[Mimouille]

Mimo... my ZX1 cost me £480 to import from Japan, when it goes on sale in March its cost will be £550 (UK)... as a lot of punters have sold their AK120's in favour of the Sony it will be interesting to read a unbiased review of the AK240 v ZX1.

imo opinion the ZX1/X5 (or other DAP) paired with the Hugo could be the best portable solution available at present... UK cost ZX1/Hugo £1750... what full-sized headphones can I get for £450? 

I own the ZX1 and I am considering the Hugo to pair with it...

 

[achl354]

I own the ZX1 and I am considering the Hugo to pair with it...

dont you own the X5 also?
 
i do wish the X5 looks a bit more visually appealing like the 240 or ZX-1

 

[Mimouille]

dont you own the X5 also?

i do wish the X5 looks a bit more visually appealing like the 240 or ZX-1

Nope just a loan. Do not need it as I have 901 and ZX1. The look of the X5 is so so but still ok, and at that price...

 

[Steph86]

Hi all,
 
Please see the following link for more information on the AK240 MQS streaming service:
 
http://www.astellnkern.com/eng/mssm.html
 
This allows you to build a library of music located locally on your machine or NAS drive and stream straight to the AK240 via your home Wi-Fi connection.

 

[Fafner]

Nice, but I expected more. With such an OS under the hood they easily could have added streaming ability when NOT at home as well (relying on SMB protocol, or WebDAV, or something else). From that page there's no evidence it can be used with a NAS either (Windows, Mac and nothing else), they would have to build different service builds for every NAS brand out there (or at least for every processor architecture, being it x86, arm or whatever else)! One of the reasons I bought a NAS is because I didn't want to have to keep my PC on everytime I want to listen for some music from my devices, and to use this thing I'm supposed to leave it on?? Another reason was the ability to access my stuff from pretty much everywhere, and it looks like with the AK240 this won't be possible either. It's a bit deceiving to get WiFi on board and be able to use it just for local network streaming or to buy music.

 

[jazzman7]

A 256gb sd can be had for 350$. Without being critical on AK240 price, as I already stated my opinion, I highly doubt the price was defined on a cost+ basis. It is a luxury item and price is a statement. It is also a price based on the rest of the (overpriced) product range. The price would be "justified" if it sounded like the Hugo, i.e. like a desktop DAC, but according to Jude it doesn't.

Where?  The going rates I find are closer to $450 currently.
 
EDIT:  I see now -- $350 is the going rate for a 256GB USB drive, but SD cards of the same capacity are still $100 more...

 

[Steph86]

  Nice, but I expected more. With such an OS under the hood they easily could have added streaming ability when NOT at home as well (relying on SMB protocol, or WebDAV, or something else). From that page there's no evidence it can be used with a NAS either (Windows, Mac and nothing else), they would have to build different service builds for every NAS brand out there (or at least for every processor architecture, being it x86, arm or whatever else)! One of the reasons I bought a NAS is because I didn't want to have to keep my PC on everytime I want to listen for some music from my devices, and to use this thing I'm supposed to leave it on??

Hi,
 
This is the first release, i'm sure A&K will listen to all community feedback and make adjustment and improvements as and when they feel necessary.  Ultimately the NAS will need to support a server software which is not going to be possible - the PC access as the processor and access point.
 
They are also planning on collaborating with HD streaming services to offer direct streaming to the device.

 

[Fafner]

    Ultimately the NAS will need to support a server software which is not going to be possible - the PC access as the processor and access point.
 
 

 
Not really...most NASes should be able to easily support such a feature. That's pretty much one basic feature of almost all of them (to be able to stream music to phones or tablets relying on their proprietary apps, for example DSAudio for Synology). Of course A&K would need to build several server builds as the NAS market is quite fragmented, this is the difficult part of the story if they want to rely on a proprietary solution. But there are several examples of Android music apps which are able to stream music from such devices relying on very common protocols almost all can support, such as the ones I wrote about. That would maybe be easier to implement, as it wouldn't require to adapt the server to every device out there. I sincerely hope A&K is going to introduce such a feature, because in its current incarnation the whole seems just too limited. 

 

[Steph86]

   
relying on their proprietary apps, for example DSAudio for Synology). 

Relying on their own proprietary apps... A&K can't program apps for every make of NAS available, just wouldn't be economical.

 

[nashton]

Hi all,

I have just been given the new user manual for the AK240 - please follow the link below to download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/48edqi0c7qp4iwt/AK240_Manual_ENG.pdf

For those wanting to know a little more about the interface and play lists etc this should give you some insight.

Thanks! It doesn't really tell you what support for playlists there is other than making and editing one on the device itself - but it does mention an app for the Mac called MTP. Unfortunately, this cannot be downloaded by anyone in Switzerland as AK have done something that prevents any page on the AK site from being accessible.

Does anyone have a URL where this can be directly downloaded from? Maybe that would work.

Predictably, I've told both AK and the swiss dealer Claratone of the problem, but neither have replied or fixed it...

 

[AnakChan]

A 256gb sd can be had for 350$. Without being critical on AK240 price, as I already stated my opinion, I highly doubt the price was defined on a cost+ basis. It is a luxury item and price is a statement. It is also a price based on the rest of the (overpriced) product range. The price would be "justified" if it sounded like the Hugo, i.e. like a desktop DAC, but according to Jude it doesn't.

 
Yes aware of that but I'd be damned if iRiver simply put in a 256GB SD card in there. I'm sure it's not and onboard RAM has different costings (on a circuit board that small). I definitely don't doubt iRiver intends for it to be a luxury item and priced it accordingly too but I don't believe it's priced -solely- on that.
 
Not to you personally Mim, but IMHO I feel the word "justify" and AK240 shouldn't belong in the same sentence for the very aforementioned classification - "luxury item".

 

[Sauntere]

They don't have to justify anything regarding pricing. It will either sell or not based on the values we put on it's relative SQ and features. It seems that it's sound quality whilst very good can be beaten for less money (Hugo) and that perhaps it is not that much better than other offerings at a much cheaper price which are also all in one solutions. (Speculation since i haven't heard it). 
 
My judgment for now is not to buy it. That could change if i get to hear it and it blows my hair back. I suspect not though.

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

When comparing with Hugo, AK240 and my X5 sounded like an iphone... everything is relative... I lost some sleep from thinking of Hugo

 

[Sauntere]

  When comparing with Hugo, AK240 and my X5 sounded like an iphone... everything is relative... I lost some sleep from thinking of Hugo

And what about X5 compared to AK240 ? I would expect 240 to be much much better. Is it ?

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

  And what about X5 compared to AK240 ? I would expect 240 to be much much better. Is it ?

I am gonna get bashed with some harsh words for saying this here but this is just one unimportant person's opinion.  I feel X5 has fuller body and better authority over AK240. I just got no synergy from pairing with my Paterre (Pekingduck had better synergy with his CIEM, he can chimp in)...my demo tracks were all instrumental jazz and classical... I feel X5 is more revealing... I did crank up the vol up of AK240 and felt the voice is still struggling... My preference in sound is big and full body like you can hear/see the texture. I demo using single-ended and maybe balance out is better but I dont know. It is AK house sound, you like it or you dont..
 
Hugo on the other hand looks and sounds like it is from out of the world..airy, hifi and heavenly sound..