Audiophilepure

Aurender AP20 reference all-in-one music server class D integrated amplifier Review

The AKM 4497 is a circa 2016 32-bit two-channel DAC chip. I have fond memories of enjoying music from CD players and DACs of the early 2000 using AKM chips, and I have found those made by Burr Brown, Analog Devices, Wolfson, etc., all adopted by manufacturers at one time, promising. The ESS chips of late are a different breed as their design is so integrated that manufacturers often take advantage of it and create their consumer products with minimal additional original engineering. The result is various models from manufacturers all sounding similarly. There are exceptions, of course, such as in the case of the Audio Research DAC 9.

On the company’s choice of selecting the AKM 4497 chipset, it is noteworthy that an October 2020 fire at the AKM facility disrupted supplies of the AKM 4499EQ, the latest flagship. Aurender Director Harry Lee offered that, “When we developed the A-series (Analog outputs) about 10 years ago, we had narrowed down our choices to AKM and ESS DAC chips. The decision was primarily made due to sound signature of the AKM chips winning out with our development team. Because this essentially became part of our A-series house sound [on top of the disruption of the 4499EQ chip supply], we decided to stick with the AKM 4497 and push the envelope on getting the very most out of this brand of chip with each new iteration/model.”

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