[newworld666]

I can't help with Tidal, as I am a Qobuz user, and it's working fine, though it's impossible to listen more than 15 minutes of music due to automatic Wi-Fi standby.

 

[Rdeman2211]

I can't help with Tidal, as I am a Qobuz user, and it's working fine, though it's impossible to listen more than 15 minutes of music due to automatic Wi-Fi standby.

I'm on a free trial with tidal so I can have a go on Qobuz I suppose. WiFi standby is only 15 minutes? Hopefully they iron out these little niggles with the next firmware fingers crossed!

 

[Scubacrazy]

I can't help with Tidal, as I am a Qobuz user, and it's working fine, though it's impossible to listen more than 15 minutes of music due to automatic Wi-Fi standby.

I genuinely do not understand why you are having problems with the wi-fi on your Alpha. I have massive sympathy for you.
I was concerned about this, and it nearly made me order something different, but in the end I bought the Alpha, and I am having no problem whatsoever with the wi-fi connection.
I can listen to Tidal (and Amazon HD) anywhere in the house, and the only difference I see is in the signal strength indicator. When I point the Alpha directly at the router, the signal is stronger than when it is at 90 degrees to it, if that makes sense.
But I have not had any signal drop-out problems. Maybe there is a hidden setting somewhere which needs to be changed?
I hope you get it sorted, because it must be incredibly frustrating for you to keep getting this problem.
I'm more than happy to go through my settings as a comparison if you want.
Good luck !

 

[adityadubey]

I downloaded the tidal APK, but it will not login, I get this error, I've tried multiple apks all different versions, the embedded tidal app works fine but I cannot download

Do you have the XAPK or the APK file? Might be worth checking. I found most of the initial sites to download had the XAPK, but managed to find an APK, which works fine. I read somewhere that there might be issues with XAPK.

I am having no problem whatsoever with the wi-fi connection.

I agree. I have been using my Kann Alpha for a week now, mainly streaming Tidal HiFi, with some pretty long listening sessions (5-6 hours at a stretch) and some 30-60 min walks using my phone as a hotspot and there have not been any WiFi drops. The WiFi signal it receives is about one bar lower than my iPhone in some places, but there haven't been any drops or issues on that front.

There has been some very rare song skippnig on Tidal, but I think this is almost exclusively with MQA (will need to observe more carefully), and have had similarly rare issues with Tidal Masters while listening from my iFi Zen DAC through my computer - although there the song just stops and won't load any further instead of skipping. I wonder if there might be something up with Tidal Masters / MQA decoding on certain tracks.

 

[Rdeman2211]

Do you have the XAPK or the APK file? Might be worth checking. I found most of the initial sites to download had the XAPK, but managed to find an APK, which works fine. I read somewhere that there might be issues with XAPK.



I agree. I have been using my Kann Alpha for a week now, mainly streaming Tidal HiFi, with some pretty long listening sessions (5-6 hours at a stretch) and some 30-60 min walks using my phone as a hotspot and there have not been any WiFi drops. The WiFi signal it receives is about one bar lower than my iPhone in some places, but there haven't been any drops or issues on that front.

There has been some very rare song skippnig on Tidal, but I think this is almost exclusively with MQA (will need to observe more carefully), and have had similarly rare issues with Tidal Masters while listening from my iFi Zen DAC through my computer - although there the song just stops and won't load any further instead of skipping. I wonder if there might be something up with Tidal Masters / MQA decoding on certain tracks.

Yeah I just tried it with the APK files, I can install it but just will not let me login, very strange, I will leave it for now, hopefully it will work on a new version of tidal whenever that comes out

 

[newworld666]

But I have not had any signal drop-out problems. Maybe there is a hidden setting somewhere which needs to be changed?

As you told me this .. I tried yesterday and this morning to stop totally AK Connect.

Finally this time, it seems I can use both APKs of Qobuz and DS Audio through the service menu and I don't have the 15 minutes WIFI standby.
For my Synology connection, I liked the AK connect feature (DLNA) which could preserve fore sure the original file format (even DSD or Flac 24bits 192kz, etc) I am not sure with Synology APK It doesn't transcode all my music to a lower rate.

I would think that the sleep mode feature for AK Connect is not operational and this interfere with other Wi-Fi services !!!

At least .. with deactivating AK Connect, I can use the Kann Alpha for Qobuz and Ds audio without cuts !!! That's a Big News !
AK Connect has to be corrected by firmware !

 

[Damz87]

As you told me this .. I tried yesterday and this morning to stop totally AK Connect.

Finally this time, it seems I can use both APKs of Qobuz and DS Audio through the service menu and I don't have the 15 minutes WIFI standby.
For my Synology connection, I liked the AK connect feature (DLNA) which could preserve fore sure the original file format (even DSD or Flac 24bits 192kz, etc) I am not sure with Synology APK It doesn't transcode all my music to a lower rate.

