For me the main reason to buy the Kann Cube is definitely the more powerful amp. I already have the Sp1000m which has all of the other features. I was considering the XI Audio Broadway S, which is battery powered, but it's much bigger, more expensive, and not necessarily more powerful. I haven't found many portable/transportable headphone amp options that provide enough power for demanding headphones, so really hoping the Cube is the killer product it seems to be on paper.
So much power size and weight.. and im still enjoying a long forgotten stock AK120 1st gen. With only 1.6v se output I use it almost daily with SD modded HD800 and i actually never felt like missing vollume level or full sound with the dual wolfson dac. After 6 years the battery still keeps for at least 10 hours (playing flacs) I even prefer the 120's sound over my mojo. I have tried the sp1000 but found the sound too dry and cold. Not to mention i dislike the sizes and sharp edgy housings of AKs since the 240. But well i will give the cube a listen when i get the chance since i will have to upgrade sometime.
The embedded Tidal app is supported by AK, as it is embedded in our firmware, it is our responsibility. Even though it was jointly developed with Tidal and they certified it, we are responsible for support. We are prohibited from allowing offline support on the embedded app because embedded apps are prohibited from offline mode due to the wording in Tidal's contacts with the record labels. There was an official statement from Tidal about this when the embedded app was first launched on the AK240 years ago. In the years since, we have been told we could maybe add it, then told later by legal that we could not. We actually have an embedded app with offline mode ready to go if we are ever given the legal green light.
The Tidal Android APK, when sideloaded on AK players with OpenApp service do allow offline mode. Technically, while Tidal is responsible for support of the Android app, like most major app developers, they usually do not support sideloaded apps.
Is the Kann Cube software designed to bypass the native android audio stack (SRC or DTA), when using the side loaded Tidal apk? Also does the app properly unfold MQA, with the correct bitrats using the side loaded TIDAL apk? Thanks
So much power size and weight.. and im still enjoying a long forgotten stock AK120 1st gen. With only 1.6v se output I use it almost daily with SD modded HD800 and i actually never felt like missing vollume level or full sound with the dual wolfson dac. After 6 years the battery still keeps for at least 10 hours (playing flacs) I even prefer the 120's sound over my mojo. I have tried the sp1000 but found the sound too dry and cold. Not to mention i dislike the sizes and sharp edgy housings of AKs since the 240. But well i will give the cube a listen when i get the chance since i will have to upgrade sometime.
I had an AK120II for some time, and although I liked it a lot, I found its sound a much less musical experience overall to me than that of the original Kann. I've recently ordered the Cube and can't yet attest to what it can do, though I have high hopes. In my experience, and as many in these forums have expressed, the DAC itself isn't the issue, it's how it's implemented. Here's something that may surprise: I still find the sound of my Colorfly C4 Pro to be most more musical and commanding than most Astell & Kern DAPs I've ever owned (the 1st Gen AK70 has been my all-time favorate btw); I still frequently use my C4 Pro today despite its prehistoric UI... it can drive even power hungry headphones like nobody's business. Again, I think I will like the Cube; hope so.
I received my Cube two weeks ago and have been consistently blown away.
Mostly streaming or playing offline TIDAL masters. Even the reg Hifi streams or offline TIDAL tunes sound wicked. This player is instant jaw drop for everyone I’ve played it for including myself.
The blacks are absolutely outer space like. The width, depth and height of the music is like floating in the center of the abyss of space and being able to discern the position and size of stars above below and around you and perceive their differing distances. Holographic for sure. It’s hard to explain. I think I read in a review that you can sense the space or air around each Instrument, this is true. Weird but true.
I’ve heard all SP1000, SP1000m and recently SP2000 and prefer the Cubes signature to all of them. I’m using custom fit 64 audio A18t’s most of the time in low gain mode and the battery holds up fine. I tried high gain mode the whole day at SoCal canjam and it lasted the day. But yeh the battery drains faster than most. Go figure with the fricken hulk battery inside driving chips that are usually in a desktop DAC/amp setup and an amp that can drive miss daisy.
I have not had a player that can play at the level that my A18’s are capable of. I think the Cube matches the A18’s level of articulation and performance. I’ve never heard them like this ever. It’s a revelation of the incredible amount of technology and artistry 64 audio have put into these IEMS. Staggering.
