The Quest For Portable Perfection!

Let’s start with a little background on portable music players – starting with the Walkman, probably the most popular portable stereo. This was ground-breaking at the time and offered the user the ability to enjoy their music wherever, whenever! As with most things in this arena technology moves quickly; I could spend hours on this but basically: Tape to HDD/SD – that is as far as I want to go, you know the rest! Given the popularity of portable players there is huge selection out there, offering many specifications, some good some not so good, if you are like me however you require the best – a tall order: many factors need to be taken into account in order to get the most from your system, headphones and source quality to name just two. This brings me onto the Astell and Kern AK120, a portable music player with a difference – the highest of high end in the portable world!

Let’s take a look

Pictures cannot do this player justice – from the offset quality is sublime, the brushed aluminium front feels like it came off a super high-end CD player and the volume knob makes “Swiss watch” spring to mind. This is a great way of looking at this product, nothing is left unfinished! Also included in the box is a leather case which honestly smells unbelievable, like a new sports cars seat or a Paul Smith wallet – both equally as high end!

Astell and Kern market this unit as “the way music is supposed to be heard”; we will come back to this a little later but from my first impressions after opening the box I can say this is “the way music should be seen”. Aesthetics are key, especially in the mobile world. In my opinion, having see many portable players over the years, nothing has come close to the AK120 in visual and touch perspectives – possibly the AK100 but still no. The AK120 is on a level of it own, you can see how the design has been ergonomically tailored to make things easier for the listener, maximising sound quality but in a discreet and portable way – given the size of most audio equipment at this level it is miracle that this is possible at all – even with advancements in technology.

What’s in the box

The best bit, unboxing – just like Christmas!

Sound Quality

I always get an apprehensive feeling when it comes to headphones and portable players, traditionally I saw them how they were – never would I expect them to get any where near my home speakers do – far from it. Throw into this iPod etc. and my way of thinking held validity – it is only in the past few years my archaic way of thinking has been beginning to change. I liked the AK120 from the minute it came out of the box, it felt “Hi-Fi” – “what do you mean?” you may ask – well it reminds of the time I unboxed a Sugden IA-4 Masterclass: granted an expensive amplifier but truly Hi-Fi in every single way, I am sure you will not disagree with that!

Probably best to go through the headphones/earphones I am using  – I will only be using dedicated portable headphones for this, although in theory something like the HD800 at 300Ohm would be drivable with a separate amplifier such as the Graham Slee Voyager, if that floats your boat! So I have the Sennheiser Momentum, a particular favourite here at AA and the Sennheiser IE800 (also others) – mentioned in the last blog as being the perfect match for AK120.

I think it is important to mention now how simple transferring tracks from your computer is, iTunes honestly I do not appreciate. I am pleased to say getting your tracks on to the AK120 is a dream – just plug the unit in via the supplied USB cable and Auto play pops up (Windows.)

After copying over a WAV rip of Thierry Lang’s Guide Me Home I began my listening, track one: Prelude to Sadness with its wondering intro almost searching for a resolve left me struck, the piano hung in the air, every note distinct and natural. Offering an insight into the original recording previously unheard on the Momentums – and these are my own personal pair! Moving onto track two – “In Your Own Sweet Way” – a darker, far more focused Jazz offering; the stabbing piano left me wanting more as the dissonance searched for conclusion – portrayed beautifully by my Momentums here again. Swapping onto the IE800 heralded results, they clearly had the edge on definition as they extended into the higher frequencies giving a sense of everything on the record being offered to the listener without force or harshness – a clear winner.

I have a confession to make; these are all CD rips, sit back aghast, I did. The great thing about the AK120 is that is does not just make these sound great at 16bit 44Khz, it also plays up to 24 bit/192 – or as Astell And Kern call it: MQS – Mastering Quality Sound.

MQS is basically the ability to play high-resolution files, recordings that have come straight from the studio and never seen compression (in the traditional sense!) The sound quality is augmented by the Dual DAC design not found on the AK100, the difference between the two is vast, the 120 pulls so much more from your record collection than you could have ever imagined,

Features

As previously mentioned the volume knob has the appeal of winding a Swiss watch – perfect! The software on these portable players is of the utmost importance: slow, incompetent and lacklustre software can been found on many devices and is very disappointing and infuriating. I am pleased to say that the software here has been carefully thought out and integrates nicely. Along with all this you get the standard features you would expect, auto standby, brightness adjust and equaliser. Paramount to the AK120 is its Dual mono design – those familiar with Hi-Fi may know the benefits of this, (monoblocks for example) meaning each channel has its own signal path, previous to this Astell and Kern could have used a single DAC and then split the signal, given the quality of this unit and the quest for portable perfection A&K fitted dual Wolfson DACs. Storage on portable devices is a big factor, the AK120 comes stock with 64Gb but this is upgradeable via two micro SD slots to 192GB – ample enough storage for all your hi-res files.

Perfect Partners

As previously mentioned, for the majority of my listening I used the Momentum and IE800. I did however get the opportunity to try a few other portable headphones with the AK120 – you’re starting from the top here so the headphones need to be up to the job. It does not suffer fools gladly – this is to say: ensure your headphones are of adequate quality; if they are not, every flaw will become painfully obvious. The following headphones I also recommend:

KEF M200

If you are looking for precise, tight controlled highs and vocals that cut sweetly through the mix then go for the M500!

Yamaha EPH-100

Absolute bargain – these headphones punch well above their weight, yes the IE800 take the lead when it comes to a “reference level” but they are five times the price. This said, given the level of the AK120 I would recommend those as the perfect partner but wow, EPH 100 sound very special indeed!

Conclusion

I accept defeat here, my earlier apprehension towards portable devices seems to have faded into submission – listening while I write this is an enjoyable experience, distinct from but not inferior to my standard Hi-Fi. I am really starting gel with the AK120! If you are looking for the absolute reference then stop here, there is nothing to date which gets anywhere near this level – it is available from us with a wide range of payment options and as always happy listening!