[M Coupe]

I have 3 balanced cables from Ted Allen for my IEMs.  Silver, Silver Litz and Copper Litz for the Ray samuels intruder.  Today, I spoke with  him and ordered RSA to 2.5 AK240 balanced adapter inputs in copper litz and silver litz configurations.  I also ordered balanced out from AK 240 to RSA balanced in to use with my RSA Intruder.  I know that 2.5 won't be as durable as my RSA balanced inputs and that does make me a little nervous.  I did get right angle connectors for the AK240 out to RSA input to try and minimize issue when I wan the extra amps power.
 
I will post pictures when I get them all in.  Ted Allen is great to work with if any of you want balanced cables for your AK240.  Cheers!

 

[Saraguie]

I have the regular 128 sandisk ultra that is 10mb/sec less than that one.  I tested on AK100 and worked just fine.  Neither that one or the one I have are speed monsters so I would save money and get the ultra (non) plus model.  I think I got mine for less than 80 bucks on Amazon.

It is now about 15 bucks more than when I purchased it but still much less than even a few months ago.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-MicroSDXC-Memory-Adapter/dp/B00IIJ6W4S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408233806&sr=8-1&keywords=sandisk+128gb+micro+sd

It's 11. cheaper than I paid at Amazon and the least I can remember seeing on Amazon.

 

[daseinpdx]

 
I thought they can help with a true balance line out by drilling a hole on the side...
I agree that the 2.5mm balance is not exactly a genius design in the beginning... wow, 2500 euro for a DAP...

 
Well, you should keep in mind that it would be more genius than shorting out a 2500 dap by accidentally plugging the cable into the wrong jack.  It is a safety precaution that could save someone from destroying their expensive device.  A faulty jack would be covered by warranty - but iriver would not be obligated to provide free warranty service when a customer destroys their device by using the wrong jack.  Of course people would then complain about why they used the same size plug for both balanced and unbalanced!  From the consumer perspective, the 2.5 jack might be preferable even with higher rates of defect.
 
In addition, i don't think anyone would have anticipated that switching to a 2.5mm plug would lead to fit issues.  A 3.5mm balanced jack could end up with similar tolerance issues as well.

 

[kkcc]

I love my ak240 and had been a fanboy since ak100.... but really... shorting things with the wrong jack! this kept getting repeated to justify the design design of 2.5 trrs. not sure if it'd actually happen. I plug in my 3.5 trs single end or my 3.5 trrs balanced cables to the SAME jack on my hm901 every day without ever bothering to check if the jack is in SE or balanced mode and nothing had been fried thus far.... just saying there are many ways to implement balanced output.

Many users (myself included) who are used to balanced connections for IEMs or portable DAP/dac/amps feel AK's decision as a late comer to the game deciding to disregard all existing (imo more robust and proven ) solutions and go 2.5mm is rather suboptimal, which is somewhat substantiated by many reports on jack or cable termination failure.

 

[Bechti]

Yes, this is a known problem..

 
I'm still interested whether it's a known AK240 socket problem, or a known plug problem:
 
Found this review from Tokyo Summer Festival:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/727389/tokyo-fujiya-summer-potaken-festival-19th-july-2014
 
"[...] I tried his Whiplash cables of which for some of those who may have followed my posts, will remember I had concerns on the 2.5mm TRRS plugs that Whiplash uses. I tried the a few Whiplash cables and their 2.5mm TRRS simply cuts out with my AK240. Poor Craig had to fix these issues and even sent Dimitri his AK240 to show that the cables were fine but for some reason or another, the cables don't operate consistently with different AK240's. Whist this starts to point the finger at AK240's implementation, other TRRS plugs used by other cable makers (e.g. Wagnus, JHA's AKR03, etc.) so far have been fine."
 
I have a cable with a plug looking similar to the Whiplash version. The rings on this plug are inconsistent in size and appear missaligned, that would explain why it works after rotating the plug to a specific position. I will try a cable + plug from Ted before returning my AK240.

 

[Lorias]

 
I thought they can help with a true balance line out by drilling a hole on the side...
I agree that the 2.5mm balance is not exactly a genius design in the beginning... wow, 2500 euro for a DAP...

I paid 2499 € for mine two weeks ago, and IMO it's more than worth it. Some people see it as a luxury item that, for the price premium, downright fails to deliver sound-wise, or one that is more expensive than, yet doesn't quite sound as world-endingly perfect as, the Chord Hugo.
 
Others have complained about the output impedance and or the noise floor / minor lack of subtle musical details. Either that, or it doesn't have enough power to sound good with headphones and or earphones that are difficult to drive, or it is slightly too much on the bright side of neutral and or the soundstage could have been a little better. That being said, I guess it's true that having spent this much money on the AK240, you have earned the right to voice an opinion. So I will voice mine. I am using Westone's new flagship earphone, the Elite Series ES60. I also own a fairly competent desktop system, which includes a really very nice pair of Canton Vento 890.2 DC floorstanding speakers. All I can say in fairness about the Hi Res Audio playback performance of the AK240 is this:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Every day of the week and twice on Sunday, it rocks!!!!!!!!

 

[jedx02]

I have to agree with Lorias.  I got my AK240 two months ago for about $2300.  It was and is some of the best money I've spent in a while.  I've listened to more music in the last two months than in the last two years.  I use the Shure 846 with it and it is always a great experience.  While nothing is perfect it is the best there is for the moment.

