Beauty shot …
I bought the SA700 in December when it went on sale for $999 down from its regular price of $1,299. Previously, I had an AK240 Stainless Steel edition, but due to the faulty design with its 2.5mm housing connector, I decided after five years of ownership to give it to my 19 year old son since his collection of IEMs use 3.5mm connectors, so he loves it. I’m grooming him for even greater things in the future and it’s really great we share a passion for music as well as gear.
For the most part, the SA700 is an improvement sound and function wise over the 240SS, no doubt partly due to the AKM DAC (dual AK4492s) used which are a more power efficient version of the AK4497 according to AKM’s website. There are still a few functional anomalies carried over from the 240SS, noticeably a brief sluggishness in the UI at times, but I believe if I used the fastest SD Micro card available instead of the Lexor 512GB card that I bought on sale for $70, the sluggish behavior would likely be reduced if not gone.
The SA700 has a bump in its midrange around 1K that creates a more forward character, I tend to EQ this frequency down by 2dB, sometimes more especially with the Odin. This improves the listening experience for me greatly, and combined with the SA700’s slight warming of the trebles, the overall tone is detailed with very good articulation of stage size/imaging. Since the 240SS did not feature side-loading, I like this additional feature in the SA700, but I do wish A&K would whitelist more sites, especially internet radio sites.
The SA700 purchase was intended as a stop gap until a new flagship from Sony is released, hopefully soon (since the SA700 was created as a homage to the original AK120—a DAP I owned—and I really like its aesthetics as well). Due to all the positive feedback here on Lotoo, I have been checking out the LPGT as well as other flagships, but I like small DAPs that can be operated easily with one hand, so this narrows down the field considerably since most flagships are larger sized. I grew especially interested in the Hifiman R2R Black with its BB 1704K DACs, but I’ve read it is buggy, a big no no for me. After all, my first DAP was a Colorfly C4 Pro, and I quickly grew tired of its buggy nature.
Finally, the V14 has become one of my favorites in my collection, bettered only by the Mason FS and the Shichiku.Kangen. It fits really well and provides a great seal with the qdc silicon tips (very soft and comfortable, along the lines of the final E tips). The sound is immersive with big bass, even with the bass switch off. I’m using my Odin Stormbreaker with it, and I like what this cable does for the overall sound, especially the trebles.
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, and quite true! From a Freudian perspective, the battle between the hedonist Id and the ascetic Super Ego. Id has been quite dominant in my life the past year. 
