[Ethereal Sound]

Has anyone had a chance to listen to the t9ie? Not sure if there are review units floating around anywhere..

 

[Caguioa]

any news on pre ordering the

AKT9iE IEMs? theres no dates, it simply says july

also are the dates pre order confirm on sp2000?

 

[Ethereal Sound]

any news on pre ordering the

AKT9iE IEMs? theres no dates, it simply says july

also are the dates pre order confirm on sp2000?

T9ie was apparently at CanJam Socal so there will probably be some impressions soon.

 

[BananaOoyoo]

Well isn’t this a nice little IEM.

 

[Ethereal Sound]

Well isn’t this a nice little IEM.

Oh man that looks real pretty. Any impressions?

 

[BananaOoyoo]

Oh man that looks real pretty. Any impressions?

First impression was pretty positive, but I only got like 5 minutes with it. I’d like to compare it with the Xelento when it officially launches here (it was only available yesterday as part of a A&K event, along with the SP2000, SP1000 amp, KANN cube, and Campfire Audio’s lineup).

My only real take is that despite being comfortable, the cable is unreasonably big for that IEM

 

[SoundBytes]

50 this year and plan to drop out of the work scene at 55, but yeah your right think I'll treat myself to a new Kann cube as well, just landed in New York for a week the wife wants to do some shopping ( yawn) where is the best places to go to spend my cash on headfi goodies ?

Lol...one of my favorite responses ever... I’m 48 and pretty much dropped out of the work scene...looking at getting the AK Amp for my SP1000... live for the present brotha! Enjoy crazy NYC

 

[SoundBytes]

Just ordered mine today!

 

[ledzep]

First impression was pretty positive, but I only got like 5 minutes with it. I’d like to compare it with the Xelento when it officially launches here (it was only available yesterday as part of a A&K event, along with the SP2000, SP1000 amp, KANN cube, and Campfire Audio’s lineup).

My only real take is that despite being comfortable, the cable is unreasonably big for that IEM

But on a plus side if you ever break down you can always whip out that sucker and ask for a tow !

 

[csglinux]

Has anyone had a chance to listen to the t9ie? Not sure if there are review units floating around anywhere..

I wrote some impressions on the T9ie in the second spoiler link here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/canjam-socal-2019-impressions-thread.909385/page-15#post-15027066

In my opinion, the T9ie is a step down from the Xelento in pretty much every way.

I had a much more positive impression of the SP2000 though (see the last spoiler link in the above). I'll try and articulate some additional thoughts on that here.

I'd heard all previous A&K DAPs and almost pulled the trigger once on an AK240. I thought the SP1000 was ok, but it didn't totally blow me away. I thought the first generation KANN was one of the worst-sounding DAPs I'd ever heard. I also knew the quoted specs for the SP2000 weren't as good as those of my DX220 that I intended to A/B it against. I also took my own measurements of both SS and Cu SP2000s (into my RME unit using a 32 Ohm resistive load) before listening to them, and those tests came out even worse (which is not atypical, as OEMs tend to quote best-case-scenario specs - plus I was running the tests at a higher Vrms than I'd normally be using with most headphones). So I went into my listening test with what should have been an inverse placebo effect - I was absolutely expecting not to be blown away. But I was wrong, and am still only halfway through eating a large slice of humble pie. There have probably only been about half a dozen audio-eureka moments in my life, where the sound quality jump was so significant that it generated that wow effect. This was one of them.

Most of my listening was with the Cu version (BTW, A&K aren't lying - there is a slight, but measurable difference in FR between Cu and SS versions), using the balanced output to my Xelentos. I wasn't in a perfectly quiet environment - this was CanJam - and I made no attempt to SPL-match. But even pumping up the volume on the DX220 to obviously surpass that on the SP2000, the SP2000 still had that extra detail, that clean starting and stopping of notes and the gaps in-between. The differences were much larger than I expected. The SP2000 sounded freakishly good. Sort of, black magic/voodoo, turning-to-the-dark-side sort of good.

I still can't explain what I heard. I've always found differences between DAPs to be far more subtle than those between headphones. And almost every measurement suggests my SQ ratings should be the other way around. Possible tentative explanations...

1) THD isn't that important?? It only represents a slight change in instrument timbre, so even if it's audible, it needn't be unpleasant.
2) Specs like IMD might be worse than other players at my test levels, but perhaps not at lower, more realistic, listening volumes(?).
3) Anti-aliasing filters and transient/timing reconstruction might be better on the SP2000 DAC(?).
4) Maybe noise floor modulation is important? SNR is the only official spec where the SP2000 competes with the DX220 (both on balanced outputs).
5) Real music is more complex that a single sine wave, so we need to run more elaborate tests. (I plan to do this when I get more time with an SP2000 unit.)

