Astell&Kern Launches KANN ALPHA Digital Audio Player

[ShoeGame21]

I have tried all of these in one year ... even including old and new repeaters dedicated to the 2.4ghz...

Dang, nice work. Still blows my mind that this device has so many issues with wireless connections. An amazing sounding DAP from AK, yet the low end of stick when it comes to BT and WiFi.

 

[newworld666]

Dang, nice work. Still blows my mind that this device has so many issues with wireless connections. An amazing sounding DAP from AK, yet the low end of stick when it comes to BT and WiFi.

Probably due to a really obsolete Wifi and BT hardware ... there is even no BT DAC input possibility.
I have no wifi and BT issue for years with R6pro, M11, M9.
The only thing I could manage to do is to use an android Smartphone as AccessPoint with no drop at all.
Maybe there is some issue for the Kann Alpha with some broadcast of some devices on wifi lan, as I have more or 20-25 devices connected to my lan permanently.

 

[Laue]

I just checked the wifi connection of my kann:
Distance to router 5m with one massive concrete wall in the path.
signal strength: -64 dBm - pretty strong...
max data rate: 72 Mbit/s both directions (1x1 stream with channel width of 20 MHz)
actual data rate: 65 Mbit/s up stream 72 Mbit/s down stream - no complains
a 192 kHz 24 bit stream would need 8.4 Mbit/s - should be no problem...

I have the newer blue kann - the wifi chip is analyzed as 2.4 GHz wifi 4 (n-typ)

 

[Snach]

Device setup in Roon is default? Or did you change anything?
Try to output another stream via Roon (also via WLAN) to another endpoint at the same time as to the kann. Does the problem persist? It is just to fix if there is a problem on the Roon side...
My Roon core is on a Mac... I had to deactivate the sleep mode on my Mac when the screen of the Mac is off - otherwise I run into problems. Is anybody in the forum with Roon on intel NUC? Has Roon Rock a sleep mode??

Rock setup is default.
I have a Ropieee. which connects via WLAN to the router, which connects via LAN to the Rock. No problems at all. Ropieee can run like this without interruption and there is no problem.

 

[Snach]

Try a static IP on your local router…

Static addresses don't solve problems either

 

[Laue]

Rock setup is default.
I have a Ropieee. which connects via WLAN to the router, which connects via LAN to the Rock. No problems at all. Ropieee can run like this without interruption and there is no problem.

To conclude: your wifi connection is stable but the kann doesn’t see the Roon core after some minutes.
This would mean that the Roon implementation on kann doesn’t communicate well with Roon on NUC platform (with macOS on Apple silicon it is fine)
Is anybody out there who uses Roon on NUC together with Kann with no issues??

 

[Scubacrazy]

Forgive me in advance for not digging through this entire thread but can someone fill me in on the potential issue with the jacks going bad on the Alpha or Astell & Kern players in general. I've seen the jack issues mentioned here and in other places but I haven't come across specific details regarding the problem. I haven't had any problems with my Alpha but it would be good to know what to look out for.

Thanks

I had to send mine back for warranty repair of the 4,4mm balanced socket. I was getting nothing through my right earpiece,
I was without it for around 6 weeks . I'm in the UK.

 

[Snach]

I don't think it is provlem from Rock. Maybe there are some settings in the bios nuc that can help. But I don't think so. The communication with Rock via lan over IP is all the time.
My observation. The frequency of disconnecting the roon ready service is different on different wifi routers.
Which I have also tested. I manually set the wifi radio to 20mhz, channel 11. Now the disconnect frequency seems to be lower.
Interestingly when roon suddenly stops playing on dap just switch on dap power button, also slide out wifi settings bar and Kann is visible again in Roon audio section of core.
Strange. Very sensitive behaviour. Incomprehensible.
I spent a lot of time testing. But I've come to a wall.
I'm inclined to return the Kann due to a defect I was not informed of. It's a great sounding piece of equipment, the sound is great, but the equipment is faulty. There are no requirements that I don't meet. The manual is silent on the roon service which is already introduced with firmware 1.20 and the manual does not describe the service. There are no warnings about problems with wifi, routers.
It should not be like this. I am disappointed.

