[internetbob]

I have the Kann Alpha and the Sennheiser 660S headphone. When using the 4.4mm balanced Senheisser cable supplied, I only have sound on one side. The seller of the Senheisser has measured the 4.4 mm cable and stated that the 4.4 balanced cable from Senheisser is good. His message was also that the precision of the 4.4 mm cable matters very much and there are variants (including Sony variant 4.4 mm) of the 4.4 mm balanced cable. It was probably not possible to blame the whole new Kann Alpha, because the outputs are always tested very well before it leaves the factory. Advice: order and try a 4.4 balanced cable from China for $30 and try it. I did this and again only one side of the noise. I do notice that when removing the 4.4 mm connection I have short sound on both sides for a very short time. Like it makes then good contact. I conclude from this that the 4.4 output is OK, but that the 4.4. type cable is not connecting properly. Is this correct or can the 4.4. output of my new (three weeks old) are not good?

Is there a specific 4.4 balanced cable (sony?) I should look for for the Kann Alpha? I actually only need a very short cable of 1.3 meters. Is a 3.5mm cable also fine for this very short distance?. What is your advice?

 

[Sauerteig]

So I have had this player for over a year. Very pleased with it.

An issue I continue to have is with tagging. Once I obtained this device, I realized it does not categorize simply by putting artsts in their own folders, but creates artist folders based on data in the music file MP3, Flac, etc.

I adapted this by editing my music files by using both Musicbrainz Picard and mp3tag. Of the two, mp3tag works the best. The key issue was getting Album Artist uniform,, so that Echo & The Bunnymen is one folder rather than two (with And instead of & as an example).

That worked for the most part but there were still some double entires, even after taking notes and going through stragglers.. For these I found I had to get both artist and album artist to be the same. Two examples were Fire + Ice also having a Fire & Ice folder. One album had both as artist.

What if I want an artist to be in the same folder One example was Adam Ant. Some of his stuff is just Adam Ant, other earlier stuff was Adam and the Ants. I changed album artist to Adam Ant but had two separate folders. I changed the artist data to all be just Adam Ant, but I would like some denotation where it is technically Adam and the Ants (but all in the same Adam Ant folder).

 

[Fantanest]

Any review on the difference between Alpha and the new Max?

 

[Figjam]

Is there a specific 4.4 balanced cable (sony?) I should look for for the Kann Alpha?

No, I have Sennheiser HD820s and have no problem with the 4.4mm cable that came with them, along with a shorter Tripowin cable, and also a cheapie from Aliexpress.

 

[maggie17fan]

Any review on the difference between Alpha and the new Max?

There's this German review:

https://musicalhead.de/2022/06/08/test-astellkern-kann-max/

 

[suffocation77]

I have some update to this issue - it seems if I play an album from [Album] list, then the song order will be correct. However, if I pick an Album from the [Genre] list and play it, the song order will be wrong.

I don't understand the logic behind this different behaviour, but this could explain why some people don't experience this issue (because they hardly used the [Genre] list).

It should be a simple bug to address. Hope A&K won't disappoint us and harm their image. Looking forward to see this annoying issue fixed soon.

I can confirm this. Playing by Album works, playing by Artist not correctly.

 

[suffocation77]

Anyone has an idea, why the special German character „ä“ is not showing correctly? This is From the New Rammstein Album. The „ü“ later is showing correctly.

 

[Cocosan]

I can confirm this. Playing by Album works, playing by Artist not correctly.

Thanks for confirming this issue.

A&K should fix these sort of problem (including the German character display issue you pointed out) soon. The premium image of A&K severely damaged. Forget the Kann Max or whatever, I wouldn't consider another A&K product if they couldn't even sort out these simple issues.

 

[Fantanest]

Considering getting an SP1000. Any better it will be comparing to the Alpha?

 

[jonathanvaljean]

Hi all! Does the Alpha’s EQ work with external DACs? I have the EQ dialed in nicely for the T1 for direct output from the Alpha, however, when I connect it via an OTG cable to my Hugo 2, the EQ is definitely no longer in effect.

