Martykt Posted August 20, 2020 Posted August 20, 2020 8 minutes ago, betty boop said: thats good to hear re amazon music, i beleive with prime account we have some free music ... so should explore Yes free with Prime Account though only has a very limited range of their available music and not sure whether you get the uncompressed streaming or just the standard 256Kb. Value-wise it's also the cheapest to offer uncompressed streaming at $11.99 per month compared to Tidal and Deezer. ImAmazon Music also has a radio function which seems a little limited in the playlist is a nice addition. Ideally I would like to just play completely randomly with from chosen genres but unfortunately none of the streaming services seem to have thought of what would be a pretty simple function to setup. 1
eostre23 Posted August 20, 2020 Posted August 20, 2020 On 15/08/2020 at 6:38 PM, betty boop said: welcome ! and no doubt an awesome thing the SA700 how you using your @eostre23, do you use any of the apps on the thing, loaded any of own or just working off music tracks have loaded on it what headphones are you running with your SA700 Hi, just the A&K loaded Tidal app, internal storage & a SD Card. Beyerdynamic AK T5p 2nd Gen headphones & Shuoer Tapes IEMs. 1
betty boop Posted August 20, 2020 Author Posted August 20, 2020 11 hours ago, eostre23 said: Hi, just the A&K loaded Tidal app, internal storage & a SD Card. Beyerdynamic AK T5p 2nd Gen headphones & Shuoer Tapes IEMs. Oh that should be a nice pair ! Not heard those but I believe were made for each other. wondering what all headphones work well with AK and what folks using... focal clearly a great match with Stellia as well ! 1
betty boop Posted August 21, 2020 Author Posted August 21, 2020 checked out the sp2000 with some wired B&W P7 and really quite impressed the result, with how good the A&K sp2000 makes these sound ! and this is just listening to some spotify. I guess just show value of good source gear and amplification, what is retained too is the character of the B&Ws which are more on the polite, warmish style which suits well for a bit of relaxed listening at times. So good news here the A&K I had feared perhaps not necessarily show the B&Ws at their best. maybe even highlight their flaws given lets face it were a $500-$750 headphone in their time. 2
soundfan Posted August 22, 2020 Posted August 22, 2020 (edited) My SR 15 and Hyla CE-5 IEM's cabled with Orpheus MK5.5 4 wire cable. Have a 500gb Micro SD Card fitted and love the combo of the iem's and player. The bass out of the Hyla's is to die for. A simple matter to transfer files from my external hard drive to the SR 15, and having access to my Tidal account is a nice bonus too. Edited November 10, 2020 by soundfan 3
betty boop Posted August 23, 2020 Author Posted August 23, 2020 15 hours ago, soundfan said: My SR 15 and Hyla CE-15 IEM's cabled with Orpheus MK5.5 4 wire cable. Have a 500gb Micro SD Card fitted and love the combo of the iem's and player. The bass out of the Hyla's is to die for. A simple matter to transfer files from my external hard drive to the SR 15, and having access to my Tidal account is a nice bonus too. nice to hear thats a great combo sounfan not one have had pleasure to experience ! great its hitting the spot for you it is a good option the SD card on these things. feel I don't have to worry about running out of space yes i too grabbed my external hard drive and copied files across to my A&K. Tidal definitely seems to work pretty well with these things too ! pretty good integration and like that it comes pre loaded just ready to go 2
mbd Posted August 23, 2020 Posted August 23, 2020 (edited) Bought an SP1000 second hand off the classifieds here, and am loving it so far. It's nice to have a dedicated music player again after so many years. I've been able to install a couple of APKs, and am currently signed up for a free one month trial with Qobuz (thanks to a VPN setup to sign up to the US-based option). I'm pretty pleased with the range of music there for my brand of weird, so will probably pay for the subscription soon. I'll probably do playlist management through an interface that is a little less small and slightly delayed in response. Curious if anyone has used a local streaming server to make tracks available to the DAP. I see on A&K's website that there is an 'MQS Streaming Server' but the download links don't appear to work for me. I suspect that a DLNA server might do the trick, but haven't dug in too deeply yet. Currently using some B&O BeoPlay H6 headphones with it and they sound great, but as can happen, I heard that Focal Stellia's were magical and inspired crying, so have some on their way to me now as well. Can't wait to try out that combo with a box of tissues near by... edit: Re my wondering about DLNA as a media server, I tried turning on Plex Media Server with my CD rips, and it worked straight away with AK Connect Edited August 23, 2020 by mbd More info 3
