[soundblast75]

The MQA side loaded Tidal seems to show the correct color Blue for Authentic Masters and Green for lesser mqas.
Here's the official one

• The MQA 'Studio' (blue light) gives confirmation directly from mastering engineers, producers or artists to their listeners. ...
• A second level, 'MQA' (green light) is available to indicate that although the stream is genuine, provenance may be uncertain or that it is not yet the final release.

 

[IEMmasterRace]

That's ohm's law output impedance should be 1/8th of the impedance of the IEM and since there are quite a few IEMs with impedance under 8ohm (a few years back only a few IEMs like SE846 were in that case) well under the 1ohm mark is preferable. Unless your IEM is from 64 Audio and has LID tech, Custom Art FIBAE tech or the like this will skew the frequency response of your IEM. More manufacturer are making sure this doesn't happen but it's not universal yet.

So the kann alpha would not work with my andromeda 2020? Since the andros have 12.8 ohm ÷ 8 = 1.6 ohm while the kann alpha 2.5mm balance have like 2.0 ohm output impadence? Will this screw the sound quality and make it worse? I also notice that the higher the DAP output power are, the higher the output impadence is. Is it true?

 

[Matpar]

The MQA side loaded Tidal seems to show the correct color Blue for Authentic Masters and Green for lesser mqas.
Here's the official one

• The MQA 'Studio' (blue light) gives confirmation directly from mastering engineers, producers or artists to their listeners. ...
• A second level, 'MQA' (green light) is available to indicate that although the stream is genuine, provenance may be uncertain or that it is not yet the final release.

So the recap Is, sideloaded Tidal app:

1. Shows rates on led correctly (I confirm that)

2. Does not skip songs (so far I confirm that)

3. One thing to be noted; launch Tidal, playlist playing, then leave "still" for few minutes the DAP, pausing It from the hw side Button. Press play again, tada! You won't get the playlist you where playing in Tidal, instead It Will start the last Song you plaied locally (from SD). Amazing world we are living in



Now the question Is, why in the hell the bundled version sucks?!



Now we have two installed apps which does almost the same thing, without chance of uninstalling the bundled One.. ironic isn't It?



My suggestion about this if possible, for future firmwares (@JasonNYC dunno if you can bring the message ):
1. Update default Tidal app so to be performing as the sideloaded One or 1b allow users to delete bundled apps
2. While they are at It, the Gain setting shortcut available in the dropdown menu would be a nice feature. Tre steps to switch gain are imho limitating usability a lot

Btw, I don't want It to seems all dull or fuzzy.
So far I can say I rarely Heard such a mix of finesse and Power together.



My Isine 20, correctly EQ and with High Power, gives me such level of emotions I rarely could get from other DAP without being stacked.

It Is the First real "all in One" for me, and I think it's a keeper!

Thanks!

 

[davidmolliere]

So the kann alpha would not work with my andromeda 2020? Since the andros have 12.8 ohm ÷ 8 = 1.6 ohm while the kann alpha 2.5mm balance have like 2.0 ohm output impadence? Will this screw the sound quality and make it worse? I also notice that the higher the DAP output power are, the higher the output impadence is. Is it true?

It will work it will just affect the frequency response, how much I don't know. It might make it bassier / warmer for example.
It's possible to have power and low output impedance.

 

[soundblast75]

So the recap Is, sideloaded Tidal app:

1. Shows rates on led correctly (I confirm that)

2. Does not skip songs (so far I confirm that)

3. One thing to be noted; launch Tidal, playlist playing, then leave "still" for few minutes the DAP, pausing It from the hw side Button. Press play again, tada! You won't get the playlist you where playing in Tidal, instead It Will start the last Song you plaied locally (from SD). Amazing world we are living in



Now the question Is, why in the hell the bundled version sucks?!



Now we have two installed apps which does almost the same thing, without chance of uninstalling the bundled One.. ironic isn't It?



My suggestion about this if possible, for future firmwares (@JasonNYC dunno if you can bring the message ):
1. Update default Tidal app so to be performing as the sideloaded One or 1b allow users to delete bundled apps
2. While they are at It, the Gain setting shortcut available in the dropdown menu would be a nice feature. Tre steps to switch gain are imho limitating usability a lot

Btw, I don't want It to seems all dull or fuzzy.
So far I can say I rarely Heard such a mix of finesse and Power together.



My Isine 20, correctly EQ and with High Power, gives me such level of emotions I rarely could get from other DAP without being stacked.

It Is the First real "all in One" for me, and I think it's a keeper!

Thanks!