Low ended is detailed thunder, no vegan tofu protein here. Caveman beef. Never clouds mids though.
Mids are sticky, tactile and percussive (modern music) when it needs to be and very smooth when the genre changes (classical/jazz)
Highs are kind of an anomaly here for me. Zero grain, sweet, natural but not super sparkly. Airy yes, but perceived air or kind of infinite top end headroom? Non fatiguing for sure.
Speaking of top end I matched the Cube with the Sendy Aiva’s at Canjam and bought them instantly. The match up here is like Shreck manhandling a sweet little princess. Instant unicorn match.
I also used optical out to my int amp (old Yamaha) and NHT floor standing speakers (these r killer) with inbuilt 8 inch subs bottom side of each speaker. Holy s#*t !!!! My buddy’s were there to witness the most insane instant upgrade to my system I could have ever imagined. Three jaws dropped at the same time. Played “The Code” new EP. If you wanna test low end and like electronica, try their new EP. it’s awesome.
I also have JBL 530 studios hooked up to an emotiva Basx A-100 (not near enough power I know, upgrading soon) and run 3.5mm to rca into the emotiva. Still sounds insane. The enjoyment through my home stereo setups is just as enjoyable as it is through headphones and IEMS. I just ordered 2.5mm to rca for the emotiva so will update on that.
The only crap thing about the cube has been the Bluetooth matchup with my iPhone and Mac. When trying to sync the error “this Bluetooth device is not compatible with your iPhone” comes up so I can’t put the cube in my backpack and stream TIDAL from my iPhone to the cube. Honestly this should be a no brainer, but I’ve tried everything. Please dudes at Astell fix this. A $1500 player should have zero issues connecting to an iPhone instantly.
And what’s with NO CASE included!!!!??????? Or the 5 pin cable??? I’m pretty sure you guys said that both of these would be in the box!? What the heck dudes. And then you have the audacity to charge us $179 for one made out of vegetables? Lame lame lame lame... and..... greedy. Plain greedy. And lame.
Also installing the APK crap was annoying. Astell obviously have audio quality by the balls and their software on the navigation side is solid. It’s the APK third party clunky install process that an unlearned computer peep would probably need their 16 year old son to install before they throw the Cube in the pool.
All this aside this is a wow machine that will stun anybody you play it for. I showed some peeps in NY last week and they had the new Sony noise cancelling headphones. Because they knew the headphones sound I just let them use them and plugged into the cube. They looked up like their headphones had just upgraded to Jedi status.
That’s it for now. I’ll be ordering the 5 pin XLR and a new amp w balanced inputs soon so I’ll update then. Astell please Reneg on your stupidly priced Case and send all people who have already ordered the Cube a case and include it on future purchases. That’s ridiculous. It gives a very greedy perception of your company in a market where other companies who sell sub thousand dollar DAPS include beautiful cases.
I received my Cube two weeks ago and have been consistently blown away.
Mostly streaming or playing offline TIDAL masters. Even the reg Hifi streams or offline TIDAL tunes sound wicked. This player is instant jaw drop for everyone I’ve played it for including myself.
The blacks are absolutely outer space like. The width, depth and height of the music is like floating in the center of the abyss of space and being able to discern the position and size of stars above below and around you and perceive their differing distances. Holographic for sure. It’s hard to explain. I think I read in a review that you can sense the space or air around each Instrument, this is true. Weird but true.
I’ve heard all SP1000, SP1000m and recently SP2000 and prefer the Cubes signature to all of them. I’m using custom fit 64 audio A18t’s most of the time in low gain mode and the battery holds up fine. I tried high gain mode the whole day at SoCal canjam and it lasted the day. But yeh the battery drains faster than most. Go figure with the fricken hulk battery inside driving chips that are usually in a desktop DAC/amp setup and an amp that can drive miss daisy.
I have not had a player that can play at the level that my A18’s are capable of. I think the Cube matches the A18’s level of articulation and performance. I’ve never heard them like this ever. It’s a revelation of the incredible amount of technology and artistry 64 audio have put into these IEMS. Staggering.
Low ended is detailed thunder, no vegan tofu protein here. Caveman beef. Never clouds mids though.