Martykt Posted August 23, 2020 Posted August 23, 2020 (edited) 32 minutes ago, mbd said: Focal Stellia's were magical SP1000 & Stellia combo is working to me. Nice pickup on the SP1000. Edited August 23, 2020 by Martykt 5
betty boop Posted August 23, 2020 Author Posted August 23, 2020 48 minutes ago, mbd said: Bought an SP1000 second hand off the classifieds here, and am loving it so far. It's nice to have a dedicated music player again after so many years. Congrats ! I know how you feel....its been literally YEARS for me too... since have had a DAP or anything of portable nature of quality as A&K. great pick up on the SP1000 and good to hear loving it 48 minutes ago, mbd said: Curious if anyone has used a local streaming server to make tracks available to the DAP. I see on A&K's website that there is an 'MQS Streaming Server' but the download links don't appear to work for me. I suspect that a DLNA server might do the trick, but haven't dug in too deeply yet. I note some MQS and DSD files showing up in the main A&K menu....where did they come from ? is this the service ? 48 minutes ago, mbd said: Currently using some B&O BeoPlay H6 headphones with it and they sound great, but as can happen, I heard that Focal Stellia's were magical and inspired crying, so have some on their way to me now as well. Can't wait to try out that combo with a box of tissues near by... ooooh ! well done ! they are gorgeous headphones !!! welcome to the Stellia club as well hope they are inspiring in the best sense possible hehe 2
mbd Posted August 23, 2020 Posted August 23, 2020 23 minutes ago, betty boop said: I note some MQS and DSD files showing up in the main A&K menu....where did they come from ? is this the service ? I believe that's just a shortcut to show MQS and DSD tracks that are stored locally. The server is a way to have a large collection hosted on a Windows or Mac on the local network that can stream to the DAP using the 'AK Connect' mode. I setup a free Plex Media Server (https://www.plex.tv) on a Mac Mini that has a disk with my reasonably CD Rips collection on it, and enabled the DLNA server within Plex. When I enable AK Connect on the DAP, I am able to see 'MY DEVICE' as well as 'Plex Media Server: Host' as Library options, and then navigate through the library from there. Obviously this won't work without local network, but if you can't (or don't want to) fit your entire collection on the local storage, it's seems to be an option. (Note that I've only just got this all going, so maybe there'll be quirks I haven't discovered yet. Unsure for example if the entire library will be handled okay by Plex or by the SP1000 - maybe there's a limit to the size). 3
mugwampjism Posted August 23, 2020 Posted August 23, 2020 3 hours ago, betty boop said: I note some MQS and DSD files showing up in the main A&K menu....where did they come from ? is this the service ? 2 hours ago, mbd said: I believe that's just a shortcut to show MQS and DSD tracks that are stored locally. The server is a way to have a large collection hosted on a Windows or Mac on the local network that can stream to the DAP using the 'AK Connect' mode There is a smattering of my collection onboard that shows up too. Is this going to be a formatting issue? Do I need to add something to the tags of my whole collection to do this? Gosh I can't wait to try this out when I get my SE 100 back (*hghm* from warranty repair *cough cough*) Gonna be a ripsnorter rollercoaster of an adventure, I'm sure 1