 

[newworld666]

I don't think it is provlem from Rock. Maybe there are some settings in the bios nuc that can help. But I don't think so. The communication with Rock via lan over IP is all the time.
My observation. The frequency of disconnecting the roon ready service is different on different wifi routers.
Which I have also tested. I manually set the wifi radio to 20mhz, channel 11. Now the disconnect frequency seems to be lower.
Interestingly when roon suddenly stops playing on dap just switch on dap power button, also slide out wifi settings bar and Kann is visible again in Roon audio section of core.
Strange. Very sensitive behaviour. Incomprehensible.
I spent a lot of time testing. But I've come to a wall.
I'm inclined to return the Kann due to a defect I was not informed of. It's a great sounding piece of equipment, the sound is great, but the equipment is faulty. There are no requirements that I don't meet. The manual is silent on the roon service which is already introduced with firmware 1.20 and the manual does not describe the service. There are no warnings about problems with wifi, routers.
It should not be like this. I am disappointed.

Like so many ....

 

[Progisus]

My Kann wifi has been very stable with a Linksys Velop (3 node) wired backbone. One thing though… the AK manuals (English) are quite cryptic and lacking on any detail. For instance there is nowhere I can find that explains the MQA functionality in different modes. Statements like ‘turn on for software decodng’, with no explanation. Great sound though, which is what we look for in AK.

 

[Laue]

I don't think it is provlem from Rock. Maybe there are some settings in the bios nuc that can help. But I don't think so. The communication with Rock via lan over IP is all the time.
My observation. The frequency of disconnecting the roon ready service is different on different wifi routers.
Which I have also tested. I manually set the wifi radio to 20mhz, channel 11. Now the disconnect frequency seems to be lower.
Interestingly when roon suddenly stops playing on dap just switch on dap power button, also slide out wifi settings bar and Kann is visible again in Roon audio section of core.
Strange. Very sensitive behaviour. Incomprehensible.
I spent a lot of time testing. But I've come to a wall.
I'm inclined to return the Kann due to a defect I was not informed of. It's a great sounding piece of equipment, the sound is great, but the equipment is faulty. There are no requirements that I don't meet. The manual is silent on the roon service which is already introduced with firmware 1.20 and the manual does not describe the service. There are no warnings about problems with wifi, routers.
It should not be like this. I am disappointed.

I´m really sorry about this mess. I you want to return kann you have to do a factory reset either. If it is still version 1.20CM after the reset - give it a last try connecting it once again with your network. Do not change anything else. Only activate in Roon - do not change anything else. If it still drops Roon playback you should be able to return ist with full refunding due to European regulations if you have ordered via internet.

I have tested my Kann again. The only 4 Problems which are remaining for me:
1. Playing an Album from Tidal (integrated in Roon) via Roon playback let often skip the first one or two Songs. If I skip manually back to the first song it works. I can not fix this behavior. Albums from my local database are always played flawless. I have to live with - maybe a future update will fix this.
2. If I accidentally press one of the physical buttons the Roon playback skips to anywhere. I hope a future update will fix this also.
3. The main processor of the Kann is ..... not a monster when it comes to CPU and GPU power and maybe is also responsible for some of the flaws during streaming.
4. Aaaaand - please give me crossfeed for the A+K Player!!!!!!!!!

But still A+K is the only brand which offers Roon Ready functionality in a DAP. And the Kann is much more agreeable than the mobile Roon Endpoint I used before (Chord mojo with poly - which got extremely hot during playback and poly had a really bad stability of the wifi). And not to forget: It drives my Hifiman Arya - perfectly- it is on the same level than my RME ADI2 DAC FS.

So I will keep mine.

 

[Tomm11]

I had to send mine back for warranty repair of the 4,4mm balanced socket. I was getting nothing through my right earpiece,
I was without it for around 6 weeks . I'm in the UK.

Your reply is the second reply I got regarding the 4.4mm socket. I also read something about the 2.5mm socket failing. I use 2.5mm balanced because none of my other players have 4.4mm. I've had my Alpha since March. I haven't had any trouble with the 2.5mm (knock on wood). But, I have some dunu cables with the modular plug system so I will try the 4.4mm to make sure it's ok.

