[Mimouille]

Impressions in the following,
I managed to get my hands on an AK240 at a local headphone shop in Beijing. The owner was an avid fan of Taylor Swift and Chinese opera so that's basically what I listened to all afternoon. With my HE-500's plugged directly into the AK240, the overall sound was very clean with absolutely no background noise whatsoever. Compared to the other DAPs I managed to try out, the signiture of the AK240 was dead neutral. However, I found the sound of the AK240 to be a little less dynamic than the HM901's, and a bit sterile overall. The AK240 had the widest and deepest sound stage I had ever heard from a DAP, and at times felt a bit small sounding and/or distant compared to the HM901's. Resolution and detail retrieval matched the HM901's. Based on what I've heard, the AK240 would easily fair better with IEMs with its expansive sound stage and overall lack of background noise and coloration but the dynamics and presentation of the HM901s won me over as the better sounding DAP. It's a great DAP, and probably the closest thing to IEM perfection, but in all honesty, I don't think the AK240 is worth the $2000+ price tag (in my sense of economics, thats like 4000 Mcdonald's hamburgers). Those dual Cirrus Logic CS4398's are monsters though.

I already own it, but still, what headphone shop in Beijing has it?

 

[jedx02]

Yesterday I received my ak240 in the mail and have been listening nonstop . I have found a problem and wanted to ask the forum members before I return the unit. With the wifi on I could hear static noise intermittently in quiet passages. So I turned off the wifi and it was fine. However, when I tried to use the mqs server with the wifi back on the streamed tracks had a lot of consistent background hiss. Do I have a defective unit or is this common? I

 

[nazrin313]

owh darn....all these minor issues are kinda worrying...hope all this can be sorted via firmware upgrades

 

[headphonatic]

I already own it, but still, what headphone shop in Beijing has it?

There was an authorized AKG dealer who was sporting some of the best and most expensive headphones in the market. Beijing's Zhongguanchun electronics district. I also managed to try some LCD-3's along with the Stax SR-404.

 

[Mimouille]

Thanks

 

[jwbrent]

  Hi everyone,
 
I want to report an anomaly with my 240. I just moved to San Francisco and while getting my home all sorted out, I used my 240 as the source for my main system so I could have uninterrupted music going on while I worked. I started noticing that every so often, there would be a half second mute within a song. The problem initially happened only a few times a day, maybe, but now it appears to happen more often—a few times an hour.
 
I now live in a dense, RFI neighborhood whereas before, I lived in an isolated part of the Santa Cruz mountains. I mention this because I've noticed my bluetooth Tivoli radio connected to my MacBook do the same thing, although not as frequently. I wonder if there is some connection and whether RFI can induce such problems.
 
Any knowledgeable opinion would be greatly appreciated ...

 
I wanted to report back about the muting issue. I rebooted my 240 and plugged my Kimber KCAG cable (using a high quality stereo RCA to 3.5mm adapter) in and out several times. I did this since when I don't have my 240 connected to my main system, the KCAG/adapter is just left unplugged exposed to the elements. Now that I live close to the ocean, I wondered whether this may be causing any build up on the 3.5mm plug interfering with the connectivity.
 
Anyway, everything works fine, no muting. I'm not sure if it was the reboot or the cleaning, but the next time it happens, I'll do one or the other—not both—to see which method is fixing the issue.

 

[rudi0504]

I wanted to report back about the muting issue. I rebooted my 240 and plugged my Kimber KCAG cable (using a high quality stereo RCA to 3.5mm adapter) in and out several times. I did this since when I don't have my 240 connected to my main system, the KCAG/adapter is just left unplugged exposed to the elements. Now that I live close to the ocean, I wondered whether this may be causing any build up on the 3.5mm plug interfering with the connectivity.

Anyway, everything works fine, no muting. I'm not sure if it was the reboot or the cleaning, but the next time it happens, I'll do one or the other—not both—to see which method is fixing the issue.

Woow you have brand new AK 240 replacement unit , but still got problem .
First was Your volume Controll is not worked properly .
I Hope you can Find The solution soon

 

[jwbrent]

Woow you have brand new AK 240 replacement unit , but still got problem .
First was Your volume Controll is not worked properly .
I Hope you can Find The solution soon

 
yeah, I was worried that I had a second bad sample, but so far my fix seems to be working fine. Frankly, the only reason why I don't have my unit upgraded by RWA is due to any problem that may show up in the future. My talk with Jimmy at iriver suggested that 240s are replaced with new ones during the warranty period unless the problem is simple and can be repaired at their facility. Perhaps when my warranty expires I'll do the full upgrade to even get better sound when using my 240 as a source component.