mugwampjism Posted August 23, 2020 Posted August 23, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, mbd said: Can't wait to try out that combo with a box of tissues near by If you could cradle a sleeping newborn, watch the sunset on Lake Como, reminisce of the time you ignored your late father's invitations, AND listen to Miles on your new Stellias... Well, one might be truly emptied of one's emotional baggage, after such a deluge of weeping. Congratulations on the Stellias! Seems everyone has one, gotta be my turn soon! Edited August 23, 2020 by mugwampjism 1
betty boop Posted August 23, 2020 Author Posted August 23, 2020 13 minutes ago, mugwampjism said: Congratulations on the Stellias! Seems everyone has one, gotta be my turn soon! they definitely seem to THE HOT item for the moment... just happens they seem to pair well with A&K as well... 2
betty boop Posted August 29, 2020 Author Posted August 29, 2020 We havent had any internet where we are for last couple days since a big storm. and the A&K sp2000 seems to just be powering on regardless... unlike other idevices its not throwing a barney or anything. the joys of having some 200+ CDs losslessly stored on it that just been enjoying. I had planned to check out the A&K DAP with another of my pair of headphones this weekend to see how they go with those. But the focal Stellia I kid you not are just sounding better and better with the sp2000 possible both are running in ... so have absolutely no inkling to check out with one of my other pairs headphones ...leave that for next weekend @mbd how's your stellia's going with your A&K ? 1
mbd Posted August 29, 2020 Posted August 29, 2020 11 minutes ago, betty boop said: how's your stellia's going with your A&K ? Funny timing, I was actually going to post again today with an update, and then got distracted. Thanks for reminding me I am so loving the setup. I've been listening all week. I had my first 'tears' moment today when I listened to the David Arnold/Propellerheads version of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. https://song.link/au/i/266616103 Also the Anne-Sophie Mutter/John Williams album "Across the Stars" sounds amazing. https://album.link/au/i/1466777023 Unfortunately, nothing can make one of my kids' favourite songs sound good, not even the Stellia: https://song.link/au/i/1518257703
betty boop Posted August 29, 2020 Author Posted August 29, 2020 11 minutes ago, mbd said: I am so loving the setup. I've been listening all week. I had my first 'tears' moment today when I listened to the David Arnold/Propellerheads version of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. that's great to hear. am listening to an family members recorded album, I've heard her perform these songs live with her troupe and through the A&K and stellia this album sounds so real ! gosh the A&K+focal combo does vocals so well (could be the focal playing to its strengths) and the acoustic guitars are sounding so multilayered ! will check out those songs mentioned, I love the bond themes .. have a few CDs of those...might have the version mentioned. others will be sure to check out once we have the internet again. am also curious of the kiddy loved one as well now 1
mbd Posted September 2, 2020 Posted September 2, 2020 Anyone else find the fancy leather case a little frustrating for accessing the the hard side-buttons of the SP1000? Because it's so smooth, I keep not incorrectly guesstimating where the buttons are, and end up having to pick it up to look. I found a cheap-ish TPU case on ebay which seems to accentuate the button positions, so plan to give that a try instead. 1
mugwampjism Posted September 2, 2020 Posted September 2, 2020 3 hours ago, mbd said: so plan to give that a try instead. I would await your impressions with interest! I had exactly the same idea, with the same problem on the se100, but didnt really feel like risking another $50 on a maybe.
Martykt Posted September 2, 2020 Posted September 2, 2020 4 hours ago, mbd said: Anyone else find the fancy leather case a little frustrating for accessing the the hard side-buttons of the SP1000? Can't say I've had too much issue with mine as I can feel the imprints easily enough. It doesn't look quite so fancy now though as it fell out of my pocket while climbing up into my truck... I'm definitely glad I'd put on one of those dodgy plastic screen protectors. I'm making do with the current case for the moment despite the scuffs though I have purchased a glass screen protector off fleabay.
