I recently bought a very nice used A-K AK120 - original version.
Firmware is 1.42.
Sounds good, a slight improvement in detail over my iBasso DX-90 -
but...
A few things don't seem to work very well:
It refuses to recognize APE files.
It does recognize some DSF files but has trouble with others. (Al of which play just fine using Winamp on my PC)
DSD menus can't display graphics.
I thought APE files would not be a problem, and DSF files are in the DSD family, so I expected this pricey player to work with them - all of them
WAV files, even when they are properly tagged as verified in Media Monkey, all show up as unknown album and unknown artist.
I had to flac-en all my WAV's so they could organize in albums in the AK120
The graphic for the volume control is a nuisance, takes over the entire screen and takes too long to disappear.
The volume control itself is very sensitive to the touch, the increments are needlessly fine.
It takes much too long to update when adding media.
It's painfully slow - and this with only one 64GB card and 20GB internal....
Also, the battery cannot be replaced once it becomes old and weak-
Really?
Am I supposed to throw away an expensive DAP when the battery dies due to this significant oversight?
On the plus side:
Decent user interface, but it takes a takes a long time to scroll through hundreds of tunes to arrive at one near the bottom of the alphabet.
Being able to scroll backward from A would be a good idea,
Nice compact size.
Sounds good.
So far, I'm not thrilled with it, as I should be with something this expensive, but I can live with it.
I thought DSF and APE files, at least, would play flawlessly on this pricey player.
Any chance there will be a firmware update to address these issues, or, being a discontinued item, no more updates?
Marc Stager
Stager Sound Systems
NYC