[blazinblazin]

It's good to see SONY shakes the throne of AK, AK do a fast counter back with their KANN and SP1000.

In the end the consumers benefits~

 

[piercer]

Thank you for the welcome. We are working on a providing a better presence here on Head-Fi to answer any questions or concerns of members with regards to AK products.

Hi Jason, excellent that you are on the forums.

Do you have a pin-out/specifications for the 5 pins at the bottom of my SP1000? Do you have the specs for the thread of the screw that would be used to attach any accessory?

I would like to 3D print some sort of simple pin->wire adapter so that the pin-out can be connected to one's choice of amplifier without having to us the connectors at the top.

Also, where can I get extra screen projectors from?

Cheers!

 

[Whitigir]

Thank you for A&K to finally have a rep here . A&K also listen to us, cheer!

 

[JasonNYC]

HELLO JASON!so what do you say about that?

..... I mean that the AK380SS unbalanced without amp is stronger than the SP1000 unbalanced

For example, if I take 5 certain tracks, scroll up on VOLUME 140 with both players, with the SAME TRACKS .....then the AK380SS (without amp) does not distort, the SP1000 distorts significantly. .... so what do we conclude from this?

And this happens with the K812 .... a headphone which is very easy to drive

NOMAX

PS. both have allegedly 2.2VRMS .... so something has to be wrong here.....and believe me its not the Headphone..i have many HP'S at Home

Hi Nomax,

I'm not sure of the answer, but I will find out for you. Let me run this by our hardware team and get back to you.

 

[Whitigir]

Hi Jason, excellent that you are on the forums.

Do you have a pin-out/specifications for the 5 pins at the bottom of my SP1000? Do you have the specs for the thread of the screw that would be used to attach any accessory?

I would like to 3D print some sort of simple pin->wire adapter so that the pin-out can be connected to one's choice of amplifier without having to us the connectors at the top.

Also, where can I get extra screen projectors from?

Cheers!

This is an excellent question. I am not a fan of USB C, but if using these pins out Adapter to output USB digital transport is a possibility, then it is a better alternative

 

[AxelCloris]

Thank you for the welcome. We are working on a providing a better presence here on Head-Fi to answer any questions or concerns of members with regards to AK products.

Hello Jason, welcome to the forums!

It's good to see SONY shakes the throne of AK, AK do a fast counter back with their KANN and SP1000.

In the end the consumers benefits~

Both of these products likely spent anywhere from 12-36 months in development (possibly even more), so I don't think AK released the KANN and SP1000 as a "response" to Sony's Signature Series Walkmans.

 

[Whitigir]

If I am not mistaken AK4497 is the new Flagship DAC from AKM which was announced Last year, so massively produced it for commercially availability wouldn't be that immediate ? If so, SP1000 probably was Planned out during that 12-36 months period as you said, but the physical product wouldn't be possible until 6-7 months ago. Good thing is that none of us is seeing the pricing of $4500 or such, and probably thanks to Sony WM1Z ? Until then, only A&K was the most expensive and luxurious DAP to go for. Thanks to A&K for resurrection of the Flagship Walkman. I think I am living in a good time for music

 

[JasonNYC]

Hi Jason, excellent that you are on the forums.

Do you have a pin-out/specifications for the 5 pins at the bottom of my SP1000? Do you have the specs for the thread of the screw that would be used to attach any accessory?

I would like to 3D print some sort of simple pin->wire adapter so that the pin-out can be connected to one's choice of amplifier without having to us the connectors at the top.

Also, where can I get extra screen projectors from?

Cheers!

I don't have the pin-out specs for the SP1000 at the moment. I will reach out to the team and find out.

Currently are not selling screen protectors separately, but are planning on doing so in the future, at least directly on the Astell&Kern US e-store.

 

[bmichels]

This is an excellent question. I am not a fan of USB C, but if using these pins out Adapter to output USB digital transport is a possibility, then it is a better alternative

Those 5 pins at the bottom of the SP1000 do NOT carry digital signal, but instead Alanog sigal. 5 pins for: L+, L-, R+, R- and Ground. it is like the adaptor they sell with their XLR cable

 

[Whitigir]

Those 5 pins at the bottom of the SP1000 do NOT carry digital signal, but instead Alanog sigal. 5 pins for: L+, L-, R+, R- and Ground. it is like the adaptor they sell with their XLR cable

Thank you for this information. So in a sense, it is used for the analog line out cable where Ground is for shielding and Balanced out analog for a proper Balanced out sources into an amp.