 

[AnakChan]

   
I'm still interested whether it's a known AK240 socket problem, or a known plug problem:
 
Found this review from Tokyo Summer Festival:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/727389/tokyo-fujiya-summer-potaken-festival-19th-july-2014
 
"[...] I tried his Whiplash cables of which for some of those who may have followed my posts, will remember I had concerns on the 2.5mm TRRS plugs that Whiplash uses. I tried the a few Whiplash cables and their 2.5mm TRRS simply cuts out with my AK240. Poor Craig had to fix these issues and even sent Dimitri his AK240 to show that the cables were fine but for some reason or another, the cables don't operate consistently with different AK240's. Whist this starts to point the finger at AK240's implementation, other TRRS plugs used by other cable makers (e.g. Wagnus, JHA's AKR03, etc.) so far have been fine."
 
I have a cable with a plug looking similar to the Whiplash version. The rings on this plug are inconsistent in size and appear missaligned, that would explain why it works after rotating the plug to a specific position. I will try a cable + plug from Ted before returning my AK240.

 
That's the clarification we seek here. I don't think the answer is conclusive yet which is why I think we should be cautious not to quickly jump the gun & start pointing it at A&K prematurely (on a production fault). If we're criticising poor socket choice design-wise, I would have to say I'd agree with concensus.

 

[Sound Eq]

  Got the 240.  Presentation of the product is nice and the casing and the placing of the buttons on the casing is a nice touch.  Small and portable enough.  UI is much better than the unpredictable R10(one of the worst UI experience).  I can see the draw of th this DAP based on presentation, the weight, shape, the knob, and the responsive ui.  UI is pretty good, and the screen seems nice with good resolution to present the album art.
 
The sound.  Not very engaging and not very dynamic as other sources I've heard.  Not very exciting sounding, it sound pretty flat and boring IMO. Not liking the bass.  Not much bass definiton. Not too keen on the presentation of the sound.  Will listen more.

wow this a big slap in sq for a k240 and how do u feel spending so much money for such a device?

 

[SilverEars]

  wow this a big slap in sq for a k240 and how do u feel spending so much money for such a device?

that was my intitial impressions and what I believed to be firmware 1.09 and then upgraded later to 1.15.  Not sure if it's placebo or my initial impressions were based on dynamically compressed tracks so it wasn't comprehensive.  It sounds better with better mastering and for some reason hip hop(pushes out the dynamics well IMO).  Here are some following impressions that came after.  I use iems only.
 

  Upgraded to 1.15, and the treble performance seems to have changed.  Highs are more lively now.  I initially listened with 1.09.  It's quite a remarkable player for the size.  It's pretty resolving that's for sure.
 
Let me say again, the size.  I didn't know something this size can sound like this.  Anybody have pictures of the internals?  Now I'm curious what is inside.  

 
Is anybody getting crackling noise when using using USB DAC?
 

  After extended listen, I discovered that the player scales with recording quality compared to a simple smartphone player like my S4 which is just flat sounding.  It's amazing what this little player can do give it's size.  I agree with the others here that it is indeed a very good sounding player.  It sounds like a desktop source in the size of an ipod, pretty remarkable in the respect.  Did a quick comparison of the same track vs my smartphone and the 240 does an amazing job.  My smart phone is 1.8ohm output impedance, and the 240 is measured to be 3.24ohms.  So there you have it, output impedance really isn't an issue than I predicted.  Also, what I predicted of the Cirrus Logic characteristic is not it, 240 proves that implementation is where it matters most as it obviously is implemented well.  I'm starting to run into sources that shows off that chip is not the characteristic, but the implementation.  Best compact DAP I've ever heard.  Very good resolution, great treble, very dynamic.  Possibly the upgrade from 1.09 to 1.15 changed the characteristic a bit as when I listened with 1.09 I thought it sounded flat, but could have be the wrong recording to judge it's sonic ability.
 

 

[dsincere]

.........

 

[Kiats]

that was my intitial impressions and what I believed to be firmware 1.09 and then upgraded later to 1.15.  Not sure if it's placebo or my initial impressions were based on dynamically compressed tracks so it wasn't comprehensive.  It sounds better with better mastering and for some reason hip hop(pushes out the dynamics well IMO).  Here are some following impressions that came after.  I use iems only.

Silver ears, the different FW does make a significant difference in the music presentation. Definitely not placebo effect.

 

[Bechti]

  that was my intitial impressions and what I believed to be firmware 1.09 and then upgraded later to 1.15.  Not sure if it's placebo or my initial impressions were based on dynamically compressed tracks so it wasn't comprehensive.  It sounds better with better mastering and for some reason hip hop(pushes out the dynamics well IMO).  Here are some following impressions that came after.  I use iems only.
 

Sorry, but the update from 1.09 to 1.15 doesn't give that kind of black and white difference... but I know what happens, with some ear phones iPhone playback is quite impressive ^^
 
So now you have 2 postings: Placebo or not

 

[SilverEars]

You guys are like two conscience I have to choose from.

  We can not be certain unless a ABX is done of both firmwares side by side. In the end, I listen to it for enough duration and genres to have a more comprehensive idea of the performance than my initial impressions. 

 

[nazrin313]

Silverears..have u tried balanced?