[bgtip]

I got my SR15 yesterday!!! and....
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

first thing i noticed when i took it out of the box is that its super tiny and cute lol. smaller than my old FiiO X5III and a midget compared to my Samsung Note 9.

the corners are pointy, but nothing you would hurt yourself on. the lips covering the analogue volume knob are a bit sharp.. almost nicked some of my thumb skin but no biggie.
the screen is very bright even on 0 brightness (where i have it now).

screen is a good size but the keyboard to type in wifi pw or search words is very cramped :X its fine just.. cramped.

it charges quite fast but i havent had enough time to test my personal players battery drain. i will say that from leaving my home to getting to work it went from 100% to 94%.. not bad since my volume was around 70-75 playing 16/44.1 and 24/48 tracks.

sound:
so this is what ive gathered so far, keep in mind ive had it for a total of maybe... 6hrs so far.

the highs are a good amount, nothing crazy but not bad either. perfect imo.
the mids are great! i think this is this players strongest suit is the clarity and spacing of the mids. very nice. much much better than the FiiO or my samsung. that being said i've listened to my friends SE100 and its 30% better in every way haha but also 2x the price..
the lows are defined but not super detailed. better than any phone can give.
sub bass, i havent listened to enough songs to try this yet, however a song from Daftpunk(can't remember) really surprised me with the level of sub-bass.

Thermals:
so far it is getting warm, but nothing concerning, in fact it does heat a bit more than the fiio but im assuming this is burn in period and should not be an issue any longer in a few more days. i've been told by electrical engineers things like this usualy have a few hours of heating up for the caps/resistors and other things to form and expand/contract and shouldnt take more than a few hours. i'll give it a few days just to be safe.

weight:
its VERY VERY light, i had to double check i had it on my person in my jacket because its so light.

conclusion:
Astell & Kern, so far you've won another customer. if all goes well in the future, i'll be a strong supporter and continued customer of your products i think i'll keep the SR15 until the next generation of players comes out for A&K (maybe in 2ish years from now who knows) and i'll get the next "mid-tier" since the SR15 is considered the "beginner-tier".

PS:
i've only had the chance to use my B&O H6(Gen2) but over the weekend i'll try other headphones.
also, i like how snappy and fast the software is. fiio was terribly slow and clunky

I've had the impression that the recommended burn in time for SR15 is 200 hrs. I did it for more than 200hrs before I started to listen critically. My belief is that on the balanced output the improvement was significant in the clarity, openness and imaging, and because I also burnt in my IEMs at the same time I believe that the perceived soundstage deepened too. Unfortunately it also revealed the mids quite a bit and to me now they sound a little too much.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

I bet the se100 is gorgeous, but I like small daps and I don’t know if I could ever spend 1700.00 ducetts on a dap. I think I’d rather buy more iems/cans.

That being said, if they had a tiny ‘mid’ tier dap- well that would be most tempting But at least SR15 sounds better than most and I’d take it over pretty much anything mid price wise. I’ve tried most in the mid tier (normal mid tier) lol and I like this the best.

Fiio x7ii, ibasso dx 150-200, Sony wm 1A, all too big for my tastes. ZX300 is good, but having tidal and stuff is cool and there is less noise/hiss on SR15, plus I think SR15 sounds a bit more natural imo, and I like the separation everything gets in the stage- even on the SE out.

And it’s a HUGE improvement over ak70, it’s much clearer and detailed and much less hissy. I must say I’m eyeing the mini total model, but that’s even crazier price wise. Hell I even like the sound of my lowly Fiio m6.

I remember really hissy cassette Walkmans/ cd Walkmans and really hissy iPods (my 3 gen nano hisses a lot). Newer players really do sound excellent.

i also like the fact that the SR15 is newer compared to the other daps mentioned. it came out only few months ago (4-5months?) so im happier that its newer. the sony wm1a is old and uses a terrible proprietary connecter cable but it does sound better and has more power from what ive heard and seen. but its also 2.5x the price also hahaha

 

[Tsukuyomi]

I've had the impression that the recommended burn in time for SR15 is 200 hrs. I did it for more than 200hrs before I started to listen critically. My belief is that on the balanced output the improvement was significant in the clarity, openness and imaging, and because I also burnt in my IEMs at the same time I believe that the perceived soundstage deepened too. Unfortunately it also revealed the mids quite a bit and to me now they sound a little too much.

yeah i did notice the mids on the SR15 are a strong point. im hoping they improve more which im sure they will, but at the same time i dont want it to be super mid focused.

 

[bgtip]

yeah i did notice the mids on the SR15 are a strong point. im hoping they improve more which im sure they will, but at the same time i dont want it to be super mid focused.

I don't think the SR15 is super mid focused. It sounds rather neutral to me but I think that I perceive the mids rather forward after the initial burn in and in combination with my W-shaped IEMs the mids sound a little overpowering to me. I'd rather have V-shaped headphones at this stage of my SR15 sound development.

