[CraftyClown]

Quote:

Exactumundo, I can't count the number of times, I've had to smash open my gadgets to get to the battery in order to start a fire. Can we organise a Head-Fi course that details on how to get to the battery in a number of devices and then of course...how to start the damn fire with a battery...!

 
+ 1
 
Quote:

Step 1. Open AK120.
 
Step 2. Remove battery overcharge protection circuit
 
Step 3. Charge battery until she blows .

 
Phew! At last an answer! That Max spider bloke will be relieved 

 

[GSARider]

Or I could just use some matches...

 

 

[lee730]

Quote:

Or I could just use some matches...

 

Don't forget the firewood.

 
On a more positive note I've really warmed up to the 8A on 1.21. Thing is I mainly use the 8A at home and want to use the AK120 for portability purposes more than anything. So decisions, decisions..... Or I could just revert back to stock silver cable and see if the 1Plus2 pairs better at that point (more bass presence added automatically). Thing is I'm getting a little tired of playing "dress me up Barbie and Ken" with my gear lol....

 

[alphaman]

I went to the iriver wiki page as well as the official iriver web site and can't find any info on who "Astell" and "Kern" are? Are they project engineers? Or is it a "brand name" ... like Lords and Taylor?
Anyone know? Thx!!

 

[kkcc]

Don't forget the firewood. :tongue_smile:

On a more positive note I've really warmed up to the 8A on 1.21. Thing is I mainly use the 8A at home and want to use the AK120 for portability purposes more than anything. So decisions, decisions..... Or I could just revert back to stock silver cable and see if the 1Plus2 pairs better at that point (more bass presence added automatically). Thing is I'm getting a little tired of playing "dress me up Barbie and Ken" with my gear lol....

Interested to see if reverting to the stock cable helps. I tried using the stock 001 cable with the 334 and didn't help much over the twag v3. It's actually worse. I'm almost feeling v1.21 provide less current to drive the HO.

 

[alphaman]

Quote:

 Thing is I'm getting a little tired of playing "dress me up Barbie and Ken" with my gear lol....

Oh ... okay, I finally got iRiver's branding strategy....
Barbie Astell and Ken Kern .... toys!! 

 
Looks like Barbie doll never got hitched ... even after all these years ... marriage is so overrated, anyway.

 

[OK-Guy]

this may be of interest to the digitally challenged or those wanting to learn...
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/668456/chord-qutehd-dac-pulse-array-teconology-discusion-thread

 

[audionewbi]

Quote:

this may be of interest to the digitally challenged or those wanting to learn...
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/668456/chord-qutehd-dac-pulse-array-teconology-discusion-thread

I saw a clip of their DAC been ran over by a military tank.

 

[OK-Guy]

Quote:

I saw a clipd of their DAC been ran over by a military tank.

 
are you sure it wasn't the other way round... their stuff is 'built' like a tank

 

[Zakalwe]

I went to the iriver wiki page as well as the official iriver web site and can't find any info on who "Astell" and "Kern" are? Are they project engineers? Or is it a "brand name" ... like Lords and Taylor?
Anyone know? Thx!!

I've been wondering about that since the first announcements, and I suspect it is the latter, a name fabricated by their marketing department. It would make sense, I guess - a name like "iRiver" has a somewhat tacky dotcom-era/Apple-iProduct-copycat feel to it nowadays, which may not go well with luxury products. "Astell & Kern" on the other hand sounds like some traditional European family enterprise, and in alphabetic listings it even comes before Bang & Olufsen and Bowers & Wilkins. All in all I think it is rather lame. They could at least have added some self-satirizing metal umlauts - "Astëll & Kern̈". But maybe I'm doing them injustice, and Sir Percival Astell and Herr Wilhelm von Kern are esteemed audio engineers who like to stay in the background otherwise.

 

[OK-Guy]

Quote:

I've been wondering about that since the first announcements, and I suspect it is the latter, a name fabricated by their marketing department. It would make sense, I guess - a name like "iRiver" has a somewhat tacky dotcom-era/Apple-iProduct-copycat feel to it nowadays, which may not go well with luxury products. "Astell & Kern" on the other hand sounds like some traditional European family enterprise, and in alphabetic listings it even comes before Bang & Olufsen and Bowers & Wilkins. All in all I think it is rather lame. They could at least have added some self-satirizing metal umlauts - "Astëll & Kern̈".

But maybe I'm doing them injustice, and Sir Percival Astell and Herr Wilhelm von Kern are esteemed audio engineers who like to stay in the background otherwise.

 
it's 'Sir Percival Tarquin Lancelot Astell' actually... small point I know

 

[musicday]

I think Astell and Kern are iRiver's high end DAP's, so the same old iRiver but with a new name for those high end DAP's:
**Beside a rather luxurious and elegant design the Astell & Kern AK100 is in fact oriented to music lovers and people looking for the the best audio quality possible**

 

[spkrs01]

OK need help guys...
 
I bought a Sony Pro 11 Ultrabook today specifically for the AK120....and it doesn't seem to work together.
 
Now can someone actually confirm that the AK120 is not compatible with usb 3 or is there a way I can get around this....otherwise it is $1300 down the drain!
 
Cheers

 

[robdr]

To the best of my knowledge USB3 is backward compatible. So the AK120 which is USB 2 should work fine. 

 

[GSARider]

Can't help with the specific laptop, but it works fine with USB3 on my MBPR.