Astell & Kern Kann Ultra DAP Review

[RogerSmith]

Thanks Amir for measuring. I always wondered how one of these Astell & Kern units would perform (although I was never tempted to buy one). The sweep and low impedance headphone power is really a bummer, ruining everthing that might be nice otherwise. Even if one wants a DAP with buttons and display (I don´t) and what else might be the motives, there is now one reason more to not get an totally overpriced Astell & Kern one.

 

[RogerSmith]

You don't even begin to realize how many devices (mobile DAPs) are sold in the high price range.
Sales figures for high-quality, or rather high-priced, players have been rising for years, and €/$1,500 isn't even the high-price range. Unit sales figures for devices above €/$150 are in the six- to seven-digit range worldwide.
And none of these manufacturers would have continued to develop new devices in this price range for over 10 years if they didn't recoup their development and production costs, which means selling at least 1,000 units per model, but in reality, it's significantly more.

every minute a sucker is born....

 

[kyuu]

Esotericism aside, the main reason to get a DAP instead of a dongle on a smartphone is to separate leisure from work and stress. With a DAP you aren't bothered by notifications and/or distractions and from that start distinguishing the device with which you listen to music and the device you associate with day-to-day work and necessities. It may sound silly but it has a compelling cognitive aspect to it.

Yeah, I hate using my phone to listen to music. Constant notifications and the undefeatable god damn audio ducking are incredibly irritating. Nevermind Bluetooth being an incredibly flaky and unreliable wireless protocol.

But no way would I pay $1500 for a DAP, even if it was impeccable in every respect (which this example certainly is not). That's a few hundred dollars at best purchase for me, and that would be for one with good performance.

 

[jcarys]

I've used a DAP for many years. Currently I have the Sony NWA-106 that Amir tested at about 89db SNR. I would hope a Sony device get at least 96db CD range, but I use it almost exclusively for running these days, so I'm not sure I would really get too much from the extra few db in an outdoor environment. For me, the small size is the most important factor in deciding to use a DAP. I'm thinking about the smallest Hiby model as a replacement, but so far have decided it's silly to replace something that's working OK. BTW, purchase price was $350, so not in A&K range.

 

[Ropeburn]

Interesting. For the same price you can have any old phone plus a DAC dongle that performs equally well if not better...

...plus a whole arse stereo with big speakers and big power amp and excellent DAC that performs very nicely on top.

What in the world are they thinking? Where's the market niche for this kind of thing even? Who is the target customer? Questions and more questions. This whole thing would be acceptable for 200-300 moneys or so. For 1500 it's utterly laughable.

 

[Somafunk]

What in the world are they thinking? Where's

Check out headfi, folk spend £3k on a dap, £6k on an iem then another £4k on an iem cable……..but there’s a new iem out now called the Fugaku that’s £16,000

FUGAKU

A manufacturer that manufactures high -end audio cables for professional equipment. A special high -end cable custom -made. We also create high -end cables for portable equipment such as headphones and earphones.

briseaudio.com

 

[Ropeburn]

£3k on a dap, £6k on an iem then another £4k on an iem cable...

What I'd buy for those 13k offers all that, plus a whole nice 200hp car around it. Including the inevitable 5000W bassmachine. Then again, I'm not those people. Gladly

 

[raif71]

 

[Curupira]

But no way would I pay $1500 for a DAP, even if it was impeccable in every respect (which this example certainly is not). That's a few hundred dollars at best purchase for me, and that would be for one with good performance.

There's little reason to spend more than 300 USD on a DAP these days. FiiO, Hiby and iBasso offer models that basically integrate the well performing dongles we see reviewed here on ASR into a decent "smartphone" considering the use-case.

 

[Roland68]

every minute a sucker is born....

You know, when you point one finger at someone else, three fingers are always pointing back at yourself.

 

[Chrispy]

I've always wondered about Astell Kern stuff. Always seemed overpriced and not particularly great in the physical form either. Thanks to the provider of the unit and your time....

 

[RogerSmith]

You know, when you point one finger at someone else, three fingers are always pointing back at yourself.

This sounds like you are having deep knowledge of things.

 

[Ropeburn]

You know, when you point one finger at someone else, three fingers are always pointing back at yourself.

Only amateurs do that. Professionals know about the power of the knife hand.

