Astell&Kern KANN CUBE

[shoubhik]

Is it possible to downgrade the firmware update to a previous version? if so, how?

 

[sahmen]

You got a download button for the Spotify APK on that site? The only button I see is the "Get it on Google Play" button.

I visited several sites, and got spotify from one of them. I thought this was it, but if you're unable to download it, then it must have been somewhere else. Ironically, the Spotify APK was the easiest to get and download, because it seemed to be everywhere. The qobuz APK was relatively less easy to find, but I found that one without much difficulty. I also found one for Roon, but it turned out to be a complicated zipped file folder with several files that the KANN cube seems unable to digest or make any sense of, so I trashed it. I'd like to have the roon though. because it integrates Tidal, Qobuz and my local files very nicely and tidily for purposes of easy and uncomplicated access.

Coming back to Spotify, I still have the download in my chrome records, but I can't back trace it to the site I got it from. If I am able to find it, I shall report back.

PS:

Okay, this must be the site:

https://spotify-music.en.softonic.c...c1IQII0Dav3YzEmUaASQ_vI6FaYf2-xkaAtMjEALw_wcB

Click on "Download the APK", and avoid the "Install from Google play" tab that is next to it

 

[sahmen]

Edited out.

 

[audio-]

Quick question for streamers: Do any of the streaming apps (Deezer, Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal) provide music discovery capabilities on the Kann Cube?

My understanding is that this is what Roon was specifically designed for, to help you find new music that you might like based on the music you already have. Unfortunately A&K have been promising Roon for a long time now (years) and it hasn’t appeared so I think I will try to find an alternative.

Thank you

 

[Newsee]

On my home router that I can manage, I put 5 in the SSID name of the 5.8ghz network and 2 in the SSID name of the 2.4ghz network. My KC displays each and I select which to connect to. Unfortunately, the KC does not (as far as I know) display the speed of the network it is connected to.

I had a laptop that would only connect to 2.4ghz. I installed a new network card and both 2.4ghz and 5.6ghz became available. If your KC isn't connecting to 5.6ghz, try the KC at another location with a known good 5.6ghz router. If it still doesn't work, you may need to stick with 2.4ghz or consider that your KC isn't working properly.

Many people and public wifi spots assign the same name to both 2.4ghz and 5.6ghz. You can put an app on your phone, like "WiFi Network Analyzer" and it will show you everything that is available but if the bands are not distinctly identified with a unique name, I don't have a great recommendation. Trial and error I suppose.

I'm sure A&K needs to protect their product by controlling what can be installed and what cannot but I wish we could install more apks, maybe even the entire Play store, on the KC. When the day is done, I try to be happy with what I have and not worry about the rest. Streaming from a phone with the aptx HD codec might be helpful for some.

I had a few replies about people being more successful with 2.4ghz WiFi than what I summarized. I forgot that I have a stovepipe near my router. I bet that if I moved my router, I would get better performance out of 2.4ghz. The speed on the 5.6ghz network is more desirable to me so I may have misled some of you because of my perspective. Sorry about that.

Many thanks for the detailed explanation.

I am basically satisfied with the performance of the wifi reception of the Cube. I am using it at home connected to the wifi router, or on the go tethered to the wifi hotspot of my android phone. I am listening to Qobuz HiRes or CD streaming. For 192kHz 24 bit HiRes stereo 10 Mbps speed is enough, which is normally reached (802.11b up to 11 Mbps, 802.11g up to 54Mbps, 802.11n up to 600 Mbps). However, if I am in a bad coverage area either in wifi or in the public 4G network, the music stops time to time, wich is very annoying. Therefore I got the habit to dowload the whole album for offlinle listening, especially my playlist and favourite albums. It goes fast.

I still have some doubts about the 5.6 ghz capability of the Cube. According tho the A&k website Kann Cube specification:

Wi-Fi

802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)

I have also checked with the WiFiAnalyzer app what is available around here. I have 5.2GHz signal (channel 44), the neighbors up to 5.5GHz (channel 100(106)). The Cube shows only the ssid's with 2.4GHz signal, including the hotspots from Androids and Iphones. This shall be normal according to the specifications, however, what you stated makes me curious. It would be advantageous to use 5GHz bands in case of dowloading full playlists. Could you please doublecheck your ssid's frequencies with WiFiAnalyzer. If they are correct I have to contact A&K for clarification.

 

[PACSman]

Many thanks for the detailed explanation.

