[dw13]

Well wouldn't ya know as soon as I post this "everything is fine" message, I try to use TIDAL APK in offline mode... none of my downloaded albums will play. App gives me:

Offline page could not be found
Press "Retry" to download the missing offline page

Playlists seem OK, but not albums?
SD Card still mounted OK, haven't touched it since I first put it in..

Do I have to re-download all albums again now?

No idea why TIDAL is doing this all of a sudden but very frustrating. Not the SR25 fault I guess, but definitely not the user experience I like.

Would have been nice to get a warning from A&K that offline content from Tidal and Qobuz will be unreliable at best.

 

[Neweymatt]

Would have been nice to get a warning from A&K that offline content from Tidal and Qobuz will be unreliable at best.

Yeah, I’m not sure they would ever do that, as they don’t control the streaming service, or the apk.

As frustrating as it is, my gripe isn’t really with the SR25 or A&K, I think the hardware is just fine. I will keep a close eye on Tidal performance, and continue to reevaluate options for HD streaming/downloads..

 

[showme99]

Would have been nice to get a warning from A&K that offline content from Tidal and Qobuz will be unreliable at best.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ast...t-a-norma-player.926918/page-54#post-15824061

As I said in my earlier post, this is a Tidal issue, not an Astell & Kern issue. In addition, it's highly doubtful that Astell & Kern would badmouth one of it's business partners.

 

[dkpaul]

Does anyone know if there is a way to customize the function of the three buttons on the side?
They seem pretty useless for now.
When listening to Tidal app, the buttons control the app (play, pause, next, previous). as soon as I pause and stop using the app for a few minutes, the buttons stop responding to the app, but to the media/songs saved to the device. I find this cumbersome.

 

[zerogun]

After the messages about headphones and iems used with the SR25, please let me give you my opinion. I believe that this player works extremelly well with easy to drive headphones and iems. I have tried everything I and my family have. I will give you my opinion as to performance.

• Sennheiser HD 599 impedance 50 Ohms, slp 106 db (1 vrms) max volume 100 out of 150. The SR 25 drives this effortlessly and my favorite sound by far with a balanced cable
• Denon Ah-D900 32 Ohms, 106 db, old vintage headphones, also easy to drive and sound wonderful with the SR25, but uncomfortable.
• Sony WH-1000xm3 47 Ohms 104,5 db, Max volume 110. Again driven effortlessly with the cable connection
• Final audio E4000. 15 Ohms 97 db, balanced cable. Sounds amazing with the Sr25.
• Sennheiser cx 5.00i 18 Ohms 118 db, very nice sound. Also similar Sennheiser cx300s. In this case amazing how well it sounds with such cheap iems.

I have also tried the Jabra elite 65T and Apple airpods pro, both with Bluetooth with good results.
In all headphones and iems with cable I had more than enough power and excellent sound. Better balanced. This is of course only my opinion. All are easy to drive devices. I am sure it is completely different to drive 300 Ohms headphones but I do not have any of those.

Also I have been playing with the EQ. All experts please excuse me, but I hope this will help other beginners like myself. I found out about the jaakkopasanen/AutoEq a collection of EQ settings for thousands of headphones and iems to achieve a certain result, the so called Harman target. I decided to try.
Also, To fiddle with the EQ of the SR25 I found this very helpful.

Also note that the curves can be manipulated manually and the gain increased in the advanced mode, expanding manually the curves.

My conclusion after trying the Autoeq: I like very much the result with the Sony Wh-1000xm3, so much better than the overcooked bass that comes from Sony. For the Sennheiser HD599, I do not dislike the result of EQ, but since I do also like the setting without EQ, I use them without EQ. Finally, I do not like the result with the Final E4000. So, I would say it is worth a try, maybe you will like the result, specially if you have too much of something, bass in my case.. I hope this helps and please excuse the long message.

Hi Luis,

I came across your post and tried exploring the AutoEq as well and noticed that the settings suggested by AutoEq aren't able to be matched exactly within SR25. I'm new to this so I might be doing something wrong, but to clarify, values like the Q on the SR25 only go down 2.0, whereas the suggested values in AutoEq go considerably lower than that. How are you able to match the suggested values with the equalizer on the SR25? Thanks!

 

[Luis Mad]

Hi Luis,

I came across your post and tried exploring the AutoEq as well and noticed that the settings suggested by AutoEq aren't able to be matched exactly within SR25. I'm new to this so I might be doing something wrong, but to clarify, values like the Q on the SR25 only go down 2.0, whereas the suggested values in AutoEq go considerably lower than that. How are you able to match the suggested values with the equalizer on the SR25? Thanks!

Hi zerogun
it is not precise or scientific but you can manually expand the curve in the advance EQ setting just touching with your finger.

this is 2.0 Q

this is with manually expanded curve

 

[zerogun]

Hi zerogun
it is not precise or scientific but you can manually expand the curve in the advance EQ setting just touching with your finger.

this is 2.0 Q



this is with manually expanded curve

Ahhh, I never thought of adjusting the curve manually

Thanks! I'll be sure to try this out

 

[kel77]

SR25 Blue Gray version

 

[PhenixS1970]

Would have been nice to get a warning from A&K that offline content from Tidal and Qobuz will be unreliable at best.

I ditched the streaming apps on my SA700 for this reason. For offline content I’m using the Audfree Tidal music converter software. Download the albums to my pc and transfer to my 1TB card in the SA700 after. Lost my offline APK Tidal library too many times so the 35 bucks this software costs was worth it.

 

[dkpaul]

I just ordered Qudelix 5K. To my surprise, I found out that SR25 does not support bluetooth when used as DAC from a PC. WOW...I didn't expect that... I wonder if this something that can be addressed by A&K later as a firmware update

 

[kdl0123]

I just ordered Qudelix 5K. To my surprise, I found out that SR25 does not support bluetooth when used as DAC from a PC. WOW...I didn't expect that... I wonder if this something that can be addressed by A&K later as a firmware update

Wireless iem does not benefit from any dac.
Get any Bluetooth usb and it should sound the same.

 

[dkpaul]

Wireless iem does not benefit from any dac.
Get any Bluetooth usb and it should sound the same.

I'm afraid I don't understand your suggestion?

 

[kdl0123]

I'm afraid I don't understand your suggestion?

Do you mean using Sr25 as dac for wireless iems / use it as a wireless dac to connect wired iems?
I mean there is no benefit in the first case.

 

[kel77]

Do you mean using Sr25 as dac for wireless iems / use it as a wireless dac to connect wired iems?
I mean there is no benefit in the first case.

Yes, because the DAC is actually in the receiver end which is the IEM rather than the transmitter (SR25).

 

[dkpaul]

Yes, because the DAC is actually in the receiver end which is the IEM rather than the transmitter (SR25).

I see. I'm using a Bluetooth dongle (receiver). So it'd be same as connecting directly to PC via Bluetooth.