Mids are sticky, tactile and percussive (modern music) when it needs to be and very smooth when the genre changes (classical/jazz)
Highs are kind of an anomaly here for me. Zero grain, sweet, natural but not super sparkly. Airy yes, but perceived air or kind of infinite top end headroom? Non fatiguing for sure.
Speaking of top end I matched the Cube with the Sendy Aiva’s at Canjam and bought them instantly. The match up here is like Shreck manhandling a sweet little princess. Instant unicorn match.
I also used optical out to my int amp (old Yamaha) and NHT floor standing speakers (these r killer) with inbuilt 8 inch subs bottom side of each speaker. Holy s#*t !!!! My buddy’s were there to witness the most insane instant upgrade to my system I could have ever imagined. Three jaws dropped at the same time. Played “The Code” new EP. If you wanna test low end and like electronica, try their new EP. it’s awesome.
I also have JBL 530 studios hooked up to an emotiva Basx A-100 (not near enough power I know, upgrading soon) and run 3.5mm to rca into the emotiva. Still sounds insane. The enjoyment through my home stereo setups is just as enjoyable as it is through headphones and IEMS. I just ordered 2.5mm to rca for the emotiva so will update on that.
The only crap thing about the cube has been the Bluetooth matchup with my iPhone and Mac. When trying to sync the error “this Bluetooth device is not compatible with your iPhone” comes up so I can’t put the cube in my backpack and stream TIDAL from my iPhone to the cube. Honestly this should be a no brainer, but I’ve tried everything. Please dudes at Astell fix this. A $1500 player should have zero issues connecting to an iPhone instantly.
And what’s with NO CASE included!!!!??????? Or the 5 pin cable??? I’m pretty sure you guys said that both of these would be in the box!? What the heck dudes. And then you have the audacity to charge us $179 for one made out of vegetables? Lame lame lame lame... and..... greedy. Plain greedy. And lame.
Also installing the APK crap was annoying. Astell obviously have audio quality by the balls and their software on the navigation side is solid. It’s the APK third party clunky install process that an unlearned computer peep would probably need their 16 year old son to install before they throw the Cube in the pool.
All this aside this is a wow machine that will stun anybody you play it for. I showed some peeps in NY last week and they had the new Sony noise cancelling headphones. Because they knew the headphones sound I just let them use them and plugged into the cube. They looked up like their headphones had just upgraded to Jedi status.
That’s it for now. I’ll be ordering the 5 pin XLR and a new amp w balanced inputs soon so I’ll update then. Astell please Reneg on your stupidly priced Case and send all people who have already ordered the Cube a case and include it on future purchases. That’s ridiculous. It gives a very greedy perception of your company in a market where other companies who sell sub thousand dollar DAPS include beautiful cases.
I received my Cube two weeks ago and have been consistently blown away.
Mostly streaming or playing offline TIDAL masters. Even the reg Hifi streams or offline TIDAL tunes sound wicked. This player is instant jaw drop for everyone I’ve played it for including myself.
The blacks are absolutely outer space like. The width, depth and height of the music is like floating in the center of the abyss of space and being able to discern the position and size of stars above below and around you and perceive their differing distances. Holographic for sure. It’s hard to explain. I think I read in a review that you can sense the space or air around each Instrument, this is true. Weird but true.
I’ve heard all SP1000, SP1000m and recently SP2000 and prefer the Cubes signature to all of them. I’m using custom fit 64 audio A18t’s most of the time in low gain mode and the battery holds up fine. I tried high gain mode the whole day at SoCal canjam and it lasted the day. But yeh the battery drains faster than most. Go figure with the fricken hulk battery inside driving chips that are usually in a desktop DAC/amp setup and an amp that can drive miss daisy.
I have not had a player that can play at the level that my A18’s are capable of. I think the Cube matches the A18’s level of articulation and performance. I’ve never heard them like this ever. It’s a revelation of the incredible amount of technology and artistry 64 audio have put into these IEMS. Staggering.
Low ended is detailed thunder, no vegan tofu protein here. Caveman beef. Never clouds mids though.
Mids are sticky, tactile and percussive (modern music) when it needs to be and very smooth when the genre changes (classical/jazz)
Highs are kind of an anomaly here for me. Zero grain, sweet, natural but not super sparkly. Airy yes, but perceived air or kind of infinite top end headroom? Non fatiguing for sure.