betty boop Posted September 2, 2020 Author Posted September 2, 2020 44 minutes ago, mugwampjism said: I would await your impressions with interest! I had exactly the same idea, with the same problem on the se100, but didnt really feel like risking another $50 on a maybe. I've been ok with this, though to be honest use rarely ... I tend to hit the sit button and just do what i want o the screen... as i would do with my iPhone I love the Triangle display that comes up for volume. just touch the dial and its there and can quickly adjust volume moving triangle up and down 39 minutes ago, Martykt said: It doesn't look quite so fancy now though as it fell out of my pocket while climbing up into my truck... I'm definitely glad I'd put on one of those dodgy plastic screen protectors. oh gosh marty that would be my worst fear...do they make tough cases for you mine came with some screen protectors .. havent put my on yet. but even before I got it i ordered some screen protectors from overseas ! 1
Martykt Posted September 2, 2020 Posted September 2, 2020 1 hour ago, betty boop said: oh gosh marty that would be my worst fear...do they make tough cases for you Definite "Oh Schiit" moment but thankfully there was only very minimal damage. It is a curious question on how much a screen replacement or repair would be though probably one of those questions that you really don't want to ask... Not sure OtterBox have gotten onto that one yet... will have to send them a hurry up !! There does seem to be a bit of a premium on Astell & Kern. 1
Dolphy Posted September 3, 2020 Posted September 3, 2020 It's great to see other A&K owners here. I've owned the AK100, AK100mk2, AK120, AK240 and I currently have an SP1000m. You could say I love their sound and interface. I use mine with a pair of Andromeda's. I have been lazy lately and only used my phone to listen to music. I used my SP1000m today and was blown away at the difference of quality. I mainly listen to my ripped CD and sacd collection. I occasionally stream Tidal and Tune in radio. 4
rowbo Posted September 3, 2020 Posted September 3, 2020 Great new thread I had to replace an iPod classic when it was stolen and settled on the AK70 mk2 about 2yrs ago. This led to me overhauling my entire stereo as the sound I was now experiencing couldn't be shared haha I mainly use it in the car and travelling (when flying was a thing). Pairs well with my ageing AKG 271s. I use JRiver to arrange playlists and the library itself. Great devices. Looking forward to an upgrade in model eventually and hand this one to the wife 2
betty boop Posted September 4, 2020 Author Posted September 4, 2020 12 hours ago, dolphy said: It's great to see other A&K owners here. I've owned the AK100, AK100mk2, AK120, AK240 and I currently have an SP1000m. You could say I love their sound and interface. I use mine with a pair of Andromeda's. I have been lazy lately and only used my phone to listen to music. I used my SP1000m today and was blown away at the difference of quality. I mainly listen to my ripped CD and sacd collection. I occasionally stream Tidal and Tune in radio. great to hear dolphy, this a wealth of experience with AK there how you have been finding them is really interesting. I love how you said you fell back to the phone, only to go back to your AK to be blown away absence makes the heart grow fonder your listening seems similar to mine....I can't beleive how good tune in radio actually sounds hehe. i would have thought the such high resolution nature of these A&Ks would mean unlistenable or something. but no... I really dont mind as casual listening. what are you listening to on tune in radio ? 7 hours ago, rowbo said: Great new thread I had to replace an iPod classic when it was stolen and settled on the AK70 mk2 about 2yrs ago. This led to me overhauling my entire stereo as the sound I was now experiencing couldn't be shared haha welcome ! and great you have found it rowbo ! interesting the comparison with the iPod...and i know iPods went way of the dodo.....mines collecting dust somewhere in the garage 7 hours ago, rowbo said: I mainly use it in the car and travelling (when flying was a thing). Pairs well with my ageing AKG 271s. interesting to hear how you are using the A&K has actually been quite a change to my listening...especiall with our covid lockdown and family at home. I'm finding me with A&K in the hoody pocket walking around the house, headphones on...going about my day to day...out in the garden for a bit of sun, grabbing a cuppa etc only time headphones coming off is for taking or making a phone call ! I use a stand desk and DAP and headphones has meant no longer tied to the desk and any system either 7 hours ago, rowbo said: I use JRiver to arrange playlists and the library itself. Great devices. Looking forward to an upgrade in model eventually and hand this one to the wife how are you using jriver ? to arrange playlists and library ? that sounds interesting. indeed these are such good devices ! 3
mugwampjism Posted September 4, 2020 Posted September 4, 2020 Yeah the iPod did everything well, except for sound quality. 3 hours ago, betty boop said: I use mine with a pair of Andromeda's. I have been lazy lately and only used my phone to listen to music. I used my SP1000m today and was blown away at the difference of quality. I use mine with Andromeda (S) as well, and even Spotify sounds better on the A&K. On 02/09/2020 at 8:56 PM, Martykt said: fell out of my pocket while climbing up into my truck Gosh mine hasn't touched a single surface yet. Hasn't been played with by the kids or the missus.. sits happily in it's case, inside the pouch, all the time. The thought of yours falling from your pocket is actually giving me sympathy pains I suppose the longer I keep mine perfect, the more it's gonna hurt when I do eventually let it slip 3
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