /Jude / Currawong about their impression. If they don't report back, I am going to quit headfi forever.. like a teenager.

 

[mysony1]

Definitely will have some improvement compare to the previous ak240. Whether to worth to upgadre will just wait for the demo.

The cd ripping sound interesting, if possible to rip from SACD and become DSD haha....and that will be perfect.