[GDunlop]

Ah so this is what happened. I signed up to a trial for Tidal just over a month ago after getting my SR25 just to try it out. I don't think I was going to continue with it anyway after the trial, I just wanted to give it a try but shortly afterwards it stopped working for some reason. Couldn't figure out why but I just cancelled my Tidal subscription and gave the reason that the software wasn't working on my SR25. So I guess it's because Tidal stopped supporting older Android versions then. That explains it.

 

[sperandeo]

Update:
Still no reply at all from Astell & Kern customer service.

 

[Tristy]

They've been awfully quiet on the Tidal embedded app update as well...

 

[Iron-Buddha]

AK320 owner here. With the stay at home orders, I haven't been using my player as much as I normally do. Extremely bummed out that Tidal streaming is no longer working.

A question for everyone here, does buying a DAP with vanilla Android (does this exist) make upgrading and app compatibility less of an issue? I am an iPhone user so have no experience outside of this AK320 with Android (or some gimped version of it)....and it hasn't been great.

 

[rlw6534]

AK320 owner here. With the stay at home orders, I haven't been using my player as much as I normally do. Extremely bummed out that Tidal streaming is no longer working.

A question for everyone here, does buying a DAP with vanilla Android (does this exist) make upgrading and app compatibility less of an issue? I am an iPhone user so have no experience outside of this AK320 with Android (or some gimped version of it)....and it hasn't been great.

I don't think there is a simple answer here. App compatibility issues seem to plague Android devices because of the wide variety of hardware variations and software versions that are used (customized or not). Sometimes it's because of old OS (Tidal and Android 5) and sometimes old hardware (Apple Music and Fiio M11/M11 Pro/M15) and sometimes just bad communications (A&K and Tidal). Apple controls all of their hardware and that simplifies things. As you know, Apple devices typically get several OS updates over the life of the device; even mainstream Android smartphones also usually get one or two. It is very rare for DAPs to get an Android version update. It's also very rare for DAPs to use the latest hardware/SOC/Chipset/CPU combination, apparently because of availability to small manufacturers.

I personally prefer Google Play Store access, so that means near stock Android. Sideloading apps is simply a pain that I don't enjoy (and I use some paid apps such as UAPP).

 

[Gamerlingual]

This will be a reason to never buy A&K. For the money you spend and for this kind of service, it’s just not right. Best wishes to those and hope the situation gets resolved

 

[koziakauzu]

AK has deals or the power to talk to Tidal. They can do their own custom or embedded app and get support from Tidal to implement the API or whatever. They won't.

 

[sperandeo]

AK has deals or the power to talk to Tidal. They can do their own custom or embedded app and get support from Tidal to implement the API or whatever. They won't.

They won’t because it’s become very clear that Astell&Kern has one thing on their mind, selling players. The have no concern about their customers once the product is bought and paid for.

 

[Anthny]

Kann Cube user here. Hopefully this could help some of you AK owners with Tidal Issues. 2021/01/16 I updated the side loaded Tidal version from 2.27.2-999 to "com.aspiro.tidal_2.35.0-1019_minAPI23(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a,x86,x86_64)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk" and found Tidal functionality ceased.

After reinstalling "com.aspiro.tidal_2.27.2-999_minAPI21(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a,x86,x86_64)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk" I was able to regain full Tidal functionality on my Kann Cube. My KC is updated to the newest 1.26 FW. I'm logged into Tidal now listening to Delta Kream/The Black Keys.

 

[rlw6534]

Kann Cube user here. Hopefully this could help some of you AK owners with Tidal Issues. 2021/01/16 I updated the side loaded Tidal version from 2.27.2-999 to "com.aspiro.tidal_2.35.0-1019_minAPI23(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a,x86,x86_64)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk" and found Tidal functionality ceased.

After reinstalling "com.aspiro.tidal_2.27.2-999_minAPI21(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a,x86,x86_64)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk" I was able to regain full Tidal functionality on my Kann Cube. My KC is updated to the newest 1.26 FW. I'm logged into Tidal now listening to Delta Kream/The Black Keys.

After a bit of research, I believe Tidal 2.31 is the last version to support Android 5. All later versions require Android 6 or higher.

 

[Nace]

Biggest problems:
- drain battery when device is off - about 2-3%/24h
- very warm when we listen 24bit/dsd file
- freez when listen tidal / files offline olny hard reset helps
- last works tidal xapk is old - 2.28.1
- verry laggy software when music is on

Jesus Christ, and to think I've been eyeing up the new SE180

 

[Nace]

Sideloading apps is simply a pain that I don't enjoy

I have been seeing this phrase "sideloading" a lot in this thread, would you mind taking the time to explain it?

 

[rlw6534]

I have been seeing this phrase "sideloading" a lot in this thread, would you mind taking the time to explain it?

The A&K devices do not have Google Play Store access so there is no "App Store" to allow for the installation of Android apps. Instead, there is process sometimes called side-loading where you can manually install an app by downloading it from the internet to your computer (from sites like apkpure), copying it to the DAP via USB and installing it. Compatible A&K devices have a rather limited "whitelist" of selected apps that are allowed to be installed in this manner. Note that only free apps are available as paid apps have to be installed from the official Google Play store. Another disadvantage is that there is no mechanism to update apps to newer versions without repeating the entire loading process with a newer version of the app.

You can go to this website for instructions that may make things more clear:

https://us.astellnkern.com/blogs/news/open-app-service-instructions

 

[Nace]

The A&K devices do not have Google Play access so there is no "App Store" to allow for the installation of Android apps. Instead, there is process sometimes called side-loading where you can manually install an app by downloading it from the internet to your computer (from sites like apkpure), copying it to the DAP via USB and installing it. Compatible A&K devices have a rather limited "whitelist" of selected apps that are allowed to be installed in this manner. Note that only free apps are available as paid apps have to be installed from the official Google Play store. Another disadvantage is that there is no mechanism to update apps to newer versions without repeating the entire loading process with a newer version of the app.

You can go to this website for instructions that may make things more clear:

https://us.astellnkern.com/blogs/news/open-app-service-instructions

What a shame, Astell and Kern uses some of the top DAC chips available right now, only to be held back by a flawed and quickly outdated operating system. Sounds like the "whitelist" and not being able to update your manually side-loaded apps reveals the ugliness of an Android-reliant player.

By the way, do you know how one would demo these types of DAPs? I'm in driving range to L.A. and I seem to have located an authorized dealer who stays up to date on A&K's line-up, but be it that other companies are even harder to find in-store, is there some online demoing loophole I am unaware of?

 

[rlw6534]

What a shame, Astell and Kern uses some of the top DAC chips available right now, only to be held back by a flawed and quickly outdated operating system. Sounds like the "whitelist" and not being able to update your manually side-loaded apps reveals the ugliness of an Android-reliant player.

By the way, do you know how one would demo these types of DAPs? I'm in driving range to L.A. and I seem to have located an authorized dealer who stays up to date on A&K's line-up, but be it that other companies are even harder to find in-store, is there some online demoing loophole I am unaware of?

Well, most DAPS use either Android or custom Linux-based operating systems so you can't really get away from it at this point. At least some of the Android DAPs have full Google Play Support which makes things much easier to maintain and opens the door for paid apps like USB Audio Player Pro. Outdated versions of android are a real problem if you plan to keep your DAP for a few years as it is very rare for a manufacturer to provide updates to newer versions. This thread is an example of that.

I don't have a solution to the demo issue. AFAIK there are no DAP dealers anywhere near where I live (SC) although maybe Atlanta might have some (2-3 hour drive). I just try to do as much research as I can.