[tienbasse]

I don't have any personal experience with differences in enclosure material, but if you go over to your local headphone shop, the difference between, say, a copper and a silver cable, would be extremely obvious and apparent within 2 seconds of listening. Try this for yourself before making assumptions.

The chassis doesn't see ANY signal, unlike cables.
A DAP is not a trumpet.

 

[lenkiatleong]

I don't have any personal experience with differences in enclosure material, but if you go over to your local headphone shop, the difference between, say, a copper and a silver cable, would be extremely obvious and apparent within 2 seconds of listening. Try this for yourself before making assumptions.

Yes, but this is not a fair statement, my friend. Music streams thru cable and cable does change sound signature. But case material has nothing to do with sound quality. Even Sony admitted that.

 

[lenkiatleong]

and I applaud your theory! Indeed, Sony, in addition to changing chassis, also changed the components. But, I have my own conspiracy theory, and it has something to do with that Pro EQ setting which can't be edited I just have a feeling it's tweaked between SS and CU, if everything else remains the same (pwb and all the compoments between SS and CU versions). Again, I have no other explanation, and of course, there is zero fact behind my theory so don't quote me on it lol!!!

You have my vote on this Pro EQ theory, twister6. AK is not very upfront with their product. Sony is more honest IMO.

 

[twister6]

Did I just open (or re-opened) a can of worms?

It's all about enjoying the music. I can see the argument if there is a premium price to pay for a different material and people feel they are taken advantage off, but in this case either SS or CU have the same price, regardless if you hear or don't the sound difference. So, it doesn't matter either way, if you buy or don't buy it, or if you choose one vs the other based on the sound difference or the looks. Just enjoy the music and if you are curious, try to attend global CanJams or local meets to see if one is available for audition. And btw, with a recent announcement of Lotoo PAW Gold Touch, I wonder if A&K and Sony will have a new DAP to challenge them.

 

[twister6]

You have my vote on this Pro EQ theory, twister6. AK is not very upfront with their product. Sony is more honest IMO.

I totally forgot about AK4497 DAC and its filters, thanks @tienbasse for reminding me. Plenue 2 uses the same AK4497 (a single DAC) and AKM filters have a noticeable effect on the sound. SP1000 doesn't have access to change the filters. So, I think this is a more plausable theory.

 

[lenkiatleong]

I totally forgot about AK4497 DAC and its filters, thanks @tienbasse for reminding me. Plenue 2 uses the same AK4497 (a single DAC) and AKM filters have a noticeable effect on the sound. SP1000 doesn't have access to change the filters. So, I think this is a more plausable theory.

I absolutely buy this idea, twister6. This is the closest theory and should explain the sound diff. Bravo.

 

[denis1976]

Did I just open (or re-opened) a can of worms?

It's all about enjoying the music. I can see the argument if there is a premium price to pay for a different material and people feel they are taken advantage off, but in this case either SS or CU have the same price, regardless if you hear or don't the sound difference. So, it doesn't matter either way, if you buy or don't buy it, or if you choose one vs the other based on the sound difference or the looks. Just enjoy the music and if you are curious, try to attend global CanJams or local meets to see if one is available for audition. And btw, with a recent announcement of Lotoo PAW Gold Touch, I wonder if A&K and Sony will have a new DAP to challenge them.

I think that the is Lotoo that wants to challenge the Sony and AK with this new Dap , not the reverse

 

[haiku]

Don´t know what all the fuss is about. Alex An once told me when I asked him that AK has found the different metals to produce slightly different sound signatures. So they´ve decided to make them available, so that every taste can be satisfied. No better than, no higher ranking etc., just different flavors.

 

[Giraku]

I don't care much about what actually makes the SQ difference. I do love SP1000Cu sound. That's it for me.

 

[Imusicman]

No need to worry about being shot down. Head-fi is the place where you can exercise your rights of audiophile speech freedom It's part of the ammendments written by Jude, somewhere in the forum The final sound is a combination of both the source and the headphones, and often it's a journey to find the best synergy. So, if you enjoying it, that's all that matters, bro!

