[grumpy213]

Very nice list. I own number 31 - AirPods Pro

 

[CharlyBrown]

I wrote about this before, but let me reiterate, that I have considered purchasing several different TOTL desktop amplifiers, including T+A HA200, Felix Envy, Vioelectric Nimbus. I had them on loan sometimes for several days.

Neither of them seemed a large enough improvement over a naked SP3k for me to justify their high price.

I'm not saying that SP3k was better than a desktop amp, but it was definitely good enough and the improvements seemed unimportant.

Maybe I'm not very amp-sensitive, maybe I like to listen to music rather quietly, maybe I like the soft style of AK reproduction.

Only Woo Audio WA33 and/or Chord Dave so far did made me drop my jaw.

And N30LE seems an improvement, although not as large as WA33 and Dave.

Finally some reason I guess the "problem" with just a SP3000 for some is, there is no way to fiddle around with additional components to "improve" the sound. The rabbit hole is closed like that.

 

[nikbr]

Very nice list. I own number 31 - AirPods Pro

Your profile pic pairs so well with this comment lol borderline annoyed by all the filthy wealth

 

[deep2285]

Yeah! As always, thanks a lot for all the data and hard work! That’s really helpful for the community!

In order to satisfy your lists fetishism, I’d like to submit a little suggestion, if you don’t mind!

The suggestion would be mostly for the big yearly survey where you collect all sorts of information like the iems demoed and so on.
Since you have the data, I was wondering if it would be possible (especially not too cumbersome) to add the number of people who actually demoed each iems next to the number of votes they got?
I think it would make the list even more interesting. Like having the success rate of each iems.
Because if, for example, one set gets 15 votes out of 100 people while another got 10 votes out of 10 people, I would be inclined to think the latter is more successful, despite having less total votes.

I don’t know what you guys think?

Also, I don’t mean to be greedy and give you too much work! What you’re doing is absolutely awesome already! I don’t know how hard or time consuming it would be to add that, but if it’s easy, that could be very valuable info!

Cheers,

Julien

I think that in order to survive in this hobby, the list is a necessity.

 

[bgillis]

I just published a full review of the Astell & Kern SR35! You're invited to learn more about this overlooked gem here.

Completely agree with your conclusion about A&K SR35; in particular, pro's & con's.

I can highly recommend Dignis Gladius case for extra protection and a premium look.

Moreover the microSD card slot is accessible without removing the player from the case.
The official A&K case does not provide this feature.

As I also own A&K SR35 and Cayin N8ii, I find them both complementary IMHO.

I highly recommend purchasing a tempered glass screen protector for your SR35, like one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/brotect-Screen-Protector-compatible-Astell/dp/B0CCSY6J2P

The screen protectors supplied with the SR35 (and SR25 before that) have a very matte finish, and visually I find third party tempered glass protectors are much sharper and clearer. They are more reflective however, if you happen to use your SR35 screen in direct sunlight often. Indoors though they're a massive improvement.

Thanks for the recommendation

 

[grumpy213]

Your profile pic pairs so well with this comment lol borderline annoyed by all the filthy wealth

No annoyance. Just proclaiming the glory of AirPods Pro

 

[hAbIrAbI]

Since the SP3000's sound is definitely in the "neutral" category, and it has great amplification, why would you want to change it? Just to have an open android?

Since I currently mostly use it with the Tsuranagi that is mostly it. You can only use approved apps and for those you can either wait months for A&K to release updated versions or manually download APKs that again you have to manually update too.

That seems a lot of inconvenience for something that Play store usually takes care of.

I don‘t blame A&K for their choices but after owning it for a while I don’t think it is the best experience. It’s not an issue if you don’t use apps.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Speaking of SP3000, I'll have to admit I'm a case addict with this device. I swear I have only one case for my phone but now 4 for the SP3000

My latest addition was a brown "Dignis LUCETE Patina Limited Case" which I've been using for 1.5 months now. I really like this case a lot. It has a nice color & gradient and with the artificial patina it seems to be much less delicate than most other cases, original Dignis included. You can see abrasions on the black A&K case, as well as on the original Dignis after just some days of use. Not so with the patina version. After 1,5 months it still looks brand new.

...and it fits nicely to my orange cable ties:

 

[Alpexis]

Very nice list. I own the top 9.

That is awesome! Which ones of these 9 would you never ever sell?

 

[Scubadevils]

Aune M1P and Sennheiser IE900 on portable duty this week, fantastic combo and IE900 still going strong in my collection almost 2.5 years later.

 

[Alpexis]

Finally some reason I guess the "problem" with just a SP3000 for some is, there is no way to fiddle around with additional components to "improve" the sound. The rabbit hole is closed like that.

That's why I love a&k: no fiddling around, just listening to beautiful music.

Only major upgrade imho would be investing in high-end dac (Dave or Lina), desktop amp and proper cabling.

 

[Kobe4ever]

Speaking of SP3000, I'll have to admit I'm a case addict with this device. I swear I have only one case for my phone but now 4 for the SP3000

My latest addition was a brown "Dignis LUCETE Patina Limited Case" which I've been using for 1.5 months now. I really like this case a lot. It has a nice color & gradient and with the artificial patina it seems to be much less delicate than most other cases, original Dignis included. You can see abrasions on the black A&K case, as well as on the original Dignis after just some days of use. Not so with the patina version. After 1,5 months it still looks brand new.




...and it fits nicely to my orange cable ties:

Beautiful case

 

[CharlyBrown]

That's why I love a&k: no fiddling around, just listening to beautiful music.

Only major upgrade imho would be investing in high-end dac (Dave or Lina), desktop amp and proper cabling.

I'm also a great fan of the closed Android concept. It makes the A&K devices perfectly focussed on music with no distractions, in my opinion. Streaming apps work perfectly now (after several problems with my SE200 3 years ago) and the UI is so beautiful. I prefer this over open Android DAP which I also owned (Hiby, Shanling for example). As always YMMV.

 

[chickenmcnug]

It’s so satisfying finding that EVA case that fits your DAP perfectly.

 

[swedishpat]

I wrote about this before, but let me reiterate, that I have considered purchasing several different TOTL desktop amplifiers, including T+A HA200, Felix Envy, Vioelectric Nimbus. I had them on loan sometimes for several days.

Neither of them seemed a large enough improvement over a naked SP3k for me to justify their high price.

I'm not saying that SP3k was better than a desktop amp, but it was definitely good enough and the improvements seemed unimportant.

Maybe I'm not very amp-sensitive, maybe I like to listen to music rather quietly, maybe I like the soft style of AK reproduction.

Only Woo Audio WA33 and/or Chord Dave so far did made me drop my jaw.

And N30LE seems an improvement, although not as large as WA33 and Dave.

Yes I agree with you! I tried several external desktop and portable amps but most of the time I actually preferred the sound better straight from the DAPs! This was tested with my easy to drive headphones including some I don’t have anymore. I was very surprised by this!