[southbeach]

Another Weak amp...there are more really good integraled Amps at Not The rip off prices of A&K

 

[Stillhart]

Another Weak amp...there are more really good integraled Amps at Not The rip off prices of A&K

 
Well on the plus side, you're getting a solid transport and DAC for under $1000, which lets you shell out for a nice external amp like the Cv5, of Liquid Spark or whatever...

 

[goldendarko]

Well on the plus side, you're getting a solid transport and DAC for under $1000, which lets you shell out for a nice external amp like the Cv5, of Liquid Spark or whatever...

Yeah but no TIDAL streaming or talk of MQA capability. How can you release a product in 2016 for that much without these features?

 

[DrSheep]

Yeah but no TIDAL streaming or talk of MQA capability. How can you release a product in 2016 for that much without these features?

Based on the current landscape, I do think iriver/AK made the correct decision with the AK Recoder / LP ripping tide-in.  Think about it, LP is seeing growth in the recent years, and there has yet a truly high-res method on ripping them cleanly without too much of a hassle.  LP to DSD is a great way for ripping LPs, and to promote DSD playback from high end DAPs in general.  MQA is way too new as a standard, and the Tidal library is still rather limited.

 

[The Life]

Yeah but no TIDAL streaming or talk of MQA capability. How can you release a product in 2016 for that much without these features?

I personally gravitate to AK's players precisely because, rather than attempting to be jacks of all trade Android devices, they concentrate on three things, striking hardware design, sound quality, and a simple UI geared specifically to playback of offline music files, and do them superbly.

 

[Torq]

I personally gravitate to AK's players precisely because, rather than attempting to be jacks of all trade Android devices, they concentrate on three things, striking hardware design, sound quality, and a simple UI geared specifically to playback of offline music files, and do them superbly.

I gravitated away from them due to apparent re-use of the same headphone amplifier implementation (which isn't fantastic with lower impedance IEMs), and that I think sound quality went down after the original AK100/120 until the 300 series - and if you're willing to stack, then I find that their sound quality is easily bested by much cheaper solutions.
 
Getting an Onkyo DP-X1 in tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see if that's going to be a better bet for occasional DAP use and mostly as a portable transport/streamer or if I have to go for something else and deal with the storage limitations.
 
Ironically I'd probably not be bothered by the lackluster amp and the comical price of the AK380 if it could manage enough storage to not force me into folder-browsing mode (defeating the point of having the thing in the first place).

 

[astroid]

^agree , tried lots of players and AK Jr , AK320 were my favs(aune M2 gets honourable mention).
AK make beautiful looking and sounding players, two sound sigs Imo , Jr and 320 are warm and musical then you have the 120ii which is clinical and has a little more accuracy at the expense of soul.

 

[The Life]

I gravitated away from them due to apparent re-use of the same headphone amplifier implementation (which isn't fantastic with lower impedance IEMs), and that I think sound quality went down after the original AK100/120 until the 300 series - and if you're willing to stack, then I find that their sound quality is easily bested by much cheaper solutions.

Getting an Onkyo DP-X1 in tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see if that's going to be a better bet for occasional DAP use and mostly as a portable transport/streamer or if I have to go for something else and deal with the storage limitations.

Ironically I'd probably not be bothered by the lackluster amp and the comical price of the AK380 if it could manage enough storage to not force me into folder-browsing mode (defeating the point of having the thing in the first place).

This is definitely a "to each their own situation" because my experience regarding three of your points are actually the opposite: 1) having tried all of AKs players with the obvious exception of the AK300, my favorite is easily the AK100ii, above both the the players in the original 100 series, the 200 series (which I consider the 100ii and the 120ii to be a part of), and even the 380 and 320. 2) I find the AK players to be fantastic with the K10 and N4, both of which are relatively low-impedance IEMs. 3) on all of my IEMs, I rarely approach 2/3 of the SE power on the 100ii, which is even lower output than the rest of AKs lineup (while the output is definitely too weak to drive some full-sized cans well, I didn't set out on my DAP search, which ultimately led me to the 100ii, looking for a DAP to drive my cans, I have plenty of amps at home for that).