Speaking of top end I matched the Cube with the Sendy Aiva’s at Canjam and bought them instantly. The match up here is like Shreck manhandling a sweet little princess. Instant unicorn match.
I also used optical out to my int amp (old Yamaha) and NHT floor standing speakers (these r killer) with inbuilt 8 inch subs bottom side of each speaker. Holy s#*t !!!! My buddy’s were there to witness the most insane instant upgrade to my system I could have ever imagined. Three jaws dropped at the same time. Played “The Code” new EP. If you wanna test low end and like electronica, try their new EP. it’s awesome.
I also have JBL 530 studios hooked up to an emotiva Basx A-100 (not near enough power I know, upgrading soon) and run 3.5mm to rca into the emotiva. Still sounds insane. The enjoyment through my home stereo setups is just as enjoyable as it is through headphones and IEMS. I just ordered 2.5mm to rca for the emotiva so will update on that.
The only crap thing about the cube has been the Bluetooth matchup with my iPhone and Mac. When trying to sync the error “this Bluetooth device is not compatible with your iPhone” comes up so I can’t put the cube in my backpack and stream TIDAL from my iPhone to the cube. Honestly this should be a no brainer, but I’ve tried everything. Please dudes at Astell fix this. A $1500 player should have zero issues connecting to an iPhone instantly.
And what’s with NO CASE included!!!!??????? Or the 5 pin cable??? I’m pretty sure you guys said that both of these would be in the box!? What the heck dudes. And then you have the audacity to charge us $179 for one made out of vegetables? Lame lame lame lame... and..... greedy. Plain greedy. And lame.
Also installing the APK crap was annoying. Astell obviously have audio quality by the balls and their software on the navigation side is solid. It’s the APK third party clunky install process that an unlearned computer peep would probably need their 16 year old son to install before they throw the Cube in the pool.
All this aside this is a wow machine that will stun anybody you play it for. I showed some peeps in NY last week and they had the new Sony noise cancelling headphones. Because they knew the headphones sound I just let them use them and plugged into the cube. They looked up like their headphones had just upgraded to Jedi status.
That’s it for now. I’ll be ordering the 5 pin XLR and a new amp w balanced inputs soon so I’ll update then. Astell please Reneg on your stupidly priced Case and send all people who have already ordered the Cube a case and include it on future purchases. That’s ridiculous. It gives a very greedy perception of your company in a market where other companies who sell sub thousand dollar DAPS include beautiful cases.
I received my Cube two weeks ago and have been consistently blown away.
Mostly streaming or playing offline TIDAL masters. Even the reg Hifi streams or offline TIDAL tunes sound wicked. This player is instant jaw drop for everyone I’ve played it for including myself.
The blacks are absolutely outer space like. The width, depth and height of the music is like floating in the center of the abyss of space and being able to discern the position and size of stars above below and around you and perceive their differing distances. Holographic for sure. It’s hard to explain. I think I read in a review that you can sense the space or air around each Instrument, this is true. Weird but true.
I’ve heard all SP1000, SP1000m and recently SP2000 and prefer the Cubes signature to all of them. I’m using custom fit 64 audio A18t’s most of the time in low gain mode and the battery holds up fine. I tried high gain mode the whole day at SoCal canjam and it lasted the day. But yeh the battery drains faster than most. Go figure with the fricken hulk battery inside driving chips that are usually in a desktop DAC/amp setup and an amp that can drive miss daisy.
I have not had a player that can play at the level that my A18’s are capable of. I think the Cube matches the A18’s level of articulation and performance. I’ve never heard them like this ever. It’s a revelation of the incredible amount of technology and artistry 64 audio have put into these IEMS. Staggering.
Low ended is detailed thunder, no vegan tofu protein here. Caveman beef. Never clouds mids though.
Mids are sticky, tactile and percussive (modern music) when it needs to be and very smooth when the genre changes (classical/jazz)
Highs are kind of an anomaly here for me. Zero grain, sweet, natural but not super sparkly. Airy yes, but perceived air or kind of infinite top end headroom? Non fatiguing for sure.