 

[RogerSmith]

Only amateurs do that. Professionals know about the power of the knife hand.

View attachment 444707

That was exactly the way I pointed ! Maybe they are not all suckers, some may be filthy rich and just don't care about the ridiculous prices of Astell & Kern. At least the products are nicely designed and probably have a good build quality. But they will probably care if they are trying to use it with a 32 Ohm impedance headphone.....

 

[Ropeburn]

That was exactly the way I pointed ! Maybe they are not all suckers, some may be filthy rich and just don't care about the ridiculous prices of Astell & Kern. At least the products are nicely designed and probably have a good build quality. But they will probably care if they are trying to use it with a 32 Ohm impedance headphone.....

 

[Klonatans]

I wonder why this kind of product still exists.

This kind of product (DAP) exists for instance for people like me who have a large collection of music files and want to listen to music on-the-go, when commuting or doing a workout. While this is an objectively poorly performing device that's also too heavy and big for portable use, DAPs have their raison d'être like providing almost endless storage space (by adding your own microSD card up to 1,5 TB for the time being) and offline music listening opportunities, PEQ, more power than an average dongle, physical buttons to control the device without looking in the screen etc.
As to A&K DAPs, I have only negative experience to report (glitchy and slow UI, failed volume knob, failure to read memory card).

 

[taotone]

The A&K daps I have tried have not impressed. Amazon returns are your friend.

There are times and places where I don't want a phone and cables sticking out of it, so a DAP is something I recently decided to get for no better reason than it being a fun new toy to play with. It sits by my bedside and I use it at night with IEMs so as not to disturb my partner as I'm relaxing to get to sleep.

For sensible prices DAPs like the Fiio JM21 or Hiby R3 sound fine, and because I thought it looked nice I got an iBasso DX260 a few months ago. Its too expensive for what it is, but certainly the claimed measurements are impressive, there are no independent checks that I have seen (though Amir's review of the DX200 a few years ago was fine). I like the fact that I can replace the battery pack after a few years when the runtime starts to fade.

At any rate it sounds great to my GenX ears with both headphones and IEMs and I don't have many vices to spend my money on so I don't have much buyers remorse and wouldn't even if it did end up measuring poorly in independent tests.

 

[DanielT]

Thanks for the test Amir. This particular product was of zero interest to me, but that doesn't stop me from saying that I really appreciate your tests (speakers at the top of my test wish list).

Why would anyone buy a device like this in preference to a mid range smartphone at half the price - even if they don't want smart phone functionality?

And given that almost everyone who wants a portable player will already have a smart phone, I really struggle to find a reason for this things existence.

Especially when you consider the UI performance.

I even almost forgot what DAP was an abbreviation for. It feels outdated.

Also, headphones that have LDAC Bluetooth codec + smartphone with LDAC codec, then I would personally use that with Spotify. Goodbye to cables.

OT:
The possibility of using PEQ, mobile phone and Bluetooth is an interesting topic, a topic for another thread.

Edit:
Plus the need for a separate external headphone amplifier/DAC disappears if you accept LDAC with headphones. I suspect, however, I haven't checked, that the range of such good (sound/measurements) headphones is quite limited? Sony has headphones with LDAC Bluetooth codec of course but I don't know more than that.
Then it should work without downshifting the codec. That aspect with transmitter and receiver strengths can cause problems.
I know, those thoughts are OT and suitable for another thread. Couldn't help but write it, sorry.

 

[Bob101]

Esotericism aside, the main reason to get a DAP instead of a dongle on a smartphone is to separate leisure from work and stress. With a DAP you aren't bothered by notifications and/or distractions and from that start distinguishing the device with which you listen to music and the device you associate with day-to-day work and necessities. It may sound silly but it has a compelling cognitive aspect to it.

I had a smartphone and a DAP for that reason up until a year ago. Now I just put mysmartphone in 'do not disturb' mode. Experience is the same, for me.

 

[AdrianusG]

Check out headfi, folk spend £3k on a dap, £6k on an iem then another £4k on an iem cable……..but there’s a new iem out now called the Fugaku that’s £16,000

FUGAKU

A manufacturer that manufactures high -end audio cables for professional equipment. A special high -end cable custom -made. We also create high -end cables for portable equipment such as headphones and earphones.

briseaudio.com

They probably better just call it F*ck You (for being so stupid to fall for this kinda BS)