This is all a bit weird and slightly uncomfortable, because there's no objective measurement data I can show right now to prove the superiority of the SP2000. Yet, to my ears, it sounded markedly better than the DX220. To clarify that - it sounded better (past tense) at CanJam. I can't be 100% sure that after delivery of a (non-identical) $3500 device, I would still be able to hear that magical improvement. I'll admit that's a concern. Functionally, the SP2000 doesn't offer anything I need that isn't already featured in the DX220. And I don't buy into A&K's marketing hype that many people are very excited about the ability to natively play back DSD512. Who out there is pumped to be able to play back a file format they don't even own yet? Besides, I've never seen a good counter-argument to Rob Watts' insistence that all DSD has an intrinsic problem with the timing of small-amplitude signals.

Despite all that, the SP2000 seems to do an incredible job with standard- and hi-res PCM. I have my pre-order in for an SP2000. I had to do this, in the name of science...

Unfortunately, it looks like the shipping date for the SP2000 has slipped. Anybody know when A&K might start sending these out to distributors?

 

[FidelityCastro]

I wrote some impressions on the T9ie in the second spoiler link here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/canjam-socal-2019-impressions-thread.909385/page-15#post-15027066

In my opinion, the T9ie is a step down from the Xelento in pretty much every way.

I had a much more positive impression of the SP2000 though (see the last spoiler link in the above). I'll try and articulate some additional thoughts on that here.

I'd heard all previous A&K DAPs and almost pulled the trigger once on an AK240. I thought the SP1000 was ok, but it didn't totally blow me away. I thought the first generation KANN was one of the worst-sounding DAPs I'd ever heard. I also knew the quoted specs for the SP2000 weren't as good as those of my DX220 that I intended to A/B it against. I also took my own measurements of both SS and Cu SP2000s (into my RME unit using a 32 Ohm resistive load) before listening to them, and those tests came out even worse (which is not atypical, as OEMs tend to quote best-case-scenario specs - plus I was running the tests at a higher Vrms than I'd normally be using with most headphones). So I went into my listening test with what should have been an inverse placebo effect - I was absolutely expecting not to be blown away. But I was wrong, and am still only halfway through eating a large slice of humble pie. There have probably only been about half a dozen audio-eureka moments in my life, where the sound quality jump was so significant that it generated that wow effect. This was one of them.

Most of my listening was with the Cu version (BTW, A&K aren't lying - there is a slight, but measurable difference in FR between Cu and SS versions), using the balanced output to my Xelentos. I wasn't in a perfectly quiet environment - this was CanJam - and I made no attempt to SPL-match. But even pumping up the volume on the DX220 to obviously surpass that on the SP2000, the SP2000 still had that extra detail, that clean starting and stopping of notes and the gaps in-between. The differences were much larger than I expected. The SP2000 sounded freakishly good. Sort of, black magic/voodoo, turning-to-the-dark-side sort of good.

I still can't explain what I heard. I've always found differences between DAPs to be far more subtle than those between headphones. And almost every measurement suggests my SQ ratings should be the other way around. Possible tentative explanations...

1) THD isn't that important?? It only represents a slight change in instrument timbre, so even if it's audible, it needn't be unpleasant.
2) Specs like IMD might be worse than other players at my test levels, but perhaps not at lower, more realistic, listening volumes(?).
3) Anti-aliasing filters and transient/timing reconstruction might be better on the SP2000 DAC(?).
4) Maybe noise floor modulation is important? SNR is the only official spec where the SP2000 competes with the DX220 (both on balanced outputs).
5) Real music is more complex that a single sine wave, so we need to run more elaborate tests. (I plan to do this when I get more time with an SP2000 unit.)

This is all a bit weird and slightly uncomfortable, because there's no objective measurement data I can show right now to prove the superiority of the SP2000. Yet, to my ears, it sounded markedly better than the DX220. To clarify that - it sounded better (past tense) at CanJam. I can't be 100% sure that after delivery of a (non-identical) $3500 device, I would still be able to hear that magical improvement. I'll admit that's a concern. Functionally, the SP2000 doesn't offer anything I need that isn't already featured in the DX220. And I don't buy into A&K's marketing hype that many people are very excited about the ability to natively play back DSD512. Who out there is pumped to be able to play back a file format they don't even own yet? Besides, I've never seen a good counter-argument to Rob Watts' insistence that all DSD has an intrinsic problem with the timing of small-amplitude signals.

Despite all that, the SP2000 seems to do an incredible job with standard- and hi-res PCM. I have my pre-order in for an SP2000. I had to do this, in the name of science...

Unfortunately, it looks like the shipping date for the SP2000 has slipped. Anybody know when A&K might start sending these out to distributors?

This a FANTASTIC review. Really appreciate your honesty about science versus what your ears are hearing, and I personally feel your pain that you are left with a subjective conclusion versus your preferred data-driven one. I feel the same way about these high-end DAPs as I do with electric guitars and amps, which is my other hobby and an equally hard-fought landscape of science-versus-subjective inspiration (digital modelling is, objectively, scientifically and even on blind tests, as good as analog / tube amps these days. But......).

