The New iRiver/Astell & Kern AK100: A High-End DAP

[lee730]

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what are common recommendations for SD cards....?
 
is 'class' type relevant...?
 
i see on amazon cards ranging from $60 to $180.... 

Use Mirco SD cards. I only recommend Sandisk. You can get them for cheap now as well. I got my last card for $40.00 shipped from amazon (64 GB Micro SDXC). Just you'll need to format it to FAT32 to get it to work. Use a program to do this.
 
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

 

[lee730]

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Only as far as the speed writing to them. A Class 10, if put in a dedicated card reader capable of it, will fill much faster than a Class 4. For playback, I don't think it is relevant.....I can play a 1080p movie on my tablet from a Class 4 card just fine.

But I think the relevancy is also taken into account if you leave it in its native format. When changing it to FAT32 slows it down I think. At least that is what I noticed.

 

[Achmedisdead]

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But I think the relevancy is also taken into account if you leave it in its native format. When changing it to FAT32 slows it down I think. At least that is what I noticed.

All of mine are FAT32 already....2 32GB and one 16GB. So the 64GB models are outside of my experience.

 

[lee730]

Yep SDXC is different. Still they are rather cheap now in comparison to last year. $40.00 is a good deal and they will continue to fall in price especially when 128 GB cards come out .
 

 

[tds101]

Damn,...I wish I could have afforded to get in on the GB,...sigh,...

 Oh well,...maybe later. 
 
Enjoy people,...I'll be watching until I can spring for an RWAK100 myself.

 

[Mython]

Quote:

But I think the relevancy is also taken into account if you leave it in its native format. When changing it to FAT32 slows it down I think. At least that is what I noticed.

 
 
Yes, you are correct. You beat me to saying the same thing!
 
exFat class 10 cards do operate slower when re-formatted to Fat32
 
I also had a bad experience recently with a Sandisk class 10 64gb MicroSDXC card, which I had reformatted to Fat32 for use in my Samsung GS2 and Cowon J3. The card completely crashed after 2 or 3 days use, and it was impossible to reformat it after that.
 
On the other hand, I've had a Sandisk class 6 64gb MicroSDXC card formatted as Fat32, which has worked flawessly for the past 10 months in both the GS2 and the J3.
 
 
Because of these 2 reasons, I would definitely buy the Class 6 and not the Class 10 unless I knew that my device would support the exFat file system.

 

[toads]

thanks for the tips fellas... 
 

 

[icefalkon]

iRiver is playing games. It's not for me to say how...but they are. I'll defer to others with more industry experience in this to explain if they so choose. However, what they're doing is not very ethical, smart, or in the means of good business.

 

[toads]

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iRiver is playing games. It's not for me to say how...but they are. I'll defer to others with more industry experience in this to explain if they so choose. However, what they're doing is not very ethical, smart, or in the means of good business.

 
 
indeed...they are acting in bad faith...
 
i feel as though i've bought some tainted blood diamond or nazi master painting at some above the board auction house...ok so that's an exaggeration but point stands...

 

[lee730]

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indeed...they are acting in bad faith...
 
i feel as though i've bought some tainted blood diamond or nazi master painting at some above the board auction house...ok so that's an exaggeration but point stands...

Well toads there may be a solution to this I'm in talks with Vinnie so he may be able to cut a deal with iRiver or a distributor as well. So there is hope still but not for those who already purchased . Still even if you were to pay his asking price it is still better than paying $700+ for the single unit and then paying $250.00 plus shipping to and from to have the mod done separately. So we'll see.

 

[Jpfe8851]

Guys... you may want to hold off on modding your AK100's. I asked iRiver about the main concerns and received some positive answers to each question especially for early purchasers if firmware doesn't fix impedance issue. Here's my Q&As:
 
Dear iriver customer,
 
Thank you for contacting iriver customer support. 
 
We are glad to hear that you are happy with the A&K.  Here are our responses to your questions:
 
1. You must add gapless playback support. Many of my files are of live albums and the gaps are very annoying... There is a fair amount of discussion on this topic on Head-Fi.  We will contact our development team to assess this issue and get back to you.
 
2. You must be aware of the severe criticisms on the long AK100 thread on Head-Fi Forums of the high output impedance causing unnatural variations in IEM outputs. I have several high quality IEMs eg Westone 4R, Shure SE535s and so on. The W4Rs seem okay, but the Shures are definitely prone to higher and variable high frequency levels especially over about 3kHz. I don't get the same issue when running with an amp via optical signal. I have a pair of UE TripleFi 10 Pros and they are severely hampered by this output level. As I purchased the AK100 as a portable player, and live in a warm climate, I just don't want to use high impedance full size headphones nor spend money on new high impedance IEMs when I already have expensive and well regarded earphones. This is a known issue and we are currently working on solving it.  We will let you know when a fix has been made. 
 
2.1 Do you intend to do anything about this issue?  As we have already stated above, it is a known issue and we are currently working on solving it. 
 
2.2 Will you be able to do anything via firmware to correct this (I suspect it is hardware related).  Most likely the issue will be resolved by a firmware update.  Please be patient while a new firmware is being created. 
 
2.3 If not by firmware, will I be able to get a replacement unit under warranty/recall? As long as you are within the US, or you provide us with a US mailing address, we should be able to provide you with a replacement unit if need be.  Unfortunately we do not ship internationally outside US. 
 
3. I am of the belief that iRiver is working on adding Alac and AAC support. How far of is this?  This is also currently being worked on but we do not have an estimated time of when it will be resolved. 
 
If you have any further questions or concerns, please email us back at any time. 
 
Thanks & Regards,
 
[size=9.0pt]iriver[/size]
[size=8.0pt]Customer & Tech Support[/size]

 

[lee730]

Sounds interesting but then again are they really gonna follow through and why didn't they state this openly before hand? You generally don't keep this type of stuff secret. Sounds like a crock of sh%t to me.
 

 

[caracara08]

im not getting much positive from that. all im reading is "were tired of hearing this crap."  all those answers are pretty generic. what are they suppose to say? "screw you, we made it like it is, deal with it"?

 

[lee730]

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im not getting much positive from that. all im reading is "were tired of hearing this crap."  all those answers are pretty generic. what are they suppose to say? "screw you, we made it like it is, deal with it"?

Yeah like the answer "if you're still within warranty period and we decide to take that route". That is a bunch of passive-aggressive bs. That could mean they'll just wait til you are out of warranty (1 year) and still do nothing. But I'm curious how could a firmware update change the 22 ohms resistance when it is a resistor built onto the board itself? I never heard of changing firmware doing anything about this...
 
Personally I'd have felt a lot better if they came out about this in an official announcement and did it from the very start when the knew they f%%%% up.

 

[icefalkon]

I'd hold off guys...something is definitely going to come of this.