The AK320 thread

[Uncle E1]

bedded the ak320 since last week ...
 

 

[SuperChonk]

Listened to this prior to release and if you think that specs can just determine the worth of a product; how wrong you are.

This is perfect for someone who does not need dsd playback thus with 128gb internally should be suffice. There are 2tb cards around anyways these days.

The 320 is much more neutral compared to the warm 380 and frankly i prefer the 320 sound to the 380. The sense of space and air is better on the 320.

Perhaps one would need to listen before ranting on dumbed down specs. In car speak, the engine alone does not completely determine the performance of the car.

 

[M-13]

Well the whole "worth it" question comes down to how good this thing sounds. If it sounds just like the AK380 or is 95% like it then that's kind of worth it for a lot of people, regardless of storage and lack of DSD. Micro SD capacity is getting bigger every year and cheaper per gigabyte/dollar
 
If it sounds nothing like the AK380 and sounds significantly inferior then it's not worth it and AK fanboys should just get the AK240 at a discount. Pretty simple.

 

[SuperChonk]

To be really honest. I did prefer the 320 over the 240. I would not say that it sounds inferior to the 380 but rather different and not in a bad way( on the contrary quite present to my ears). UI is smooth and I really like the new wheel design

Being quite a bit cheaper than the 380 and it having a more complex and neutral signature than the 240 would naturally have it placed higher than the 240.

 

[fumoffuXx]

Well this thing it you really wanna know its its worth the premium over the 240?
 
Heres the jist of it with a 240 comparison:
 
- Similar Signature and tonality.
- Wider sound stage
- Leaner sound (Less warm)
- Bigger Screen
- Badder battery(?)
- Oh can use AK CD ripper :O
- Oh hey i can use the AK380 AMP
- Awesome 380 display
- Sad points 128 internal storage
- Non native DSD playback (Then again DSD is a rich man's collection)
- Awesome AK JR wheel (WEEEE *spins *spins)

 

[my-2000]

Quote:

  Well this thing it you really wanna know its its worth the premium over the 240?
 
Heres the jist of it with a 240 comparison:
 
- Similar Signature and tonality.
- Wider sound stage
- Leaner sound (Less warm)
- Bigger Screen
- Badder battery(?)
- Oh can use AK CD ripper :O
- Oh hey i can use the AK380 AMP
- Awesome 380 display
- Sad points 128 internal storage
- Non native DSD playback (Then again DSD is a rich man's collection)
- Awesome AK JR wheel (WEEEE *spins *spins)

 
Pretty much agreed. The environment was a little bit noisy so it's not exactly a great assessment, but roughly speaking AK320 got the SQ of AK240, bass of v1.15 AK240 (very impressive bass, better than v1.17 AK380), with the soundstage of AK380.​ I didn't like the exposed wheel because ​it's bound to be turned by mistake if you put the player in the bag with other stuff.
 
Took a picture of it with my amp:
 


 
The Elvis MQS album next to it was the souvenir of the night.

 
 Btw, according to Alex, AK380 will remain as the flagship till at least the end of next year. AK simply cannot come up with a better player atm. I could hear my wallet making a big sigh of relief upon hearing that.

 

[Sound Eq]

now that is something that came perfect timing, i am all in 
 
that is best news i read so far, now i will have an ak player with parametric eq
 
when can we buy this

 

[Torq]

Listened to this prior to release and if you think that specs can just determine the worth of a product; how wrong you are.

This is perfect for someone who does not need dsd playback thus with 128gb internally should be suffice. There are 2tb cards around anyways these days.

The 320 is much more neutral compared to the warm 380 and frankly i prefer the 320 sound to the 380. The sense of space and air is better on the 320.

Perhaps one would need to listen before ranting on dumbed down specs. In car speak, the engine alone does not completely determine the performance of the car.

There are no microSD cards shipping anywhere that have more than 200 GB capacity.
 
There are plenty that CLAIM more capacity, but none of them are real - they're just MUCH smaller cards with an edited partition table.  You write more than a few GB to them and they'll overwrite earlier data and corrupt themselves.
 
The 512 GB card that Microdia announced has yet to see the light of day.
 
Hell, there aren't even full-size SD cards at more than 512 GB.

 

[jlbrach]

This is perfect for someone who does not need dsd playback thus with 128gb internally should be suffice. There are 2tb cards around anyways these days.
 
absolutely untrue...the largest micro SD card out there is 200Gb and frankly for my purposes a total of 312GB's which ends up being about 285GB is simply not sufficient for me.....i will stick with my Titan and 240.....When Astell kern puts out a new DAP with larger capacity and an amp that is powerful enough to drive the likes of HD800,HEK,LCD-4 etc I will look into it but this is beyond underwhelming to me...right now any used AK DAP with a Mojo is a far better option for me

 

[Torq]

  This is perfect for someone who does not need dsd playback thus with 128gb internally should be suffice. There are 2tb cards around anyways these days.
 
absolutely untrue...the largest micro SD card out there is 200Gb and frankly for my purposes a total of 312GB's which ends up being about 285GB is simply not sufficient for me.....i will stick with my Titan and 240.....When Astell kern puts out a new DAP with larger capacity and an amp that is powerful enough to drive the likes of HD800,HEK,LCD-4 etc I will look into it but this is beyond underwhelming to me...right now any used AK DAP with a Mojo is a far better option for me

If they ever get around to doing this, it'd be nice if they could also give the amp a lower output impedance - I find it very fishy that that spec is provided for all their players EXCEPT the add-on amp for the AK380.
 
That the AK120/Mojo combination walks all over even the AK380, especially with very low impedance IEMs and some of the more interesting full-size cans, just tickles me.

 

[PhilW]

now that is something that came perfect timing, i am all in 

that is best news i read so far, now i will have an ak player with parametric eq

when can we buy this

pre order now for early December

 

[cheznous]

Astell Kern don't seem to mention it's a time limited release on their site. Unless I missed it.

It's odd that it uses designation 320 yet is cheaper than 240.

 

[prismstorm]

 

Look at how lazy AK is. The 380 Amp's colour is Meteoric Titan and the 320 DAP is Gun Metal, hence the jarring color mismatch. But yes if it's just a limited edition with much less margin than the 380 why bother producing a specific amp for it with matching colours.
 
I've heard special editions for the 380 in the veins of the 240 ones (gold, SS, blue note) are difficult to come up with since they would also have to make all the accessories in that new paint job too. 

 

[SuperChonk]

 
There are no microSD cards shipping anywhere that have more than 200 GB capacity.
 
There are plenty that CLAIM more capacity, but none of them are real - they're just MUCH smaller cards with an edited partition table.  You write more than a few GB to them and they'll overwrite earlier data and corrupt themselves.
 
The 512 GB card that Microdia announced has yet to see the light of day.
 
Hell, there aren't even full-size SD cards at more than 512 GB.

They will get there buddy Remember the time when 1 GB of space was a big deal look where we have come today Perhaps I was wrong on the availability but I'm sure such cards will come in time.
 
Do give this a listen if you got an opportunity and they sound great compared against the 380 for the dollar.

 

[fumoffuXx]

I dont get it, no one is forcing anyone of you to buy a AK320. WHy the hate? SOur because u got a 380 and u can't stand seeing a product like this being launched?