[Whitigir]

How are ribbon cables different from a copper track on the PCB? I had this discussion some time ago and basically there was no compelling argument to suggest for the very short distances that the ribbon cables run, that it was any different to a PCB track. Of course it is not silver or ultrapure copper and I am not saying there is not an audible difference if you change or upgrade. At the output power of the AK380 the AWG is unlikely to be an issue either. Also if you saw the AWG of the internal wiring in many high end IEMs, the wire is like the width of a hair.

To be clear, I am not defending AK for this decision or saying it's the best at all. But it isn't going to substantially harm the output either which is why the AK380 still sounds as good as it does. I feel this is one of those Audiophile indulgences that wires have to be thicker and ultrapure etc, when there are other changes in the output design that would make far more significant differences.

Also as mentioned previously, the AK380 with cradle into my high-end system beats the Oppo 105 which has much more attention to circuit isolation, fatter cables, separated components etc.

The differences is that there are

1/ several layers (thickness) on the PcB together with the width of the copper printed it resulted in better conductivity. Not to mention that nowadays it is possible to custom made your PcB with different materials and purity as well....who know what AK have.

2/ PCB was made that way, and then every other components were puzzled up and tuned to match it sound preferences from AK engineers by the usage of measurement Riggs equipments and so on

3/ when tuning, it is well known that manufacturers uses the best possible materials to tune and engineer a products, I don't doubt that they used top quality cables wires for the 2.5 socket instead of ribbon cables. For your interest, they can make the product, so doing some wiring and sourcing some exquisite materials is never out of grasp, it is next door. The differences between SS and Duraluminum or Copper could be from the usage of different materials Capacitors and resistors and so on....just AK doesn't disclose it

4/ after the tuning , engineering and prototype met all the specs, they will have to work on the marketing and decide about the final product outcome

5/ back to back with #2 reason, everything on the PcB was engineered that way, and then what comes after the digital and analogue + amplifier converted into will be the final result. The integrity and purity of this signals shall be kept at the maximum potential and minimum degradation. Therefore, better wires with better purity and sizes will be a huge playing factor. Best yet ? Directly soldered it on the board

6/ even the cables from the plugs to connect between your socket and headphones will effect the sound. Let alone the ribbon cables. The keyword here is "Keeping the purity and integrity" of the Post process signals from every High quality components that were engineered on board

Period. I hope it makes senses

 

[blackwolf1006]

the new AK380SS looks amazing. I don't think I'm going to bite. They released the ak380 a few months after the AK240SS. I think Im going to wait it out.

 

[Malevolent]

  the new AK380SS looks amazing. I don't think I'm going to bite. They released the ak380 a few months after the AK240SS. I think Im going to wait it out.

 
Yup. Buyers are certainly a lot more clued in now. After what happened with the AK240SS, I'm sure they're now expecting to see a new flagship within the next few months. The duralumin version, that is. The copper, gold, black, and SS versions will come later. 

 

[blackwolf1006]

   
Yup. Buyers are certainly a lot more clued in now. After what happened with the AK240SS, I'm sure they're now expecting to see a new flagship within the next few months. The duralumin version, that is. The copper, gold, black, and SS versions will come later. 

 
no.. no.. @Malevolent you got it all wrong. its made out of unobtainium which would justify the price they are going to ask.  

 

[Malevolent]

   
no.. no.. @Malevolent you got it all wrong. its made out of unobtainium which would justify the price they are going to ask.  

 
So this is why we went to war with the Na'vi on Pandora? Just to make some darned Astell & Kern music players? 

 

[bflat]

It's official, $4999 for the AK380 SS set:
 
https://www.moon-audio.com/astell-kern-ak380ss-digital-music-media-player-package.html
 
That's $500 more than a Chord TT, and a couple transport options with the $500 left over.
 
Speaking of Chord, I'm sure somebody will still stack the AK380 SS with a Hugo.

 

[musicday]

It's official, $4999 for the AK380 SS set:

https://www.moon-audio.com/astell-kern-ak380ss-digital-music-media-player-package.html

That's $500 more than a Chord TT, and a couple transport options with the $500 left over.

Speaking of Chord, I'm sure somebody will still stack the AK380 SS with a Hugo.

I am sure it won't sound as good as Hugo TT.At least could have added OLED screen this time,but they didn't.

 

[laurencewayne]

I'm wondering if anyone can assist with a curious problem: the album artwork is very inconsistent on my 380. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. I am using the AFTP in my Mac to transfer from CDs or on-line purchases in all formats. I have searched without success, and since this forum is wonderfully helpful, thought I'd ask. All input is very much appreciated.

 

[bflat]

I am sure it won't sound as good as Hugo TT.At least could have added OLED screen this time,but they didn't.

Agreed. As others have mentioned, I think for that price (and CU for that matter) they should have upgraded the caps and wiring like what Sony did with their 1Z or RWA mod. Just swapping out the case is not enough imho. Even if all of that only amounted to 1-2% sound improvement I think folks would definitely understand diminishing returns and decide if that's what they want. Just increasing the price based on the principle of "exclusivity" has no place in hifi imho. Heck, I fly over 100K miles a year and have yet to see anybody carry around a DAP, let alone an AK380 CU. Just having a portable DAC or DAP already puts you well above the 1% of the consumer market.

 

[bflat]

  I'm wondering if anyone can assist with a curious problem: the album artwork is very inconsistent on my 380. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. I am using the AFTP in my Mac to transfer from CDs or on-line purchases in all formats. I have searched without success, and since this forum is wonderfully helpful, thought I'd ask. All input is very much appreciated.

I highly doubt AK devices keep a separate library of album covers like iTunes. Instead, it most likely expects the album cover to be embedded in each track. If you don't see it, then the track does not have the artwork embedded. Using iTunes makes you believe you have the album covers, but those are kept in a separate iTunes database and not embedded in each track. Use a tool like xACT to manually add the artwork to your files and that should resolve it.

 

[laurencewayne]

Thank you for the helpful (and so fast!) response. I have xAct, but since I have added all my music directly from Finder, can I add artwork independently from xAct or must I start over. The instructions don't seem to differentiate.

 

[bflat]

 
Thank you for the helpful (and so fast!) response. I have xAct, but since I have added all my music directly from Finder, can I add artwork independently from xAct or must I start over. The instructions don't seem to differentiate.

Unfortunately, you have to replace the files that you already placed in your device. Besides, reading/writing files on an SD card or flash memory is painfully slow. On a Mac, it's impossible to mount your AK device as a external drive. I would do all the work on your faster hard drive and just copy the corrected files back to your device. Also note, iTunes also works with embedded artwork so no need to do anything in iTunes.

 

[laurencewayne]

Again, thank you so much. Funny, I just loaded a CD into iTunes (a remastered Sinatra) and the artwork did not come over, tho it's there in iTunes. Mmmmm, still sounds great - I may just forgot the artwork! Thanks again for your consideration.

 

[Uncle Monty]

I have the same issue - I put a lot of files from iTunes on my AK380 via the android file transfer app A&K recommend.  Some of the album artwork appeared on the player and some didn't. All the files were the same type of file, no differences so far as I could see. 

 

[ironpeg]

AK380SS is limited to 200pcs worldwide ........ ..... . . .. .. . .. .