 

[abitdeef]

yeah i did notice the mids on the SR15 are a strong point. im hoping they improve more which im sure they will, but at the same time i dont want it to be super mid focused.

I love the mids, the highs and bass are all there as they’re supposed to be. And like I said it’s better on balanced. And of course it depends on cans and iems also. I actually like the fuller presentation on SE out myself.

With the two cans I use it’s not mid centric sounding at all. The highs are really good for this price range. Cymbals and piano are pretty complex because of the detailed highs. I hope the sound doesn’t change much because I really like it. I’ve got about 100 hours I guess.

 

[JasonNYC]

Hi @JasonNYC any further progress on Roon Readiness and the apk launch date?

Thanks
Scott

No news yet. Still waiting on testing to be completed by Roon team.

 

[abitdeef]

One thing for sure true to the other 2 AKs I’ve used, the EQ really neuters the sound and is useless imo.

 

[JasonNYC]

Any news?

Quick update on playlists:

We've been testing here in the US and put together some detailed reports for the dev and engineering teams. Had a call last night with the various groups to discuss. Everyone fully understands the issue users are having now and as we all know, the engineering team agrees that since the Open App update, external playlists are broken. They need to research and check all the code to find out what the issue is and how to restore it. I have no ETA on this, it could be a quick process or could take a while. They will also need to test that any fix they implement will not break Open App or affect something else. Unfortunately again, I have no idea on timing, but there is now some urgency on figuring this out and working to resolve it.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

I love the mids, the highs and bass are all there as they’re supposed to be. And like I said it’s better on balanced. And of course it depends on cans and iems also. I actually like the fuller presentation on SE out myself.

With the two cans I use it’s not mid centric sounding at all. The highs are really good for this price range. Cymbals and piano are pretty complex because of the detailed highs. I hope the sound doesn’t change much because I really like it. I’ve got about 100 hours I guess.

i havent listened to any piano yet, but i will today. i just put on the hobit and lord of the ring soundtracks for all the movies and we'll see

 

[Tsukuyomi]

I love the mids, the highs and bass are all there as they’re supposed to be. And like I said it’s better on balanced. And of course it depends on cans and iems also. I actually like the fuller presentation on SE out myself.

With the two cans I use it’s not mid centric sounding at all. The highs are really good for this price range. Cymbals and piano are pretty complex because of the detailed highs. I hope the sound doesn’t change much because I really like it. I’ve got about 100 hours I guess.

i havent listened to any piano yet, but i will today. i just put on the hobbit and lord of the ring soundtracks for all the movies and we'll see

 

[Sparx81]

@JasonNYC i bought a couple of 24bit 44khz flac albums from HDtracks and when i play them on my AK70 they are fine but when i play them on my SR15 it says that they are MQA. The file size of the album is similar to other 24bit 44khz, so im not sure if this is a bug or not. I can play them on my PC and i have no special software so i am quite lost by this. I hope you can shed some light on it

 

[JasonNYC]

@JasonNYC i bought a couple of 24bit 44khz flac albums from HDtracks and when i play them on my AK70 they are fine but when i play them on my SR15 it says that they are MQA. The file size of the album is similar to other 24bit 44khz, so im not sure if this is a bug or not. I can play them on my PC and i have no special software so i am quite lost by this. I hope you can shed some light on it

@Sparx81 can you pm me a list of the albums please? We will check it out.

 

[JTori]

I received my SR15 a few days ago and am really beginning to get a sense of the performance it's capable of. While I've got several headphones and earphones, I'm interested in learning what members of the forum think are ideal pairings for this player. FWIW, I'm most interested in over-the-ear phones that will match up nicely with the SR15.

Thanks all!

 

[bgtip]

i havent listened to any piano yet, but i will today. i just put on the hobit and lord of the ring soundtracks for all the movies and we'll see

SR15 magic happened when I realised that I'm able to hear the piano hammer action including the return of the tail to its lower position.

 

[abitdeef]

I received my SR15 a few days ago and am really beginning to get a sense of the performance it's capable of. While I've got several headphones and earphones, I'm interested in learning what members of the forum think are ideal pairings for this player. FWIW, I'm most interested in over-the-ear phones that will match up nicely with the SR15.

Thanks all!

Meize 99 sound good and the new Sony wireless 1000mx3 are nice, as are senn hd660.

Focal Elear sound great, and I’m a fan of beyer and AT- but I don’t wear over the ear cans much. I cant think of to many cans that wouldn’t pair nicely with SR15 unless it’s hard to drive.

And it depends on what kind of sound you’re looking for- smooth, or more sharper and analytical. Also I can’t imagine the SR15 sounding sharp or analytical. The ones I mentioned I think are kind of in between.