Astell & Kern AK300

The Astell & Kern AK300 is a FLAC player derived from the company's flagship models - the AK320 and AK380. They all share the same goal, that is to deliver the truest and most natural sound possible. Because it uses a single D/A converter, the praised 32-bit AKM AK4490, it is a more affordable yet still a top-of-the-line portable music player.

Key features

• It uses the AK4490, a D/A converter also used in Astell @ Kern's flagship models (AK320 and AK380)
• Support formats up to the resolution of 192 kHz / 24-bit, including support for DSD 64/128
• Accurate parametric equaliser settings
• High-precision clock with a reference jitter value of 200 femtoseconds
• New possibilities of streaming music over the AK Connect App
• Touch screen and pressure-sensitive buttons
• Compatible with Astell Amp, Recorder, Ripper and Cradle

Unsurpassed sound

The heart of this player is a single D/A converter, the praised AK4490. It decodes audio formats up to the resolution of 192 kHz / 24 bit. It also supports DSD 64/128 which it converts to PCM 176 kHz / 24 bit. The AK4490 is equipped with a high-precision clock with a reference jitter value of 200 femtoseconds. That enables it to create more accurate frequency values, make fine jitter corrections, and reproduce analogue sound closer to the original source than ever.

Accurate sound adjustment

Compared to conventional graphic equalisers, the AK300's improved parametric EQ is much more accurate and enables detailed fine-tuning. To achieve this, it offers twenty bands which can be adjusted in ±0.01 dB steps. The new DLNA interface also comes with a lot of improvements. It features a lot more options that allow streaming or listening to music stored on your PC or NAS. Playback can be controlled by your phone or tablet and music can be transferred between all devices wirelessly.

Additional information:

display:
4" WVGA (480 × 800) touchscreen

Supported formats:
WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE (Normal, High, Fast), AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF

Sampling:
PCM: 8kHz ~ 192kHz (8/16 / 24bits per Sample)
DSD: DSD64, Stereo / DSD128, Stereo

Output level:
Asymmetrical: 1.98 Vrms / Symmetrical: 1.98 Vrms

DAC:
AKM AK4490

Decoding:
up to 24bit / 192kHz Bit to Bit

Input:
USB Micro-B (for power and data transfer (PC & MAC))

Output:
Headphones (3.5 mm) / Optical output (3.5 mm) / Balanced output (2.5mm, only a 4-pole version is supported)

Wifi:
802.11 b / g / n (2.4GHz)

Bluetooth:
V4.0

Frequency response:
±0.075 dB (20Hz ~ 20kHz
±0.56 dB (10Hz ~ 70 kHz)

Signal / noise ratio:
116 dB @ 1kHz, unbalanced / 116 dB @ 1kHz, symmetric

Crosstalk:
130 dB @ 1kHz, unbalanced / 1350B @ 1kHz, symmetric

Total harmonic distortion:
0.0008% @ 1kHz, unbalanced / 0.0007% @ 1kHz, symmetric

SMPTE IMD:
0.0007% 800Hz 10kHz (4: 1) Unbalanced
0.0006% 800Hz 10kHz (4: 1) symmetric

Output Impedance:
Balanced output 2.5 mm (1 ohm) / 3.5 mm headphones (2 ohms)

Linking:
Clock jitter of 30 ps (type), a clock with an accuracy of 200 femto seconds

Battery:
3100 mAh 3.7 V Li-Polymer

Memory:
64 gigabytes (NAND) + microSD (Max 128 gigabytes)

Supported OS:
Windows XP, Windows 7,8,10 (32 / 64bit), Mac OS X 10.7 or later