They might update it as Tidal is a selling point etc but as the side app works great i don't care much.
More to the point is this MQA is an ever evasive one as the same file that shows blue on the app, shows green once downloaded and played through the Alpha direct (have my cunning ways)
So, this whole MQA is tricky to know and prove their claims of closer to authenticity and master blah blah anyway

 

[bland125]

i was informed that the LED ring light around the volume control only indicated bitrate correctly for DOWNLOADED music. streaming music's bitrate is not accurately displayed by the color of the light! i don't know if it's random, or what, but i was told that the color does not accurately indicate the streaming music's bitrate.

furthermore, when the Alpha is connected to a pc, it is unable to decode MQA. there is no MQA via the usb connection to a pc.

so...i'm thinking about buying a desktop, smaller footprint DAC+headphone amp like the Topping D90/A90 combination, or similar. the downside is there is no advantage of having two boxes sitting on my computer desk sound quality-wise, i think, as the Topping D90 would likely be no better than the ES9068 dual chips in the Alpha, though the nuances may be different as the Topping uses the AK4499. still, there are very few benefits of having the two desktop boxes sitting on my computer desktop besides the ability to navigate the Windows Tidal desktop app conveniently via my desktop PC's big monitor - that would indeed be pleasant, but at the expense of having two extra boxes sitting around.

what do you guys think please? thanks.

Well, do you have any source for your comments on the volume control color and MQA? Not that I don't trust you but I would be interested in knowing what is the situation.

I have a DAP myself and a desktop setup and while I love my DAP+IEMs setup more than my desktop these days, it's so practical to have everything working from a PC rather than an Android device and not worrying about battery and streaming stability or anything else. So if you spend a lot of time by a static desk with a PC, I think you should get a basic setup at least. D90/A90 combo is great for sure. Any of the topping stacks are pretty good I hear so the 30 series, 50 series... You got choices.

On thing though. You shouldn't think that you will be able to compare the ESS with the AKM chip by doing so. It's something I see a lot and I think it's very wrong. The 2 devices are completely different ones and they use different design and components all the way in and out. You are going to be able to compare both devices but not chips. Just keep that in mind and set expectations accordingly.

 

[Matpar]

They might update it as Tidal is a selling point etc but as the side app works great i don't care much.
More to the point is this MQA is an ever evasive one as the same file that shows blue on the app, shows green once downloaded and played through the Alpha direct (have my cunning ways)
So, this whole MQA is tricky to know and prove their claims of closer to authenticity and master blah blah anyway

so you are able to download from Tidal? (haven't tried it yet to be honest)

 

[soundblast75]

so you are able to download from Tidal? (haven't tried it yet to be honest)

Yes

 

[JasonNYC]

Astell&Kern US Holiday Promotions Are Now Available!

Get your favorite Astell&Kern products at special pricing now through December 29th, or while supplies last! Available at us.astellnkern.com or at a participating authorized dealer near you. Promotions listed below are valid only in the US/Canada. For other countries, please contact your local authorized Astell&Kern dealer for a list of promotions in your region.

There are a number of bundle deals available for the KANN ALPHA. For the full list of deals, check out https://us.astellnkern.com/blogs/news/a-k-2020-holiday-promotions

 

[udesign48]

The device is too huge! please give a Mini version KANN!

 

[Matpar]

Astell&Kern US Holiday Promotions Are Now Available!

Get your favorite Astell&Kern products at special pricing now through December 29th, or while supplies last! Available at us.astellnkern.com or at a participating authorized dealer near you. Promotions listed below are valid only in the US/Canada. For other countries, please contact your local authorized Astell&Kern dealer for a list of promotions in your region.

There are a number of bundle deals available for the KANN ALPHA. For the full list of deals, check out https://us.astellnkern.com/blogs/news/a-k-2020-holiday-promotions

Nice! Couldn't help but notice you have a bundle with the Ripper... And that was because I asked questions about It, right?

Just kidding, nice initiative!

 

[Queen6]

Astell&Kern US Holiday Promotions Are Now Available!

Get your favorite Astell&Kern products at special pricing now through December 29th, or while supplies last! Available at us.astellnkern.com or at a participating authorized dealer near you. Promotions listed below are valid only in the US/Canada. For other countries, please contact your local authorized Astell&Kern dealer for a list of promotions in your region.

There are a number of bundle deals available for the KANN ALPHA. For the full list of deals, check out https://us.astellnkern.com/blogs/news/a-k-2020-holiday-promotions

Shame such deals are not extended globally, nice all the same for those that can take advantage...

Q-6

 

[soundblast75]

@JasonNYC any idea why stock player shows this one single MQA sign to the right of the album in the browsing tree when i have many more downloaded same way, this one is the only one showing it?
Any planned software updates to address MQA handling and colors perhaps?
Thanks

 

[rx79ez08]

Does anyone know if it is possible to use the Kann Alpha as a USB DAC for the PS5? I think the JDS Atom can, but I am not sure about other DACs yet.
The hilarious thing is neither the Sony WM1A nor the TA-ZH1ES work with the PS5, something about left and right hand not talking to each other....

 

[CANiSLAYu]

The MQA side loaded Tidal seems to show the correct color Blue for Authentic Masters and Green for lesser mqas.
Here's the official one

• The MQA 'Studio' (blue light) gives confirmation directly from mastering engineers, producers or artists to their listeners. ...
• A second level, 'MQA' (green light) is available to indicate that although the stream is genuine, provenance may be uncertain or that it is not yet the final release.

What version of Tidal are you using. Mine (and other users) previously discussed only getting Blue LED on MQA Regardless if studio or non-studio.