Astell & Kern SR25: The next A&norma player

[Queen6]

Thanks Q-6. I guess that behavior is considered normal...

Well it doesn't bother me as once the track rolls over the album are appears and for the most part I just don't look at it.

Q-6

 

[Victory112]

I wonder if an SR-35 is on the horizon. Maybe that one will have 5GHz Wi-Fi.

 

[Desmnod]

One thing that drives me mad about the SR-25 is how sensitive the controls at the side of the unit are, even with a case. If I'm out walking I choose a track, but it in my pocket, and it's stopping or skipping unless I'm very, very careful with my fingers and thumbs. Anyone else notice this, or have a solution?

 

[GlennCharles63]

Am getting my SR25 end of this week so I can only do some brainstorming:
How can you prevent this "expiration" of album content currently disregarding the Playlist option?
- By playing the album content once again in online mode album by album?
- by deleting each album and downloading again?
- by restoring whole offline content? (found a reddit forum solution suggestion for this)
- have you yet tried to modify let's say timestamp in filesystem and checked if that will force some synch?
Background for these questions: if we found a way to force the album synch on file system level like change of timestamp we could possibly automate using a batch/script (if A&K allows according apps to be side loaded) scanning through the offline folder structure and do the necessary changes

Off topic question: as I see you are owning Qudelix 5k: I know it's apples and pears comparison but is the SR25 a significant SQ update compared to Qudelix besides the lower Qudelix decoding performance on balanced output?

I just got my SR25 today. Sideloaded the Tidal app and got everything working. However, I am a bit frustrated by the UI, including the AK icon that sits on the lower right corner right on top of the Tidal Pause button. I keep hitting the wrong thing. Not sure if there is a way to disable this. Admittedly, i have not spent enough time to fairly understand how it works so this is not a criticism just a question. Playing the same tracks, side by side on my Hifiman Sundara on the Chord Mojo and there is definitely a difference. Looking forward to trying it out with my iem’s. If anyone has UI suggestions I would appreciate a link. TIA

 

[CountXero]

I just got my SR25 today. Sideloaded the Tidal app and got everything working. However, I am a bit frustrated by the UI, including the AK icon that sits on the lower right corner right on top of the Tidal Pause button. I keep hitting the wrong thing. Not sure if there is a way to disable this. Admittedly, i have not spent enough time to fairly understand how it works so this is not a criticism just a question. Playing the same tracks, side by side on my Hifiman Sundara on the Chord Mojo and there is definitely a difference. Looking forward to trying it out with my iem’s. If anyone has UI suggestions I would appreciate a link. TIA

Hi @GlennCharles63

If you mean the “back” button you can easily move it around to another spot simply by holding your finger on it and then dragging it to a new position. You can turn the button off in the settings menu if you don’t like this feature.

Another sweet thing is that you can quickly exit an app by double tapping below the screen (Centre below the actual display). You know when you find it - you will be back in the built in player app.

 

[Neweymatt]

Another sweet thing is that you can quickly exit an app by double tapping below the screen (Centre below the actual display). You know when you find it - you will be back in the built in player app.

OHHH, I've been so hanging out for something like this!! Now that I have a good look at the screen in bright light at an angle, I can just make out the sensor that triggers this, very nice!!

 

[Neweymatt]

One thing that drives me mad about the SR-25 is how sensitive the controls at the side of the unit are, even with a case. If I'm out walking I choose a track, but it in my pocket, and it's stopping or skipping unless I'm very, very careful with my fingers and thumbs. Anyone else notice this, or have a solution?

Yes I've noticed this, and agree it can be annoying.

Not sure if the buttons can be disabled, I've looked for this and found nothing.

There is a "Wheel Lock" that disables the volume wheel when the screen is off, this prevents sudden volume changes by accidentally turning the volume putting the unit in your pocket. It would be great if there was a similar way to disable the side buttons as well...

 

[GlennCharles63]

Hi @GlennCharles63

If you mean the “back” button you can easily move it around to another spot simply by holding your finger on it and then dragging it to a new position. You can turn the button off in the settings menu if you don’t like this feature.

Another sweet thing is that you can quickly exit an app by double tapping below the screen (Centre below the actual display). You know when you find it - you will be back in the built in player app.

thanks for that information. That is exactly what I was looking for. Cheers.

 

[erich6]

Hi folks
I saw your post end of December discussing MQA decoding using Audirvana
As I am looking into buying the SR25 and am using Audirvana on my Ibasso dx220 max I am wondering if you have tried all MQA settings in the software: MQA renderer or MQA decoder and observed what Audirvana is showing as the resulting bit rate on the right side.
I am asking this because Ibasso DAPs are also not correctly detected in Audirvana but can nervertheless do some limited decoding which Audirvana can show in this way.
Can you please try?
Thx in advance!

As far as I can tell the SR-25 will not decode nor render MQA when used as a DAC.

That's surprising.... What happened ??

Did you get a new SR25 ? How A&K fixed your issue ??

I'm not sure what caused the problem. My guess is the battery pack expanded due to high temperature. The first time Crutchfield replaced the unit with a new one. The second time A&K replaced the unit with a new one. I'm hopeful the issue was isolated to those units and not a design issue.

In both cases I've been pleased with A&K customer support.

 

[Lu Mazzmarill]

Can someone recommend an easy to drive-rich bass IEM for this DAP below 900 bucks? Thank you! I am undecided between Empire Ears Bravado MKII or Kinera Nan-na 2.0, but i am open to others.

 

[Victory112]

Can someone recommend an easy to drive-rich bass IEM for this DAP below 900 bucks? Thank you! I am undecided between Empire Ears Bravado MKII or Kinera Nan-na 2.0, but i am open to others.

Maybe the LCD-i3 with some of the system-wide EQ on this DAP?

 

[Lu Mazzmarill]

I would prefer not to equalize, but thank you. Anyone?

 

[povidlo]

I would prefer not to equalize, but thank you. Anyone?

Xelento is a mid-bass monster that pairs very well with SR25.

A&K and Beyerdynamic do business together. A&K has released their own versions of Xelento as well.

Great synergy might be due to above or simply due to the fact SR25 is laid-back and Xelento is energetic.

 

[Lu Mazzmarill]

Which one of the Shure catalogue would pair better? 846 or 535?

 

[1TrickPony]

Can someone recommend an easy to drive-rich bass IEM for this DAP below 900 bucks? Thank you! I am undecided between Empire Ears Bravado MKII or Kinera Nan-na 2.0, but i am open to others.

I pair mine with the Oriolus Reborn, and they work like wonders. This is a fine portable dap no doubt.