Thanks

 

[davidmthekidd]

Hey all,

I wanted to show you a weird bug currently on my Kann Alpha whereas some of the music refuse to show up, seems like the device cant locate the files altho I can see it inside the folder structure, AK Connect Doesn't exhibit this issue, I can locate and Play files with no problems. I wonder if anyone else is having this issue, I have edited the metadata on the files a few times to find a workaround. here's a small video clip of this issue:

 

[Snach]

I´m really sorry about this mess. I you want to return kann you have to do a factory reset either. If it is still version 1.20CM after the reset - give it a last try connecting it once again with your network. Do not change anything else. Only activate in Roon - do not change anything else. If it still drops Roon playback you should be able to return ist with full refunding due to European regulations if you have ordered via internet.

I have tested my Kann again. The only 4 Problems which are remaining for me:
1. Playing an Album from Tidal (integrated in Roon) via Roon playback let often skip the first one or two Songs. If I skip manually back to the first song it works. I can not fix this behavior. Albums from my local database are always played flawless. I have to live with - maybe a future update will fix this.
2. If I accidentally press one of the physical buttons the Roon playback skips to anywhere. I hope a future update will fix this also.
3. The main processor of the Kann is ..... not a monster when it comes to CPU and GPU power and maybe is also responsible for some of the flaws during streaming.
4. Aaaaand - please give me crossfeed for the A+K Player!!!!!!!!!

But still A+K is the only brand which offers Roon Ready functionality in a DAP. And the Kann is much more agreeable than the mobile Roon Endpoint I used before (Chord mojo with poly - which got extremely hot during playback and poly had a really bad stability of the wifi). And not to forget: It drives my Hifiman Arya - perfectly- it is on the same level than my RME ADI2 DAC FS.

So I will keep mine.

I understand you are using roon ready on kann alpha. I have a small request in this regard. Can you give me some details about the architecture of your wan, lan network. What is connected to what, over the wire and wireless.
What equipment do you use, and last but not least, what are your wifi router software settings in detail, what frequencies, what channels, what strength, etc.?
Thank you very much.
I understand that in your case suddenly switching off sound playback in this function and visibility of kann alpha in core roon zones does not occur? That is correct.
I also use the Urban version.

 

[Laue]

I understand you are using roon ready on kann alpha. I have a small request in this regard. Can you give me some details about the architecture of your wan, lan network. What is connected to what, over the wire and wireless.

What equipment do you use, and last but not least, what are your wifi router software settings in detail, what frequencies, what channels, what strength, etc.?

I don't like LAN-cables. Therefore my setup is totally based on WLAN connections (only the internet connection is cable )


Router: Fritz!box cable 6660 - firmware 7.28 - Vodafone Gigabit Internet connection via cable - WLAN is wifi 6 (ax-type)

All together 15 wireless clients are in my network (10x 5GHz and 5x 2.4 GHz).

Setup for Roon:

iMac (M1) running the Roon core (under Rosetta 2 with macOS Monterey) connected to Fritz!Box via WLAN (5GHz, 2x2 wifi 6 (ax) speed: measured ca. 600 Mbit/s (living in an urban area with low traffic in 5GHz frequency)
Distance to router 7m with one massive concrete wall in the path.

Kann is Roon Endpoint ...connected to Fritz!Box via 2,4 GHz (because there is no 5 GHz )
Distance to Fritz!box 5m with one massive concrete wall in the path.
signal strength: -64 dBm - pretty strong...
max data rate: 72 Mbit/s both directions (1x1 stream with channel width of 20 MHz) wifi 4 (or n-type)
actual data rate: 65 Mbit/s up stream 72 Mbit/s down stream - no complaints (lots of traffic in 2,4 GHz frequency about 12 other networks..., (I let Fritz!box choose best)) channel - it is variable but always with 20 MHz bandwidth

There are 4 other Roon endpoints in the network: 2x Sonos 2x Bluesound node - I run up to 3 in parallel - with no problems so far.

Thank you very much.
I understand that in your case suddenly switching off sound playback in this function and visibility of kann alpha in core roon zones does not occur?

Definitely no dropouts neither wifi nor Roon on each of my endpoints including Kann. After switching Kann on it needs about 30s to 1 minute until Kann shows up in Roon - and it is present there till I switch Kann off.

I also use the Urban version.

o.k. - so both should be the latest model...

If your nerves are still intact, you can move your Roon core to your PC or Mac - which is very easy using the backup function. I think your main problem might be the NUC... It is true, that the Kann implementation of Roon is not as robust as the implementation on Bluesound products (or as your Raspberry-Ropieee). But it works - at least for me.

I keep my fingers crossed that you have success on your side!!