Astell&Kern Launches KANN ALPHA Digital Audio Player

[Andricop]

Hum ... the Android application is developed and posted on the Google Play Store by Apple. It's Apple responsibility to insure that their app is compatible with most devices.
I managed Android and iOS app development for my company and it was our responsibility to make sure that our app was the more widely compatible.
And you can't tell the user "oh, our app is not working on device xyz? It's not my problem, contact the manufacturer of the device"
Even if A&K is willing to do something they will not be able to solve the problem.
The fact that Apple Music is not working on A&K is also not a real problem for Apple; for sure you're using the subscription on your iPhone or Android device so they will not lose customers, plus how many A&K users are using Apple Music? 10k? Apple has 72M Apple Music subscriber so they will not bother.
Bottom line from my point of view : if you want to use streaming services use a smartphone. A&K devices were built for local storage of the music (that's why they have also up to 512 GB of storage).
Even the DX300 which seems to play nice with streaming services will not be compatible for a long time.
Smartphones have a huge base of users plus people tend to change them every 2-3 years that's why all these services works well with phones.
BTW I use Qobuz daily on my SP2000 and don't have any problem.

 

[MikeW9788]

Are you having issues installing or logging into Tidal via the Android app on the KANN ALPHA?

Can't login on the built in tidal app. It says an error has occurred. Been like this for at least two months. If it weren't for all the purchased music I have from hdtracks this thing would be useless.

 

[newworld666]

Bottom line from my point of view : if you want to use streaming services use a smartphone. A&K devices were built for local storage of the music (that's why they have also up to 512 GB of storage).
Even the DX300 which seems to play nice with streaming services will not be compatible for a long time.

I bought twice the Kann Alpha, because it should have been the only DAP on the market to be able to move nearly properly my HEDDPhones with 12V available with the 4.4mm outout !!! and a PEQ (also very limited)
I wouldn't have bought this, if it couldn't use Qobuz and access to my personal music on my Unpn server (Synology).
Before buying it, I asked here clearly if this was working .. and the answer was that AKConnect was perfect for this feature.

The Dx300 is not enough powered to move my HEDDphone by HEDD, I won't buy it for this reason.

Then, of course Apple will never take care of closed OS like A&K is using their android version, it is just silly to imagine they would do.
A&K decided to close their operating system => they have to do what is necessary to make it work as intended.
I can't use Neutron, Usb Payer Pro, Bubbleupnp ... I knew it before buying the Kann Alpha, I was just expecting the announced features to be fully functional.. they are not !

 

[WyattEarp]

In fact, Apple is selling their Iphones for more than a decade ..
Apple Music is 100% compatible with iphones and they update their firmware every month to improve them and even give some more features to older iphones.
If Samsung is incompatible, I imagine Apple should be probably very happy to sell some more iPhones in place of any Samsung smartphones (I am a Galaxy Z Fold 2 user and I expect Samsung will react before Apple produce a dual screen compatible smartphone, otherwise I will go back Apple to iPhones).
With A&K, nothing seems working fully as services (all the time some features are missing like offline recording or drops while listening far too frequent and really annoying or access to login is just impossible) => Qobuz, Tidal, Apple Music...
I can't imagine Apple and other services will take care of A&K incompatibilities => as they have proprietary almost closed system => definitely it's A&K job to sell proper daps able to function as intended.

I understand what you’re trying to say but you’ve listed conflicting issues some of which have nothing to do with the other. Either way the login issues with A&K line of devices is totally their fault. I don’t know about Qobuz and others but Tidal made changes and updates and are nolonger supporting older Android versions so any device that can’t be updated to a new version of Android are unfortunately going to be left out. Other OS issues with A&K devices are all in them alone.

 

[WyattEarp]

Hum ... the Android application is developed and posted on the Google Play Store by Apple. It's Apple responsibility to insure that their app is compatible with most devices.
I managed Android and iOS app development for my company and it was our responsibility to make sure that our app was the more widely compatible.
And you can't tell the user "oh, our app is not working on device xyz? It's not my problem, contact the manufacturer of the device"
Even if A&K is willing to do something they will not be able to solve the problem.
The fact that Apple Music is not working on A&K is also not a real problem for Apple; for sure you're using the subscription on your iPhone or Android device so they will not lose customers, plus how many A&K users are using Apple Music? 10k? Apple has 72M Apple Music subscriber so they will not bother.
Bottom line from my point of view : if you want to use streaming services use a smartphone. A&K devices were built for local storage of the music (that's why they have also up to 512 GB of storage).
Even the DX300 which seems to play nice with streaming services will not be compatible for a long time.
Smartphones have a huge base of users plus people tend to change them every 2-3 years that's why all these services works well with phones.
BTW I use Qobuz daily on my SP2000 and don't have any problem.

