[ext1]

Is there anywhere we can see a changelog of each firmware revision?

 

[Traveller]

Is there anywhere we can see a changelog of each firmware revision?

When an update arrives you can review past updates. I did a quick screenshot of mine, FWIW

 

 

 

 

 

[WAS55]

I determined the source of the problem with trying to Bluetooth stream music from my AK320 on Firmware 1.20 to a Bose Soundtouch 30 III speaker.   There is some sort of incompatibility between iRiver's aptX HD software contained in the 1.20 firmware update and the aptX software used by the Bose speaker.    
 
So how did I determine this?   I previously downloaded the 1.12 firmware file to update my AK 320 from the 1.11 firmware - so that I could then update to 1.20 over the air.  Per the AK support site you can not update directly to the 1.20 firmware with firmware below 1.12.   This evening I used the previously downloaded 1.12 firmware file to backdate to firmware 1.12.   Backdate worked fine, nothing lost etc.   And the AK320 now streams to the Bose speaker via Bluetooth with zero issues.  Hence the conclusion on incompatibility between iRiver's APT-X HD software contained in the 1.20 firmware update and the APT-X software used by the Bose speaker.  The aptX HD codec was introduced by Qualcom earlier this year and is different than the older aptX codec.
 
I also received a reply from AK Support in the US that confirmed the 1.20 firmware update added aptX HD Bluetooth support:
 
Hi Bill,
 
Since the 1.20 update brought aptX HD support, it could have a compatibility issue with your Bose speakers. Please check the Bluetooth specs on the speakers and make sure it supports the proper Bluetooth formats and are able to play the bit resolution and sampling rates that the AK320 are able to play.
 
Regards,
 
Astell&Kern / iriver US Customer Service Center
 
So for now the solution seems to be remaining with the 1.12 firmware.  I did send another note to the AK US support folks to let them know about the issue and suggested that they add a switch to the Bluetooth area of settings to allow switching between the aptX and aptX HD codexs. 
 
WAS55
 

 

[Traveller]

Originally Posted by WAS55 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Since the 1.20 update brought aptX HD support, it could have a compatibility issue with your Bose speakers. Please check the Bluetooth specs on the speakers and make sure it supports the proper Bluetooth formats and are able to play the bit resolution and sampling rates that the AK320 are able to play.
Astell&Kern / iriver US Customer Service Center

Ah, now we're getting somewhere! T4S!
So A&K introduced support for "aptX HD" with 1.20 and your Bose doesn't like it and my (3.0) headset doesn't care. Just like USB, BT is designed to be downwards compatible but maybe your Bose is 4.0 and that's the difference. We need someone with a 4.0 device to "break the tie"... .
It's almost 100% certain that your Bose is not aptX HD compatible given the fact that AptX HD is so new...
..what is AptX-HD compatible is A&K's own XB10... hence the real reason for the recent update to AptX-HD ...

 
Ref:
aptX: 16b48K / aptX HD: 24b48K
BT 3.0 "High Speed" (<24Mbps) / BT 4.0 "Low Energy"

 

[WAS55]

Hi Traveler,
 
You mentioned "Just like USB, BT is designed to be downwards compatible but maybe your Bose is 4.0 and that's the difference."  However I do not think finding someone with a 4.0 Bluetooth device will break the tie. 
 
I did some more reading on the aptX HD codec.  Any device that needs to receive and decode aptX HD information apparently needs to have a chipset that can do this (thank you Qualcom).  It is not just a firmware upgrade.  Hence if the AK 320 sends aptX HD info and a device (my Bose speaker in this case) does not have the aptX HD chipset to decode it, then there may be issues.  Bluetooth is indeed backward compatible - so in this case if you have a device that has the aptX HD chipset it can still receive and decode the older aptX information, but not the other way around.  
 
So it appears that the AK320 1.12 firmware sent Bluetooth info in the aptX format, and the new AK 320 1.20 firmware switched to the aptX HD format for sending info.   And unfortunately, for many with older aptX Bluetooth devices, Astell and Kern failed to allow for switching between the two Bluetooth formats.  Since they obviously have both sets of software it should have been relatively easy to set a switch between the aptX formats in the settings area of the AK 320.   I suspect this also affects the AK300, AK380 and maybe other models.   I have made Astell and Kern US customer support aware of the issue - will be interesting to see their response. 
 
