[clee290]

  On a scale of 1-10, how difficult is it to put music on the player via mac?

Is 1 considered 'easiest', or 10?
 
I mean, it's drag-n-drop. Not sure how much easier it could get.

 

[DJVenomSnake]

Good deal. LOL I'm HAFRN, So 1 being worse.

I heard some complain about the "Unknown artist" consistently popping up.
And I'm on Mac so I wanted to make sure I can use it.  
Read people using Wine and Parallels just ot put music on it.

Seems odd, but if its plug and play awesome!

 

[clee290]

  Good deal. LOL I'm HAFRN, So 1 being worse.

I heard some complain about the "Unknown artist" consistently popping up.
And I'm on Mac so I wanted to make sure I can use it.  
Read people using Wine and Parallels just ot put music on it.

Seems odd, but if its plug and play awesome!

Yea, those problems are usually because the Jr is a little finicky with metadata, file extensions, album artwork, etc. Not an issue caused by loading your music from a Mac. And the Wine/Parallels talk was about a program to edit songs' metadata.

 

[Mark-sf]

Does anyone use "Schiit Audio" with there astell&kern?

Not sure what you mean. I've used my Lyr 2 and HD700's just fine. It's a great combo!

 

[Mark-sf]

  On a scale of 1-10, how difficult is it to put music on the player via mac?

No more difficult than a PC. Current issues are not connectivity it is the lack of flexibility in the firmware when it comes to recognizing tags.

 

[level3]

 
You kind of have to inspect the songs yourself. Compare the ones that work to the ones that don't work and see what is different between them.
 
I remember I had an album where the song extensions were ".Mp3" instead of ".mp3" and that made the songs show up as Unknown Artist/Album.
 
I also had embedded artwork that were progressive jpegs and that caused the Jr to not load the artwork for those albums. Using a baseline/optimized jpeg works fine. I also make sure to use 500x500. It might be able to use a higher resolution image, but I stick to 500x500.
 
Also, try out MP3tag instead. I use it on both my Mac and PC.
http://www.mp3tag.de/en/mac-osx.html

Thanks, clee290.
 
Yes, that sure looks like a weekend job... and I will try MP3tag.
 
Likes: Decent Sound, Price, Size, Expandable Storage (using 192GB)
Dislikes: Album view issues suck, No digital output > DAC
 
500 bucks, good for days/nights when you are in shorts, on-the-move, and not in the mood to to lug the better stuff somewhere... 

 

[level3]

  Good deal. LOL I'm HAFRN, So 1 being worse.

I heard some complain about the "Unknown artist" consistently popping up.
And I'm on Mac so I wanted to make sure I can use it.  
Read people using Wine and Parallels just ot put music on it.

Seems odd, but if its plug and play awesome!

 
IME
Plugging to a Mac, no problem.
Drag & Drop files using OSX, no problem.
 
Album view listing = problem (with some files, not all).
If I can figure out why/how, will post.
 
Cheers. 

 

[DimarzioMesaFan]

,

 

[kimvictor]

  A bit of help, please:
 
Using FW 1.03. There are hundreds of songs listed as "unknown album" and "unknown artist" in the album listing on my AK Jr.
 
Have tried using Metadatics to add more info (on a test 16/44 album that I purchased online) to help the AK Jr sort it. Removed "unknown album" on the AK Jr. Copied new version with added metadata from Mac. Safely ejected Ak Jr. Auto-synced...
 
...and, it does not work. The album is not listed and resides in "unknown album" mixed with plenty of other songs.
 
FYI:
Album view: About 100+ other albums are showing (some with artwork, some without). Cannot figure out why.
Folder view: All "known" and "unknown" albums are visible and sorted in alphabetical order.
Player view: Embedded album art for some "unknown album" songs show up, with data on file resolution (first line), as well as track number and title (second line). On the third line, there is "unknown" instead of the name of the artist as tagged in metadata.
 
1. Anyone else having this issue?
2. Is this an AK Jr software bug or do I have to do something "special" in Metadatics?
 
TIA.

I've converted all my music to apple lossless and converted it back to flac, and that solved all the tagging/album art issues I've had. It's strange. I tried fixing it using other ways, but I couldn't get it to work.

 

[DJVenomSnake]

Thanks for the responses!

Yeah, that's what I was worried about.
I'm big on having albums organized, and I don't wanna pay for a unit that can't read album tags well.
Seems like a non-issue for most people but it's just personal preference for me.
 
Fak, I really wanted this player

 

[gr8soundz]

Despite being so thin, the Jr. doesn't get that warm after hours of playback (mostly 16/44 files and some high-res). Its built like a tiny, aluminum tank but I can't find much info about the internals (other than the Wolfson chip).
 
Does anyone know what kind of amp the AK Jr. has? With so little heat output I wonder if its class D?
 
Also, are there any pics of the internal pcb?
 

 

[DigitalFreak]

Hi guys, my review of the Jr went up a couple of days ago. Hopefully it'll make for some interesting reading for anyone thinking of buying a unit and is on the fence
 
 
http://headphone.guru/the-astell-kern-ak-jr-the-little-player-that-could/

 

[goodvibes]

Nice review and pretty much what I heard on audition. I more clearly prefer an old ak120 but selecting the right FW on that unit makes all the difference. I also slightly prefer the old ak100 mk3 as well but it's very close. The jr is a bit more dry with a touch less musical color but they're very close. Perhaps more neutral in character but less interesting. It's a lovely little device. I haven't heard anything better under $500, it's svelte and their UIs and build are always nice.

 

[kimvictor]

I'm writing a review rn too. It will be published within a week or two.

 

[raze94]

Does anyone use "Schiit Audio" with there astell&kern?

I use the Magni 2. On high gain there is too much noise to be usable in my opinion. In this case low gain is your friend.