[GiacomoHoldini]

why u asking me ..

I take it you're not familiar with the concept of rhetorical questions.

 

[rbalcom]

subsribe to Tidal and try the tidal app on AK Kann. Dissapointed. It cannot even work. Freeze upon clicking the play button. there is no button to kill the frozen app as well. Can AK team fix this??

Tidal works fine on my KANN. Firmware version 1.12CM and Tidal version 1.2. Seems like it is an issue related to your setup rather than AK.

 

[rbalcom]

I'm curious why a company thinks it inspires repeat-buyer confidence by abandoning a two-year-old, $1,000 player. Or is that forever and chump change in the A&K universe?

Rhetorical or not, a decision not to completely rewrite the firmware for an existing product to provide all the features of the current products does not imply the company has abandoned the product. As long as the product does everything it was designed to do when introduced the company has met any reasonable obligation it has to the people who purchased it. Maybe it seems abandoned because it works so well that no firmware updates have been needed.

 

[johnandbodhi]

i guess not

 

[GiacomoHoldini]

Maybe it seems abandoned because it works so well that no firmware updates have been needed.

Yeah, and huffing on a jar of unicorn farts might bring world peace. There are myriad accounts in this thread of users who have encountered difficulties getting the player to do what it should, which updates could remedy. Your firsthand, anecdotal experience doesn't change that. Whitewash it all you want: a company that charges what A&K does for its products, and then refuses to offer product updates and support in short order, does not inspire re-purchase confidence in those who would benefit from such support, or in other potential customers who keep abreast of such issues.

 

[tjpearson]

I was able to get this little beauty for a great price on Amazon UK, £618 in the blue. My kid brother has been pestering me for years to get a dedicated DAC as I do nothing but moan for not being able to get the quality I had with my vinyl played on Thorens turntable to Trio amp in the 70's/80's so hoping this does. I have ordered and waiting for delivery of some Audioquest Nightowls so when I get these and listen to my first album I will update with a verdict. For anyone interested in the trouble free method I used to get 6000 plus files onto my memory card please read my review on Amazon for the bargain priced listing as I give step by step guide using Windows 7. I'm not a fan of plugging in and using the gadget to process transfer I much prefer sending files directly to memory cards using my PC, this was fast, trouble free and accurate.
tj

 

[Newsee]

I was able to get this little beauty for a great price on Amazon UK, £618 in the blue. My kid brother has been pestering me for years to get a dedicated DAC as I do nothing but moan for not being able to get the quality I had with my vinyl played on Thorens turntable to Trio amp in the 70's/80's so hoping this does. I have ordered and waiting for delivery of some Audioquest Nightowls so when I get these and listen to my first album I will update with a verdict. For anyone interested in the trouble free method I used to get 6000 plus files onto my memory card please read my review on Amazon for the bargain priced listing as I give step by step guide using Windows 7. I'm not a fan of plugging in and using the gadget to process transfer I much prefer sending files directly to memory cards using my PC, this was fast, trouble free and accurate.
tj

How does the Kann compares to your previous dac/amp with your existing HP?

 

[tjpearson]

That's the trouble Newsee not been able to listen yet as waiting for the headphones to be delivered, I will certainly give my opinion when give it a go.
tj

 

[tjpearson]

How does the Kann compares to your previous dac/amp with your existing HP?

Ah think I know what you mean, I have not tried it through the Media Centre yet as have a good sound card in that but will try it.

 

[tjpearson]

I have just received my Audioquest Nightowls and got a cheap balanced cable from Amazon and with gain turned on I'm astonished. Feel my search to get that hifi vinyl album sound has now been found, one very happy man.

 

[Miniculthero]

I have just received my Audioquest Nightowls and got a cheap balanced cable from Amazon and with gain turned on I'm astonished. Feel my search to get that hifi vinyl album sound has now been found, one very happy man.

I feel the same about my encores since adding symbio tips and balancing them with Atlas Zenos... with the one added advantage that there is no pop and crackle..

 

[tjpearson]

I feel the same about my encores since adding symbio tips and balancing them with Atlas Zenos... with the one added advantage that there is no pop and crackle..

