[NewEve]

3rd unit on its way...

Guys - hope you can help here. I'm the owner of Kann Cube and like it so much - to the extent that wanted to upgrade to somewhat more portable Kann Alpha model. I'm now told by distributors that Alpha is now discontinued what is really surprising, considering it was released only 1 year ago....is there any reason for it. Is there any other alternative which can drive power hungry headphones? Maybe another new model is coming within the Kann range? @JasonNYC

Tks!

I would say many reasons that in less than one year to stop it...as it's a real pain to use for any streaming matters.

Basically, it's a pity as I liked the sound, the interface and the form factor (compact and easy to carry with some good power available)... but no BT DAC and a real disaster with any wifi features (totally obsolete hardware)
I won't trust A&K anymore.. Though, I still hoped they would manage to fix all those wifi drops and cuts.

I'll be sending back the 3rd unit.

Same issues as the 1st but not as bad as the 2nd.

I'm in touch with Jason for the troubleshooting and hope all I shared will be useful for them but I'm giving up as for USD1495 at local rates with a Dignis case, it has been a frustrating experience.

While streaming issues seem to mainly affect users in Europe, I'd say tempt it if you're outside of Europe and/or don't care for streaming and can return it without issues as it's otherwise an excellent DAP.

On my end, I'll by migrating towards the Shanling M6 Pro or Dethonray Honey H1 (although I'm not a fan of stacking this DAC/Amp is stunning) as they're the two best devices I recently tested albeit different.

Are they perfect, as powerful and silent as the Kann Alpha? No, but my experience with them has been less frustrating as I didn't encounter any issues. @tb303 Depending on what I'll get I'll let you know how the M6 Pro 21 powers my Audeze LCD-2 Classic but I know for sure the Dethonray Honey H1 will power a lot easily, and I'm talking single-ended here as I don't like balanced.

 

[tb303]

I'll be sending back the 3rd unit.

Same issues as the 1st but not as bad as the 2nd.

I'm in touch with Jason for the troubleshooting and hope all I shared will be useful for them but I'm giving up as for USD1495 at local rates, it has been a frustrating experience.

While streaming issues seem to mainly affect users in Europe, I'd say tempt it if you're outside of Europe and/or don't care for streaming and can return it without issues as it's otherwise an excellent DAP.

On my end, I'll by migrating towards the Shanling M6 Pro or Dethonray Honey H1 (although I'm not a fan of stacking this DAC/Amp is stunning) as they're the two best devices I recently tested albeit different.

Are they perfect, as powerful and silent as the Kann Alpha? No, but my experience with them has been less frustrating as I didn't encounter any issues. @tb303 Depending on what I'll get I'll let you know how the M6 Pro 21 powers my Audeze LCD-2 Classic but I know for sure the Dethonray Honey H1 will power a lot easily, and I'm talking single-ended here as I don't like balanced.

Thanks very much, can't wait to hear more about your full cans experience - btw, also leaning towards a single ended to be honest.

 

[WDitters]

Waiting for my Alpha to arrive tomorrow. Will be paired with three easy-to-drive cans (D9200 - Clear MG and LCD-X 21) as well as a Hifiman Arya. Looking forward to the first spin and impressions...

 

[WDitters]

Question to the round...

I still have from my old iBasso player an iBasso 2.5mm balanced burn-in cable .. (see https://www.carousell.sg/p/ibasso-2-5mm-burn-in-cable-244046386/)

Would it harm using this cable for burn-in purposes on the Alpha? (I also used it on a FiiO M15, after FiiO indicated it would do no harm, and it worked perfectly) Since AK uses a slightly different structure with mute circuits, I thought I’d better ask

And if indeed I can use the cable without doing any harm, would it then serve to burn-in both 2.5mm and 4.4 amplification circuits in one go? The diagram that I found would suggest yes. Or would I then also need a 2.5mm to 4.4mm cable to separately burn-in the 4.4 balanced circuit?

Cheers!

 

[WDitters]

I have my Kann Alpha up and running now, Qobuz and Tidal as streaming services and a 1tb Sandisk with my Hi-Res collection, approx 10.000 tracks... All in all a good first impression..

But already three questions come to mind @JasonNYC

- In the local library album list I would like to see a "date added" sort option. It was my most frequently used sort order on my FiiO M15. Would that somehow be possible?

