[Luis Mad]

I can’t find the settings button in the Apple Music app. How do you make sure tracks are played in lossless (or HiRes)?

In the starting page of Apple Music you have three dots in the upper right side, press, settings option, then go to audio quality, you can choose different quality settings for cellular streaming (not applicable), wifi and downloads.

 

[BMAN94]

I'm potentially thinking of getting this...but I either need a push to going for it or backing away. My current situation:

I've been a big fan of Sony products for a while. Sony Walkman's have always been my go-to. This year is the first time that I got into more premium audio. I have the Sony Walkman A105 and I've been using the Fiio Q1 Mark II as a DAC/AMP to get a little better sound quality and push my Sundara's as well as have a 2.5mm balanced input.

Obviously the DAC/AMP combo is cumbersome at the least and gets particularly annoying to deal with. I'm looking for something that has great quality, can drive headphones via 2.5mm natively without the use of an external DAC/AMP as well as have a gorgeous and user friendly OS. I'm wondering if it's necessary to really put down the money for the Astell&Kern SR25 especially since it's on sale for $500 right now.

In terms of what I'm using headphones wise if it matters:
Hifiman Sundara
Meze Classics 99
Fiio FH3
1More Triple Driver Over Ears
Sony WH-XM3

Is this a competent all-in-one solution or do you feel the need to add on to it as your main player?

 

[rlw6534]

I'm potentially thinking of getting this...but I either need a push to going for it or backing away. My current situation:

I've been a big fan of Sony products for a while. Sony Walkman's have always been my go-to. This year is the first time that I got into more premium audio. I have the Sony Walkman A105 and I've been using the Fiio Q1 Mark II as a DAC/AMP to get a little better sound quality and push my Sundara's as well as have a 2.5mm balanced input.

Obviously the DAC/AMP combo is cumbersome at the least and gets particularly annoying to deal with. I'm looking for something that has great quality, can drive headphones via 2.5mm natively without the use of an external DAC/AMP as well as have a gorgeous and user friendly OS. I'm wondering if it's necessary to really put down the money for the Astell&Kern SR25 especially since it's on sale for $500 right now.

In terms of what I'm using headphones wise if it matters:
Hifiman Sundara
Meze Classics 99
Fiio FH3
1More Triple Driver Over Ears
Sony WH-XM3

Is this a competent all-in-one solution or do you feel the need to add on to it as your main player?

Just be aware that the wi-fi and bluetooth signal strength on the SR25 are not very good, especially compared to the Sony DAPs.

 

[BMAN94]

Just be aware that the wi-fi and bluetooth signal strength on the SR25 are not very good, especially compared to the Sony DAPs.

Yeah, I've been reading that a lot on this thread, and honestly that's not going to be an issue for me. I will still have the A105, to essentially be my defacto streaming device and If I purchase the SR25, it will be used exclusively with wired headphones and wi-fi/bluetooth off.

 

[RentedEars]

I can’t find the settings button in the Apple Music app. How do you make sure tracks are played in lossless (or HiRes)?

If you are using it on an iPhone or iPad go into the Music settings. Here are instructions. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212183

 

[RentedEars]

It has happened to me twice with two classical movements in hires. I had to delete and download again like you say. Apple Music works now very well in the SR25.

Thanks, that seemed to do the trick, appreciate the information.

 

[czm84]

del

 

[maico996]

"...as well as have a gorgeous and user friendly OS. I'm wondering if it's necessary to really put down the money for the Astell&Kern SR25 especially since it's on sale for $500 right now."

 

[maico996]

You won't get anywhere close to "gorgeous" and maybe a few steps away from "user friendly" UI or OS with the SR25. You will get gorgeous sound however.

 

[BenGast]

You won't get anywhere close to "gorgeous" and maybe a few steps away from "user friendly" UI or OS with the SR25. You will get gorgeous sound however.

I have read somewhere that AK is above Chi-Fi competition in terms of software but how does it compare to Sony? I am asking only about the native music jukebox as I don’t use streaming services.

At the moment, I am frustrated with Sony’s A55: no search function, very slow to update playlist, very very slow to turn on, can’t delete a song from the device and play music at the same time, crashes when switching from one BT destination to another … among the long list of little things that make my iPod classic more enjoyable to use. Which is bit frustrating for a device 15 years younger! But for the price of A55 I am not complaining.

I am kind of balancing between SR25 and Sony’s A105 or Nw-ZX507 for a sound quality upgrade. But I am reluctant to pay the double of price for a device that don’t have top UI…

 

[maico996]

I have read somewhere that AK is above Chi-Fi competition in terms of software but how does it compare to Sony? I am asking only about the native music jukebox as I don’t use streaming services.