I quit liked the pop and crackle

 

[Thepantaloonduck]

To be honest I have given up any hope that the KANN will be updated to provide any enhanced functionality but I thought I would give it one more go to see if A&K have any intention of ever updating the firmware in any way as I need to decide whether to keep or replace it - so I asked the following

Its now almost a year since I bought a KANN. While it is a fine audio device, its functionality is not comparable to the rest of your products (e.g ability to add additional streaming services, offline tidal, MQA etc etc)

My dealer assured me at the time that this would be updated in line with the functionality of the rest of the A&K Product range - but i am still waiting and its been 18 months since the last KANN firmware update - not even any bug fixes...

When will the KANN be updated??​

The reply I got was a single sentence:

Due to the limitation of its OS version and H/W limitation, it seems difficult to support OpenAPK service for KANN model. ​

OK, this seems to echo previous replies from A&K but I am no wiser as to whether any work is going on to do this 'difficult' upgrade (or anything else to improve KANN functionality) or not.....

(As an IT Professional when I have been tasked to deliver 'difficult' software upgrades I have at least tried and keep my customers happy by delivering bug fixes and subsets of functionality which is of value to them - I would never leave them hanging.)

Can anyone (@JasonNYC ??) explain what the response from A&K support actually means.

Many thanks

 

[tjpearson]

To be honest I have given up any hope that the KANN will be updated to provide any enhanced functionality but I thought I would give it one more go to see if A&K have any intention of ever updating the firmware in any way as I need to decide whether to keep or replace it - so I asked the following

Its now almost a year since I bought a KANN. While it is a fine audio device, its functionality is not comparable to the rest of your products (e.g ability to add additional streaming services, offline tidal, MQA etc etc)

My dealer assured me at the time that this would be updated in line with the functionality of the rest of the A&K Product range - but i am still waiting and its been 18 months since the last KANN firmware update - not even any bug fixes...

When will the KANN be updated??​

The reply I got was a single sentence:

Due to the limitation of its OS version and H/W limitation, it seems difficult to support OpenAPK service for KANN model. ​

OK, this seems to echo previous replies from A&K but I am no wiser as to whether any work is going on to do this 'difficult' upgrade (or anything else to improve KANN functionality) or not.....

(As an IT Professional when I have been tasked to deliver 'difficult' software upgrades I have at least tried and keep my customers happy by delivering bug fixes and subsets of functionality which is of value to them - I would never leave them hanging.)

Can anyone (@JasonNYC ??) explain what the response from A&K support actually means.

Many thanks

Might be licensing issues knowing Google or version software limitations, sorry but don't really have a clue being someone that would never stream music. On my research before buying this the Hiby R6 Pro got fantastic reviews and more geared to your needs.

 

[Newsee]

To be honest I have given up any hope that the KANN will be updated to provide any enhanced functionality but I thought I would give it one more go to see if A&K have any intention of ever updating the firmware in any way as I need to decide whether to keep or replace it - so I asked the following

Its now almost a year since I bought a KANN. While it is a fine audio device, its functionality is not comparable to the rest of your products (e.g ability to add additional streaming services, offline tidal, MQA etc etc)

My dealer assured me at the time that this would be updated in line with the functionality of the rest of the A&K Product range - but i am still waiting and its been 18 months since the last KANN firmware update - not even any bug fixes...

When will the KANN be updated??​

The reply I got was a single sentence:

Due to the limitation of its OS version and H/W limitation, it seems difficult to support OpenAPK service for KANN model. ​

OK, this seems to echo previous replies from A&K but I am no wiser as to whether any work is going on to do this 'difficult' upgrade (or anything else to improve KANN functionality) or not.....

(As an IT Professional when I have been tasked to deliver 'difficult' software upgrades I have at least tried and keep my customers happy by delivering bug fixes and subsets of functionality which is of value to them - I would never leave them hanging.)

Can anyone (@JasonNYC ??) explain what the response from A&K support actually means.

Many thanks

I think for playing music from SD card there is not much missing. As far as I remember there were two or three things reported regarding playlist handling errors. Nevertheless it would be nice to have them fixed.

Through AK connect streaming works quite OK from home network servers. The gui response time is sometimes slow. With the BubbleUPnP app it is possible to stream Tidal or Qobuz content to the Kann. It also works with wifi teethered mode. Disadvantage is that it cannot use offline content.

What would be good from A&K to solve (in case "very difficult"=="not intended" for sideloading apps) is to have the AK connect interface integrated to the Qobuz app. That can use offline content, and could stream the content to the Kann. This works pretty well with Spotfy+Hify apps on iPhone.