[Superpong]

Interesting... and can you stream with AK connect several applications or services, such as youtube or others?

Yes you can stream music (i.e Tidal) thru the app “AK connect” I also use this app to control and stream music with my Chord Poly/Mojo as well.

 

[Kevintj604]

Anyone have any updated impressions. I'm about ready to pull the trigger on purchasing but want to make sure it's a good pairing for my Empyrean's and I'm getting a Clear and Sundara as well.

 

[vylts]

Anyone have any updated impressions. I'm about ready to pull the trigger on purchasing but want to make sure it's a good pairing for my Empyrean's and I'm getting a Clear and Sundara as well.

second!

 

[VeeAndBobby]

I received my A&K KANN ALPHA yesterday (ordered from HeadAmp and got free overnight shipping). Because it's newer technology, I was hoping it would sound better than my Sony NW-WM1A Walkman. I've never had an A&K player before, but decided to buy it due to the inclusion of a 4.4mm balanced output.
I've now used it with these 'phones: Meze Empyrean, Dan Clark Ether 2, Focal Stellia, Shure SE846, Massdrop x Noble Kaiser 10, and a Drop + THX Panda wireless headphone. Only the Stellia didn't seem to be a good match with the KANN ALPHA. All of the others are sounding really good with the ALPHA; possibly the Ether 2 is the very best and most neutral with this player. This new A&K is certainly a sonic upgrade compared to my Sony Walkman, and the A&K is less expensive. The A&K is more refined and also more detailed and transparent. Some users might want a more aggressive high end if they are into electronic music or rock. I mainly listen to classical, jazz & folk, and this player is just fine for my taste in music.
Only a few complaints: The internal memory is only 64GB. My Sony Walkman has 128GB. You can add a microSD up to 1TB for the KANN ALPHA. I went to my local Micro Center store and bought their 512GB microSD for $60. It's working fine so far.
The A&K is a bit bulkier and heavier than my Walkman, but I can carry it comfortably in a shirt pocket. I would prefer more rounded edges, but that's not a deal breaker. It also gets surprisingly warm in use, unlike my Walkman.
If you buy one, look for the user manual in a directory of the internal memory. I didn't find the manual on the A&K website. A printed Quick Start Guide is included in the package.

 

[DAPpower]

I received my A&K KANN ALPHA yesterday (ordered from HeadAmp and got free overnight shipping). Because it's newer technology, I was hoping it would sound better than my Sony NW-WM1A Walkman. I've never had an A&K player before, but decided to buy it due to the inclusion of a 4.4mm balanced output.
I've now used it with these 'phones: Meze Empyrean, Dan Clark Ether 2, Focal Stellia, Shure SE846, Massdrop x Noble Kaiser 10, and a Drop + THX Panda wireless headphone. Only the Stellia didn't seem to be a good match with the KANN ALPHA. All of the others are sounding really good with the ALPHA; possibly the Ether 2 is the very best and most neutral with this player. This new A&K is certainly a sonic upgrade compared to my Sony Walkman, and the A&K is less expensive. The A&K is more refined and also more detailed and transparent. Some users might want a more aggressive high end if they are into electronic music or rock. I mainly listen to classical, jazz & folk, and this player is just fine for my taste in music.
Only a few complaints: The internal memory is only 64GB. My Sony Walkman has 128GB. You can add a microSD up to 1TB for the KANN ALPHA. I went to my local Micro Center store and bought their 512GB microSD for $60. It's working fine so far.
The A&K is a bit bulkier and heavier than my Walkman, but I can carry it comfortably in a shirt pocket. I would prefer more rounded edges, but that's not a deal breaker. It also gets surprisingly warm in use, unlike my Walkman.
If you buy one, look for the user manual in a directory of the internal memory. I didn't find the manual on the A&K website. A printed Quick Start Guide is included in the package.

Also make sure your memory card is formatted as Fat32 so it would be most compatible with Astell&Kern players.

For music files and folders on the micro sd card, make sure you let the player run the automatic media scan from boot and then after that finishes, do a manual media scan from the restore tab in settings. Now everytime you boot your AK player, media scaning from the micro sd should finish much faster.

 

[R7photo]

short review found on YouTube

 

[kumar402]

Anyone got a chance to compare this with Cayin n6ii. Both are in same ballpark price wise and looking for a DAP with bigger headstage to pair with FDX01

 

[qsk78]

Anyone got a chance to compare this with Cayin n6ii. Both are in same ballpark price wise and looking for a DAP with bigger headstage to pair with FDX01

Good question. One year ago I preferred the cayin n6 II to Cube without any hesitation, sound wise. Wonder if Alhpa can compete with n6 II.

 

[Tristy]

Good question. One year ago I preferred the cayin n6 II to Cube without any hesitation, sound wise. Wonder if Alhpa can compete with n6 II.

Which output did you listen to on the Cube to come to that conclusion?

 

[qsk78]

Which output did you listen to on the Cube to come to that conclusion?

2.5 mm with my neutral S-EM6 V2. That was too much lows in Cube, too much emphasized bass to my taste and not even close to a neutral tuning. I wonder how Alpha is tuned. The n6ii A01 is not neutral too but it is more balanced overall and has a very nice synergy with neutral earsonics.

On the other hand I like the SE100's sound and it pairs very good with my IEM.

Spoiler

P.S. Found my post in n6ii thread https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cay...ly-modularized-smart-dap.904153/post-15202870

 

[Tristy]

2.5 mm with my neutral S-EM6 V2. That was too much lows in Cube, too much emphasized bass to my taste and not even close to a neutral tuning. I wonder how Alpha is tuned. The n6ii A01 is not neutral too but it is more balanced overall and has a very nice synergy with neutral earsonics.

On the other hand I like the SE100's sound and it pairs very good with my IEM.

Spoiler

P.S. Found my post in n6ii thread https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cay...ly-modularized-smart-dap.904153/post-15202870

Thanks for clarifying. I would tend to agree with you on the bass tuning of the Cube. It was quite overbearing with the Legend X but it worked magic with the Z1R on high gain. The SE200 is much tighter and more balanced overall.

 

[earik]

Can anyone report on the stability of the wifi on this? I mostly like to stream, and almost bought an A&K SR25 but got scared away by all the reports of unstable wifi. I'm really hoping they fixed that piece.

 

[Ojisan]

Anyone got a chance to compare this with Cayin n6ii. Both are in same ballpark price wise and looking for a DAP with bigger headstage to pair with FDX01

I just came across this YT video that talks about N6ii/E02 vs Alpha. Unfortunately, it's Japanese only. The summary of his impressions are:

• Alpha has more mid & bass weight when compared to E02
• E02 has higher noise floor
• Alpha presents vocals closer

His blog says he used FAudio Major for this comparison.

 

[earik]

Just ordered one. Now I have to wait by the mailbox like a little kid. Technolust strikes again.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

I'm deciding on either the A&K KANN Alpha or the Sony ZX-507. they're more similarly priced and both have 4.4
Which would you rec? does anyone also own the sony? im currently on my A&K SR15 i kinda want to upgrade because i was disappointed by the SR15 after the first year of ownership. battery life is terrible, power output isnt good and i had problems with build QC with the top power button and sometimes unresponsive UI on boot.