[Newsee]

You mean kHz

My bad. Of course. 96kHz and 192kHz.
Thanks.

 

[uptildawn53]

Fantastic pairing

LCD 24 + Kann Cube

Very nice setup

I've the MX-4 and Kaan Cube in tandem, together. I'm curious to use the 5pin cable line out from the Kaan Cube to my Cayin AMP/DAC AES (balanced dual 3 pin ).. would that work, do you know ?

Thanks

 

[Gabehcuod]

Very nice setup

I've the MX-4 and Kaan Cube in tandem, together. I'm curious to use the 5pin cable line out from the Kaan Cube to my Cayin AMP/DAC AES (balanced dual 3 pin ).. would that work, do you know ?

Thanks

Nice setup. It's quite crazy what that cayin amp can do, given the price.

 

[thecrow]

Very nice setup

I've the MX-4 and Kaan Cube in tandem, together. I'm curious to use the 5pin cable line out from the Kaan Cube to my Cayin AMP/DAC AES (balanced dual 3 pin ).. would that work, do you know ?

Thanks

Yes. Into the amp.
that combo could work well as the cayin is s bit lively up top

which dac is it? Idac6? mkii or first one?

(not sure if there will be an improvement in dac going from the idac6 to kann cube but worth sussing out)

 

[vonBaron]

I just plugged my Cube into WA8 and wow, what a nice paring.

 

[JasonNYC]

Astell&Kern US Holiday Promotions Are Now Available!

Get your favorite Astell&Kern products at special pricing now through December 29th, or while supplies last! Available at us.astellnkern.com or at a participating authorized dealer near you. Promotions listed below are valid only in the US/Canada. For other countries, please contact your local authorized Astell&Kern dealer for a list of promotions in your region.

For the full list of deals, check out https://us.astellnkern.com/blogs/news/a-k-2020-holiday-promotions

 

[Genghis Kann]

I recently got a Kann Cube and love it for a direct connection (use with Schiit Magnius & Loki - using the A & K 5 pin XLR cable). I also enjoy using Tidal on desktop and using Kann as DAC.

What I would like to do is stream from Tidal the KC to my home stereo receiver (Yamaha Rx-v585, nothing special, I know) at higher than the 44kHz that chromecast allows (CC is plugged into one of the HDMI ports on receiver). I even tried Yamaha MusicCast instead of CC and it maxed out at 44kHz on MQA files.

I've tried Audirvana with mixed results.

I guess I am wondering if brahz think an intermediate receiving device should be used so that MQA files can be played at maximum 384kHZ which is what the KC and Yamaha receiver both max out at.

 

[Newsee]

I recently got a Kann Cube and love it for a direct connection (use with Schiit Magnius & Loki - using the A & K 5 pin XLR cable). I also enjoy using Tidal on desktop and using Kann as DAC.

What I would like to do is stream from Tidal the KC to my home stereo receiver (Yamaha Rx-v585, nothing special, I know) at higher than the 44kHz that chromecast allows (CC is plugged into one of the HDMI ports on receiver). I even tried Yamaha MusicCast instead of CC and it maxed out at 44kHz on MQA files.

I've tried Audirvana with mixed results.

I guess I am wondering if brahz think an intermediate receiving device should be used so that MQA files can be played at maximum 384kHZ which is what the KC and Yamaha receiver both max out at.

On the Yamaha homepage of Rx-v585:
"They house ultra-high performance 384 kHz / 32-bit DACs", so it must be capable box, but nowhere written MQA support.
Unfold in Cube and digitaly further to Rx? Sounds brave. You may try the optical out on Cube, optical in on Rx. That supports up to 192 kHz. Or use Cube as DAC, and analogue in on Rx
Have you tried BubbleUPnP? That supports Tidal as source, and different DLNA receivers as renderer.

 

[Stefanovic]

Good evening

I'm fairly new to this forum and also to all things head-fi.

