Audiophilepure

It may not be hard to find a portable source that has a great interface and allows for easy music playback. If that is your only goal then look no further than Apple’s ecosystem. It also may not be as hard to find a portable player that is capable of rendering digital files back with pristine transparency. It may also be possible to find a portable device that offers a massive amount of connectivity, both wired and wireless, in an

d out. And yet again, it may be possible (albeit much harder) to find an amplifier that expresses supreme control over headphone transducers. What you get from the Astell and Kern SP3000 is all four of these things in a single package. And that collective is what hopefully adds some value to consumers for the high end ticket price. Once you tack on a layer of luxury aesthetics you start to see the vision that AK was taking when they set forth to produce the top of the line for their top line. The SP3000 has all the tech, specs and high fidelity sound available at the moment, get it while it’s hot.

It may not be hard to find a portable source that has a great interface and allows for easy music playback. If that is your only goal then look no further than Apple’s ecosystem. It also may not be as hard to find a portable player that is capable of rendering digital files back with pristine transparency. It may also be possible to find a portable device that offers a massive amount of connectivity, both wired and wireless, in and out. And yet again, it may be possible (albeit much harder) to find an amplifier that expresses supreme control over headphone transducers. What you get from the Astell and Kern SP3000 is all four of these things in a single package. And that collective is what hopefully adds some value to consumers for the high end ticket price. Once you tack on a layer of luxury aesthetics you start to see the vision that AK was taking when they set forth to produce the top of the line for their top line. The SP3000 has all the tech, specs and high fidelity sound available at the moment, get it while it’s hot.

After 3 weeks of listening to the Astell&Kern KANN MAX through a wide range of headphones and using it as my primary digital source with the Ampsandsound Kenzie Ovation Rev2, there is no question in my mind that it is one of the top 3 DAPs currently available regardless of price.

Operational quirks aside, there are items that need to be addressed by Astell&Kern when it comes to the UI. However, the KANN MAX is capable of driving almost anything in the headphone and IEM categories and delivering a state-of-the-art listening experience.\

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sony-xperia-10-iv

Sound on the Xperia 10 IV comes in two very different halves. Starting with the loudspeaker, Sony’s mono speaker is thin, compressed and should generally be avoided at all costs if you can help it. SBTRKT and Sampha’s Trials Of The Past lacks practically any bass and features a claustrophobic arrangement. It feels like all aspects of the track are fighting for dominance over the phone’s measly single speaker. While it may suffice for some short TV and movie watching, that may be about all we can recommend for this speaker.

Thankfully, headphone performance is a completely different story. Plug some cans in and you get an impressively clear and detailed vocal performance, snappy timing and a spacious arrangement that makes listening to music on the Xperia very enjoyable. This is good sound by general smartphone standards, let alone smartphones at this sort of price.

Once the player is turned on, you really can’t miss the app, safely docked in the lower half of the screen. A black icon, displaying the brand logo, the mighty white triangle. It’s still the main app for music playback, but if you want to completely turn off the Android experience, this isn’t an option anymore.

The app is fast, well-designed, and it really feels like the brand took time to improve the UI and fix various bugs: it’s much easier to use than before. The sorting options are numerous, the equalizer settings are awesome, and if it crashed a lot when I received it, after a few software updates, everything seems flawless now.

The AK SP2000T’s bass is musically engaging with a tight and punchy delivery. Bass has good impact, but its presence is always civilized and controlled. If you want more bass, you will have to go for a bass focused IEM or earphone. Bass detail is good as well as the depth and layering. There is a nice sub rumble, but your IEM or headphone of course must be able to portray it.

The mid section has a very nice timbre, especially in hybrid and tube mode. Mids are spacious, airy and natural sounding. Vocals are perfectly situated, though they’re probably a tiny bit more to the front. Vocals carry a nice energy, especially in OPAMP amplification mode. Mid depth and layering are always good. Feed your SP2000T’s bad quality recording and the mids will suffer a lot. There in the mids still is room for improvement for wat concerns precision and decay, but that goes for the top and bottom end as well.