Astell&Kern new flagship A&Ultima SP2000
May 13, 2020 at 11:01 PM Post #3,257 of 5,840
I've verified that this an issue with local DSD512 files, whether stored on SD card or internally.

Redbook PCM playback is perfectly smooth. DSD512 files now takes several seconds to load, then sputter, sound cutting in and out for a few seconds and then it stops playing. Sometimes the progress indicator gets stuck. Sometimes it keeps going with no sound and the sound will come in for fractions of a second intermittently.

I just started getting new errors on screen that say that "AKMusic isn’t responding. Do you want to close it?”

There are about 800 DSD512 files. They all played fine these past three months. I’ve checked the SD card and the files. All are fine and if I transfer the SDCard the DSD512 files play perfectly on other devices.

I’m completely baffled. Has anyone else had issues with DSD512 playback?
Are you experiencing issues just with DSD512? Have you tried DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256 files?
 
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May 13, 2020 at 11:32 PM Post #3,258 of 5,840
Astell&Kern Global Event!

Show your Astell&Kern products off to the world and have the chance to win one of 48 Astell&Kern prizes.

Post a photo or video (less than one minute in length) of yourself enjoying music using an Astell&Kern product on your social media account with the hashtags #AstellnKern #AKGlobalEvent and #Music. Make sure your post is public. Send us the URL your post via email to the email address listed on our website.

Event runs from May 14 to May 31, 2020 and winners will be announced June 5, 2020.

For more information and full details, please visit https://www.astellnkern.com/eng/content/promotion/view.asp?idx=37&page=1&no=8

Entries are open to Astell&Kern owners worldwide, except where prohibited by local law.

2020Global_sns.jpg
 
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May 13, 2020 at 11:59 PM Post #3,259 of 5,840
Are you experiencing issues just with DSD512? Have you tried DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256 files?

Jason, thank you for helping me troubleshoot. I loaded in a selection of files into the internal memory of the SP2K. The wavs all play fine. Any DSD at any rate plays stuttering throughout. As far as I can tell the problem has worsened. DSDs no longer play alright intermittently. A DSD file takes seconds to load and then immediately starts to cut in and out and then cuts out leaving the progress indicator to either go on or stop without sound.

The same DSD files when transferred play perfectly just like they did on the SP2K a couple days ago. I don't understand. The unit has been babied and nothing has changed. This is such a weird and specific issue.

I'm going to do another factory reset, but I have no hope for that as that was already done. Is there anything else I could try before resorting to sending it to you guys?
 
May 14, 2020 at 12:04 AM Post #3,260 of 5,840
Jason, thank you for helping me troubleshoot. I loaded in a selection of files into the internal memory of the SP2K. The wavs all play fine. Any DSD at any rate plays stuttering throughout. As far as I can tell the problem has worsened. DSDs no longer play alright intermittently. A DSD file takes seconds to load and then immediately starts to cut in and out and then cuts out leaving the progress indicator to either go on or stop without sound.

The same DSD files when transferred play perfectly just like they did on the SP2K a couple days ago. I don't understand. The unit has been babied and nothing has changed. This is such a weird and specific issue.

I'm going to do another factory reset, but I have no hope for that as that was already done. Is there anything else I could try before resorting to sending it to you guys?
Did you happen to try a manual media scan after you reloaded all the tracks on the player after the factory reset? Settings -> System reset -> Initialize media scan. I'm curious if the tracks might not have indexed correctly.
 
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May 14, 2020 at 12:28 AM Post #3,261 of 5,840
Did you happen to try a manual media scan after you reloaded all the tracks on the player after the factory reset? Settings -> System reset -> Initialize media scan. I'm curious if the tracks might not have indexed correctly.

Definitely, I've done the "initialize media scan" repeatedly. Just now DSDs would not play at all. The whole unit would freeze or the file would load and just stay at 0:00. Once I get it working again I do the manual rescan under System Reset and a DSD plays for a second and then starts to stutter and stops. I just did another factory reset without affect.
 
May 14, 2020 at 12:32 AM Post #3,262 of 5,840
I’m completely baffled. Has anyone else had issues with DSD512 playback?

I only have the Yuko Mabuchi Trio plays Miles Davis DSD512 on my SP2000 on internal storage (I don't have a microSD card inserted) with 1.22CN firmware, and I have no playback issues whatsoever on my end.
 
May 14, 2020 at 2:18 AM Post #3,263 of 5,840
Are those natively recorded DSD 512 files or are they upsampled from lower source? Because there are really not that many natively recorded DSD512 releases, at least not 800 files.
Another way to test them is to send them to me and I will load them into my SP2K and test them:wink:
 
May 14, 2020 at 3:12 AM Post #3,264 of 5,840
Are those natively recorded DSD 512 files or are they upsampled from lower source? Because there are really not that many natively recorded DSD512 releases, at least not 800 files.
Another way to test them is to send them to me and I will load them into my SP2K and test them:wink:

Jalo, they are all upsampled files. But, they really can't be the issue. It's not just that they play fine on other devices, they were playing perfectly on the SP2K for months. I started having this problem a couple days ago with absolutely no changes made to my system. The problem makes me sad, but it's also driving me crazy with curiosity as to what is causing this. It's such a weird problem.
 
May 14, 2020 at 4:21 AM Post #3,265 of 5,840
I have SP1000, skipping SP2000 and waiting for ... SP3000 :yum:. Based on SP2000 introduction date, a new TOL sould come this year ? any idea ?
 
May 14, 2020 at 6:41 AM Post #3,266 of 5,840
I have SP1000, skipping SP2000 and waiting for ... SP3000 :yum:. Based on SP2000 introduction date, a new TOL sould come this year ? any idea ?
It's 2 years for a refresh so the new top model will be 2021.
At the rate the major exhibitions are being cancelled due to Covid-19, it is quite unlikely they will announce something major soon.
 
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May 14, 2020 at 7:38 AM Post #3,267 of 5,840
It's 2 years for a refresh so the new top model will be 2021.
At the rate the major exhibitions are being cancelled due to Covid-19, it is quite unlikely they will announce something major soon.
Ok. So, I will wait for... SP5000 :)
 
May 14, 2020 at 1:54 PM Post #3,269 of 5,840
Hi there, just wanna post my impressions of the 1.22 — really cool job and many thanks to the Dev Team.
Clicking issue is fixed, the sound is a million miles away from 1.19.
 
May 14, 2020 at 2:49 PM Post #3,270 of 5,840
...We currently are doing no repairs in the US and shipping everything for repair to our headquarters in Korea. Average turnaround time is 2 weeks, but due to COVID-19, we are experiencing delays in customs clearance, so we are saying around 3 - 4 week, but in some cases they are coming back a lot sooner. Our support team is taking turns coming into the office for a few hours a couple of times a week to process RMA shipments and come in on delivery date to receive the repaired units back and ship back out to customer...
Holy meatballs!

I had to send my Cowon player back to Korea for service. Amusingly, it was for a 'sloppy' 2.5mm jack which was resulting in sound cutting in and out. Equally amusingly, their US service center was also in Irvine.

Punch line...I didn't get the player back for 3 months. 3-4 weeks would have been heaven. And this was in late 2018 ... long before Covid issues.
 

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