That is by far the best download I’ve ever read of a journey where you specifically fought against the emotional response in an effort to have science / physics be your justification. Bravo.

EDIT: for completeness, my SP1000 SS decided it couldn’t see Bluetooth or WiFi. I sent a grumpy email to @JasonNYC (who responded immediately and helpfully, by the way), to say that while I was annoyed that a very expensive DAP couldn’t see years-old tech like BT and WiFi (and wasn’t even designed to see 5ghz WiFi), the SQ is MILES above my FiiO X7MKII or Onkyo DP-X1. I don’t have the data to prove that it’s better, but my ears tell me that the AK slaughters the other two, and I felt the same way when I road-tested the SP1000 SS against the SR15, SP1000M and SP1000 Cu (the latter was nice but too warm and fuzzy for me).

 

[Ethereal Sound]

I wrote some impressions on the T9ie in the second spoiler link here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/canjam-socal-2019-impressions-thread.909385/page-15#post-15027066

In my opinion, the T9ie is a step down from the Xelento in pretty much every way.

I had a much more positive impression of the SP2000 though (see the last spoiler link in the above). I'll try and articulate some additional thoughts on that here.

I'd heard all previous A&K DAPs and almost pulled the trigger once on an AK240. I thought the SP1000 was ok, but it didn't totally blow me away. I thought the first generation KANN was one of the worst-sounding DAPs I'd ever heard. I also knew the quoted specs for the SP2000 weren't as good as those of my DX220 that I intended to A/B it against. I also took my own measurements of both SS and Cu SP2000s (into my RME unit using a 32 Ohm resistive load) before listening to them, and those tests came out even worse (which is not atypical, as OEMs tend to quote best-case-scenario specs - plus I was running the tests at a higher Vrms than I'd normally be using with most headphones). So I went into my listening test with what should have been an inverse placebo effect - I was absolutely expecting not to be blown away. But I was wrong, and am still only halfway through eating a large slice of humble pie. There have probably only been about half a dozen audio-eureka moments in my life, where the sound quality jump was so significant that it generated that wow effect. This was one of them.

Most of my listening was with the Cu version (BTW, A&K aren't lying - there is a slight, but measurable difference in FR between Cu and SS versions), using the balanced output to my Xelentos. I wasn't in a perfectly quiet environment - this was CanJam - and I made no attempt to SPL-match. But even pumping up the volume on the DX220 to obviously surpass that on the SP2000, the SP2000 still had that extra detail, that clean starting and stopping of notes and the gaps in-between. The differences were much larger than I expected. The SP2000 sounded freakishly good. Sort of, black magic/voodoo, turning-to-the-dark-side sort of good.

I still can't explain what I heard. I've always found differences between DAPs to be far more subtle than those between headphones. And almost every measurement suggests my SQ ratings should be the other way around. Possible tentative explanations...

1) THD isn't that important?? It only represents a slight change in instrument timbre, so even if it's audible, it needn't be unpleasant.
2) Specs like IMD might be worse than other players at my test levels, but perhaps not at lower, more realistic, listening volumes(?).
3) Anti-aliasing filters and transient/timing reconstruction might be better on the SP2000 DAC(?).
4) Maybe noise floor modulation is important? SNR is the only official spec where the SP2000 competes with the DX220 (both on balanced outputs).
5) Real music is more complex that a single sine wave, so we need to run more elaborate tests. (I plan to do this when I get more time with an SP2000 unit.)

This is all a bit weird and slightly uncomfortable, because there's no objective measurement data I can show right now to prove the superiority of the SP2000. Yet, to my ears, it sounded markedly better than the DX220. To clarify that - it sounded better (past tense) at CanJam. I can't be 100% sure that after delivery of a (non-identical) $3500 device, I would still be able to hear that magical improvement. I'll admit that's a concern. Functionally, the SP2000 doesn't offer anything I need that isn't already featured in the DX220. And I don't buy into A&K's marketing hype that many people are very excited about the ability to natively play back DSD512. Who out there is pumped to be able to play back a file format they don't even own yet? Besides, I've never seen a good counter-argument to Rob Watts' insistence that all DSD has an intrinsic problem with the timing of small-amplitude signals.

Despite all that, the SP2000 seems to do an incredible job with standard- and hi-res PCM. I have my pre-order in for an SP2000. I had to do this, in the name of science...

Unfortunately, it looks like the shipping date for the SP2000 has slipped. Anybody know when A&K might start sending these out to distributors?

Thanks a lot for that! It's a shame that you feel that way about the T9ie. Here I was hoping that it would be a clear step up... and it's such a pretty IEM too. I will still try and get demo of it to ascertain for myself whether I'd like it or not but based off your short review and graphs of it, it seems unlikely.