Astell&Kern release new AK380 masterpiece
Whoever thought that portable digital players had seen the end of their existence since the rise of smart phone use was certainly wrong. One company to prove this is luxury portable audio makers Astell&Kern, who have been making their mark in creating high-definition music players with precision engineering, the result of which is a technological form of art.
Meet the latest and greatest flagship portable audio device from Astell&Kern, the AK380. Incorporating precision quality, a touch of extravagance and audio reproduction like the most natural thing you have ever heard.
Featuring a 4-inch touchscreen display, the AK380 boasts a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, as well as a 3,400 mAh Li-Pol battery, Bluetooth 4.0, and an aircraft-grade aluminium body with both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs. It holds an inbuilt memory of 256GB, with the ability to upgrade it with an additional 128GB through a microSD card.
With a mission to take high-resolution sound head on, the AK380 has a 32bit/384kHz capability in a wide variety of PCM audio formats. It can also act as an external USB-connected DAC, as well as giving you the ability to stream files and control the AK380 from an iOS or Android device with an upcoming app.
This trusty portable player also has built in Wi-Fi, allowing you to stream and download high-resolution music without the need for wires. It allows playback from practically any digital music format and supports a host of high-resolution audio formats such as WAV, FLAC and AIFF, as well as formats like MP3, WMA and AAC, and handles native single- or double-rate DSD files.
Part of the AK380’s ability to produce supremely high-definition audio is thanks to the dual AKM AK4490 DAC’s. This not only allows for higher resolution PCM files, but it also offers a true Dual-Mono setup designed for clear channel separation, broader dynamic range and a larger, more defined soundstage.
For the audio aficionado in each of us, the AK380 allows for fine tuning as it contains a parametric EQ where you can make adjustments in exquisitely subtle 0.1 dB increments over 20 bands.
With both balanced and unbalanced outputs (for a variety of headphones and direct home theatre connections) the new device also complies with DLNA 1.0, which will allow you to stream from compatible NAS storage drives.
No fine device would be complete without its accessories. With the Astell&Kern AK380 you have plenty of options, including a device dock for re-charging your player and the AK380 CD-ROM that connects to the cradle’s data port, allowing CD’s to be ripped directly to the device itself without any computer required.
While it is may be considered luxury, this art-like creation from Astell&Kern promises to sound just as good as it looks, all the while delivering an unmatched audio experience.
Astell&Kern AK380 is available now for $4,799 RRP.
Astell&Kern is distributed in Australia by BusiSoft AV.
Posted in:Headphones Technology
Tags: ak380 astell kern busisoft
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