Don’t recall having seen much on here about it, has anyone observed different sound characteristics between the Cu and SS/OB similar to the SP1000?
Astell&Kern new flagship A&Ultima SP2000
- Thread starter beaux
- Start date
Just received the sp2000. Cannot wait to read this thread!
lol, I suggest listening first, this thread has been on quite the journey. Enjoy the music, I for one love mine.
Friends, everyone who is disappointed in the sound after updating the firmware on v.1.19, please check in and write a comment on the official Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/121274494693248/posts/1562152713938745/?d=n
https://www.facebook.com/121274494693248/posts/1562152713938745/?d=n
T1000
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 23, 2012
- Posts
- 297
- Likes
- 125
i contacted them before on FB and i got this message back:
..."Astell&Kern players updated via OTA updates do not have the option to roll back to previous versions of firmware and we are unable to provide older versions of firmware."
i think we all think the same about this statement....
arftech
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2010
- Posts
- 842
- Likes
- 919
Tell us your impressions of the device but above all else just enjoy the way it translates the music!
How can I get the hex file ?
it's a lie on their part!
William1955
Head-Fier
We all know this is the case but they won't budge. I realy don't know how we can take this any further if they are reading the comments on here they don't seem to care.
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2013
- Posts
- 28,350
- Likes
- 32,189
If anyone is looking for an excellent like new Black Onyx and 1.13 firmware. Let me know, after all the listening and analyzing, I have decided that while I enjoy it immensely for the soundstage and airiness, I still prefer a longer battery life and a little lighter.
To anyone who looks forward to my own impression about SP2000. I will keep it short and not try to confuse you with words salad.
Test gears: HD800S, IER-Z1R, Large Stereos, Mini-DynaLo (amp), and different Lossless files
Sound Signatures: Neutral with a nice touch of bass ripples, decays and body, a little thin in upper mid and lower trebles, a tad emphasis on upper high and extensions
I personally think that SP2000 is worth every pennies for the asking price. Because to me, I have not heard any Stock devices with even as close to the Width, the depth, of soundstage as the SP2000, in the portable world Of DAP! The vertical Axis is as good as WM1Z if not a tad better. It will even hold it grounds toward carefully modified players.
In my Experiences, there are always trade offs for one to another, because Portable players are always limited by the form, and the practicality.
The trade off from SP2K for such excellent soundstage is that the Overall tonal body and it balances is a little ”thin”, and so to avoid the boring signatures, the SP2K with firmware 1.13 choose to has a touch of emphasis into the lower mid bass, while the deep bass and upper bass remains neutral, the Sub-bass is a little pale in comparison to the whole spectrums. To keep the AK housing of “metallic trebles and it sparkles” the SP2K chose to emphasis a little on upper high and extensions a little bit. Overall, the SP2K has a generally smooth and fluid signature with pretty much neutral approach. Needless to say the airiness, clarity, transparency, layering are excellent just like any other High-End Portables, but can be said to even be the best of all due to the trade offs, which Focused onto details, separations, layering, soundstages and details retrieval.
The SP2K while being a little more musical than the last generation with the best of it being the power output and the clean back ground, soundstage, still is an overall analytical player.
There may be some tendencies to be a little harsh on the upper high under some circumstances
Practicality:
Build: very beautiful, but the angled body and sharp corners being exposed with the stock case is pretty horrible. At some oddity, users can find him or herself to be caught by this corners and results in some cuts, which don’t often happen, but the potentials are there. Anyways, it is the best to get Dignis case to cover every corner
the stock leather case is also a little odd, especially the side buttons which are very little, and there is no indications on the leather case to tell which buttons is which by the feels of the finger tips. Especially when you can not see it, like in the pocket or simply grab it to change tracks. The Dignis case also solve this problem by a nice bump in the “play button” so you know next to it in either direction is the button to either go Forth or Back.
The hefty weight can be felt when staying in the pocket as it is around 400Gr, about the weight of WM1Z, and it all comes from the StainlessSteel chassis. When sitting in a couch, layback and relax, it could easily slip out of the pocket and land on the floor....never happened to me, but you can tell that it wants to slip out.
Battery: it can barely last 7 hours with a mixture of WAV 44.1/16 and FLAC, Higher resolution on local storage. It can charge up rather quickly. However, when it is drained down low and shut down, it will only be powered on when it reaches 30% minimum. I observed that duration of being approximately 1 hour or so, and I don’t think quick charge is triggered in this mode.
Data transferring: pretty fast when drag and drop by windows, and can remain playing music while being connected as a digital storage in windows, which is very useful. USB-C is also convenient as almost all smartphones has adapted into this cables.
Portability: Hardly can be said to be portable, because of the weight that can weight you down in the pocket and the tendency to slip out of the pockets. The feeling of 2.5mm in contrast of the weight is worrisome, that you may feel like ”if the player is slip out, and you try to catch it, at the right angle” the gravity and the socket will probably “break” on you. The 2.5mm can really be broken by ”bend test”
Usability: excellent, easily on par with desktop DAC when enabled Line-out from 2.5mm. It is the best Line out from any Portable player I have come across. External DAC features! DSD512 is very well done and once again can confirm the Neutral signature all in all accross the board. It can run a little warmer in this mode.
All in All, it could be a player that is an almost One in all that will satisfy your every needs such as driving power, desktop tier line out, and excellent high-end performances as a player.