I am basically satisfied with the performance of the wifi reception of the Cube. I am using it at home connected to the wifi router, or on the go tethered to the wifi hotspot of my android phone. I am listening to Qobuz HiRes or CD streaming. For 192kHz 24 bit HiRes stereo 10 Mbps speed is enough, which is normally reached (802.11b up to 11 Mbps, 802.11g up to 54Mbps, 802.11n up to 600 Mbps). However, if I am in a bad coverage area either in wifi or in the public 4G network, the music stops time to time, wich is very annoying. Therefore I got the habit to dowload the whole album for offlinle listening, especially my playlist and favourite albums. It goes fast.

I still have some doubts about the 5.6 ghz capability of the Cube. According tho the A&k website Kann Cube specification:

Wi-Fi

802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)

I have also checked with the WiFiAnalyzer app what is available around here. I have 5.2GHz signal (channel 44), the neighbors up to 5.5GHz (channel 100(106)). The Cube shows only the ssid's with 2.4GHz signal, including the hotspots from Androids and Iphones. This shall be normal according to the specifications, however, what you stated makes me curious. It would be advantageous to use 5GHz bands in case of dowloading full playlists. Could you please doublecheck your ssid's frequencies with WiFiAnalyzer. If they are correct I have to contact A&K for clarification.

I'll try to do it this coming weekend. I'm doing the business travel thing most weeks (which is why I have the KC). My upcoming weekend looks to be crazy but I'll do my best.

 

[gc335]

I received my Kann Cube on Saturday. Loving it so far. Serous power. My EL-8s have never sounded better with a mobile rig.

I noticed that there is a bit of play in both the 3.5 and 2.5 jacks. I've seen this on other players and I just wanted to see if anyone else noticed this on the Kann Cube. Probably normal. I'm just curious.

 

[Newsee]

Quick question for streamers: Do any of the streaming apps (Deezer, Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal) provide music discovery capabilities on the Kann Cube?

My understanding is that this is what Roon was specifically designed for, to help you find new music that you might like based on the music you already have. Unfortunately A&K have been promising Roon for a long time now (years) and it hasn’t appeared so I think I will try to find an alternative.

Thank you

I have Qobuz and Spotify, both offers music discovery. The others I do not know. I prefer Qobuz due to the losless capabilities and the wide jazz and classical libraries. I prefer the user interface of Spotify but I only use it when I do not find something specific on Qobuz, or when I want to list of releases of a band sorted by relrase year.

 

[Newsee]

I received my Kann Cube on Saturday. Loving it so far. Serous power. My EL-8s have never sounded better with a mobile rig.

I noticed that there is a bit of play in both the 3.5 and 2.5 jacks. I've seen this on other players and I just wanted to see if anyone else noticed this on the Kann Cube. Probably normal. I'm just curious.

Welcome to the club.
I checked quickly with different plugs and different players, the Cube was among the ones with a bit of more play. I have not even noticed it before.
Enjoy your new toy.

 

[sahmen]

I have been test driving the Kann Cube with my Hifiman He 1000SE (with the Norne Audio Silvergarde S3 cable connected in Balanced mode), and I have to say that this thing does rock on several levels, whether I am playing music from Tidal, Qobuz, or locally stored files (I'm yet to try the Spotify or Amazon Unlimited HD Music apps, but these aren't as important to me as Tidal and Qobuz).

I have also tried the XLR line out functionality, by connecting the KC to my Liquid Platinum using Moon audio's Silverdragon KC XLR cable, and the resulting performance does not disappoint at all.

Now without meaning to jump the gun by hastily overstating things, pending more listening time with the KC, I feel confident so far in saying that its sonic performance compares very favorably with my two most advanced regular headphone AMP and DAC rigs (Yggdrasil Analog2 + Violectric V281 and Metrum Onyx + Cavalli Liquid Platinum), and I find that to be very impressive indeed given that each of these rigs is two to three times more expensive than the KC, if one counts the source components to which each is attached.

Now, I said "compares very favorably," and not necessarily "better" or "worse" and that is on purpose. I just want to acknowledge this observation that assessing the relative sQ performance of the KC, as compared with that of those two rigs, is not making me feel as if the KC has any glaring weaknesses in any area, and I find that to be impressive. Not that I have been doing any active A/B listening comparisons yet. I have been enjoying the KC too much since yesterday to have any time for that sort of thing. Maybe later, I might do some more comparative critical listening to identify any noteworthy differences between the KC and the rigs.

In the meantime, I feel confident declaring the KC to be quite the hit, and not only in the SQ department, and I do not feel that this, in itself, is a premature declaration. I am very happy I got the KC, in spite of A & K's rather shabby treatment of the original Kann in the area of continued support. I really hope they do better with the KC.

 

[Newsee]

Is it possible to downgrade the firmware update to a previous version? if so, how?

In principle not, but some brave ones have done it, check out the links:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ast...-storage-battery.843376/page-98#post-14111471

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ast...-storage-battery.843376/page-97#post-14101197

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astell-kern-kann-cube.905446/page-45#post-15102673

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astell-kern-kann-cube.905446/page-46#post-15104295

Or alternatively, search the thread for the text "downgrade".