Exactly, but it seems here that many people buy these devices to stream from various online services. I for one stream nothing, it is not my thing and I like high-res and the only way to always have that is to play it locally from a device not via cellular.

 

[Andricop]

Exactly, but it seems here that many people buy these devices to stream from various online services. I for one stream nothing, it is not my thing and I like high-res and the only way to always have that is to play it locally from a device not via cellular.

Same here, I bought an A&K to listen to hi-res music stored locally, I have 1.5 Tb of local music. Streaming services I use only to discover new music or listen to some album that are not worth buying.

 

[JasonNYC]

Update on Tidal app:

Thank you for your patience over the last month as Astell&Kern’s engineering and software development teams have been working hard to implement updates to the embedded Tidal app. As this is third-party software that needs to be integrated into more than a dozen different players, it has taken a bit of time to complete and test the updated firmware.

The new firmware is in the final stages of review by our partners and should be available within the next week or two once validated. We will begin rolling out the updated firmware model by model, so we ask that you please be patient as you wait for your model to receive the update. Please follow our social media pages, your regional dealers and distributors for additional updates on the firmware release.

More information can be found here - https://www.astellnkern.com/eng/con...ew.asp?search=&word=&idx=1000718&page=1&no=55

Thank you again for being part of the Astell&Kern family.

 

[Kevintj604]

Just bought a 2021 Audeze LCD-XC and wanted to try Resolve (headphones.com) EQ preset.

Anyone know how to add it on the Alpha? I can't seem to get the profile to match using the equalizer on the alpha.

 

[newworld666]

Just bought a 2021 Audeze LCD-XC and wanted to try Resolve (headphones.com) EQ preset.

Anyone know how to add it on the Alpha? I can't seem to get the profile to match using the equalizer on the alpha.

The EQ features are really limited, though there are 20 bands with the GEQ.. but PEQ is almost unsable as it's very very limited with all parameters.

You must try to adapt some profiles with this limited PEQ, but I could more or less do it with AUTOEQ https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/blob/master/results/INDEX.md.

After all this point is no more an issue for me, 20 bands GEQ gives enough liberty to get some good results.

 

[newworld666]

A new firmware is available this morning 1.13 via OTA .. big jump from 1.01...
So let's see if any changes included can fix all the amazing issues with this dap !!!

 

[markymondie]

A new firmware is available this morning 1.13 via OTA .. big jump from 1.01...
So let's see if any changes included can fix all the amazing issues with this dap !!!

did you test the new update? let me know if you still have problem with the ak connect. btw can kann alpha can be bluetooth receiver from other source?

 

[Onik]

A new firmware is available this morning 1.13 via OTA .. big jump from 1.01...
So let's see if any changes included can fix all the amazing issues with this dap !!!

Please review the new fw update and let us know.

 

[newworld666]

I tried several times after the OTA update and I even did a factory reset to be sure everything was clean
=> strictly no change, the music stops after 15 minutes listening to my upnp server via AK connect
I imagine it's definitely an issue with this old piece of hardware used for Wi-Fi Connection in Kann Alpha.
So, it's working fine with some routers and not with others, though my R6pro, M11 and ZFold2 have no issue at all with any type of routers I own.
I can see clearly the "AKconnect is connected" message (again) after a while, after I push the on/off button to have a look why I lost music playing.
At least with Qobuz or DSAudio I can continue the playlist.. But AKconnect looses all the active playlist and I have to restart searching from the beginning of root of my NAS. It's really painful to use the Kann Alpha behind some routers.
I have no mind to test other features to see if something is improved.

 

[Onik]

I tried several times after the OTA update and I even did a factory reset to be sure everything was clean
=> strictly no change, the music stops after 15 minutes listening to my upnp server via AK connect
I imagine it's definitely an issue with this old piece of hardware used for Wi-Fi Connection in Kann Alpha.
So, it's working fine with some routers and not with others, though my R6pro, M11 and ZFold2 have no issue at all with any type of routers I own.
I can see clearly the "AKconnect is connected" message (again) after a while, after I push the on/off button to have a look why I lost music playing.
At least with Qobuz or DSAudio I can continue the playlist.. But AKconnect looses all the active playlist and I have to restart searching from the beginning of root of my NAS. It's really painful to use the Kann Alpha behind some routers.
I have no mind to test other features to see if something is improved.

Cool many thanks for the information, did you try tidal app? did they fix the login issue?

 

[Pezzab]

Re the new firmware update: is there a list of all the items fixed or updated? When I clicked to update on my Alpha there is a list but it is truncated by the pop up. The firmware instruction page on the A&K site just says:

[Improvements]
- Embedded Tidal Login Issue Improved

And that's it