Curious, what made you switch from wm1z to sp1000? I'm sure there are others who might be in the same boat, and can benefit from your experience.

Ok here goes.I was always in the market for a TOTL DAP. Naturally the WM1Z and SP1000 were at the very top of my list with a couple of outside bets like the QP2R and DX200 thrown in for good measure. (Id owned the QP1R for 2 years previously and enjoyed it very much before the volume knob gave up on me)
It just so happens that I was able to purchase a WM1Z at a really discounted price so I jumped on it while the opportunity was there. After all life's too short to sit on the fence forever, right? I owned the 1Z for about 5-6 months. During this time I burned it in, updated the firmware, listened to it extensively most days using my small collection of headphones (Utopia, PM-1, W80's & QC35). It was especially nice with my Utopia but not so great with the PM-1. Again I thought it was very good with the W80, just not great. I actually preferred the PM-1 & W80 with the QP1R. Im sure there are better pairings out there, I just didn't have them in my collection. Sure there were some Wow moments as there always is but not as many as would have liked. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed my time with 1Z and Im glad I had the opportunity to own it. However call me old fashioned (I am 50 after all) but I want to be wowed a lot more than I was when a portable set up is costing around £4000 full retail. There were another couple of elephants in the room which led to my decision to switch/change from the 1Z. I did know about them before my purchase but in reality they were harder to live than I thought they would be. The weight, I hope the 40th anniversary edition(if there is one) goes on a serious diet. Man that thing was heavy! The 2nd issue was the lack of wifi/streaming support. As I said I did know about these potential issues before buying and I have no regrets about having owned this DAP.

Im not sure if my experience is of interest to anyone but this was my experience. I now have recently purchased a 'as new' 2nd hand SP1000SS (only around a month old) again at a very discounted price. I can't comment on SQ or direct comparisons with the WM1Z accept to say early impressions are really, really good. It's playing nicely with my headphones (list above) The reduction in weight is very welcome as is the inclusion of Wifi and the ability to stream if I want.

Hope this helps

 

[twister6]

How about, your favorite pair ups with SP1000?

Or the big question, since I don't have Tidal account, how well does Tidal streaming works on SP1000? Can you download/listen off-line?

 

[Giraku]

How about, your favorite pair ups with SP1000?

Or the big question, since I don't have Tidal account, how well does Tidal streaming works on SP1000? Can you download/listen off-line?

Fully agreed. My favorite pairing with SP1000Cu is Tia Fourte + Horus.
Tidal streaming works well but without off-line option due to licensing issues.

 

[kubig123]

How about, your favorite pair ups with SP1000?

Or the big question, since I don't have Tidal account, how well does Tidal streaming works on SP1000? Can you download/listen off-line?

as per Tidal, no, you need to be constantly connected to a wifi, there is still no option to store song on the AK.

 

[twister6]

Thank you, gents, for Tidal off-line confirmation, i will make sure to note it in the review. I'm not big into streaming, though do use occasionally Spotify (for top edm and pop charts, just to discover new tunes). That one doesn't require a subscription as long as you can tolerate the limitations of free service. Wish Spotify would be supported on A&K DAPs...

 

[colonelkernel8]

Re. the issue of Cu vs SS :
These metallic enclosures form the common ground for the device's electrical components. I can give an example showing that this has an electrical reflect which cannot be subjective: using my LCDi4 in a room with carpet on the floor, with my AK240 ( whose ground has relatively less mass) the LCDi4 will get strongly audible electrostatic discharges (this was BTW reported by people other than me on the LCDi4 forum) but these discharges do not occur with my SP1000 which has much more mass for its ground.

Copper and steel have different electrical properties leading to possible differences in the device's ground, so it is not impossible for this to be heard with high-end players, as has often been reported about the AK380 and the SP1000.

The mass of the chassis had *nothing* to do with your receiving audible ESD and everything to do with the architecture of the chassis ground of the player. To suggest that the copper could sound different than the stainless steel version would be accusing the stainless steel version of being inherently flawed in its design. I would sure hope my $3000 audio player would be immune to ground noise from the case that would require a copper enclosure to remedy.