Astell & Kern SR15: A&norma Impressions & Reviews
Apr 24, 2019 at 7:18 AM Post #1,546 of 2,727
but the SR15 needs a case, glass back and aluminium body means it will scratch/dent easily :frowning2: and its so pretty i dont wanna get it ruined.
put it in a clamshell case when not in use
 
Apr 24, 2019 at 11:08 AM Post #1,550 of 2,727
Also as far as heat, you have a fairly small dap with a robust amp section and 2 dacs running so it's going to produce some warmth and that aluminum shell is going to shed that heat like a heatsink.

As I said before, only Sony with their class D amp tech is going to run really cool, or a small weaker amp. And of course when you're outside in a warmer environment it's going to run a bit warmer.
 
Apr 24, 2019 at 11:18 AM Post #1,551 of 2,727
I got a desktop amp with JFets which run really hot but it also sounds really really good and very musical. I was asking the amp builder he said that is how he was adjusting the opamps to sound that good even though it has enough amount of heat I can warm up my hands in winter. :slight_smile:
 
Apr 25, 2019 at 12:40 AM Post #1,552 of 2,727
Hello everyone. I'm experiencing problems with some of my APE files (Monkey Audio). They are played with interuptions and stucking. (Norma sr15, internal memory, FW 1.14.)
When I convert them to WAV or FLAC, everything is ok.
Has anybody solving the same problem? Thank you.

EDIT: After deeper investigating, I can say, I have problems with ALL of my *.APE files and I will contact A&K support.
 
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Apr 28, 2019 at 1:59 AM Post #1,553 of 2,727
Our dev team has been testing it. I do not have any info on whether it will be included in the next firmware update. Let me check with them and get back to you.
Hi Jason, May I know if you could share the test result of last fm scrobble support from dev team? Hope it can be achieved in next firmware upgrade, I mess up with my SE100 many times for this without success.
 
Apr 28, 2019 at 2:20 AM Post #1,554 of 2,727
Brand new - knows little - here to learn - first post

Hi people!

I have an SR15 - first digital audio player ever (I mean since my first Compaq MP3 portable and a squadron of iPods from my first iPod Mini in lime green to my last Classic and all in between) ... I love music and the idea of it sounding better somehow some way just appealed so .... what I have now is the SR15 and I use Beyerdynamic Amirons and a balanced cable. I considered a couple of others ... iBasso ... Hiby R6 ... and honestly almost went with the R6. What appealed to me though was using the AK CD Ripper MK II to rip my discs directly to the unit in FLAC format - so I got one of those too. Sadly the ripper does not work with the SR15 ... at least not yet - but according to the friendly folks at iRiver - the Global Team is working feverishly to fix the issue “this week” ... .... ...... irony at its finest! I did rip CDs to the unit eventually using dBPoweramp from my computer and just because I had spent the money on it - used the AK Ripper as an external drive. Call it rationalization if you like. The resulting files ripped from the computer are 16 bit 44.1khz - which I guess is normal for a CD?

The unit itself is very nice - fit, finish and build are excellent. The glass back with the cubes pattern is reeeeally cool - so cool in fact I dare not scratch and risk breaking it therefore I also purchased the red case from AK and completely hid that beautiful back from view. But I know it’s there. The interface is fine and since it’s my first “dap” I have nothing to compare it with - I don’t expect it to be an iPhone or iPad so I suppose it works just fine - not a huge fan of going back from my present album and scrolling from the beginning but that might be trivial. OK - so while waiting vainly for the ripper compatibility to arrive I got to know Tidal and (like the CDs I later ripped to the unit) found that not all recordings sound the same. Some are brilliant - others just “ok”. I can tell you that my old first generation B&W P5 ‘phones sound horrible when connected to the SR15. More horrible in fact than when connected normally to my iPhone (they sound good) or when connected to my iPhone with a Dragonfly Red in between (they sound better). The Amirons sound good when connected - and I purchased a balanced cable from them which I always use - not necessarily because I think it sounds better than the normal jack but because the cable is shorter - the standard Beyer cable is pretty lengthy. The Amirons sounded good when connected to the Dragonfly too ... and were a lot louder. One thing I’ve found about this player is that I seem to need the volume UP and by that I mean 130 out of a max 150 - maybe you guys can guide me here or maybe the Beyers are the wrong choice but they are only 250 ohms and even iPhone without Dragonfly seems to be louder than the SR15 ...

