Astell&Kern Launches New A&norma SR35 Player

[BobSmith8901]

I am on beta 2.89.2. Max on my Android 14 phone, not the Android 9 DAP

Did you ever get an answer on this? I would assume that the A&K A&norma SR35 would play the straight FLAC 24/96 or 24/192 (non-MQA) with the new Tidal Android app (2.87XX+...) as it is Android 11, but I don't know for sure. Curious myself.

My research has found that everything that has been reported that is Android 10 and above works fine in the new Tidal FLAC regime but Android 9 and below does not, with the rare exception of a FiiO M11 Pro at Android 7 reported as working.

 

[sssimp]

Can the SR35 effectively drive the HD800S? I'm new to the hobby and I'm trying to go directly to an end-game-ish setup for myself without going over $2k total - used HD800S + SR35 seems like a plausible combo.

To be clear, my standard here is, is it good/very good in this role - I recognize that a nice desktop amp is going to be better.

A headphone that has 300 Ohms impedance. I don't think the SR35 can drive them well.

 

[JasonNYC]

Did you ever get an answer on this? I would assume that the A&K A&norma SR35 would play the straight FLAC 24/96 or 24/192 (non-MQA) with the new Tidal Android app (2.87XX+...) as it is Android 11, but I don't know for sure. Curious myself.

My research has found that everything that has been reported that is Android 10 and above works fine in the new Tidal FLAC regime but Android 9 and below does not, with the rare exception of a FiiO M11 Pro at Android 7 reported as working.

Tidal Max FLAC works without issue using App version 2.89.3 that I sideloaded via APK. Do not have information on if/when the embedded Tidal app will support MAX FLAC playback. From what I understand, only the official Android app can support it, any embedded versions of Tidal are not authorized. The full Android Tidal app included on the download tab should be updated to the new version soon, but as mentioned above, can be installed now manually.

 

[Appamanna]

Thanks everyone for steering me away from the SR35 for driving the HD800S. The DX320 recommendation was a good one, but out of my price range.

I got an open box Fiio M15S, and the sound is good enough in Ultra High Gain mode (has to be plugged in to use this setting) that it makes me smile. On the highest battery setting, the HD800S sounds demonstrably better than the Ananda Nanos, but there's some body missing that's present with Ultra High.

I'll have to wait until SoCal CanJam to hear just how much better the HD800S sounds with proper desktop amplification.

I appreciate you all

 

[RCracer777]

Can the SR35 effectively drive the HD800S? I'm new to the hobby and I'm trying to go directly to an end-game-ish setup for myself without going over $2k total - used HD800S + SR35 seems like a plausible combo.

To be clear, my standard here is, is it good/very good in this role - I recognize that a nice desktop amp is going to be better.

It should be able to, but only from the balanced outputs.

I've tried a 275Ω,112dB/mW earbud on the SR35 when I tested it and on SE low gain it had some headroom left. If I compare that to my X7 Mk.II with a confirmed 270mW@32Ω which had basically no headroom left with the same earbuds, it does look like the Astell&Kern SR35 claim of 3.1Vrms (SE) which is a theoretical 300mW@32Ω is not that far from the truth.

That said the HD800S with 300Ω, 96,8dB/mW (102dB/V) is 20x harder to drive than this pair of earbuds. The impedance isn't the problem, it's the sensitivity that makes it harder to drive. Hooked up to the balanced out it should be able to drive the HD800S at a comfortable level with some headroom left. It's not going to the best way to drive it, but it will work well enough.

And in case you're wondering, a 300Ω impedance really doesn't need as much power as a lot of people are claiming. Mid to high end DAPs have more than enough power to drive them these days. Even the FiiO BTR5 and BTR7 are said to drive the 300Ω HD600/HD650 to a acceptable level without much issue. Granted there is more to be gained from a more powerful source but in general I'd say 500mW@32 is enough for most 300Ω headphones with normal (100dB/mW) sensitivity.

Personally I still wouldn't recommend the SR35 due to the smaller soundstage compared to other players in the price range. And the massive soundstage is one of the big party pieces of the HD800S and the main reason to go for the HD800/HD800S so why reduce it. Other options like a Shanling M6 Ultra or FiiO M15S if you can stretch for them would be a better option with a way smoother user experience and (in my opinion) better sound quality.

---

Edit: I see you've made a choice, and the same one I've made.
Although I've had some complications with the delivery getting lost, so I'm waiting for the store to get stock again. Which should be this week.

 

[Appamanna]

Other options like a Shanling M6 Ultra or FiiO M15S if you can stretch for them would be a better option with a way smoother user experience and (in my opinion) better sound quality.

See my post above 2 minutes before yours - I went with an M15s and it's working well

Thank you very much for your detailed input.

 

[123peter]

The Astell & Kern family has children in 3 groups with UI Crimson, i.e. the new ones are:
Ultima - SP3000
Futura - SE300
Noma - SR35

Will a new DAP with UI Crimson be released this year
from the KANN series ???

 

[rlw6534]

Perfect timing on this post. I was just putting together a list of outstanding items for the internal team meeting next week and these two items are on the list. Hope to have more info by the end of the week next week after the meeting.

Any info from your team meeting to pass on?

 

[JasonNYC]

Any info from your team meeting to pass on?

Not yet. It is in my follow up list for this week. Will update when I know more.

 

[JasonNYC]

Astell&Kern Customer Appreciation Event

If you did not see the post on the home page of Head-Fi yesterday, Astell&Kern is giving away 15 pairs of the new UW100 MK II TWS Earbuds through our Instagram account. More details can be found in this post - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/astell-kern-customer-appreciation-event.969708/

 

[bgillis]

New toy in the house

Perfect companion to my Cayin N8ii... definitely more portable.

As expected, the build quality of the player and Dignis case is top notch

 

[bgillis]

@JasonNYC,

French is the selected language of my new SR35 (bought through a french authorized A&K dealer).

However, I didn't find a way to change the keyboard from English (United States) to French...

... nor from QWERTY to AZERTY.

Am I missing anything? Is there any way to install a new keyboard on SR35 (other than AkIME)?

Thanks for your help.

 

[sssimp]

I just saw that there is a new Japanese version SR35.

 

[bgillis]

@JasonNYC,

French is the selected language of my new SR35 (bought through a french authorized A&K dealer).



However, I didn't find a way to change the keyboard from English (United States) to French...



... nor from QWERTY to AZERTY.



Am I missing anything? Is there any way to install a new keyboard on SR35 (other than AkIME)?

Thanks for your help.

I have just found this answer in the AK SP3000 thread from November 2022

If it is indeed impossible to add any additional keyboard on the TOTL DAP of AK, I guess it is the same for the SR35 model.
So I'm definitely stuck with English and QWERTY keyboard... completely insane in 2023!!! Needless to say, I'm really disappointed.

Moreover I can read in the AK SR35 user manual the following sentences...

As I bought the DAP through an authorized A&K dealer in France, is it normal that the 'French' language is not even available on my device ?



I will wait @JasonNYC 's answer. However, I'm seriously thinking to send it back to the dealer for refund and choosing a DAP from another brand (Android based without any restriction).

 

[ozz007]

AK need to put better CPUs more ram and go Android open..no need s
for this non sense.