[Queen6]

Hi. I'll just throw this out there...(I realize you're getting a replacement)...
All my album art displays properly. Almost 11,000 files, most ripped from my CD collection to FLAC using dbPoweramp on my Windows 10 PC. My artwork is all named "folder" however, not "cover", and placed in the album's file folder. Wondering if re-naming could help them display correctly, tbrobison?

Worth a try, I've had no issue with renaming a few WAV albums art (experimenting) to cover. The rest I've always ripped to FLAC and embed the album art or bought digitally.

Read this on A&K site if remember correctly. Rules for Album Art;
1 - Artwork should be saved to a cover.jpeg or folder.jpeg file.
2 - Artwork should be embedded, but note artwork is not supported when embedded in WAV or AIFF files.

I don't bother using the Mac's for this as is needlessly convoluted, if I had to I'd use a third party File Manager so I could easily see files and place the jpg files similar to Windows via drag & drop. More over I'd load the internal storage and just remove the Micro SD Card and deal with the rest with File Manager.

Q-6

 

[tbrobison]

Hi. I'll just throw this out there...(I realize you're getting a replacement)...
All my album art displays properly. Almost 11,000 files, most ripped from my CD collection to FLAC using dbPoweramp on my Windows 10 PC. My artwork is all named "folder" however, not "cover", and placed in the album's file folder. Wondering if re-naming could help them display correctly, tbrobison?

Hi Chaz, yes, I tried renaming the "cover.jpg" to "folder.jpg", but it didn't work either. And this was when I was working with just one album on an empty 128GB Sandisk microsd card. The album I was trying to get the SR25 to display was Moby's, 18. I tried all aiff files, all flac files, renaming the artwork, nothing worked. And, whenever I would replace my 512GB card into the SR25 and media scanning would begin, I could see what appeared to be the processor trying to come up with the artwork on some albums. You could see the default A&K artwork flashing, and sputtering, trying to show the correct artwork, and then nothing. Just the default dark globe foreground.

Just the fact that most of my albums do show artwork means that the SR25 isn't having problems with those albums, but something is not quite right with the 170 albums, or so, that didn't display. I really do think I had a dud SR25, and that the replacement will work as it's supposed to.

Thanks for your concern, Chaz!

 

[tirezege]

Hello again,

I am in love with my SR25, yesterday started my hifi subscription on TIDAL and I can't take my ears off of it In case you're interested:

https://offer.tidal.com/voucher?code=LIDLMUSIC

VPN this page so you seem like you connect from UK and you get 6 months of free premium subscription. And upgrading it to HIFI doesn't reduce the cycle. But you need to sign up with a new account, that's the downside.

So now is the time to ask my question:

On settings menu, Timer Settings values goes back to default by itself. I want to set them as following:
- auto power off: always turn on
- screen timeout: 30 seconds
- sleep timer: 10 minutes

I set these values and after 30 seconds, screen turns off as expected. And after 2-3 minutes when I go back to settings, I see that sleep timer is set back to always turn on.

Have you guys experienced this? Any solution you might suggest?

Thank you!

 

[paulobao]

Hi there,

Exactly the same settings I'm using. Just checked and still as I set it: always ON/30s/10min. Did u updated the fw to 1.4?

I'm loving it too, but not a step up in terms os sound, from a DC04 (69 euro) + smartphone. And this is true not especulation!
Anyway, it's cute, aesteticaly pleasant, etc.
But what do u find the navigation?
I have a Tidal HiFi subscription for quite some years now. I find it really not friendly at all, the navigation to arrive to Tidal in the SR25! As I suggested, and since AK is using Android, why not to have the possibility to have a shortcut or even better a widget to Tidal (or any of the sideloaded apps) at the homepage?

Cheers
Paulo

 

[paulobao]

Update:

U are right after all! Just double checked it now and it went back to always ON at the sleeping timer! So it seems you found a bug.
You should report it to AK I suppose.

 

[tirezege]

Hello, thank you for you answer.

Yes I can once again confirm that, sleep timer setting always sets back to always on.

I will send an email to support.inc@iriver.com, in the mean time, I think letting AK representative in the forum know about the issue could help. So I'm quoting the last message I've found from him.