 

[dsincere]

Woow you have brand new AK 240 replacement unit , but still got problem .
First was Your volume Controll is not worked properly .
I Hope you can Find The solution soon

Yeah I feel you because my volume wheel is screwing up too I thought maybe it would be a software issue makes me mad because the volume spikes up when you click past a certain point usually in the higher range but it's annoying....makes me mad because I'm attached to this thing like a life line....I had a real withdrawl debate going on because I'm supposed to return it so it can be sent back but I knew I was going to be in for a wait long wait of up to a month....this will be impossible for me to handle unthinkable would probably leave me sitting in the corner somewhere twiddling my thumbs and talking to myself not good couldn't handle it ....so I decided to put a deposit on another unit and hopefully when it arrives at the end of the month or first part of next I'll pay for it pick up the new unit and at the same time send this one back... tough choice to make but I'm becoming an addict...I can't seem to function properly without this box....

 

[jwbrent]

Yeah I feel you because my volume wheel is screwing up too I thought maybe it would be a software issue makes me mad because the volume spikes up when you click past a certain point usually in the higher range but it's annoying....makes me mad because I'm attached to this thing like a life line....I had a real withdrawl debate going on because I'm supposed to return it so it can be sent back but I knew I was going to be in for a wait long wait of up to a month....this will be impossible for me to handle unthinkable would probably leave me sitting in the corner somewhere twiddling my thumbs and talking to myself not good couldn't handle it ....so I decided to put a deposit on another unit and hopefully when it arrives at the end of the month or first part of next I'll pay for it pick up the new unit and at the same time send this one back... tough choice to make but I'm becoming an addict...I can't seem to function properly without this box....

 
boy, do I understand where you are. I thought about doing the same thing when my first 240 went down, but iriver was able to turn it around in a week. I assume you have the same issue with the optical encoder, an issue that has popped up more than a few times from my understanding. They should replace it, not fix it ... something to look into to make sure.
 
The hard thing for me was putting 400 hours on my replacement unit so it sounded like my first one. I was definitely going through withdrawal from the missing dopamine in my brain.

 

[dsincere]

boy, do I understand where you are. I thought about doing the same thing when my first 240 went down, but iriver was able to turn it around in a week. I assume you have the same issue with the optical encoder, an issue that has popped up more than a few times from my understanding. They should replace it, not fix it ... something to look into to make sure.

The hard thing for me was putting 400 hours on my replacement unit so it sounded like my first one. I was definitely going through withdrawal from the missing dopamine in my brain.

Yes I understand what you're saying I remember seeing your post when you first mentioned it and was like ahhh snap I'm having the same issue but I didn't want to give it up and being how I'm in the Philippines for now it takes a little while to get another unit if I was back home it would be a cake walk but I know anything longer than a couple of days is a no go I can't do it no way no how......so I'll either sell the new unit or give to my lady...it's funny because she likes the 240 but then saw the new units and likes the color on the back of the units as well as the overall finish on the units

 

[jwbrent]

Yes I understand what you're saying I remember seeing your post when you first mentioned it and was like ahhh snap I'm having the same issue but I didn't want to give it up and being how I'm in the Philippines for now it takes a little while to get another unit if I was back home it would be a cake walk but I know anything longer than a couple of days is a no go I can't do it no way no how......so I'll either sell the new unit or give to my lady...it's funny because she likes the 240 but then saw the new units and likes the color on the back of the units as well as the overall finish on the units

 
I remember when I owned my second car ever, an MG Midget, this after owning another British car, an Austin. I loved the MG so much, but it kept me broke from all the repairs it needed. I recall a mechanic friend of mine saying when it comes to MGs, you need to own two, one to drive while the other is being repaired. Not to say you'll have such luck with your 240, but having another one around assures you of never having to worry about a repair.

 

[jwbrent]

   
I remember when I owned my second car ever, an MG Midget, this after owning another British car, an Austin. I loved the MG so much, but it kept me broke from all the repairs it needed. I recall a mechanic friend of mine saying when it comes to MGs, you need to own two, one to drive while the other is being repaired. Not to say you'll have such luck with your 240, but having another one around assures you of never having to worry about a repair.

 
I wonder if 240 sales are being impacted by the imminent release of the 120MkII. From what I can gather, the only difference between the two is native DSD playback. If this is so, there may not be any difference between the sound of a 240 and a 120MkII. I suppose the larger case on the 240 might allow for better componentry or a better designed amplifier, but we won't know until the 120MkII is released.

 

[Quest88]

   
I wonder if 240 sales are being impacted by the imminent release of the 120MkII. From what I can gather, the only difference between the two is native DSD playback. If this is so, there may not be any difference between the sound of a 240 and a 120MkII. I suppose the larger case on the 240 might allow for better componentry or a better designed amplifier, but we won't know until the 120MkII is released.

I don't think so. The 120II is already released. I've owned one for about a week now.
Detailed impressions by quite a few forumers are in the separate thread.. basically the AK240 is of a different sound character than the AK120II, and performance is still higher in line with the price.

 

[jwbrent]

  I don't think so. The 120II is already released. I've owned one for about a week now.
Detailed impressions by quite a few forumers are in the separate thread.. basically the AK240 is of a different sound character than the AK120II, and performance is still higher in line with the price.

 
thanks for the update ... I don't follow many threads and haven't even looked at the 120MkII thread. I didn't even know they are available.