Astell & Kern AK70 MKII with dual DAC
Jun 3, 2018 at 4:36 PM Post #827 of 1,058
It won't give you the wow effect. Your going to be disappointed. Sorry to say it, but this device is a joke. Anyhow hope you enjoy, but I doubt it.

I suppose there are too many variables in both the peripherals and the unique users head for the AK70 Mkii to suit every ear, however I couldn't disagree with your opinion more :)
 
Jun 3, 2018 at 8:44 PM Post #830 of 1,058
Its not that bad I guess. Maybe just a matter of taste. I do like neutral-revealing signature and AK70ii is still sounds good to me. You might want to look Plenue R. Cheaper yet really good SQ; neutral-revealing with great soundstage and separation.
 
Jun 4, 2018 at 12:37 PM Post #831 of 1,058
i want to connect my ak70ii to my bryston headphone amp via its mini input. do I go from the headphone out on the ak70ii mini plug to mini plug or is there a better way to do it?
 
Jun 5, 2018 at 11:50 AM Post #832 of 1,058
Hi, i received the AK70 MK II parcel today. But theres something wrong. I plugged in a pair of headphones but cant hear anything :triportsad:

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Jun 5, 2018 at 3:33 PM Post #835 of 1,058
AK 70 MK II... what are you for me?

Inside the box:

- 2x screenprotector sheets
- 2x protection sheets for the back
- USB Type A to Micro USB cable
- Micro-SD card dummy
- Warranty booklet
- Quick Start Guide
- The Device Itself


Build Quality:
Yes. Awesome. Too awesome. I feel like i dont want to touch it with my naked human fingers. They are not worthy.


Experience:
I really touched it. There was another micro-sd card dummy inserted in the card slot. So whats next? Maybe just push the button of power. Oh this satisfying precise middle soft clicking feel. Maybe exclusive click/feel-sounding from selected AUDI engineers.

If i were totally new to daps i would say just from the look and build of the AK70 MK II that it will probably sound like cutting the best musicians of the world into small pieces, putting them into your ears and bring them back to life with Voodoo Magic. Voodoo... pushing our hobbit... erm hobby to the limit.

Black & white themed screen appears asking for:

- language
- time zone
- name of the device

all done... start Astell & Kern

akku is at 46%

128 GB (with only 230 songs) Sandisk Music Card carefully inserted.


The Headphones for the test:
- Philips Fidelio X2
- AKG K 712 Pro

The in-ears for the test:
- Yamahe EpH-100
- Pioneer SE-CH9T

Sadly i dont have any balanced options.

Listened just to a few songs. Now the Ak70 is at 23%. The battery is draining very fast. 2 songs later the accu is nearly empty. I give the MK II the chance to convince me that its capable of doing better witch a fresh loaded and conditioned battery.

Heres my first impressions:

Pros:
- the device looks awesome
- the build is awesome
- the ui is very easy to use and i like using it
- the display is sharp and its a pleasure looking at it

Cons:
- it gets warm, i dont like the feeling. Its like you hold someones hand too long in a hot summernight and its not the hand of your girlfriend its the the hand of your girlfriends dad.
- battery consumption out of the box starting at 46% and after zapping through a handful of songs you are at 12%... Maybe if its fully charged it will last for over an hour.


Sound impressions (compared to the Hidizs AP 60 II):
Switching between the two devices (i really have to get a Sescom a/b switch for convenience) playing songs i hear nearly every day and in know very good i have to say that i wont ever be able to tell the two players appart in a blind test.

Testing the two devices not being ... blinded by the light... i say/wish that the AK 70 is about 0,000000001 % less harsh sounding than the small Ap 60. But i guess thats only imagination.

So whats the deal for my ears with the AK 70 MK II:

It really sounds good, but no audible differences to the AP 60. Nice detailed not harsh highs, great mids and well defined lows. I guess its more up to the quality of the recording and earphones what you hear. Using the 3,5mm jack it has no remarkable louder output/better control for the AKG 712 pro than the AP 60. Theres no extra driving power for bigger headphones in this mode. (trying the chord Mojo next i really doubt that there will be any audible changes in better sound or better control of the music played on the headphones with the greater power of the Mojos amp section)

*** i will do some more listening when the battery is fully charged ***


Conclusion:

The AK 70 MK II doesnt sound better than a 5 times cheaper dap like the Hidizs AP 60 II. I have to ask myself if the nice look/build and ui of the A & K is worth the additional 500$. If the fully charged battery would perform well i might think twice. No... i guess its just too big. Better take a small one that performs as good. Thats what she...

So... Mojo (beaming the audio performance and headphone driving power to eternity?) and Shanling M0 (still cant decide between black, titan and red) are the next toys to test.


** Ak 70 loading connected via USB cable to Pc. After 30 mins the battery percentage went up about 6%. Maybe i wont be able to test it again before falling asleep ***


Audiophile People talking about all the differences between sound quality of daps in the thousands of threats. It really must be talking about little nuances some people cant even hear.

