[Tomz1313]

The 3000 btw btw is also far from perfect with regards to UI / streaming apps performance. It is not perfectly smooth with streaming apps unlike any smartphone cheap or expensive. But it is faster than the 300.

That being said, the sound quality of the 300 is top notch, there is nothing I would criticize here. And streaming is useable, especially if you don’t „stream“:

My tip for using streaming apps now would be to pre-download your favorite playlists so that the actual streaming (on the fly download while listening) is kept to a minimum. That improves (at least my 3) apps a lot.

On the fly streaming is also useable but if you are allergic to lag, not perfect.




Specific, I don’t know. I compare 3 of the main streaming apps (Apple, Spotify, Tidal).

Yes, I read you review and had no more questions regarding performance after that. I wasn’t aware by the time that you only compared the naked local UI (with a couple thousand of songs, the local player is also a little slower than the 3000. Try pushing the 3-dot button to show more of the artist etc.). But yes, I should have asked you if you also tested streaming apps as I know you are very responsive here but I didn’t. My fault, I was naive & wishful thinking.

Moreover I’m actually not that unsatisfied with the whole package. I absolutely love the design, looks, weight, especially of course sound quality. Battery life is nothing spectacular but ok. At the end this is still a great DAP, for me even the best A&K ever made. But yes, I am disappointed by the speed. They should have used a better CPU, maybe also more RAM, not sure.

Yes the overall performance could be better...If you click the 3-dot button you have to wait half a year to show up the selections . But the "lag" exist only in some areas...for example the "carousel" or the Album view is pretty fast with no stutters and I've a lot of albums stored (around 1.5TB music...) This is the very first firmware so I expect improvements in the near (hope so... future. The sound qualitiy is incredible so I can live with this for now...but I hope AK will improve this a bit....enjoy the sound

 

[qsk78]

Well, I'm fine with the SE180 performance. I understand that this is not a smartphone. I do not expect the performance of the smartphone.
So, I will be satisfied with the SE300 if it is faster than the se180.
What I would like to see on the SE300 is Roon Arc.

@JasonNYC Do you guys plan to preinstall Roon Arc on the SE300? Thanks.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Yes the overall performance could be better...If you click the 3-dot button you have to wait half a year to show up the selections . But the "lag" exist only in some areas...for example the "carousel" or the Album view is pretty fast with no stutters and I've a lot of albums stored (around 1.5TB music...) This is the very first firmware so I expect improvements in the near (hope so... future. The sound qualitiy is incredible so I can live with this for now...but I hope AK will improve this a bit....enjoy the sound

 

[Tomz1313]

@JasonNYC: I've experienced a few shut downs of the unit in the past few days of use when I pause the music for a longer period (more than 5min.). I have to press the power button much longer (around 10-15 seconds) than for a normal boot to start the unit again.

My timer settings: Auto Power Off = Always turn on
Sleep Timer = Always turn on
Screen timeout = 30 sec.

Please forward this to your engineers...thanks!

 

[MSXX]

Thanks for info on the lag-issue when streaming and browsing! That would have been my primary usage as I don’t like to fiddle with pre-downloaded music and play-lists that much.

I have now cooled my interest and think I will look towards something else. For that kind of money I expect something more in the speed and UI area.

 

[godlikegamer]

Thanks for info on the lag-issue when streaming and browsing! That would have been my primary usage as I don’t like to fiddle with pre-downloaded music and play-lists that much.

I have now cooled my interest and think I will look towards something else. For that kind of money I expect something more in the speed and UI area.

this is just like Apple products... you want spec = money, look elsewhere, or aim chinese made dap...

 

[Kobe4ever]

Thanks for info on the lag-issue when streaming and browsing! That would have been my primary usage as I don’t like to fiddle with pre-downloaded music and play-lists that much.

I have now cooled my interest and think I will look towards something else. For that kind of money I expect something more in the speed and UI area.

I use the SE300 every day, using Qobuz as my streaming app, and I have no problems using it. Only , compared to my SP3000 , there is a slight lag within the app . I think it's something fixable by next update (the SE300 still has the initial update).
The sound that this DAP gives is fantastic and the user interface is the same as the SP3000, so fast and organized.
So if you decide to discard this DAP, my opinion, you are making a mistake

 

[Kiats]

Spending some time with the SE300 and FitEar DC Ti/Eletech Ode to Laura. Nice way to start the day.

 

[Kiats]

I am curious: has anyone had issues with the download music function in Apple Music not work? I click on DL and it shows the spinning circle to DL and then it stops and goes back to the downward arrow again. Puzzling. No issues with Tidal at all. Or in KKBOX.

 

[CharlyBrown]

I am curious: has anyone had issues with the download music function in Apple Music not work? I click on DL and it shows the spinning circle to DL and then it stops and goes back to the downward arrow again. Puzzling. No issues with Tidal at all. Or in KKBOX.

Downloading from Apple Music worked without issue for me other than the slow wifi reception I reported a couple pages back. My SE300 would only connect to wifi with 54Mbit/s on both bands 2.4 and 5 unlike all other devices in use in my home.

 

[Tomz1313]

@JasonNYC: 2 more observations 1. Artist view --> it would be nice to have a collapsed view of the albums (like SP3000). If you have an artist with many albums you have to scroll forever to find the wished album. 2. If you restart the player and resume the playback (AK player) you have to press the playback button tiwce to start music playback (some caching problems maybe..). Thanks! This DAP deserves it , it sounds dramatically musical, can't stop listening

 

[John Blackshear]

Has anyone tried to load Roon ARC?

 

[Kiats]

I am curious: has anyone had issues with the download music function in Apple Music not work? I click on DL and it shows the spinning circle to DL and then it stops and goes back to the downward arrow again. Puzzling. No issues with Tidal at all. Or in KKBOX.

Figured out the issue. I had initially used one Apple ID and then decided to use another one. Now that I am back on the original Apple ID, downloading works. I forgot that once you have a device using one Apple ID, it cannot be associated with another for purposes of downloading. Apple quirk.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Figured out the issue. I had initially used one Apple ID and then decided to use another one. Now that I am back on the original Apple ID, downloading works. I forgot that once you have a device using one Apple ID, it cannot be associated with another for purposes of downloading. Apple quirk.

I think it can if you first log out (downloaded content will be erases if doing so) and then re-login with new ID, not?

 

[Kiats]

I think it can if you first log out (downloaded content will be erases if doing so) and then re-login with new ID, not?

Yes. It will play but cannot DL until expiry of the period set by Apple.