- I would love to see a option to delete unused factory preinstallled services (in my vase Deezer and V-Link). I like clean devices

- I would love to see compatibility with a casting application such as Hifi-Cast.. I sometimes want to stream music to other devices in my household that support Chromecast Audio at 24/96. I have a lot of music that simply is not available on streaming services and this functionality would absolutely come in very handy..

Cheers Willem

 

[WDitters]

The Alpha has arrived. First impressions:

- The player looks absolutely fabulous. Nothing to complain. Great industrial design putting other brands to shame ...
- Raw power .. It has bucket loads of power, all my heapdhones need to be driven in low gain.

Those are the absolute positive parts ..

Now for the not-so-positive parts:

- The sound definitely needs to settle .. It (still) sounds a bit harsh, overly bright, also with a little too much emphasis on the mids, and finally a little light on the lows. But we'll see. I will give that some proper listening this weekend when I have more time. Not sure if I end up preferring the sound of my old M15, or even Shanling M8 a bit more.

- Wifi: Unfortunately it seems that this device suffers from what already is mentioned on Head-Fi .. It disconnects regularly from wifi, only to reconnect after I switch on the player.

- Local library: It seems the player has some difficulties reading my 1tb Sandisk with roughly 10.000 tracks .. It regularly sometimes crashes during scanning. This still is the case after converting my Sandisk to Fat32. Anyone have any experience with that?

- Setting the player to burn-in by connecting headphones and setting the local library to continuous play: After a while the player goes to sleep and refuses to come out. I then have to reset it. Anyone any experience with that?

Firmware 1.20c

 

[Progisus]

The Alpha has arrived. First impressions:

- The player looks absolutely fabulous. Nothing to complain. Great industrial design putting other brands to shame ...
- Raw power .. It has bucket loads of power, all my heapdhones need to be driven in low gain.

Those are the absolute positive parts ..

Now for the not-so-positive parts:

- The sound definitely needs to settle .. It (still) sounds a bit harsh, overly bright, also with a little too much emphasis on the mids, and finally a little light on the lows. But we'll see. I will give that some proper listening this weekend when I have more time. Not sure if I end up preferring the sound of my old M15, or even Shanling M8 a bit more.

- Wifi: Unfortunately it seems that this device suffers from what already is mentioned on Head-Fi .. It disconnects regularly from wifi, only to reconnect after I switch on the player.

- Local library: It seems the player has some difficulties reading my 1tb Sandisk with roughly 10.000 tracks .. It regularly sometimes crashes during scanning. This still is the case after converting my Sandisk to Fat32. Anyone have any experience with that?

- Setting the player to burn-in by connecting headphones and setting the local library to continuous play: After a while the player goes to sleep and refuses to come out. I then have to reset it. Anyone any experience with that?

Firmware 1.20c

Only advice I can give is re the sandisk. It is best to format it in the player.

 

[WDitters]

Meanwhile I have decided to return the Alpha for a refund. Wifi chronically disconnects when using streaming services such as Tidal and Qobuz. But what is worse, using Bluetooth and WiFi simultaneously completely freezes the Alpha... I am not ready to spend such a significant amount of money on a device that is so fundamentally flawed..

Thankfully Andy from Edel Audio in Munich provided stellar service here by simply accepting to refund me and on top of that provide the Ups return label free of charge

 

[davidmthekidd]

Has anyone Paired the Kann Alpha with the Sony MDR-Z1R? Wonder if the Alpha would serve the Z1R better than the Sony Dap the WM1A.

 

[davidmthekidd]

Does anyone know if the Alpha supports Youtube Music? I'd hate to sign up for another streaming app, already subscribed to Youtube Premium, I would like to use YTM instead on my Alpha which should arrive tomorrow.

 

[Figjam]

Does anyone know if the Alpha supports Youtube Music? I'd hate to sign up for another streaming app, already subscribed to Youtube Premium, I would like to use YTM instead on my Alpha which should arrive tomorrow.

Yes, you will be able to use the pre-loaded V-Link app.

 

[rlw6534]

Yes, you will be able to use the pre-loaded V-Link app.

To be clear, A&K DAPs do not support the Youtube Music android app via Openapp. V-Link does provide access to Youtube (browser based).

 

[291079]

can anyone comment on how the kann alpha sounds in comparison to a magni/modi stack? thanks

 

[Scubacrazy]

can anyone comment on how the kann alpha sounds in comparison to a magni/modi stack? thanks

Can't say, but the Alpha is definitely more portable !!

 

[davidmthekidd]

Can't say, but the Alpha is definitely more portable !!

has anyone compared the dx300 to the alphas? would love someone's impression or comparison of the two.