I'm very happy with the device but even so it seems pretty unrefined in terms of UI for a device priced north of a grand. Then again this is also my first DAP so perhaps my expectations are unrealistic.
This is not aimed at you but I'm just making a general comment
I've only owned one DAP which at the moment is the Pioneer 300R.
However on all the DAP's I've tested and played with (Fiio, Shanling, A&K) they all suffer from a sort of "incomplete" feeling here and there, and I think in the main it's because these companies are just small. It's not a bad thing but when you come from the seamless user experience of an iPhone or iPad I can see why some people end up disappointed. So for example some settings on a DAP are in the music player, some are in the android settings, some are in the drop down settings, not all people nowadays have the patience for that sort of thing.
Unlike an Apple or Samsung who can throw millions at the development of a phone and it's software, these are very niche companies (with admittedly a small customer base) and they always seem to have to make small comprises somewhere. For example relying on people to manually install APK files so they can stream music is quite a technical thing and some users wouldn't have a clue or couldn't be bothered when they can do the same thing on their phone in 30 seconds.
I think that's why I'm still undecided at the moment, Fiio use Android 7.0 on their players which looks like will be redundant from app support next year, Shanling make some great players but they don't support gapless playback (even on their £1000+ model).
This A&K model is about 95% of what I need so I may go for that one.
With regards to the streaming apps and the volume light ring support, these are third party apps remember. It's not A&K's responsibility to make them work as such. When it comes to Apple it's the responsibility of the app developer for the app to function with their hardware not the other way around, until then Apple will not allow it on their appstore. So in fairness to A&K it's letting an app that doesn't talk to it's hardware to work in a roundabout way so we can have that facility.
Perhaps the simplest option for A&K is when they next do a firmware update, it will have the option of switching off the light ring when playing any installed app that is not A&K. Unless Spotify, Tidal, et all develop apps to work with the A&K hardware we are not going to get that feature. I'm not defending them I'm just wondering how the app works. Out of curiosity does the volume light ring on the Fiio M15 work with streaming apps? That is a similar feature.