I am the proud owner of a Kann Cube (for less than 12 months) and really love it. I have a couple of questions if anyone could provide advice:

1. Currently I only have a pair of 1more quad driver IEMs and am looking to invest in something more up-market to match the quality of my KC. After some research I am considering purchasing the Focal Clear open back headphones but have not yet been able to test due to travel restrictions because of the Covid-19 situation, therefore, I may decide on a blind purchase. I'm sure there won't be any technical issues as the KC has a low output impedance and is more that powerful enough to drive the 55 ohm Clear, but was wandering if anyone here has any experience of this paring or experience of the Clear in general.

2. I recently used the USB DAC function of my KC and connected to my laptop using the USB cable. The KC manual says this can be done to allow music from the computer to by played through the KC's headphone port for enhanced listening. I did this to listen to YouTube audio through the KC. Everything connected ok and the audio routed through the KC fine, however, I did not notice any real enhancement is SQ and was wondering why. Perhaps this may be due to the standard of audio codec used by YouTube which I think is AAC (low res).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

 

[WyattEarp]

Good evening

I'm fairly new to this forum and also to all things head-fi.

I am the proud owner of a Kann Cube (for less than 12 months) and really love it. I have a couple of questions if anyone could provide advice:

1. Currently I only have a pair of 1more quad driver IEMs and am looking to invest in something more up-market to match the quality of my KC. After some research I am considering purchasing the Focal Clear open back headphones but have not yet been able to test due to travel restrictions because of the Covid-19 situation, therefore, I may decide on a blind purchase. I'm sure there won't be any technical issues as the KC has a low output impedance and is more that powerful enough to drive the 55 ohm Clear, but was wandering if anyone here has any experience of this paring or experience of the Clear in general.

2. I recently used the USB DAC function of my KC and connected to my laptop using the USB cable. The KC manual says this can be done to allow music from the computer to by played through the KC's headphone port for enhanced listening. I did this to listen to YouTube audio through the KC. Everything connected ok and the audio routed through the KC fine, however, I did not notice any real enhancement is SQ and was wondering why. Perhaps this may be due to the standard of audio codec used by YouTube which I think is AAC (low res).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

1. To answer your first question I'm pretty sure the Cube can handle them and as long as you get them from a reputable seller you should be able to return them if you don't like how they sound.

2. Listening to music via YouTube is far from the ideal testing soucre for sound quality. Most people here I believe use regular, uncompressed, or hi-res files that's already on their computer.

 

[Newsee]

Good evening

I'm fairly new to this forum and also to all things head-fi.

I am the proud owner of a Kann Cube (for less than 12 months) and really love it. I have a couple of questions if anyone could provide advice:

1. Currently I only have a pair of 1more quad driver IEMs and am looking to invest in something more up-market to match the quality of my KC. After some research I am considering purchasing the Focal Clear open back headphones but have not yet been able to test due to travel restrictions because of the Covid-19 situation, therefore, I may decide on a blind purchase. I'm sure there won't be any technical issues as the KC has a low output impedance and is more that powerful enough to drive the 55 ohm Clear, but was wandering if anyone here has any experience of this paring or experience of the Clear in general.

2. I recently used the USB DAC function of my KC and connected to my laptop using the USB cable. The KC manual says this can be done to allow music from the computer to by played through the KC's headphone port for enhanced listening. I did this to listen to YouTube audio through the KC. Everything connected ok and the audio routed through the KC fine, however, I did not notice any real enhancement is SQ and was wondering why. Perhaps this may be due to the standard of audio codec used by YouTube which I think is AAC (low res).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Welcome!
I am also proud owner of Kann Cube for less then 18 months
1. What type of music are you listening to, when, where and how? What is important for you in the tone quality? Bass? Mid? Treble? Stage? Clarity? Sensitive to harshness? How important is the comfort for you? How much money do you want to spend on it?
I have tried the Clear once, for half an hour, out of a questyle cma400, not from Cube. Sounded nice.

2. Try with some good quality high resolution file with a good player software (e.g foobar). Once from the laptop, once from the Cube. You can use the sample files coming with the Cube. The Spanish Harlem from Rebecca Pidgeon is a good start.
Do not forget to change the used sample rate and bit resolution in windows (system - hardware and sound - sound - Kann Cube - properties - extended - to 24 bit, 192000 Hz )
If you still do not hear the difference you may have a very good laptop, or the 1more quad (which I do not know) is limiting. Youtube is generally not a good source to test with.