Conclusion: I am surprised to see how much A&K has improved and upped the Ante, the SP2K can easily set an example and benchmark for the portable players especially in the “artful tuning”, with a very little trade offs and hugely gain in soundstage, airiness and clarity that is unheard off from my experiences until now for a portable player. Once again, the Line out performances is crazily good and clean, which will leave many mid tier desktop DAC to shy away
Disclaimers: this is my personal opinions which are according to my preferences and experiences. Everyone is better try it out for themselves.
To anyone who looks forward to my own impression about SP2000. I will keep it short and not try to confuse you with words salad.
Test gears: HD800S, IER-Z1R, Large Stereos, Mini-DynaLo (amp), and different Lossless files
Sound Signatures: Neutral with a nice touch of bass ripples, decays and body, a little thin in upper mid and lower trebles, a tad emphasis on upper high and extensions
I personally think that SP2000 is worth every pennies for the asking price. Because to me, I have not heard any Stock devices with even as close to the Width, the depth, of soundstage as the SP2000, in the portable world Of DAP! The vertical Axis is as good as WM1Z if not a tad better. It will even hold it grounds toward carefully modified players.
In my Experiences, there are always trade offs for one to another, because Portable players are always limited by the form, and the practicality.
The trade off from SP2K for such excellent soundstage is that the Overall tonal body and it balances is a little ”thin”, and so to avoid the boring signatures, the SP2K with firmware 1.13 choose to has a touch of emphasis into the lower mid bass, while the deep bass and upper bass remains neutral, the Sub-bass is a little pale in comparison to the whole spectrums. To keep the AK housing of “metallic trebles and it sparkles” the SP2K chose to emphasis a little on upper high and extensions a little bit. Overall, the SP2K has a generally smooth and fluid signature with pretty much neutral approach. Needless to say the airiness, clarity, transparency, layering are excellent just like any other High-End Portables, but can be said to even be the best of all due to the trade offs, which Focused onto details, separations, layering, soundstages and details retrieval.
The SP2K while being a little more musical than the last generation with the best of it being the power output and the clean back ground, soundstage, still is an overall analytical player.
There may be some tendencies to be a little harsh on the upper high under some circumstances
Practicality:
Build: very beautiful, but the angled body and sharp corners being exposed with the stock case is pretty horrible. At some oddity, users can find him or herself to be caught by this corners and results in some cuts, which don’t often happen, but the potentials are there. Anyways, it is the best to get Dignis case to cover every corner
the stock leather case is also a little odd, especially the side buttons which are very little, and there is no indications on the leather case to tell which buttons is which by the feels of the finger tips. Especially when you can not see it, like in the pocket or simply grab it to change tracks. The Dignis case also solve this problem by a nice bump in the “play button” so you know next to it in either direction is the button to either go Forth or Back.
The hefty weight can be felt when staying in the pocket as it is around 400Gr, about the weight of WM1Z, and it all comes from the StainlessSteel chassis. When sitting in a couch, layback and relax, it could easily slip out of the pocket and land on the floor....never happened to me, but you can tell that it wants to slip out.
Battery: it can barely last 7 hours with a mixture of WAV 44.1/16 and FLAC, Higher resolution on local storage. It can charge up rather quickly. However, when it is drained down low and shut down, it will only be powered on when it reaches 30% minimum. I observed that duration of being approximately 1 hour or so, and I don’t think quick charge is triggered in this mode.
Data transferring: pretty fast when drag and drop by windows, and can remain playing music while being connected as a digital storage in windows, which is very useful. USB-C is also convenient as almost all smartphones has adapted into this cables.
Portability: Hardly can be said to be portable, because of the weight that can weight you down in the pocket and the tendency to slip out of the pockets. The feeling of 2.5mm in contrast of the weight is worrisome, that you may feel like ”if the player is slip out, and you try to catch it, at the right angle” the gravity and the socket will probably “break” on you. The 2.5mm can really be broken by ”bend test”
Usability: excellent, easily on par with desktop DAC when enabled Line-out from 2.5mm. It is the best Line out from any Portable player I have come across. External DAC features! DSD512 is very well done and once again can confirm the Neutral signature all in all accross the board. It can run a little warmer in this mode.
All in All, it could be a player that is an almost One in all that will satisfy your every needs such as driving power, desktop tier line out, and excellent high-end performances as a player.
Conclusion: I am surprised to see how much A&K has improved and upped the Ante, the SP2K can easily set an example and benchmark for the portable players especially in the “artful tuning”, with a very little trade offs and hugely gain in soundstage, airiness and clarity that is unheard off from my experiences until now for a portable player. Once again, the Line out performances is crazily good and clean, which will leave many mid tier desktop DAC to shy away
Disclaimers: this is my personal opinions which are according to my preferences and experiences. Everyone is better try it out for themselves.
Last edited:
Meanwhile I just rebought an SP2000 because I got a deal I simply couldn’t refuse. Copper this time around, expect to see it on classifieds in 2 weeks when I complain about the weight and I want to try a different DAP.
That's what I thought too by reading. I had the impression he likes WM-1Z more for longer battery life?Wait, so you are selling it already?
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2013
- Posts
- 28,350
- Likes
- 32,189
Wait, so you are selling it already?
Yes, it is listed up now
....Yes, I have too many toys, and what I really need now is Battery time for portable
Users who are viewing this thread