But why would you do that?

 

[gc335]

Welcome to the club.
I checked quickly with different plugs and different players, the Cube was among the ones with a bit of more play. I have not even noticed it before.
Enjoy your new toy.

Perfect! That is what I thought. I feel better.

Thanks! I'm going to post some more thoughts as I have more head time. I'm REALLY liking the AK Connect. I like being able to fully control the DAP from my phone.

 

[gc335]

I've had my Kann Cube for a couple of weeks. I initially had a long list of things I didn't like. My opinion is changing.

At first, the Kann Cube seemed ruthlessly unforgiving of poor recordings but now it does not. It isn't just about rediscovering the music I love, it is about discovering music I did not appreciate before.

I thought I was buying a player for acoustic and classical. Last night, I was listening to King Crimson Volkshaus Zurich Switzerland, 1995-05-06 (2cd) and heard detail in the electric guitar distortion that amazed me. I stayed up too late last night listening to every note. Zero ear fatigue; slept like a baby; couldn't wait to listen again.

I've transitioned to running the amp in hi-gain mode with the volume lower and I hear even more detail. The Kann Cube warns that doing so will drain the battery quickly but I don't care because I like what I hear. One hour of 16bit flac music used 10% battery.

I found a $32 silicon case, https://www.amazon.com/BestforYou-T..._1_9?keywords=kann+cube&qid=1576195677&sr=8-9, that was sent over to me from China. This softens the sharp corners and makes the Kann Cube easy to hold and travel-worthy for me. I'm on an airplane listening to it now.

I have not heard the DX220.

Thanks for the info. Do you still like this case? I might order one for my Cube.

 

[Newsee]

Perfect! That is what I thought. I feel better.

Thanks! I'm going to post some more thoughts as I have more head time. I'm REALLY liking the AK Connect. I like being able to fully control the DAP from my phone.

Thank you for the AK Connect reminder. At the beginning I was playing a little bit with it, and almost forgot about it, as I mostly play Qobuz on or offline with he sideloaded app, what you can not control fron AK Connect, as far as I know. A good alternative would be BubbleUPnP as it has Qobuz, but not offline.

I carry around my Cube (nickname Brick) in my favourite belt-attached carry case, wich at the moment does not (yet) have any opening for the controls. It will be nice to try it again after half a year if it increase the comfort not to pull it out every time but to use the AK Connect or BubbleUPnP. Hopefully connection stability and speed increased since last June.

 

[Newsee]

I have been test driving the Kann Cube with my Hifiman He 1000SE (with the Norne Audio Silvergarde S3 cable connected in Balanced mode), and I have to say that this thing does rock on several levels, whether I am playing music from Tidal, Qobuz, or locally stored files (I'm yet to try the Spotify or Amazon Unlimited HD Music apps, but these aren't as important to me as Tidal and Qobuz).

I have also tried the XLR line out functionality, by connecting the KC to my Liquid Platinum using Moon audio's Silverdragon KC XLR cable, and the resulting performance does not disappoint at all.

Now without meaning to jump the gun by hastily overstating things, pending more listening time with the KC, I feel confident so far in saying that its sonic performance compares very favorably with my two most advanced regular headphone AMP and DAC rigs (Yggdrasil Analog2 + Violectric V281 and Metrum Onyx + Cavalli Liquid Platinum), and I find that to be very impressive indeed given that each of these rigs is two to three times more expensive than the KC, if one counts the source components to which each is attached.

Now, I said "compares very favorably," and not necessarily "better" or "worse" and that is on purpose. I just want to acknowledge this observation that assessing the relative sQ performance of the KC, as compared with that of those two rigs, is not making me feel as if the KC has any glaring weaknesses in any area, and I find that to be impressive. Not that I have been doing any active A/B listening comparisons yet. I have been enjoying the KC too much since yesterday to have any time for that sort of thing. Maybe later, I might do some more comparative critical listening to identify any noteworthy differences between the KC and the rigs.

In the meantime, I feel confident declaring the KC to be quite the hit, and not only in the SQ department, and I do not feel that this, in itself, is a premature declaration. I am very happy I got the KC, in spite of A & K's rather shabby treatment of the original Kann in the area of continued support. I really hope they do better with the KC.

Many thanks for this post.
I am consciously at (trans)portable gear only at the moment. Some recent readings made suggestions that desktop DACs/amps has significantly more enjoyable listening experience than portable ones. Therefore I wanted to ask for a while now someone (maybe you, @thecrow?) who has both Cube and desktop equipment what to expect, how far I have to go if I ever decide to go for desktop direction.