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Jun 5, 2018 at 4:46 PM Post #836 of 1,058
The battery loading bar is barely moving... like it has to fight an epic battle for every percentage. Turning on the screen for a few seconds while loading the device will take away the hard earned percentage. Oh i just red that charging it via USB to Pc connection will take about 8 hours :triportsad: I took the loading plug from a Samsung Galaxy Tab A (a present, what to do with a tablet?) and hope it will load faster (yes, it does). Im feeling the great tendency to return the AK 70 MK II and get a Mojo. Or maybe just be happy with a small good sounding device without any extra miliwatt power and just look for easy to drive headphones (im really happy with my iems but i always like looking for over-ears. The Ak 712 Pro is very boring for my taste. I need more Punch in the lows. The Fidelio X2 is nice. But i use it as a headset with my PC. Dont want to buy it twice. Want a new toy.) What i am looking for is a powerful dap so i can use a variety of headphones. I thought about buying a FiiO A5 for use with my small Daps... but its too big... Mr. Mojo feels better size wise :wink:
 
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Jun 6, 2018 at 4:14 AM Post #838 of 1,058
Small update comparing the AK70 MK II (The Device) to the Hidizs AP60 II:

Im really having a hard time comparing the two daps. After playing a handful different songs i recognized while playing „alt-J Slow Dre“ that the AP60 hits tight mid drums a very tiny bit more agressive. I dont know how to describe it decently. Im really talking about a nuance. The AP60 reproduce tight drums more like somebody yelling „TAKETE“ into your ear whilst the AK70 does add an atom sized portion of a pleasant „Wusa“ tone. Dont get me wrong. The AK70 provides the same snappy middrums but without any harshness. But as i always say. For me its a very very very small nuance. The same goes for songs with strong voices, mostly audible at high volumes. The AP60 felt a tiny bit more harsh. This time i used the Pioneer SE-CH9T in-ears.

My ears didnt go to school, so im not a trained listener. I have to deeply concentrate on a single part of a specific song and listen to small passages of a song over and over again. Having no a/b switch makes it even more difficult to remember what i have just heared.

At the end of my later listening session as my ears already felt stressed and sensitive i preferred listening to the AK70 MK II.


Some other things i expeienced using the AK70 MK II:
- I have to say again that i really like the nice screen. So much that i want to look at it way more often than i do with other players.

- And there goes the battery. Having a decent on-screen time and zapping through single songs all the time and using the touch controls you will hardly have more fun than 4 hours to play with your device (u can give a name to the AK70 in the settings. default name is device). I was really thinking theres something wrong with the battery of my AK70 but i red the reviews again i already red so often. Now i see. Mixed use can really result into 4 hours playtime.

*** So i dont have trained ears, maybe carved from wood and also i dont possess the eyes of an audio-sniper ***

My advise for device: Quickly navigate to your music, hit the play-button, turn of the screen and navigate through your songs using only the three hardware buttons on the left side of the player.

- But what about the neverending charging time? Sometimes a look into the manual helps. USB connection from roarrr „Device“ to Pc gives you a charging time of up to 8 hours. But the device-user can really suffer/punish himself while playing with the device while charging or falling asleep while the Pc goes into sleep mode aswell. If this is the case you have enough time to travel around the world in 80 days listening to your Plenue D till THE DEVICE is fully charged again. For the next 4 hours...

Iriver y u no put simple usb-charger into the packaging of AK70??? It costs less than a burger.


Conclusion for today:

I really like the AK70 MK II devi... player. What makes me cry like a black and white unicorn is the battery life of 4 hours when enjoying every aspect of the devi... dap. It is a strange feeling watching the batterie percentage-bar decreasing quickly while navigating through the menu. Its like a stressing countdown that alerts you about the short time of fun left.

Maybe 4 hours of a nuance more fun is more pleasure than already good fun for 10-12 hours (AP60 II) or 100 hours (Plenue D)?

How do you live with your AK70 MK II?

Maybe u think: Man just send it back and get the Mojo and add a small player of your choice. (sound wise i want it all... punchy well defined bass, crunchy mids, non-stressing highs with great resolution, sprarkle, etc. I want to be able to hear everything using a capable headphone.



Puuuuh... :ksc75smile:
 
Jun 6, 2018 at 2:24 PM Post #839 of 1,058
To make it short:

As much as i complained about the AK70 MK II... i could not send it back. :monkey::no_entry: It was already packed back into the parcel it came with. But i had a constantly bad feeling that i will miss it. So i ended the neverending thoughts about a return and just kept it. To avoid the 8 hour battery loading marathon it will get its own 5V 2A output adapter. yippieh :ghost: It will be my reference portable home device. If i feel like wanting to try out the Mojo it can serve as a source. Size wise its close to the dimensions of the Mojo. If i find a DAP that provides more fun to me in the future so be it. But for the time now i will listen to THE new DEVICE :robot: at least for 4 hours a day :wink:

It wont get a case/cover. It looks too nice to hide it.

Question to the other AK70 MKII users: Is there a preferred USB 5V 2A loading device that offers the best loading performance for the Ak70 MKII? (using the "travel adapter 5.0 2.0A from Samsung atm. its doing the job well. Ak70 MKII is back at 100%. so lets drain it :))
 
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Jun 6, 2018 at 11:30 PM Post #840 of 1,058
Compared this today with the original AK70, can’t say I heard a massive difference, other than the obvious extra power the MKII has.

Another interesting thing, played this out of balanced with my Andromeda’s & the extra output impedance didn’t play much havoc.

The original AK70 is 1ohm our of balanced compared to the MKII’s 3ohm, I really didn’t hear a huge amount of hiss. Or for that matter any change in the frequency response.
 

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