Speaking of top end I matched the Cube with the Sendy Aiva’s at Canjam and bought them instantly. The match up here is like Shreck manhandling a sweet little princess. Instant unicorn match.
I also used optical out to my int amp (old Yamaha) and NHT floor standing speakers (these r killer) with inbuilt 8 inch subs bottom side of each speaker. Holy s#*t !!!! My buddy’s were there to witness the most insane instant upgrade to my system I could have ever imagined. Three jaws dropped at the same time. Played “The Code” new EP. If you wanna test low end and like electronica, try their new EP. it’s awesome.
I also have JBL 530 studios hooked up to an emotiva Basx A-100 (not near enough power I know, upgrading soon) and run 3.5mm to rca into the emotiva. Still sounds insane. The enjoyment through my home stereo setups is just as enjoyable as it is through headphones and IEMS. I just ordered 2.5mm to rca for the emotiva so will update on that.
The only crap thing about the cube has been the Bluetooth matchup with my iPhone and Mac. When trying to sync the error “this Bluetooth device is not compatible with your iPhone” comes up so I can’t put the cube in my backpack and stream TIDAL from my iPhone to the cube. Honestly this should be a no brainer, but I’ve tried everything. Please dudes at Astell fix this. A $1500 player should have zero issues connecting to an iPhone instantly.
And what’s with NO CASE included!!!!??????? Or the 5 pin cable??? I’m pretty sure you guys said that both of these would be in the box!? What the heck dudes. And then you have the audacity to charge us $179 for one made out of vegetables? Lame lame lame lame... and..... greedy. Plain greedy. And lame.
Also installing the APK crap was annoying. Astell obviously have audio quality by the balls and their software on the navigation side is solid. It’s the APK third party clunky install process that an unlearned computer peep would probably need their 16 year old son to install before they throw the Cube in the pool.
All this aside this is a wow machine that will stun anybody you play it for. I showed some peeps in NY last week and they had the new Sony noise cancelling headphones. Because they knew the headphones sound I just let them use them and plugged into the cube. They looked up like their headphones had just upgraded to Jedi status.
That’s it for now. I’ll be ordering the 5 pin XLR and a new amp w balanced inputs soon so I’ll update then. Astell please Reneg on your stupidly priced Case and send all people who have already ordered the Cube a case and include it on future purchases. That’s ridiculous. It gives a very greedy perception of your company in a market where other companies who sell sub thousand dollar DAPS include beautiful cases.
I also used optical out to my int amp (old Yamaha) and NHT floor standing speakers (these r killer) with inbuilt 8 inch subs bottom side of each speaker. Holy s#*t !!!! My buddy’s were there to witness the most insane instant upgrade to my system I could have ever imagined. Three jaws dropped at the same time. Played “The Code” new EP. If you wanna test low end and like electronica, try their new EP. it’s awesome.
One thing here: Optical out is digital only and there is no possibility of any kind of noise being carried over the optical connection. So that should make no difference on the sound whatever the source is.
And what’s with NO CASE included!!!!??????? Or the 5 pin cable??? I’m pretty sure you guys said that both of these would be in the box!? What the heck dudes. And then you have the audacity to charge us $179 for one made out of vegetables? Lame lame lame lame... and..... greedy. Plain greedy. And lame.
I agree that it is very expensive and will probably find another solution myself. But I think it is not vegetable leather but it is the process that was applied:
"Vegetable tanned leather refers to the tannage, or method of tanning the cowhide into leather. It's called “vegetable” because of the natural materials used in the tanning process like tree bark. Since vegetable tanning is a natural process, it's also eco-friendly."
And even if it was vegetable (which I would prefer in any case), vegan biodegradable vegetable "leather" products could be more expensive than real leather, and would give a reasonable (kind of) answer to why it is so expensive.
Anyway... I do agree it sounds great. Enjoy your new toy!
@Daniel James, if you like the Khan Cube and U18t pairing you have to like a bright sound signature. As I told Jason at Socal Can Jam the Khan Cube still have the Sabre house sound on the bright side. I spent over an hour playing with the Cube and the SP2000, I totally enjoyed the Cube, great power, clear, clean, high resolution etc, the only thing that is different from the SP2000 is that the SP2000 has that liquid smooth sound that I cannot shake off. But for the price, nothing can beat the Cube's value.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