It looks like you are in the US, correct? You can email our North America support team or speak to someone by phone in our California offices. Contact info can be found here - https://us.astellnkern.com/pages/contact-us

Because if COVID, most support staff are working from home. If you would like to speak to someone by phone, please leave a message and a support person will call you back same day. Hours are 9 am to 5 pm PT.

 

[paulobao]

Great .

 

[tirezege]

Hmm, the mail address that I've sent does not exist Haha, anyone, any idea how to send e-mails to Astell Kern?

 

[paulobao]

You are right. I just sent them an email 1 min ago and I received a (Mail Delivery System) email!!!

Anyway I will write here exactly what I wrote in the email hopping that someone working to AK read it and contact them.

"Hello,

My name is Paulo Lobao and I'm living in Portugal. This week I received my first AK product: an SR25. Even if I did not find it to be a real upgrade in the sound department, compared to a much less expensive iBasso DC04 usb dac, I'm loving it because of the aesthetics, the build construction, the low footprint and the long batery life.
My main complaint it's how difficult it's to navigate to the sideloaded apps. Pressing A then pressing Services and only then pressing the service/app itself (in my case, Tidal).

-Pressing the Home Button will bring you the Homescreen (it like this now).

My suggestion to the IT team at AK:

-Pressing the Home button again, will bring you a Second Homescreen. And if you press it again, it will bring you Homescreen 1 again.
So basically, the Home Button will bring you Homescreen 1 and Homescreen 2.

The Homescreen 2 would be used to display a full widget of an sideloaded app.

As an example (in my case that have Tidal app installed):
-I press Home button and the the AK. default Music Player will be displayed.
-I press Home Button again and the Tidal "Homepage " (full widget) will be displayed.

If I want to return to AK music player again, I will press the Home Button again.

You get the idea. It would be incredibly easier, faster and nicer. Because, as I said before, it's not easy to go to Tidal (even less because the screen it's really tiny) as it is now.

The implementation of this should be really easy for the software engineers!

Please make it happen and I will be an AK for life.

Best Regards
Paulo"

 

[tirezege]

I have an unrelated question for you

I see on your signature that you use SanDisk "Extreme" 1 TB micro sd card in your SR25. Would SanDisk "Ultra" make the job, in terms of playing hi-res media files from the sd card? (I know it has no effect on sound quality) I am just asking if the "Ultra" version's read speed(120 Megabytes Per Second on paper) is enough for let's say .flac files or even .mqa files stored on the sd card.

While asking I notice that it should be more than enough. Or is there anything I'm not taking into consideration? Why did you choose Extreme over Ultra?

Thank you for how responsive you are

Best regards,

You are right. I just sent them an email 1 min ago and I received a (Mail Delivery System) email!!!

Anyway I will write here exactly what I wrote in the email hopping that someone working to AK read it and contact them.

"Hello,

My name is Paulo Lobao and I'm living in Portugal. This week I received my first AK product: an SR25. Even if I did not find it to be a real upgrade in the sound department, compared to a much less expensive iBasso DC04 usb dac, I'm loving it because of the aesthetics, the build construction, the low footprint and the long batery life.
My main complaint it's how difficult it's to navigate to the sideloaded apps. Pressing A then pressing Services and only then pressing the service/app itself (in my case, Tidal).

-Pressing the Home Button will bring you the Homescreen (it like this now).

My suggestion to the IT team at AK:

-Pressing the Home button again, will bring you a Second Homescreen. And if you press it again, it will bring you Homescreen 1 again.
So basically, the Home Button will bring you Homescreen 1 and Homescreen 2.

The Homescreen 2 would be used to display a full widget of an sideloaded app.

As an example (in my case that have Tidal app installed):
-I press Home button and the the AK. default Music Player will be displayed.
-I press Home Button again and the Tidal "Homepage " (full widget) will be displayed.

If I want to return to AK music player again, I will press the Home Button again.

You get the idea. It would be incredibly easier, faster and nicer. Because, as I said before, it's not easy to go to Tidal (even less because the screen it's really tiny) as it is now.

The implementation of this should be really easy for the software engineers!

Please make it happen and I will be an AK for life.