Is there a special setting for using the Alpha’s EQ with an external DAC, or does the EQ only apply to direct output to one’s headphones?

Thanks!

 

[jonathanvaljean]

Hi all! Does the Alpha’s EQ work with external DACs? I have the EQ dialed in nicely for the T1 for direct output from the Alpha, however, when I connect it via an OTG cable to my Hugo 2, the EQ is definitely no longer in effect.

Is there a special setting for using the Alpha’s EQ with an external DAC, or does the EQ only apply to direct output to one’s headphones?

Thanks!

@JasonNYC

 

[kel77]

Hi all! Does the Alpha’s EQ work with external DACs? I have the EQ dialed in nicely for the T1 for direct output from the Alpha, however, when I connect it via an OTG cable to my Hugo 2, the EQ is definitely no longer in effect.

Is there a special setting for using the Alpha’s EQ with an external DAC, or does the EQ only apply to direct output to one’s headphones?

Thanks!

I don't see why the EQ will work as you are no longer using the DAC on the Alpha when you are connected through digital audio output.

 

[jonathanvaljean]

Hi there, @kel77! Thanks for your input.

I used my PC --> Foobar --> Hugo 2 via a Curious USB cable for several years, and the EQ information from Foobar sent along to my Hugo 2 (just as it was with my old Benchmark and Violectric DACs). Thus, I had hoped that the same would happen with the Kann Alpha via USB OTG to the Hugo 2, but it isn't the case. I was hoping I might be missing something... a difficult-to-find setting within the menu or something. However, given that the filters of the Kann Alpha do not apply to external DACs, it would make sense that the EQ settings would not, either.

I wonder if USB Audio Player Pro would be able to send EQ information to the Hugo 2? I have an old Samsung 7 Edge in a drawer, so I might give it a try. Do you know if other DAPs are able to send EQ information along to external DACs? (I am especially interested in the Fiio M17, and I see you have it listed in your inventory.)

Thanks!

 

[Cocosan]

Hi there, @kel77! Thanks for your input.

I used my PC --> Foobar --> Hugo 2 via a Curious USB cable for several years, and the EQ information from Foobar sent along to my Hugo 2 (just as it was with my old Benchmark and Violectric DACs). Thus, I had hoped that the same would happen with the Kann Alpha via USB OTG to the Hugo 2, but it isn't the case. I was hoping I might be missing something... a difficult-to-find setting within the menu or something. However, given that the filters of the Kann Alpha do not apply to external DACs, it would make sense that the EQ settings would not, either.

I wonder if USB Audio Player Pro would be able to send EQ information to the Hugo 2? I have an old Samsung 7 Edge in a drawer, so I might give it a try. Do you know if other DAPs are able to send EQ information along to external DACs? (I am especially interested in the Fiio M17, and I see you have it listed in your inventory.)

Thanks!

I just did a quick test: Kann Alpha > Hugo 2 via USB and the default music player, the EQ does NOT get applied.

However, if I run Foobar and use the in-app EQ, the audio played from Hugo 2 will have the in-app EQ applied. Consider how crappy the A&K's EQ and music player software is, I use Foobar on the Kann Alpha as my daily driver until the new Sony WM1AM2 arrive.

 

[jonathanvaljean]

I just did a quick test: Kann Alpha > Hugo 2 via USB and the default music player, the EQ does NOT get applied.

However, if I run Foobar and use the in-app EQ, the audio played from Hugo 2 will have the in-app EQ applied. Consider how crappy the A&K's EQ and music player software is, I use Foobar on the Kann Alpha as my daily driver until the new Sony WM1AM2 arrive.

Hi Cocosan,

Thanks so for much for chiming in! Oh, wow... so there is a Foobar app for the A&K Kann Alpha? This is quite a revelation, and I will have to install it right away. Thanks so much! (Thank you also for having verified that the Foobar app does apply the EQ settings. Rock on! )

Jonathan