Astell & Kern SR25: The next A&norma player

[NewEve]

I appreciate your interpretation, but all I see are adjectives. The goal of a music player should be to reproduce the music as it was recorded.

This is getting philosophical so it’ll be my last post on the matter in order to get the thread back to the SR25 (happy to continue via DM).

« Reproduce the music as it was recorded » is never gonna happen as it is pure marketing for a hobby which is one of the most subjective out there.

All the « reproduce music as the artist intended / as it was recorded » is just a way to sell.

Imagine a song recently released or your favorite song from whatever period you like most and imagine the multiple media through which these were listened to in order to reach their audience — not a single of these artists intended their music to be heard in a particular way (perhaps short of a live performance and, in such cases, you can start to dwelve into the acoustics of a place).

Now, as to reproducing music as it was recorded, you must take into account the way it was recorded, the music file, the DAP, the cable and the headphones or IEMs: the DAP (in this price range) is the smallest of your worries in this chain — your headphones or IEMs will make a much bigger difference.

 

[ipaddy]

New review:

Well, now.

What's most interesting in this review is that he does not pick up on the increased resolution of the SR25. Did he not notice it? Or is it objectively not all that noticeable?

Second, that he thought the sound was basically the same.

 

[duaned]

The SR25 has surprised me. It's certainly provides plenty of bass ( and sub-bass) and the treble and so beautifully presented it puts my DX160 to shame. I don't know how A&K have done it, but this player really is an achievement and is definatley improved over the SR15.

 

[twister6]

Well, now.

What's most interesting in this review is that he does not pick up on the increased resolution of the SR25. Did he not notice it? Or is it objectively not all that noticeable?

Second, that he thought the sound was basically the same.

We all hear things differently, and by default, any comparison will be subjective. Every week I get messages from people arguing with me their smartphone sounds as good as any dap in any price range, thus they don't see any reason in buying a dedicated dap and instead want to invest their money into new iems. To each their own

 

[ipaddy]

We all hear things differently, and by default, any comparison will be subjective. Every week I get messages from people arguing with me their smartphone sounds as good as any dap in any price range, thus they don't see any reason in buying a dedicated dap and instead want to invest their money into new iems. To each their own

Still, he seemed like a fairly audio-knowledgeable fellow, based on the comments in his review.

 

[gazzington]

I’m going to compare mine when it arrives to my:
N8
Lpgt
Wm1z
Sp2k
N6ii e02
Using Sony z1r, andromeda and Solaris. Obviously it’s cheaper than the others but if it gets close I may sell one of them off.
What iems or headphones have you guys paired with your so far?

 

[havagr8da]

Big shout out to all the Grado fans! What? This thread is for the SR25. Well, let’s get to that. How about (Fantastic) beautiful implementation of dual dacs that conserve energy and give class leading play time. Portability? Let’s just say, It disappears in any pocket. Which brings us to the reason for my purchase of said DAP. I wanted Portability+Playtime+High Fidelity, check,check,check, got it plus.

Plus, great design, premium feel, beautiful looks, excellent quality control, good customer service (If needed).

That Astell&Kern house sound, what does that mean? If it is excellent I would have to agree. As the Artist intended, agreed as well on this point, as it is Astell&Kerns driving force and aspiration. Not marketing hype, True Intention and development strategy. Believe it or not, someone is out there trying to give you the best they can do. Why wouldn’t they? Their reputation depends on it.

Listening now with Grado RS1e MoonAudio Black Dragon balanced cable on Amazon HD and couldn’t be any happier.

Is this as good as it gets? I don’t know, but it is absolutely fantastic. I really don’t think I am missing much.

Get back to you in 20 hrs.

 

[theveterans]

We all hear things differently, and by default, any comparison will be subjective. Every week I get messages from people arguing with me their smartphone sounds as good as any dap in any price range, thus they don't see any reason in buying a dedicated dap and instead want to invest their money into new iems. To each their own

What I find about those people is their misunderstanding of audio electronics in general. They bring up these SINAD graphs but never knew that they're WITHOUT LOAD conditions. Plug in a real headphone and now the measurements of voltage, CURRENT, power to the load will be drastically different between a DAP and an smartphone and that translates to inferior sound of smartphones due to insufficient current compared to a DAP with well engineered current amplification stage (AK mentions this current delivery on most of their DAP page and emphasizes this with the AK SP2000). Questyle boast this "current mode amplification" too on their products

 

[forestitalia]

Is SR25 last 20 hours?
No need philosophy to measure, but a watch.

 

[twister6]

Is SR25 last 20 hours?
No need philosophy to measure, but a watch.

I posted my "watch" measurements before, 22hrs 25min playing 24b/48k high res FLAC in a loop, 2.5mm balanced output, average sensitivity/impedance IEMs at normal listening volume level of v50, with BT and wifi off, and screen off most of the time, just periodically checking battery status.

 

[emrelights1973]

I am having problems with both Tidal and Qobuz, is there any version i should use? They stop working

 

[musicinmymind]

Does AK players bypass Android limitations and play streaming music like Tidal in native format ?

Sony ZX-507 doesn't and I am holing my purchase till they fix it, SR25 will be better option if bypass works.

 

[Mirimar]

Does AK players bypass Android limitations and play streaming music like Tidal in native format ?

Sony ZX-507 doesn't and I am holing my purchase till they fix it, SR25 will be better option if bypass works.

Yes (on the SR25) not sure about the others. See here.

 

[ThomasHK]

Can anyone comment on OS speed compared to SR15? I had SE100 before and it was just fine, but SR15 feels sluggish compared to it.

 

[Mirimar]

Can anyone comment on OS speed compared to SR15? I had SE100 before and it was just fine, but SR15 feels sluggish compared to it.

Take a look at this post by @NewEve