Best Regards
Paulo"

 

[paulobao]

Hi,

Ultra will do if fine. I just ordered the Extreme version because 1) it was with a great discount 2) I had reliability issues in the past with the 128 GB Ultra version!
About the speed: no problem for the intended use. But extreme it is a V30/U3/A2 memory card and Ultra's are not. Speed: you only will (eventually) get those speeds with an usb3vexternal card reader otherwise expect much less speed. I can tell you that I did a speed test (using my S10+) as soon as I received mine and after formatting it and the read speed was around 60 MB/s and write about 35 MB/s.

 

[jpgr]

"Just the fact that most of my albums do show artwork means that the SR25 isn't having problems with those albums, but something is not quite right with the 170 albums, or so, that didn't display. I really do think I had a dud SR25, and that the replacement will work as it's supposed to."

Have you checked the file size? One dap I have, only shows if 'folder.jpg' is 500x500 pixels or less.

 

[TjFont]

Coming from an iPod + Dragonfly setup to the SR25 I agree with your comments. I enjoy the sound and convenience of the SR25 although simplicity has its price

Greetings from Portugal,

I just made a brief comparison between my AK SR25 and my Galaxy S10+ PerformanceEdition + iBasso DC04 USB DAC.
IT07 used with the original iBasso pure silver cable (balanced 2.5). Since the DC04 have a 4.4 port, I also used iBasso CA04 (4.4 to 2.5) connected to the DC04.
The swap between both systems it was really quick as you can imagine.
Just used 2 flac files for this quick test (Grace, Jeff Buckley 192/24; Limit To Your Love, James Blake 48/24).
AK SR25: AK music player no EQ
S10+/DC04: USB Audio Player Pro no EQ.

Since I am not a reviewer and all the equipment is mine and I have no affiliation with any of the companies, I am free to say what I want .

And the result, without complicating it, is a tie (soundwise speaking)!

The S10+/DC04 has the advantage of being more compact, way less expensive (excluding the S10+), a much more versatile system, way faster, Android 11 and access to all the apps at Google Play, much bigger and much better screen and all the ones related with wifi, BT, etc.
The main disadvantage, and it is a really big one (and the only reason why I bought the AK): the USB C ports will wear much quicker with all those "put and remove" actions! And the most annoying part (related with the previous one): the system disconnects very easily being necessary to remove the usb dac and put it back. A simple movement can give rise to this, which is very distracting and annoying.

The advantages of the SR25: no dongle so no disconnections problems, a dedicated system to reproduce music, a very robust and very exquisite and exceptionally well built piece of equipment, the overall size, the excellent battery life.
The disavantages, in my opinion: the price (?) and the installed software limitations (why can't we have at least one more homepage where we could put shortcuts to installed apps (Tidal, Spotify, etc.) or even widgets?

SR25 it's a keeper but I hope AK could improve the sw.

Cheers.

 

[tbrobison]

"Just the fact that most of my albums do show artwork means that the SR25 isn't having problems with those albums, but something is not quite right with the 170 albums, or so, that didn't display. I really do think I had a dud SR25, and that the replacement will work as it's supposed to."

Have you checked the file size? One dap I have, only shows if 'folder.jpg' is 500x500 pixels or less.

Yes, I've checked, double checked, and triple checked. I have artwork that shows up perfectly with larger file sizes, and then ones that don't display with smaller file sizes. I've looked at every aspect of file size and it just doesn't make sense. It only makes sense if the SR25 I had was flawed, somehow. I explained earlier that a case in point was a 5 CD collection (World Party's - Arkeology) I have. One folder for each cd/album with identical "cover.jpg"'s inserted into each folder. Three of the albums show the album artwork, two don't. That's a software or electronics problem.

One thing is for sure, when I receive my replacement SR25 in another 10 days or so, it will work and display perfectly, or back it goes and I'll move on to something else.

 

[JasonNYC]

Hmm, the mail address that I've sent does not exist Haha, anyone, any idea how to send e-mails to Astell Kern?

Astell&Kern North America (US/Canada) - https://us.astellnkern.com/pages/contact-us
Astell&Kern UK - https://www.astellkern.co.uk/contactak

All other global support issues - iriver@iriver.com