The Astell & Kern AK240

[Levanter]

 

 
it'll look a heck lot nicer if they got rid of the triangular side ridges crap... even at the volume knob it looks just so damn ugly... i rather they re-use back AK120's style

 

[TimOgawa]

source?

 

[Steph86]

http://www.whathifi.com/news/astell-kern-unveils-new-ak240-portable-audio-player-at-ces

 

[TimOgawa]

they're using Cirrus Logic? Yesss, more High frequency than the Wolfson
 
BTW, I loved the design so much, it gives me like a futuristic design

 

[feverfive]

Ehh the aesthetic is not for me. That render was pretty damn close

 

[doublea71]

Form factor screams "I am very polarizing!" - people will either love it or hate it. Listed features are impressive: dual Cirrus chips, up to 320gb storage... important features as of yet unknown: output impedance, battery life. Stay tuned and take your shirts and pants to the tailor for wider pockets...

 

[RAFA]

Although not the beauty, I will probably sell it all at home for this one. I do not need a DX50 nor a X3, Cowon D3 Colorfly Ck4, Hifiman Hm601... Adios Amigos

EDIT: This will probably not be enough.

 

[Mython]

It has a deceptively small screen, actually - 3.31" AMOLED.
 
If you look carefully at the above picture, you can see that a lot of that 'screen area' is actually just bezel, with no pixels.
 
 
What's the size of the AK120 screen?
 
Turn the AK120 screen into portrait orientation and I bet it's not much smaller than the AK240 screen.
 

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[Levanter]

It has a deceptively small screen, actually - 3.31" AMOLED.

If you look carefully at the above picture, you can see that a lot of that 'screen area' is actually just bezel, with no pixels.


What's the size of the AK120 screen?

Turn the AK120 screen into portrait orientation and I bet it's not much smaller than the AK240 screen.

[rule]

Why? Would you want a bigger screen? First and foremost it is an audioplayer. We're not going to watch any videos or surf the web on it.
3+ inches is big enough to scroll through tracks and navigate around..

 

[Mython]

Why? Would you want a bigger screen? First and foremost it is an audioplayer. We're not going to watch any videos or surf the web on it.
3+ inches is big enough to scroll through tracks and navigate around..

 
No, no.. you mistook my meaning - although I have been critical of marketing/pricing etc., my remark about AK240 screen size was not a criticism - just an observation. What I mean is that when you first glance at the photo, it appears as though its a 4 or 4.3 inch screen, but when you look more closely, it reveals that the screen has quite a substantial bezel.
 
The screen on my J3 is very similar, in terms of size of screen and size of bezel, and I get on with it very nicely.
 
In fact, it looks so similar, that it's almost like they planted a J3 onto the front of a bigger chassis.
 
 

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[bond007]

so it is using dual Cirrus Logic 4398..no more wolfson from ak

 

[Levanter]

No, no.. you mistook my meaning - although I have been critical of marketing/pricing etc., my remark about AK240 screen size was not a criticism - just an observation. What I mean is that when you first glance at the photo, it appears as though its a 4 or 4.3 inch screen, but when you look more closely, it reveals that the screen has quite a substantial bezel.

The screen on my J3 is very similar, in terms of size of screen and size of bezel, and I get on with it very nicely.

In fact, it looks so similar, that it's almost like they planted a J3 onto the front of a bigger chassis.


[rule]

Ahh I see, i think it looks nice on the front chassis part. The back triangular chassis looks oddly out of place.
The specs looks promising, and pretty sure the price is even more promising..
I'm pretty sure I'll be skipping this for now, unless by some miracle they redesign the back part and have a promo pre order sales of at least 30% off lol

 

[TimOgawa]

@Levanter : Redesign means AK240 MKII !!!

 

[SirDedale]

  Form factor screams "I am very polarizing!" - people will either love it or hate it. Listed features are impressive: dual Cirrus chips, up to 320gb storage... important features as of yet unknown: output impedance, battery life. Stay tuned and take your shirts and pants to the tailor for wider pockets...

and price is unknown

 

[Mython]