 

[piercer]

Thank you for this information. So in a sense, it is used for the analog line out cable where Ground is for shielding and Balanced out analog for a proper Balanced out sources into an amp.

And the perfect source for connecting to an external amp that has it's own volume control. I wonder if they are output direct from the DAC?

 

[AxelCloris]

If I am not mistaken AK4497 is the new Flagship DAC from AKM which was announced Last year, so massively produced it for commercially availability wouldn't be that immediate ? If so, SP1000 probably was Planned out during that 12-36 months period as you said, but the physical product wouldn't be possible until 6-7 months ago. Good thing is that none of us is seeing the pricing of $4500 or such, and probably thanks to Sony WM1Z ? Until then, only A&K was the most expensive and luxurious DAP to go for. Thanks to A&K for resurrection of the Flagship Walkman. I think I am living in a good time for music

Some partners can get access to new DAC chips before they're announced, giving them an early start to work the new tech into their products. The same can be seen with smartphone manufacturers and mobile processor companies. When Qualcomm announced a new Snapdragon it's not long before phones using it are announced. I don't know if that's the case with the SP1000, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear their agreements with AKM got them early access to the AK4497. Again, that's just conjecture, I can't say if that's actually the case here or not. On top of that, manufacturing lines are sometimes up and running to build the tech before it's announced. Apple is a great example of this. They sometimes have leaks showing completed builds of their new models before they're unveiled to the public.

 

[bmichels]

...So in a sense, it is used for the analog line out cable where Ground is for shielding and Balanced out analog for a proper Balanced out sources into an amp.

Corect. The AK380 had only 4 pins at the bottom, thus missing the Ground. The SP1000 with 5 pins add the ground that is necessary for perfect connection to an amp...

 

[bflat]

Some partners can get access to new DAC chips before they're announced, giving them an early start to work the new tech into their products. The same can be seen with smartphone manufacturers and mobile processor companies. When Qualcomm announced a new Snapdragon it's not long before phones using it are announced. I don't know if that's the case with the SP1000, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear their agreements with AKM got them early access to the AK4497. Again, that's just conjecture, I can't say if that's actually the case here or not. On top of that, manufacturing lines are sometimes up and running to build the tech before it's announced. Apple is a great example of this. They sometimes have leaks showing completed builds of their new models before they're unveiled to the public.

I just got an email announcing the new LIO DAC 2.0 from RWA. It also uses dual AK4497. Based on the details, I didn't realize how big of an upgrade the AK4497 is over the AK4490. Of course for the SP1000 nobody but AK knows the details on the implementation but the AK4497 supports NOS operation with no digital filter and I would love to hear that. Really wish AK would enable user selectable filters and NOS/OS options. This would really enable each user to fine tune the sound to their liking and genre.

 

[Whitigir]

I just got an email announcing the new LIO DAC 2.0 from RWA. It also uses dual AK4497. Based on the details, I didn't realize how big of an upgrade the AK4497 is over the AK4490. Of course for the SP1000 nobody but AK knows the details on the implementation but the AK4497 supports NOS operation with no digital filter and I would love to hear that. Really wish AK would enable user selectable filters and NOS/OS options. This would really enable each user to fine tune the sound to their liking and genre.

All you would need to know is that AK4497 is the Flagship from AKM with the highest dynamic range in the line up. Sabres also has newer flagship which is currently the king of Dynamic range for DAC chip in the industry. It has a whooping 140Db dynamic range if run mono, and about 128 or so if run in stereo, and it is the ES9038Pro

Then, next up, it is not the matters about the DAC alone, which is equally important is the implementations, the supporting components, the power supplied....etc. However, DAC itself is an easier term for marketing the players

Different people prefer different DAC as they believe different DAC carry different sound signature, which is correct to a degree