[Dumbleroar]

Would they be worse if it wasn't modded?

 

[Loquah]

Would they be worse if it wasn't modded?

It's personal preference what is better or worse, but they will definitely be different. To hear the 4a.i as they're designed to sound, you'd need the mod or an amp to prevent the influence of the AK100's output impedance.

Some people are finding benefits from that influence though (e.g. Spkrs01 preferred 335DW with just AK100, no amp) so it is very much personal.

 

[Dumbleroar]

Quote:

It's personal preference what is better or worse, but they will definitely be different. To hear the 4a.i as they're designed to sound, you'd need the mod or an amp to prevent the influence of the AK100's output impedance.

Some people are finding benefits from that influence though (e.g. Spkrs01 preferred 335DW with just AK100, no amp) so it is very much personal.

I see. Might not be the right dap for me then. Shame because it's a nice looking dap with a  good amount of onboard storage.

 

[Saintkeat]

Isn't the 4ai impedance about the same as the AK100 output impedance?

I had a listen with my 3A and the impedance is the same as the 4ai. It was pretty damn good. I didn't hear any distortion. I think as long as your impedance matches you're fine. When I get one I will definitely not be modding at all.

 

[CraftyClown]

Quote:

Isn't the 4ai impedance about the same as the AK100 output impedance?

I had a listen with my 3A and the impedance is the same as the 4ai. It was pretty damn good. I didn't hear any distortion. I think as long as your impedance matches you're fine. When I get one I will definitely not be modding at all.

 
The rule of thumb is that you need to be able to multiply the output impedance of the device by 8 to find the minimum suitable headphone impedance. The output impedance of the ak100 is 23 ohms, so headphones should ideally be 184 ohms and above

 

[Loquah]

Quote:

I see. Might not be the right dap for me then. Shame because it's a nice looking dap with a  good amount of onboard storage.

 
It's well worth the price, even if you get a modified one like the RWAK100 or buying a stock AK100 and contacting Rudi to get it modded by his friend. You end up paying between $850-1000, but it's a brilliant device once that's done and on par or better alternatives like DX100 / Tera Player which all have their own pros and cons.

 

[DarkSkies]

Hello JmoonAK. Since A&K official support is here, I've got a feature request: please make it so that cover images are also read from separate .jpg or .png files placed in albums' folders, following some filenaming pattern, e.g. cover.jpg or album.jpg. Implementing this should not be a problem at all and would make me quite content. Thanks.

 

[Saintkeat]

Can CraftyClown or someone else please explain to me that rule of thumb? Why is that so?

I started reading this very technical paper on impedance. All I understood from it, was that if the output impedance is too high, energy from the source will come back around and cause reflections or echoes.

I didn't hear echoes or reflections through the 3A. So I guess it's all good?

 

[Loquah]

Can CraftyClown or someone else please explain to me that rule of thumb? Why is that so?

I started reading this very technical paper on impedance. All I understood from it, was that if the output impedance is too high, energy from the source will come back around and cause reflections or echoes.

I didn't hear echoes or reflections through the 3A. So I guess it's all good?

It might get a bit too techy, but this article is good: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/meridian-explorer-case-study-effects-output-impedance

I'll hopefully have time to do a full layman's terms write-up tomorrow.

 

[Saintkeat]

I just read it. So it really depends on how flat the impedance to frequency curve of the headphones/earphones are. The flatter it is, the less important impedance matching is. For the dap to be versatile it should have less output impedance so maximum amount of voltage can power the headphones without inefficiency occurring.

No where in the article was there a rule of thumb that had a multiplication of 8.

 

[audionewbi]

The reason why they call it the rule of thumb is that this assumption will hold true without getting to technical about it. 
Quote:

I just read it. So it really depends on how flat the impedance to frequency curve of the headphones/earphones are. The flatter it is, the less important impedance matching is. For the dap to be versatile it should have less output impedance so maximum amount of voltage can power the headphones without inefficiency occurring.

No where in the article was there a rule of thumb that had a multiplication of 8.

 

[Saintkeat]

Would like a clearer explanation or an article that relays the same information. I cannot simply accept statements like that as fact unless there's a good explanation for it.

So anyone here would do us the honor of explaining it?

 

[audionewbi]

I will inbox you something does explains everything clearly, hope that helps. 

 

[Saintkeat]

Woohoo thanks! Exactly what I needed. Ok I'm on board the RWAK train.

 

[superjohny]

just doesn't feel like with some of the songs i listened to, i am paring ak100 with pico slim and red se535. as for comparing, i also have a jvc victor v80 to substitute ak100.
 
i've got girls' generation and kara songs loaded into ak100, they are downloaded from itunes in aac(m4a) format. they are just making me feel that are the songs poorly recorded. just cant bear with it.  I haven't load these songs into v80 and i will do so tonite and see how they sounded.
 
on the contrast, i have other songs(mostly kpop and jpop) that were loaded into both DAPs, to me, V80 has more forward smooth vocal and bass is punchier and deep as well. totally leaning towards my v80 for my own taste. but i have to admit, ak100 does have better resolution and wider sound stage than V80. but the mids of the songs i listen to are driving me crazy and bass is not as good comparing to v80
 
anything wrong i've got it there with ak100? i am not sure if cable change will make things better.
 
Overall, i just wanna enjoy musics. if V80 plays itunes aac good (V80 has only 8G storage and could not play flac, so the size of AAC suits V80 well), i might let ak100 go unfortunately....