Up front, I must make clear, I have NO DOUBT the SP1000 delivers the superior sound. I have not heard it myself, yet I believe those who have and call it the best of AK.
My posts are not about whether SP1000 is better than SE100. I only take issue with how the SE100 has been characterized.
You have Encore, which I favored highly in
my review. But it's far from the most ideal monitor, or even very well-rounded. It's an IEM famous for clarity, detail, resolution and soundstage, but equally famous for bright, sharp treble, thin mids, and lack of body. Lo and behold, this is how you describe the SE100.
This is inaccurate. It's neutral, but not Encore neutral. The SE100 possesses decent note weight, a rich, full sound, and adequate low-end heft. Just not so much of it as to skew Encore by any great margine.
You may never admit this to yourself, but you bought an IEM that does not please you, and you're searching for DAPs which will fix it for you. I understand completely. I've owned Encore for a year now, and always look for a good cable or DAP pairing to really bring up those areas where Encore is weakest.
A good starting point is finding a cable with a warm, thick sound. So far, the best I've discovered for Encore is the
plusSound Exo Tri-Copper. You get that, and it
almost doesn't matter what DAP you choose, it will always sound at least moderately smooth and rich. The DAP will just be icing on the cake, in terms of tuning.
Other cables you may want to look into are the Effect Audio Ares II Plus, and PWaudio no.5.
As for DAPs... a good way to save a lot of money would be to try the iBasso DX200 with one of their High Current AMP modules. With AMP1, it's a fairly bright player. AMP3 gets warmer. AMP5, warmer still. They just released AMP7 and AMP8, which are wonderfully bodied. They give any player from any company a run for its money. I can't promise you'll like it more than SP1000 (again, I haven't heard it), but it's one of the best things I've ever listened to.
Since this is an Astell&Kern thread, I should emphasize, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH BUYING AK. They do luxury DAPs better than anyone, and I've been a big fan since owning the AK120II a few years back. My posts have really been about celebrating the SE100 and correcting what I deem misinformation. That said, if you NEED a warmer device with more body, you have many, many more choices than just the SP1000. The Opus#1S and DX150 are two excellent examples at very reasonable prices. Warmth and fullness are not traits of TOTL products. AK simply reserves that for their biggest players. That's their choice, not an inevitability of quality.