I may have been expecting more - at the time I ordered the player (I preordered it) I considered an MKII as well but not for long because the SR15 was the same price at that time and it made no sense to buy an outgoing model for the same money just to have it sooner. Reviews were and still are few and far between and it was a risk. My setup may not be ideal - and that would be great because that can be fixed with a better pairing of player and ‘phones because honestly I think I was expecting “more”. I was surprised by the Dragonfly Red as ungainly as that was with a usb camera adapter going from the phone to the Dragonfly to this ridiculously long cable to the Amirons ... newbies huh ... but it really sounded good and better than I expected - with both headphones. The SR15 ... I expected it to sound and be better than that and I’m not sure I can say that. HOWEVER - and I mentioned it earlier - it depends on the recording/music some things do sound fantastic - and others just ... don’t. Recording quality matters!

Overall - I’d like my player to sound better - it might mean ditching the Amirons for something else or making better rips - or ... something. I’d love the ripper compatibility to be a fact as well - - - oh and a word about battery life - I only drained it once and that was because I hadn’t shut it down just turned off the screen and I think it updated itself ... who knows? The supplied screen film protectors are “ok” and a nice add but were tricky at first with the case but a little maneuvering gets it done.

Overall - it seems built well but I’m not sold on how it sounds. Again - could be my setup - could be my files - but I am somewhere between it’s “decent” enough to “this is disappointing”. I’m willing to give it a shot if the mistakes are mine.
Brand new - knows little - here to learn - first post

Hi people!

I have an SR15 - first digital audio player ever (I mean since my first Compaq MP3 portable and a squadron of iPods from my first iPod Mini in lime green to my last Classic and all in between) ... I love music and the idea of it sounding better somehow some way just appealed so .... what I have now is the SR15 and I use Beyerdynamic Amirons and a balanced cable. I considered a couple of others ... iBasso ... Hiby R6 ... and honestly almost went with the R6. What appealed to me though was using the AK CD Ripper MK II to rip my discs directly to the unit in FLAC format - so I got one of those too. Sadly the ripper does not work with the SR15 ... at least not yet - but according to the friendly folks at iRiver - the Global Team is working feverishly to fix the issue “this week” ... .... ...... irony at its finest! I did rip CDs to the unit eventually using dBPoweramp from my computer and just because I had spent the money on it - used the AK Ripper as an external drive. Call it rationalization if you like. The resulting files ripped from the computer are 16 bit 44.1khz - which I guess is normal for a CD?

The unit itself is very nice - fit, finish and build are excellent. The glass back with the cubes pattern is reeeeally cool - so cool in fact I dare not scratch and risk breaking it therefore I also purchased the red case from AK and completely hid that beautiful back from view. But I know it’s there. The interface is fine and since it’s my first “dap” I have nothing to compare it with - I don’t expect it to be an iPhone or iPad so I suppose it works just fine - not a huge fan of going back from my present album and scrolling from the beginning but that might be trivial. OK - so while waiting vainly for the ripper compatibility to arrive I got to know Tidal and (like the CDs I later ripped to the unit) found that not all recordings sound the same. Some are brilliant - others just “ok”. I can tell you that my old first generation B&W P5 ‘phones sound horrible when connected to the SR15. More horrible in fact than when connected normally to my iPhone (they sound good) or when connected to my iPhone with a Dragonfly Red in between (they sound better). The Amirons sound good when connected - and I purchased a balanced cable from them which I always use - not necessarily because I think it sounds better than the normal jack but because the cable is shorter - the standard Beyer cable is pretty lengthy. The Amirons sounded good when connected to the Dragonfly too ... and were a lot louder. One thing I’ve found about this player is that I seem to need the volume UP and by that I mean 130 out of a max 150 - maybe you guys can guide me here or maybe the Beyers are the wrong choice but they are only 250 ohms and even iPhone without Dragonfly seems to be louder than the SR15 ...

I may have been expecting more - at the time I ordered the player (I preordered it) I considered an MKII as well but not for long because the SR15 was the same price at that time and it made no sense to buy an outgoing model for the same money just to have it sooner. Reviews were and still are few and far between and it was a risk. My setup may not be ideal - and that would be great because that can be fixed with a better pairing of player and ‘phones because honestly I think I was expecting “more”. I was surprised by the Dragonfly Red as ungainly as that was with a usb camera adapter going from the phone to the Dragonfly to this ridiculously long cable to the Amirons ... newbies huh ... but it really sounded good and better than I expected - with both headphones. The SR15 ... I expected it to sound and be better than that and I’m not sure I can say that. HOWEVER - and I mentioned it earlier - it depends on the recording/music some things do sound fantastic - and others just ... don’t. Recording quality matters!