I think you are correct that Astell and Kern went to the aptX HD codec since they brought out the XB10.  But it seems like a waste of money to have to purchase a $189 XB10 (see https://us.astellnkern.com/products/astell-kern-ak-xb10) to use an older device when a simple aptX/aptX HD switch included in the firmware would allow use of older devices, albeit with a loss in fidelity.     
 
WAS55

 

[MunDa]

How does the ak320 compare to its younger brother ak300 and dp-x1? Is it worth paying the 2x price tag?

 

[haiku]

How does the ak320 compare to its younger brother ak300 and dp-x1? Is it worth paying the 2x price tag?

I asked Drew Baird of Moon Audio, if it´s worth the money to go from my AK300/380amp to AK320. He said no. The only real upgrade worth the money is to go straight to the AK380.

 

[Traveller]

...Any device that needs to receive and decode aptX HD information apparently needs to have a chipset that can do this (thank you Qualcom).  It is not just a firmware upgrade.  Hence if the AK 320 sends aptX HD info and a device (my Bose speaker in this case) does not have the aptX HD chipset to decode it, then there may be issues.  Bluetooth is indeed backward compatible - so in this case if you have a device that has the aptX HD chipset it can still receive and decode the older aptX information, but not the other way around.

I wasn't trying to suggest otherwise. My older than AptX-compatible BT 3.0 headset has no problem communicating with the 320+1.2 and your device does. I'm trying to figure out why that is.
There is little chance that your device supports AptX HD (native) or that A&K's 1.20 would assume that... . There must be some kind of "handshake" process involved before a communication protocol is selected... .
 
The 320 has been on sale since Dec. 2015 and the 380 since June 2015. Qualcomm acquired CSR plc. in mid-2015. AptX HD was launched at the beginning of 2016. Thus, it's highly improbable that the 320 or 380 have the required chipset IF it's really a new chipset in play... . The obvious question is why A&K would implement AptX HD support if it's not feasible with their existing chipset. The chipset in question however still bares the name of the former company, CSR8675.
 
Sigh.
 
I was all set to buy the B&W P7 Wireless cans and now it seems I should wait on an AptX-HD combo. The ATH-DSR9BT are definitely up there with the B&Ws but what a shame to learn the AK320/AK380* may not be in the position to take advantage of them. So I'll have to trade in my LG G4 for a G5...

 
*What of the AK300 / AK70s... they were released in mid 2016. They *could* have the CSR8675... .
 
CAN OF WORMS. argh.

 

 

[MunDa]

thx for sharing ur insights.

 

[Traveller]

 

"AK320 is capable of bit-to-bit playback up to 24bit, 192kHz." "32bit, 384kHz is downsampled to 24bit, 192kHz ... DSD 64/128 is converted via DSD-to-PCM to PCM 24bit, 176kHz for playback."

So one more (minor) issue for the list; it's clear that the AK320/300/70 cannot (...or will not...) play DSD256. However, I just noticed that
it will not transmit such files to a capable external DAC either...
...
...my Smartphone can manage it so I would expect the AK320/300/70 to have no problems with this task.
 
My guess is that A&K...
1. checks first for the file type
2. Decides if it is valid
3. If yes - goes on to either play (after decoding / down-sampling as necessary) or transmit it to an external DAC.
4. If no, it presents the user with an error message, regardless if there's an external DAC or not (because it may not check for that at this stage)

So I have to "retract my statement" (above in red) as my Android Smartphone + UAPP can play the 32b384K version - but only when UAPP's  "Bit Perfect" option is unchecked! I didn't remember unchecking it during my testing way back when and recently I had to re-install the App on my phone and that's how I realized the real situation... .
 
UAPP plays it - but I have to assume it's down-sampling the original data; AK320 refuses to play it but I'm betting that A&K only performs bit-perfect transfers as a "transport". I am waiting for confirmation from the UAPP developers about my down-sampling theory as this would show that the AK320 is not at fault.

 
 
 
 

...I have made Astell and Kern US customer support aware of the issue - will be interesting to see their response.

I'm also very interested in there response as they recently updated the online specifications of all newer AK DAPs with "AptX HD", which wasn't the case prior to the firmware update.
I honestly have high hopes that their players already incorporate the CSR8675 chip-set. I was planning to pick up a pair of B&W P7 Wireless headphones but now I'm in a holding pattern to find out if the AKs can (or cannot) natively process AptX HD...

 
 
@WAS55 - have a look at this review of A&K's XB10: incredibly, A&K saw fit to share the review on their own Facebook site...

 
"Astell&Kern’s DAPs are next to useless with the XB10..."
 
