[jamato8]

Quote:

So, how do i get the true line-out? Why you prefer going thru the amp than true line-out?

Line out goes from the dac out, not through the internal amp section. You then take that signal and amplify it with an external amp. With  the optical out, you are using the AK as a source and taking that signal to an external dac to an amp to your monitors. You can't get a true line out of the AK100. The iRiver iHP-120 or 140 or some of their other daps had true line out. The DX100 and the HM-901 have true line out. 

 

[bearington]

Gintaris, 
 
Quite a few, but then Skylab did a bunch of reviews head-fi too. He gave it a good review for a solid state portable amp. I happen to like Jan's amps, I have bought a few of them and he stands by his products. When it comes to amps, you really have to listen for yourself, tastes are subjective. I do prefer Tube amps, but I really haven't found a reasonable portable one I liked, and will stick with the Corda 2stepdance for the road. I have a Xfeed filter I made, between the AK100 and the amp too. I like this configuration compared to the pile of amps and other things I have collected over the years. 

 

[Gintaras]

bearington, thanks, i very much agree with you this all about personal taste.
 
i have RWAK 100 which is moded version of AK100 and i can confirm that amp section does its job well.
 
there is no question about which amp but at what price. i ordered T1 for me because i could not think about paying another 500$ and you know in Europe they sell for higher price because of VAT. so i could not justify neither cost nor the VAT rip off. i very much believe 2Stepdance is great and i also know about one nice Dutch made amp which costs similar and gets rave responses too. it is not about what is best but about Sound Per Buck

 

[bearington]

Line out is a standard, the specified amplitude of an audio signal used to transmit analog sound between audio components, many DACs need to not only be amplified but some even DC filtering. It doesn't mean bypassing an amp section. Consumer audio is usually a tad more then 2V peak amplitude, with an impedance of 100 ohms and 300mv at 10 ohms for a -10Dbv. The concern with the 22 ohm output impedance of the AK100 is that the Frequency will not be flat and loose high frequency if not impedance matched correctly with headphones. Low impedance headphones exhibit this issue. If you set the volume high, and connect it to a Line in, that is around 100k ohms it should work fine. This is what is also documented by iriver. 
If the amp of the DAP is junk then you will simply amplify the junk. The 22 ohm impedance isn't an issue with the 100ohm ER4s, but the amp lacks the ability to really drive them, it is close, but some music needs more. I amp mine it works fine for me,
I haven't been home to play with the AK100 more with anything more exotic, like using the optical port. I have a Corda Stage Dac and an heavily mod'd Easter Electric mini max 1st gen to try it out on, and I am somewhat anxious to get home to play. I also have something called a Muse TU-20, some cheep Chinese tube amp, I plan on frankenstein just for the fun of it.     

 

[bearington]

Gintaras,
 
    The Dutch amp sounds interesting, have you got more information? 

 

[Gintaras]

bearington, i hear AK100 is a different story, this is why i picked RWAK to avoid many discussions about amping and impedance 

 

[bearington]

I still might bypass the resistor myself. I just haven't decided what I want to do with it, running a wire from the amps transistors output to the output jack, will not take much for me. I do this kind of work for a living on computers all the time. I have the amp... so, but the idea of only have the tiny AK100 in my pocket (no amp) on a flight, with the ER4s sounds better.  

 

[audionewbi]

anyone tried pairing this for ultrasone IQ ?

 

[Gintaras]

bearington, i bought my RWAK from JazzyFi (thank you again Jazzy
 
he also told he was using iCube V3 or V2 with RWAK before going Terra and he liked iQube above all. here is the link, iCube is Dutch company started by a former Phillips famed engineer: http://www.i-qube.nl/index.php?id=7
 
but but.... RWAK100 on its own is AMAZING DAP, period!!! amping or not amping RWAK is like choosing between expensive red wine and cognac or between Aston Martin and Ferrari.

 

[Gintaras]

sorry for posting two in sequence but i have a question that i do not want to get lost in lengthy post then.
 
question to AK100 owners, chaps, is AK100 able to read cue lists properly? i have FLAC collection with cue lists but when i play them on AK100 the album plays just like one file and no possible skip between songs. it's just one file one album. so is it really AK100 canNOT read cue lists from FLAC?

 

[TheGrumpyOldMan]

Nope, never got that to work either when I was still using FLAC conversions...

 

[Gintaras]

weird... my C3 and S9 have no such issue.
 
also after using RWAK for some time i notice that DAP gets slightly warm during longer operation, is this normal i guess? nothing terrible but my C3 remains cold through many hours of playback. funny

 

[Retrias]

I just bought ak100 stock, what kind of iem around 100-200 bucks will fit this player? I want to be assured that there is no problem, its pretty much running fine with the 215 and the jvc fxd80

 

[vovkinson]

no IEM in $200  category will fit AK100 sound quality wise. you can try the cheap ones  you wouldn't benefit from SQ that AK100 is capable of.
I would suggest Shure SE535 or Westone 4 Quad-Driver for starters.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

I just bought ak100 stock, what kind of iem around 100-200 bucks will fit this player? I want to be assured that there is no problem, its pretty much running fine with the 215 and the jvc fxd80

Something over 22 ohms impedance, I am guessing....