Overall - I’d like my player to sound better - it might mean ditching the Amirons for something else or making better rips - or ... something. I’d love the ripper compatibility to be a fact as well - - - oh and a word about battery life - I only drained it once and that was because I hadn’t shut it down just turned off the screen and I think it updated itself ... who knows? The supplied screen film protectors are “ok” and a nice add but were tricky at first with the case but a little maneuvering gets it done.

Overall - it seems built well but I’m not sold on how it sounds. Again - could be my setup - could be my files - but I am somewhere between it’s “decent” enough to “this is disappointing”. I’m willing to give it a shot if the mistakes are mine.

Hi my friend,

I am looking for my first audio player as well. I am considering from DX200, SR15, R6 and Cayin n5iis (maybe). I know the UI is important, but I care about the "sound" more. Do you have any suggestion between R6 and SR15? Thank you so much!
 
Apr 28, 2019 at 8:38 AM Post #1,556 of 2,727
Milescheng - I’m a big fan of music generally and the “sound” to quote you is important to me too - my first foray into ‘dap’ territory began with the dragonfly - now I have the SR 15. I’m not using the Beyerdynamics anymore and have since replaced them with some Campfire Cascades - and I am a fan of those for certain. It’s worth mentioning that I feel - personally - that the headphones you use are a larger part of the equation. Honestly the Cascades make anything sound better - at least they have for me. I cannot imagine what an even more advanced headphone can do. The SR 15 is good but I’ve not really listened to anything else as far as ‘dap’ on a regular basis - so I lack the comparative information you are looking for and I have found I read reviews more as guidance pre purchase - and justification/rationalization post. My expectations exceeded the reality on the SR 15 but that doesn’t mean it is isn’t great. Personally - and to Domho’s point above - a new Kann is coming out and I will no doubt sell my SR 15 soon to a lucky purchaser who will get a great discount on a pristine unit - and get the new Kann. I like A&K and their support and their presence on this forum is excellent. I like the company and will stick with them - the new Kann is my kind of style and maybe it will fill the gap I feel I’m missing now. I will say in my opinion if your budget dictates headphones or dap and you can pick only one - go with headphones first.
 
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Apr 28, 2019 at 9:21 AM Post #1,557 of 2,727
i kinda doubt on the support though, have multiple unanswered questions still floating
 
Apr 28, 2019 at 10:26 AM Post #1,558 of 2,727
Hi Jason, May I know if you could share the test result of last fm scrobble support from dev team? Hope it can be achieved in next firmware upgrade, I mess up with my SE100 many times for this without success.
No issues. I had the chance to test myself and had no issues. Support should be added with the next firmware update. I’m not sure when that would be, most likely sometime in May.
 
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May 1, 2019 at 2:39 AM Post #1,559 of 2,727
Milescheng - I’m a big fan of music generally and the “sound” to quote you is important to me too - my first foray into ‘dap’ territory began with the dragonfly - now I have the SR 15. I’m not using the Beyerdynamics anymore and have since replaced them with some Campfire Cascades - and I am a fan of those for certain. It’s worth mentioning that I feel - personally - that the headphones you use are a larger part of the equation. Honestly the Cascades make anything sound better - at least they have for me. I cannot imagine what an even more advanced headphone can do. The SR 15 is good but I’ve not really listened to anything else as far as ‘dap’ on a regular basis - so I lack the comparative information you are looking for and I have found I read reviews more as guidance pre purchase - and justification/rationalization post. My expectations exceeded the reality on the SR 15 but that doesn’t mean it is isn’t great. Personally - and to Domho’s point above - a new Kann is coming out and I will no doubt sell my SR 15 soon to a lucky purchaser who will get a great discount on a pristine unit - and get the new Kann. I like A&K and their support and their presence on this forum is excellent. I like the company and will stick with them - the new Kann is my kind of style and maybe it will fill the gap I feel I’m missing now. I will say in my opinion if your budget dictates headphones or dap and you can pick only one - go with headphones first.

Hi @schleppsound I’m new to quality audio equipment and would appreciate your help and advice.