Given the date of the review, it most likely was written before the latest FW release; still...

 

[WAS55]

Traveler - you stated "There must be some kind of "handshake" process involved before a communication protocol is selected..." in your last post.  Over on the XB10 thread user Jonstatt reported that his AK380 on the 1.40 firmware shows "aptX" on the screen when connected to aptX headphones and shows "aptX HD" on the screen when connected to the XB10.  So it does appear that there is a "handshake" and the AK380 then decides what type of Bluetooth info to send to the receiving device.  I have asked Jonstatt to post a photo of his AK380 screen with the aptX / aptX HD notification.  When my AK320 was on the 1.20 firmware I did not see a notice of what type of Bluetooth it was sending, so possibly AK implemented the Bluetooth handshake on the AK380, but forgot to do so on the AK320?   In any event I sent a second email to AK USA support and received a reply as shown below.
 
Dear Astell & Kern,
 
Further to my earlier note I have done further research on the aptX HD codec.  Apparently receiving devices need the Qualcom chipset to receive and decode aptX HD information.  Since the aptX HD chipset only came out in mid 2016 my Bose speaker (and almost every other Bluetooth device out there) does not have the capability to "read" the aptX HD Bluetooth information being sent by the AK320 using the 1.20 firmware.  Since Astell and Kern obviously have the firmware code for both aptX (1.12 firmware) and aptX HD (1.20 firmware) could I suggest that they consider offering a switch in the Bluetooth area of settings to allow switching between aptX and aptX HD to allow the AK320 to stream to older devices? 
 
Regards,
 
Bill S
-------------------------------------
 
Hi Bill,
 
Thanks very much for your feedback. We will relay it to our R&D team and hope to have the Bluetooth issues resolved in a future firmware update.
 
Regards,
 
Astell&Kern / iriver US Customer Service Center
-------------------------------------



 
Hopefully AK will resolve the issue as I would like to have both access to Tidal that came with the 1.20 firmware AND use of the Bose speaker from time to time.    I know you were interested in aptX HD headphones - over on Qualcom's website the Audio-Technica ATH-DSR9BT and ATH-DSR7BT headphones are listed as aptX HD compatible. 
 
WAS55

 

[Traveller]

...Over on the XB10 thread user Jonstatt reported that his AK380 on the 1.40 firmware shows "aptX" on the screen when connected to aptX headphones and shows "aptX HD" on the screen when connected to the XB10....

Cool

Even cooler - I asked A&K if the AK3xx were all equipped with the CSR8675 chipset and they confirmed it!!! Very nice to see that A&K were one step ahead, planning to offer AptX HD

 
As I currently have no AptX HD devices, I cannot confirm "Jonstatt's" findings with the 320 except to say that the 320 now displays the Qualcomm AptX logo for about 3secs...
 

 

 

[parabellum777]

I´m having issues with the tags of .wav files. I am not able to see the "artist" tag, it is always shown as "unknown". I can see the other tags, even the image of the cover, but not the artist. I´ve tried to modify the tag with Mp3tag, foobar2000 and kid3 programs, and none of them make the artist tag appear on AK320 screen. What am I missing? What am I doing wrong? 

 

[Traveller]

...Everything works as described* (...or implied*) except...
... EDIT: Bluetooth "reception" is rather poor. It will manage the "10M standard" but with no major obstacles in the way. Otherwise even @ 1M one can experience drop-outs. I placed the 320 on a shelf 1.5M behind me and turned around to face my desk and immediately experienced drop-outs. I tested the 320 (+FW 1.20) with two different BT headphones (including A&K's own XB10) and the results were identical. When I tested my LG G4 smartphone with both headsets the results were stellar... .
...

 
After recently acquiring A&K's XB10 I had to add a comment about the 320's BT quality (see above). As for the question of the 320's ability to use the AptX-HD codec, I have no way of verifying it. I would need an AptX-only headphone dongle so that I could plug in the same headphone / IEM into both BT-dongles. This would provide the means to properly compare 16-bit AptX against 24-bit AptX HD.
 

 

[asnyc75]

Hi there, I wanted to ask you if you have issues with the pressure-sensitive home button on the AK3xx. I know there are complains from others and although when using the player with the case everything works well, when the case is not present is really a pain to make it work. I sent it for evaluation and they said it was OK but I have a lot of issus still. Any comments or advice? I am so tired that I am thinking about downgrading to the AK240 just use the glass button. Thanks.