Astell & Kern SR25: The next A&norma player
May 6, 2021 at 11:44 PM Post #1,816 of 2,746
Awesome! Always nifty to have gain level adjust per source. One of the things I missed most about my JVC Arsenal stuff. That and time delay adjustments.

Been enjoying my SR25 this morning with a simple pair of Tin HiFi T2 Pro plugged into the balanced connection. Considering how notoriously revealing these IEMs are for sibilants, it's a little shocking to me just how smooth they sound on the SR25. No bass vent mod needed, even.

This thing continues to surprise me every day.
Finally had a few minutes tonight to get this hooked up in my truck and I'm really impressed with how good it sounds! Looking forward to my drive to work tomorrow, which is something I haven't said in a long time! :smile:
Damn, this little box sounds amazing!!
 
May 11, 2021 at 7:54 PM Post #1,817 of 2,746
Quick update on firmware update to fix the embedded Tidal app.

Still on target for this month, but I still do not have a concrete release date. I was told last night there would be more info at the end of the week.

The following 13 models will receive firmware updates to fix the embedded Tidal issue in May:

SP2000, SP1000, SP1000M, SE200, SE180, SE100, KANN ALPHA, SR25, SA700, KANN CUBE, SR15, ACTIVO CT15, ACTIVO CT10.

The AK Connect app for iOS and Android will also be updated to fix the embedded Tidal issue. The updated apps will be available in the Apple and Google app stores after the player updates.
 
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May 14, 2021 at 5:29 AM Post #1,818 of 2,746
Thanks Jason.
Any "more substantial" FW update soon?

Cheers
 
May 14, 2021 at 9:10 PM Post #1,819 of 2,746
Hi guys,

So I have a question about playlist structure on sr25. There is a nice function that lets you see the following songs the device play, You know the "Now Playing" screen that you navigate by swiping from right to left on home screen. Thats nice. So when you listen to the An Awesome Way album from Alt-J let's say, on the now playing screen, you see the songs from that album are listed.

Let's say I want to add the song "Is this it?" from The Strokes after the current song I am listening to from Alt-J, what do I do? Is there a "play next" function? You know like Spotify.

And I really feel like, "long press" on songs, should exist. Thers should be "long press" gesture. We could long press to a song and select from a little pop up menu if we want to play that song next, or if we want to add that song to another playlist that we created.. Do you feel me? 🙂

How do you deal wih such stuff?
 
May 15, 2021 at 1:00 AM Post #1,820 of 2,746
Hi tirezege,

I am kind of new to A&K too but one think I learned: don't ask too much to them to change things! They will tell you that they use a very restrictive Android and very secure so changes apparently can disrupt this (lol).
So, would it be nice to have this long press? Yes. Would they implement it? Probably not.
But I can be wrong, which I would not mind 🤞.
When in Playing Now you can add that track to a Playlist by pressing "+" (just beneath the Album image you will find a menu with various options...one it's to add the track now playing to a Playlist via "+", another it's to add to favourites by pressing the star, etc).

Cheers
 
May 15, 2021 at 10:02 PM Post #1,821 of 2,746
Hi folks, new to the forum and new to the DAP world (just picked up a SR25)....yes I still have my yellow Sony Walkman from the 80s, I'm a slow learner. First, I love the SR25. Form function, build...nice piece of kit. Performance is up to my expectations and probably a little beyond. I'm using mostly using the BT function to listen to Tidal HD using B&W Pi7 in ear phones. GREAT sound....but limited volume. Ordering a new set of wired in ear, limping along with a pair of old Sure 425s, bla, bla bla... Ok, what REALLY impressed me is when I hooked the SR25 up to my 2 tube amps, Singled Ended Triods. Wonderful. GREAT digital source and DAC. Lastly, I downloaded and did a side install of Tidal since the pre-installed Tidal app didn't work. Is there a difference and should I remove the app that I installed after the factory app gets "fixed"? I just didn't want to wait on A&K to push out an update and so far Tidal works great. Thank you in advance for info, feedback and resources. Appreciate all the info and content.
 
May 15, 2021 at 10:09 PM Post #1,822 of 2,746
Hi folks, new to the forum and new to the DAP world (just picked up a SR25)....yes I still have my yellow Sony Walkman from the 80s, I'm a slow learner. First, I love the SR25. Form function, build...nice piece of kit. Performance is up to my expectations and probably a little beyond. I'm using mostly using the BT function to listen to Tidal HD using B&W Pi7 in ear phones. GREAT sound....but limited volume. Ordering a new set of wired in ear, limping along with a pair of old Sure 425s, bla, bla bla... Ok, what REALLY impressed me is when I hooked the SR25 up to my 2 tube amps, Singled Ended Triods. Wonderful. GREAT digital source and DAC. Lastly, I downloaded and did a side install of Tidal since the pre-installed Tidal app didn't work. Is there a difference and should I remove the app that I installed after the factory app gets "fixed"? I just didn't want to wait on A&K to push out an update and so far Tidal works great. Thank you in advance for info, feedback and resources. Appreciate all the info and content.