The only decent pieces of audio equipment I own are the Audio-Technica ATH-M50s/LE headphones I bought back in 2011 primarily for watching Blu-rays at night and the 1more Quad Driver earphones/IEM’s I bought last year. Right now I use the Quads to listen to AAC files on my iPhone 6s.

A few months ago I stumbled upon the Dragonfly Red being mentioned in an article and that sent me down the path of learning about DAC/amps. I was thinking I would buy one of those until it sunk in that the compressed files I’m listening to are a bigger problem in my chain than the iPhone’s DAC.

I’m now looking to get a DAP and sign up for Qobuz’s Sublime subscription so I can stream their catalog while I use the included discount to build a good Hi-Res collection.

I’m currently looking at the SR15, the FiiO M11, and the iBasso DX150. Oddly, I can’t find anyone selling the 150 except a couple random people on eBay.

My question for you or anyone else viewing my post is whether or not $700 is overkill for a DAP if I’m only listening with the Quad Driver or maybe even the M11 is overkill?

I don’t think either would be, but I’m new to all of this and would appreciate the insight of more experienced audiophiles.

My personal opinion that they wouldn’t be is based on a review of the Quad by Chris Martens on Hi-Fi+ (linked below). He listens to them using his reference DAP’s the Questyle QP1r and the Lotoo PAW Gold. The part of his review that makes me think the S15 or M11 wouldn’t be overkill is this quote about listening to ‘The Mermaid’ from Norma Winstone, Glauco Venier, and Klaus Gesing’s Distances [ECM 16/44.1]:

“To be honest, this track can sound quite good on many different transducers, but it takes a special in-ear headphone like the Quad-Driver to draw out the full, rich tonal colours and the sharply focused textural and transient sounds of which the song—at its best—is capable. Stated another way, the Quad-Driver is an in-ear headphone for listeners who are ready to step beyond merely ‘good’ sound to enjoy something noticeably better than that.”

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/1more-quad-driver-universal-fit-earphones/

Now I’d love to invest a bit more and buy some Noble Savannas, but I feel like if I did so soon after buying the Quad I would be tossing away the $200 I paid for them.

Thanks for reading my post and I’d appreciate any advice you or anyone else here can provide.
 
May 1, 2019 at 7:06 AM Post #1,560 of 2,727
Hi Kevlar397 - it's a great question - and I'm still learning myself! Sometimes I think of purchasing progressively more sophisticated audio equipment the same as I do progressively higher resolution televisions - my eyes are only going to be so good! At the end of the day I realized I liked two things relative to this space: music and shiny new toys. From my own experience - the SR15 has been an excellent piece of equipment but I have learned that the cans on my ears are vastly more important - don't get me wrong - the combination of your 'phones and ability to play higher quality files is important but like my eyes - my ears are only so good! I've read reviews of the equipment with envy because these guys really know how to describe what they're hearing and can apparently do so. I only know enough to say "Sure my SR15 sounds better than an iPhone or an iPod - and I like my Cascades better than the Amirons I had ... but that doesn't mean the Amirons were "bad" or the iPhone "bad" ... like art it really ends up being a matter of what you like and enjoy at the end of the day no matter the cost of entry or logo on the equipment. If you can - you should listen to different types of both 'phones or IEMs and different sources. From my own experience - a Dragonfly Red connected to an iPhone was a real eye opener for me - it really was good! My Amirons connected to the balanced output of the SR15 sounded better than the normal one - at least to me. Now of course I'm thinking I need the silly expensive $350.00 balanced cable for my Cascades ... because I simply have to try it! At the end of the day - what sounds good to you is going to be the perfect choice - it doesn't have to be the most expensive piece of gear out there either. I've got my SR15 for sale at this moment - for no better reason than I want the Kann Cube that's coming out. I just like how it looks. I expect it to sound the same or better than what I have now - but that's not because I'm not happy with the SR15 - I just like the Kann's look better and of course it fills my need for a "new" piece of gear ... lol. And I can justify its price as being "not the most expensive" right? But the decision to do so is only partly due to sound. Everyone is different - try a piece of equipment that is reviewed well by more than a single person, read to see if the reviews resonate with your tastes and knowledge - make sure the new piece of kit can stream your chosen service and has the features you want - and give it a whirl. It may not be the most costly piece of equipment out there but if it works for you you've made the perfect choice.
 

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