At the moment, I am frustrated with Sony’s A55: no search function, very slow to update playlist, very very slow to turn on, can’t delete a song from the device and play music at the same time, crashes when switching from one BT destination to another … among the long list of little things that make my iPod classic more enjoyable to use. Which is bit frustrating for a device 15 years younger! But for the price of A55 I am not complaining.

I am kind of balancing between SR25 and Sony’s A105 or Nw-ZX507 for a sound quality upgrade. But I am reluctant to pay the double of price for a device that don’t have top UI…

I don't have anything else to compare the SR25 to besides my iPhone and an old-school iPod. I'm willing to put up with the clunky UI and OS because it sounds amazing. I don't really use it with Bluetooth so can't comment too much on that, but when I have used BT it has worked pretty well. If UI is at the top of you "must have" list then you should probably keep looking...but if you're willing to sacrifice a little then I don't think you'd be disappointed with how it sounds.

 

[Luis Mad]

I have read somewhere that AK is above Chi-Fi competition in terms of software but how does it compare to Sony? I am asking only about the native music jukebox as I don’t use streaming services.

At the moment, I am frustrated with Sony’s A55: no search function, very slow to update playlist, very very slow to turn on, can’t delete a song from the device and play music at the same time, crashes when switching from one BT destination to another … among the long list of little things that make my iPod classic more enjoyable to use. Which is bit frustrating for a device 15 years younger! But for the price of A55 I am not complaining.

I am kind of balancing between SR25 and Sony’s A105 or Nw-ZX507 for a sound quality upgrade. But I am reluctant to pay the double of price for a device that don’t have top UI…

I have the Sony A55 and the SR25. I had briefly the Sony A105 but I returned it. The European Sonys (and I am afraid the UK is Europe for this purpose) have a volume limitation that is really limiting for everything but iems. You can get rid of that limitation easily on the non Android models like the A55 but not for the A105 or the Nw-zx507. If you want one of those without volume limitation you will have to import it from Asia or from Australia. Then you have to live without warranty . The A105 has an excellent UI, like a phone, sound quality is fine but it has to big problems for me: the volume limitation and the battery life which is simply ridiculous.
Sure you must now of Mr Walkmanns firmwares for the A55, they bring a remarkable sound quality improvement.
The SR25 is excellent sound quality and very good battery life. The UI could certainly be better, but it works reasonably well for my needs: internal files and Apple Music.

 

[BMAN94]

You won't get anywhere close to "gorgeous" and maybe a few steps away from "user friendly" UI or OS with the SR25. You will get gorgeous sound however.

The UI/OS sounds disappointing then. But would the sound be a significant step up from the Sony A105?

I have read somewhere that AK is above Chi-Fi competition in terms of software but how does it compare to Sony? I am asking only about the native music jukebox as I don’t use streaming services.

At the moment, I am frustrated with Sony’s A55: no search function, very slow to update playlist, very very slow to turn on, can’t delete a song from the device and play music at the same time, crashes when switching from one BT destination to another … among the long list of little things that make my iPod classic more enjoyable to use. Which is bit frustrating for a device 15 years younger! But for the price of A55 I am not complaining.

I am kind of balancing between SR25 and Sony’s A105 or Nw-ZX507 for a sound quality upgrade. But I am reluctant to pay the double of price for a device that don’t have top UI…

Well I can speak on the A105. From what I can tell, it's a souped up A55. The OS on the A55 is pretty much the Walkman app itself on the A105 as it runs full android. But with that being said...it runs full android, so you can put whatever player you want as long as it's on the Google Play store and the player has system wide EQ. And I've never experienced any of the issues you had with the A105.

HOWEVER, there are some downsides. I don't own or listened to a A55, but it seems like will sound pretty similar overall From what I read years ago upon first release. The A105 will just have more flexibility, more filters to play around with and more "things" to tune your sound with. But if it matters any, I'm essentially trying to upgrade from the A105 to the SR25 and trying to doing my research before hand.

 

[BMAN94]

I went ahead and took the plunge with B&H's website since they are offering holiday returns until February. If I doesn't blow my mind it will be sent back immediately.

 

[Luis Mad]

I bought the AKG K712 pro in a Black Friday offer. As I was afraid the SR25 is not powerful enough to drive these headphones at least in the unbalanced mode. Thankfully I have a Fiio A5 portable amp and with that in the middle the result is excellent for classical, specially the strings.