Edit: to fix grammar and reduce some hyperbole

 

[Torq]

This is definitely a "to each their own situation" because my experience regarding three of your points are actually the opposite: 1) having tried all of AKs players with the obvious exception of the AK300, my favorite is easily the AK100ii, above both the the players in the original 100 series, the 200 series (which I consider the 100ii and the 120ii to be a part of), and even the 380 and 320. 2) I find the AK players to be fantastic with the K10 and N4, both of which are relatively low-impedance IEMs. 3) on all of my IEMs, I rare use 2/3 of the power on the 100ii, which is significantly lower output that the rest of AKs lineup (while the output is definitely too weak to drive full-sized cans well, I didn't set out on my DAP search, which ultimately led me to the 100ii, looking for a DAP to drive my cans, I have plenty of amps at home for that).

For sure, it's different for all of us.
 
I don't care, at all, for the 100ii, 120ii or 240, sound wise, though their UX is much better than the AK120 I currently have.  I like the physical aspects of the 120ii (I find the 240 to look a bit silly).  I'd have bought the 100ii or 120ii for use as a transport if they hadn't taken a step backwards in storage capacity.
 
Power output hasn't been my issue with the onboard headphone amps - they just doesn't play well, in my opinion and experience, with either the SE846 (which I own) or the 64 Audio A12 (on order, tried with the U12).  In fact they both sound better driven straight off my iPhone.  With higher impedance headphones/IEMs there's much better synergy.   I just don't own/want those IEMs.
 
That they still require the bloody awful Android File Transfer program to put music on the internal storage is beyond bizarre to me - especially when you're talking a supposedly "luxury" item at $4000.
 
I liked the sound of the 320 and 380 (as well as the looks), provided they weren't feeding my IEMs, and assume the 300 will have a fundamentally similar signature.  But the lack of storage capacity, combined with the price and other hoop-jumping has me continuing to wait things out and hope that they'll eventually produce something that can at least act as a high-capacity transport even if I don't use the rest of the features.
 
All very silly ... I get excited every time there's a rumor of a new AK release ... and disappointed EVERY time that a few simple, but significant issues, remain.
 
Ah well ... if the Onkyo DP-X1 doesn't prove to be a suitable replacement, there's always the FiiO T3.

 

[bflat]

Nice, this thing can record in crystal clear transparency DSD 5.6 of me going:
 
"What!!!!! this AK380Cu is $3999??????"
 
or AK can use it to record their voicemail greeting in Hi Res since that's all I get when I call support.
 
But seriously, not sure how this recording device fits Headfi community. I tried to sell a brand new multi track Tascam recorder in classified for over a month and not a single offer.

 

[NPWS]

I personally gravitate to AK's players precisely because, rather than attempting to be jacks of all trade Android devices, they concentrate on three things, striking hardware design, sound quality, and a simple UI geared specifically to playback of offline music files, and do them superbly.

and obviously overpriced 

but I really love my ak100ii

 

[329161]

Will be interesting to see how this stacks up against the QP1R.

 

[raypin]

Mmmm......recorder is nice but it should not be the selling point of the AK 300. As a headphile, I am more interested in how it fares against the rest of the AK line-up and, of course, against other DAPs in terms of SQ. What does the 300 bring to the table, besides the lower price point?

 

[AnakChan]

  Based on the current landscape, I do think iriver/AK made the correct decision with the AK Recoder / LP ripping tide-in.  Think about it, LP is seeing growth in the recent years, and there has yet a truly high-res method on ripping them cleanly without too much of a hassle.  LP to DSD is a great way for ripping LPs, and to promote DSD playback from high end DAPs in general.  MQA is way too new as a standard, and the Tidal library is still rather limited.

 
Good call. In fact  that's what they were demonstrating on their table today (after yesterday's presentation). Talking to AK, so it "rip" vinyl into DSD 5.6MHz. Something like this would be more interesting than microphone sound recording to me.

 

[DrSheep]

 
Good call. In fact  that's what they were demonstrating on their table today (after yesterday's presentation). Talking to AK, so it "rip" vinyl into DSD 5.6MHz. Something like this would be more interesting than microphone sound recording to me.

Very true, but it all boils down to how the software handles tracks and tagging.  Do you know whether there is some kind of automation, or it is all just manually breaking up the tracks and tag them yourself?