[JeremyLaurenson]

I will be getting the moon audio silver cable for my AK100II. Question is, is it a balenced cable or a regular one? And how much has the SQ changed? Thanks

Moon can do either, and in my case I have chosen to use a mini XLR disconnect so that I have a single cable to my IEM's, and can replace the termination on the other side as often as I want

See: http://jeremylaurenson.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/finally-the-near-perfect-custom-cable-set-for-your-custom-in-ear-monitors/

By the way, if anyone has the Moon audio minixlr to 2.5mm balanced AK cable (mine broke - see previous posts) I would much appreciate if you could test and post the pinouts- I'll be making one of these using the official AK balanced DIY connector and this would be very helpful

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

Some AK100II Case Pron for you guys... Click for Hirez images... This is the orange, and the images from the iPhone6 came out a touch red - happy new year.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Color matched: (this is what the color really looks like)

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

And some DIY Jack pron...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

And now for the bad news, the official Astell and Kern DIY kit gives me about 6 inches more separation on both sides playing King of Anything right out of the gate. The difference is obviously noticeable.

This is over a Norne audio 2.5 trrs with same silver dragon cable, cardas tri-e solder - and the current connector moon audio uses

Strain relief is going to be a little strange because the cable exits 90° to the housing

Strangely, the case does not fit exactly on when the kit is attached

Sorry about your wallet

 

[mike7898]

Some AK100II Case pro for you guys... Click for Hirez images... This is the orange, and the images from the iPhone6 came out a touch red - happy new year.

Simply Beautiful! Will be getting the same color for my AK100II. Thanks for sharing. How long did it take from UK?
Mike

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

Simply Beautiful! Will be getting the same color for my AK100II. Thanks for sharing. How long did it take from UK?
Mike

About a week

 

[musicinmymind]

And now for the bad news, the official Astell and Kern DIY kit gives me about 6 inches more separation on both sides playing King of Anything right out of the gate. The difference is obviously noticeable.

This is over a Norne audio 2.5 trrs with same silver dragon cable, cardas tri-e solder - and the current connector moon audio uses

Strain relief is going to be a little strange because the cable exits 90° to the housing

Strangely, the case does not fit exactly on when the kit is attached

Sorry about your wallet







 

 
there has to be 6 stands of wire coming out of DIY kit, I see only four. where are you connecting the ground.
 
do we get DIY silver dragon cable?

 

[Dopaminer]

Thanks for the pics - love the orange.   I think the 120ii orange is different; I`ll post when mine arrives or when  I find it in a shop. .  
 
On another note, the company Wagnus in Japan is selling 2.5mm balanced HD800 cables, for use with AK players.  Is anyone on this thread running their HD800 directly out of their AK240 or AK120ii ?  I would love to hear some impressions.  

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

there has to be 6 stands of wire coming out of DIY kit, I see only four. where are you connecting the ground.

do we get DIY silver dragon cable?

The other two strands are grounds which are not required for IEMs, but rather to allow your regular audio equipment (amps etc) share a common ground with the AK. In the case of using one of these for that application, you would use L+,L-,R+,R- and then 2 x Grounds to connect to the audio equipment. In the case of IEMs, or headphones, you only have 2 Ls and 2Rs to connect, and no real grounding.

For the cables, I use the old terminations that I had for the original cable which broke. Moon audio does sell some cable directly:
http://www.moon-audio.com/diy-audio-parts.html?cat=19
http://www.moon-audio.com/diy-audio-parts.html

 

[jamato8]

The other two strands are grounds which are not required for IEMs, but rather to allow your regular audio equipment (amps etc) share a common ground with the AK. In the case of using one of these for that application, you would use L+,L-,R+,R- and then 2 x Grounds to connect to the audio equipment. In the case of IEMs, or headphones, you only have 2 Ls and 2Rs to connect, and no real grounding.

For the cables, I use the old terminations that I had for the original cable which broke. Moon audio does sell some cable directly:
http://www.moon-audio.com/diy-audio-parts.html?cat=19
http://www.moon-audio.com/diy-audio-parts.html

Right, you only need 4 but for driving another electronic device you often require your 4 plus the ground. But using this connector in place of a 2.5 TRRS still makes it a 2.5 TRRS sound did I misunderstand that the sound was improved or did you go from SE to balanced? 

 

[Richsvt]

Does anyone have a good way to mate a portable amp to an AK100ii? I've done some searches and the closest I have found was someone here who engineered a way to sort of clamp the unit fashioning u-type holder and using dual-lock to secure it. I like the idea of using dual-lock but am afraid to adhere it to the beautiful surface of the AK for fear a leaving some kind of residue. Right now, using a silicone strap on only one end as another interferes with the screen too much and puts pressure on the volume pot...
Any other suggestions would be most welcome...

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

 Right, you only need 4 but for driving another electronic device you often require your 4 plus the ground. But using this connector in place of a 2.5 TRRS still makes it a 2.5 TRRS sound did I misunderstand that the sound was improved or did you go from SE to balanced? 

So, to be clear, I have one of these from Moon Audio:
 

 


So I have interchangeable connectors on my IEMs.
 
I have used the AK100II with a Moon Audio 2.5mm TRRS balanced connector adapter, which is available here: http://www.moon-audio.com/silver-dragon-cables/moon-audio-silver-dragon-v1-iem-extension-adapter-cable.html
That 2.5mm broke, and was generally not secure.
I then bought an Eidetic connector, and used Cardas Tri Eutectic solder to replace the broken TRRS from Moon: http://www.eidolic.com/Eidolic-Hifi-Audio-Headphone-Connectors-2-5.html
 
I then tried the Astell&Kern DIY kit with the same cable, and the sound is noticeably improved.
 
I therefore deduce that the quality of the 2.5mm TRRS from Astell&Kern is a much higher quality connector (I should hope so for the price)


Drew from Moon says they'll carry and provide the AK connectors as soon as they're available in the US

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

Does anyone have a good way to mate a portable amp to an AK100ii? I've done some searches and the closest I have found was someone here who engineered a way to sort of clamp the unit fashioning u-type holder and using dual-lock to secure it. I like the idea of using dual-lock but am afraid to adhere it to the beautiful surface of the AK for fear a leaving some kind of residue. Right now, using a silicone strap on only one end as another interferes with the screen too much and puts pressure on the volume pot...
Any other suggestions would be most welcome...

I would take a look around for someone to make you a "custom case" with leather. (e.g.: http://dragonleather.net) There are a few folks around the net - if you work with them they could literally make you a double-barrel case. AK on one side, Amp on the other... maybe some pouches for SD cards, cables etc.

 

[Richsvt]

That's a good idea, never thought of leather pouch. I will search and see what I can find...thanks for the suggestion.

 

[RUMAY408]

Does anyone have a good way to mate a portable amp to an AK100ii? I've done some searches and the closest I have found was someone here who engineered a way to sort of clamp the unit fashioning u-type holder and using dual-lock to secure it. I like the idea of using dual-lock but am afraid to adhere it to the beautiful surface of the AK for fear a leaving some kind of residue. Right now, using a silicone strap on only one end as another interferes with the screen too much and puts pressure on the volume pot...
Any other suggestions would be most welcome...

I'm using the Black Star Wallet Amp  from the ALO Audio website