There is no reason to remove the side-loaded Tidal app unless you need the space (not likely). The full app has more features and allows off-line play unlike the built-in version so you may prefer it anyway. Some people say the built-in version sounds better however.
 
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May 17, 2021 at 5:03 AM Post #1,824 of 2,746
Hello,

Thanks for the reply @paulobao. I figured it out, the player has the feature I mentioned. On playback settings, you can decide the default action for the times you want to add a song to now playing, there are 4 options: top/bottom/next/or make the player ask you every time where you wanna put the song. This was exactly what I was looking for. This way you can use the now playing list, as a curated song list for a listening session.

The tricky part is, adding the songs to the now playing. For this, when you are on artist page or songs page, or albums page, doesn't matter, you have to click on edit button(the one with the pen on it), and it lets you select the songs by putting a tick on them. After you select the song, you click on the "plus and triangle" button on top. But for artists with many albums and hundreds or even thousands of songs, this is bad user experience. Let me explain:

You are on the page of an artist that has 10 albums and 150 songs. You navigate through it, swipe down and down and find the song you wanna add to now playing. You click on the edit button(the one with the pen on it) and damn, you are back on the top of the list, with every album expanded to reveal the songs in it.. And you start swiping down to get to the song you want, and this time it takes even longer because all the albums are expanded, so you swipe down through all the songs..

@JasonNYC
Is there a possibility to add, long press function? On this use case, we could simply long press to a song to select it(it would act the same way as ticking a song), and then decide what we wanna do with it, add it to now playing/add it to a playlist etc.

Or, is there a possibility to change this behaviour: clicking on the edit button, makes you go back to the top of the list. I can't see the logic of this :) Why does this button makes you go top of the list and expand every album to reveal the songs in them?

I'd appreciate a response. Thank you for being here.

Best regards,
 
May 17, 2021 at 9:16 AM Post #1,825 of 2,746
I understand you perfectly.
We should create a list of "safe" functionalities to add to AK players (or to SR25). And it's exactly as you pointed out....to improve the user experience which it's an important aspect too, imo.
Cheers.
 
May 17, 2021 at 12:17 PM Post #1,826 of 2,746
Hi folks, new to the forum and new to the DAP world (just picked up a SR25)....yes I still have my yellow Sony Walkman from the 80s, I'm a slow learner. First, I love the SR25. Form function, build...nice piece of kit. Performance is up to my expectations and probably a little beyond. I'm using mostly using the BT function to listen to Tidal HD using B&W Pi7 in ear phones. GREAT sound....but limited volume. Ordering a new set of wired in ear, limping along with a pair of old Sure 425s, bla, bla bla... Ok, what REALLY impressed me is when I hooked the SR25 up to my 2 tube amps, Singled Ended Triods. Wonderful. GREAT digital source and DAC. Lastly, I downloaded and did a side install of Tidal since the pre-installed Tidal app didn't work. Is there a difference and should I remove the app that I installed after the factory app gets "fixed"? I just didn't want to wait on A&K to push out an update and so far Tidal works great. Thank you in advance for info, feedback and resources. Appreciate all the info and content.
As for your limited volume, sometimes the bluetooth headphones/earbuds have a seperate volume control. I max mine out and use the SR25 to adjust the volume.
 
May 17, 2021 at 1:12 PM Post #1,827 of 2,746
As for your limited volume, sometimes the bluetooth headphones/earbuds have a seperate volume control. I max mine out and use the SR25 to adjust the volume.
Unfortunately, some pairs of Bluetooth/TWS don't have independent volume control. The UE FITS I currently have in, for example, didn't get volume control until their most recent firmware update. The ADV M5-TWS don't have one at all.
 
May 17, 2021 at 1:21 PM Post #1,828 of 2,746
The PI7 doesn't have volume control natively, your only option is to use the source, SR25, volume. Adequate but I'd like a little more. My Samsung Live plays really loud, so my expectations had been set. Going to play with different ear tips as soon as they arrive.
 
May 17, 2021 at 2:05 PM Post #1,829 of 2,746
Unfortunately, some pairs of Bluetooth/TWS don't have independent volume control. The UE FITS I currently have in, for example, didn't get volume control until their most recent firmware update. The ADV M5-TWS don't have one at all.
Bummer! Just trying to help :) I know with Android phones, at least the ones I've had, you can turn off/on seperate volume control. But the SR25 version of Android is there own custom making. I never checked, but I don't think you can do that with the SR25. Anyway, just typing out loud...Hope you get enough volume though to enjoy the sound from the SR25!
 
May 17, 2021 at 2:07 PM Post #1,830 of 2,746
Bummer! Just trying to help :) I know with Android phones, at least the ones I've had, you can turn off/on seperate volume control. But the SR25 version of Android is there own custom making. I never checked, but I don't think you can do that with the SR25. Anyway, just typing out loud...Hope you get enough volume though to enjoy the sound from the SR25!
No worries. Just adding my experience for context.
 

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