Astell & Kern - Zero Customer service. Beware
May 4, 2021 at 1:33 PM Post #16 of 53
This DAP Has more bugs than Tidal, and they did not fix them since 2 years. Last update was st september - 9 months ago.

How do you know?[QUOTE="chef8489]The issue will be fixed once tidal releases it to them and they send an update.
Maybe. Wll see.
[/QUOTE]
What bugs and issues does the sa700 have?
 
May 4, 2021 at 1:50 PM Post #18 of 53
And the sa700 will be updated. It takes time to fix issues especially when you are waiting on tidal to release it to hardware manufacturers. While you wait sideload tidal. Again you are blaming AK when they are not at fault. The issue will be fixed once tidal releases it to them and they send an update.

Tidal has an API for third party access that is used by many apps and devices (developer.tidal.com). Yes, they changed the API login process some time ago and A&K somehow didn't get the message. Eventually Tidal dropped support for whatever method A&K was using. Tidal doesn't write or release third party apps, that's the responsibility of the app or device developer.
 
May 4, 2021 at 5:28 PM Post #19 of 53
In absolutely love my AK. Best DAP on the market, bare nothing. On the same token I do not expect them to guarantee support for other companies software products. I also do not stream. I load up more music than I could listen to in many months and carry it with me, all the way up to DSD256 files. Why would I buy a several thousand dollar DAP to listen to inferior and many time spotty connections when I can carry many hundreds of high resolution albums with me?
 
May 4, 2021 at 8:54 PM Post #21 of 53
In absolutely love my AK. Best DAP on the market, bare nothing. On the same token I do not expect them to guarantee support for other companies software products. I also do not stream. I load up more music than I could listen to in many months and carry it with me, all the way up to DSD256 files. Why would I buy a several thousand dollar DAP to listen to inferior and many time spotty connections when I can carry many hundreds of high resolution albums with me?

Of course there are different use cases for DAP owners. Some of us listen locally and some of us stream. I don't own many hundreds of high resolution albums so streaming makes sense from both a financial and music discovery standpoint. Streaming was (and still is) an advertised feature for these DAPS, so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect it to work on a recent model. A&K will likely fix it on some models and then we can move on and debate other issues... Well, except the models that don't get a fix at all, whatever the reason.
 
May 5, 2021 at 10:12 PM Post #22 of 53
I’m sure Astell & Kern has received all my emails. They have decided to just ignore them. They think that by ignoring a customers concerns that the customer will just get tired of the issue and go away.
This is what this company has decided to do. I know that if AK doesn’t offer an upgrade path for my 2 players I will never purchase another one of their products.
 
May 6, 2021 at 1:02 AM Post #23 of 53
I’m sure Astell & Kern has received all my emails. They have decided to just ignore them. They think that by ignoring a customers concerns that the customer will just get tired of the issue and go away.
This is what this company has decided to do. I know that if AK doesn’t offer an upgrade path for my 2 players I will never purchase another one of their products.

I understand this is highly frustrating, but it's not AK's fault. They built an audio player with an SOC running a skinned version of Android (same as 90% of other DAP companies). The age of the SOC will limit what version of Android is supported. If Tidal then stops supporting certain APIs for older versions Android, you're crap out of luck as a manufacturer.

It's the same as trying to run recent versions of Android on old smartphones, impossible.

What makes things a little different for these small audio companies is that they typically can't use the latest and greatest SOCs, which means from the get go they're 1-2-3 years behind the latest and greatest version of Android.
 
May 6, 2021 at 8:07 AM Post #24 of 53
I understand this is highly frustrating, but it's not AK's fault. They built an audio player with an SOC running a skinned version of Android (same as 90% of other DAP companies). The age of the SOC will limit what version of Android is supported. If Tidal then stops supporting certain APIs for older versions Android, you're crap out of luck as a manufacturer.

It's the same as trying to run recent versions of Android on old smartphones, impossible.

What makes things a little different for these small audio companies is that they typically can't use the latest and greatest SOCs, which means from the get go they're 1-2-3 years behind the latest and greatest version of Android.

I totally agree with you on the issue DAP manufacturers have with SOC availability as small companies. I would like to add that at least some of the SOCs that A&K use appear to capable of Android OS upgrades. An example is the Nexell NXP4330 (SR15, Kann Cube, SA700) which is apparently capable of running Android Nougat (7.1.2) rather than Lollipop (5) which they are currently running. This upgrade would resolve the Tidal limitations and add a couple of years of life for Android app support.
 
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May 6, 2021 at 9:27 AM Post #25 of 53
I hear explanations and blame from everyone here but not A&K and Tidal. Hmmmm. Awful quiet. No return emails. How long will we have to wait?

If certain features and functions are on a “time limit” so to speak, due to the ever-changing OS of these $1000+ daps, shouldn’t we have an honest explanation? For reference and future costly decisions for the not-so-tech-savvy consumer anyway.
 
May 9, 2021 at 3:34 PM Post #28 of 53
In my honest opinion, a reliable customer service is one reason why I would chose company A over B. Ignoring customer emails because of internal politics, product uncertainty, partnership issues, does not help to alleviate customer anxiety and can result in lost of trust towards said company. If this is not remedied, over time, the company can lose its face and all the good image they have worked so hard to build up. I for one can say, that for anything this expensive, it is my expectation that publicly listed email address or a web form, someone would contact me back within a couple of business days. It is clear that they are aware of this issue, but choosing not to comment. It does not really matter whose fault it is, or who caused the issue (Tidal deprecating old APIs, or choosing not to support old Android), it is not Tidal who sold you the device, it is A&K, and they should respect you as a customer and at least reply to your emails. I am saddened this is happening and feel for all of you in this situation, it is not right.
 
May 9, 2021 at 5:20 PM Post #29 of 53
In my honest opinion, a reliable customer service is one reason why I would chose company A over B. Ignoring customer emails because of internal politics, product uncertainty, partnership issues, does not help to alleviate customer anxiety and can result in lost of trust towards said company. If this is not remedied, over time, the company can lose its face and all the good image they have worked so hard to build up. I for one can say, that for anything this expensive, it is my expectation that publicly listed email address or a web form, someone would contact me back within a couple of business days. It is clear that they are aware of this issue, but choosing not to comment. It does not really matter whose fault it is, or who caused the issue (Tidal deprecating old APIs, or choosing not to support old Android), it is not Tidal who sold you the device, it is A&K, and they should respect you as a customer and at least reply to your emails. I am saddened this is happening and feel for all of you in this situation, it is not right.
Well said.
 
May 9, 2021 at 9:52 PM Post #30 of 53
Being a business owner I really have a hard time understanding Astell & Kerns business philosophy “if you don’t like a customers concerns ...ignore them”.
it’s been over a month without a single response sent to various AK email addresses.
Who are these people??
 

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