 

[Stefanovic]

1. To answer your first question I'm pretty sure the Cube can handle them and as long as you get them from a reputable seller you should be able to return them if you don't like how they sound.

2. Listening to music via YouTube is far from the ideal testing soucre for sound quality. Most people here I believe use regular, uncompressed, or hi-res files that's already on their computer.

Many thanks for that.

 

[Stefanovic]

Welcome!
I am also proud owner of Kann Cube for less then 18 months
1. What type of music are you listening to, when, where and how? What is important for you in the tone quality? Bass? Mid? Treble? Stage? Clarity? Sensitive to harshness? How important is the comfort for you? How much money do you want to spend on it?
I have tried the Clear once, for half an hour, out of a questyle cma400, not from Cube. Sounded nice.

2. Try with some good quality high resolution file with a good player software (e.g foobar). Once from the laptop, once from the Cube. You can use the sample files coming with the Cube. The Spanish Harlem from Rebecca Pidgeon is a good start.
Do not forget to change the used sample rate and bit resolution in windows (system - hardware and sound - sound - Kann Cube - properties - extended - to 24 bit, 192000 Hz )
If you still do not hear the difference you may have a very good laptop, or the 1more quad (which I do not know) is limiting. Youtube is generally not a good source to test with.

Many thanks

1. I'm open to listening to most genres of music and have downloaded quite a lot of music onto my KC, always choosing the 24 bit FLAC option, where available. I prefer a balanced sound and am certainly not a bass-head, and like to hear the finer details with clarity but not at the expense of the overall tonality and emotion (I've always held the view that music is there to move us).
Regarding cost, I was budgeting £1k to £1.5k, and found a couple of HiFi dealers (both recognised on the Focal website) offering the Clear for £1099, which looks like a good deal. I did ask them if they were new or ex demo/returns and they said definitely new. Also, because I am unable to trial these, they say I can return within an acceptable timeframe.
2. I loved the Rebecca Pidgeon version of Spanish Harlem so much when I first got the KC, I purchased her album "The Raven" (in Hi Res of course) which is a delight. I also download the Hi Res version of Amber Rubarth's "Sessions from the 17th Ward" which is also excellent.
I've recently downloaded albums by St Vincent (real name Annie Clark) who is excellent. There is a video of her on YouTube performing an acoustic version (which I haven't yet found for download anywhere) of "Slow Disco" for the Indie88 Black Box Sessions which is superb (it's worth a listen and can be found here ). It is while I was watching this that I wondered if it may sound even better routed through the KC, but it sounded pretty much the same (to my ears at least).
I think YouTube uses AAC files at 16 bit, so presumably my laptop is producing good quality 16bit audio and the KC is only extracting the data available from the 16bit file (i.e. both are maximising the SQ of the file - if that makes sense).

 

[Stefanovic]

Welcome!
I am also proud owner of Kann Cube for less then 18 months
1. What type of music are you listening to, when, where and how? What is important for you in the tone quality? Bass? Mid? Treble? Stage? Clarity? Sensitive to harshness? How important is the comfort for you? How much money do you want to spend on it?
I have tried the Clear once, for half an hour, out of a questyle cma400, not from Cube. Sounded nice.

2. Try with some good quality high resolution file with a good player software (e.g foobar). Once from the laptop, once from the Cube. You can use the sample files coming with the Cube. The Spanish Harlem from Rebecca Pidgeon is a good start.
Do not forget to change the used sample rate and bit resolution in windows (system - hardware and sound - sound - Kann Cube - properties - extended - to 24 bit, 192000 Hz )
If you still do not hear the difference you may have a very good laptop, or the 1more quad (which I do not know) is limiting. Youtube is generally not a good source to test with.

Update

Re-connected the Cube and just changed the PC system settings to 24 bit, 192000 Hz. Sounding pretty impressive, THANKS. Also just listening to Pomplamoose's cover of Daft Punk's "Something About Us" on YouTube via the KC and it sounds bloody terrific.

 

[uncle b]

Does anyone know if there is a way to set a sort of “default“ start-up volume on A&K products? I’d prefer to have my player turn on with a lower volume level, no matter how loud I was listening when I powered it down.