I would think that the sleep mode feature for AK Connect is not operational and this interfere with other Wi-Fi services !!!

At least .. with deactivating AK Connect, I can use the Kann Alpha for Qobuz and Ds audio without cuts !!! That's a Big News !
AK Connect has to be corrected by firmware !

Ooh, I shall try this thanks!

 

[newworld666]

Ooh, I shall try this thanks!

More than 2 hours now, I am listening Qobuz without a single WI-FI cut !!! It never happened for more than one month I desperately tried to use the A&K Kann Alpha for streaming !!

It seems to be the only way to deactivate AK Connect, to have a chance to enjoy streaming.

 

[Onik]

Whoever designed the KA's side media buttons has really tiny fingers, it's easy to press the wrong button everytime, I was thinking to sell my KA because of its design and for its streaming issues.

but after trying my JH audio Rosie with 4.4mm custom cable I changed my mind, it now can drive ROSIE pretty well without sounding muddy and boring, I'm now using KA as offline player only(shame on A&K for not fixing streaming issues)

I think KAs single ended output is only good for when using as line out to an external amp but for headphones 4.4mm with no question I see no other reason to buy KA if you are not interested using 4.4mm balanced out for your cans.

 

[blotmouse]

Whoever designed the KA's side media buttons has really tiny fingers, it's easy to press the wrong button everytime, I was thinking to sell my KA because of its design and for its streaming issues.

I hear that. Almost impossible to line up your point press to actually hit play/pause instead of forward or back, especially with their branded cases. I am thinking about using an exacto knife to remove the leather indents for some tactile feel of some kind. As it is, the loose outline of 'maybe?' a button is pretty useless.

 

[Onik]

I hear that. Almost impossible to line up your point press to actually hit play/pause instead of forward or back, especially with their branded cases. I am thinking about using an exacto knife to remove the leather indents for some tactile feel of some kind. As it is, the loose outline of 'maybe?' a button is pretty useless.

I paid like £100 for the original case, it'll hurt my wallet if I'm gonna cut the sides for tactical feel, I think the BT remote is really useful for media keys function but sometimes I forget to take it with me when I'm going outside.

 

[Andrew Harper]

Some information for people that may find useful.

Did a little bit of searching and found that BroTech in Germany can make any screen protector in any size.

You just give them the dimensions and the radius of the corners and in about ten days they are posted to you.

So I ordered some for the...

Front screen in the AirGlass and HD-Clear (56mm x 112mm Radius 1mm) - 3 of each
Back Panel HD-Clear (50.7mm x 109.7mm Radius 0.5mm) - 3 of each

Cost about £20 in total so not too bad.

These are not adhesive based protectors so no nasty glue or residue if you remove them.

Picture of the Airglass on the player

.....and installed. I should have maybe made it 1 or 2 mm smaller, there is more curve on the edge than I thought but still fine. You can see where it hasn't fully "seated" but it's secure. The HD-Clear is more plastic based so maybe will bend to the shape a bit more.

...and finally the cover on the back, probably don't need it but worth doing just in case. Perfect fit.

and finally for those looking at getting one I had the Dignis Case arrived the other day, looks really nice but the finish is very fragile, I'm finding that my fingernails or even the cable jacket rubbing the case is removing the aging that's been hand rubbed on, however I suppose it adds to the charm, haha.

 

[feverfive]

^^ I have a BroTecht glass screen protector on my ZX507, and vouch for it's quality. It's cool that they'll make custom ones, though I'd never trust my ability to provide accurate dimensions, hahahaha. It'd be cool if we could scan something with our phone cameras and send in the result.

 

[Andrew Harper]

^^ I have a BroTecht glass screen protector on my ZX507, and vouch for it's quality. It's cool that they'll make custom ones, though I'd never trust my ability to provide accurate dimensions, hahahaha. It'd be cool if we could scan something with our phone cameras and send in the result.

Haha, yeah I think I measured the screen about ten times to make sure!

Dimensions above are what I asked for, as I mentioned I probably would've been better to make the front screen protector maybe 1 or 2mm smaller on each side but otherwise they are fine. I tried to measure the screen taking into account the very slight rounding of the edge but obviously not quite enough. No big deal though as they look fine

 

[newworld666]

I am still struggling with the really poor software (a real garbage) of the Kann Alpha ..
After one month, I could understand AK Connect is almost unusable for streaming from a DLNA servers because of the wifi cuts every 15 minutes, and no memory of the last path of music played is stored, so when wifi is re-connected we have to go the all path to last music played... which is totally annoying.

I thought I could avoid using this garbage with trying to use third party software .. like apk of DS Audio or Foobar2000 => unfortunately none of them is able to use DSD music though so many can do (Neutron Player, USB Player pro, etc ..) without transcoding them to a really poor quality with a low level of volume.

Has anyone managed to find a way to use the Kann Alpho with DLNA servers without cuts and with native DSD reading ?