Astell&Kern KANN ULTRA Review - After 5 Months

[@HeadphoneChamps]

Correction: In the review, I mentioned that the wheel lock on the Astell&Kern KANN ULTRA wasn't working, but it actually does work as long as the screen is off! This means you don’t have to worry about accidentally turning up the volume while it's in your pocket.

[@Ferion333]

Great review! Interestingly enough, those little details of UI “errors” are never exposed. Also, the performance of BT shocked me TBH, especially when we are talking about a DAP of this price. Nevertheless, I'm also a “music library” guy so I'm considering buying a Kann Ultra too. Thanks!

[@stefaniedc1128]

$1600?! fuuuuuuck me thats expensive! That being said, i always love watching reviews on expensive stuff i would never spend money on. And this is a dope review.

[@wana.me003]

Thank you for the review! An expensive kit but yes yes its amazing!

[@gerhardschmidt6634]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@PatrickBarnaby]

What I want to know is Astell&Kern KANN ULTRA vs FiiO M17 which is better? UPDATE: I bought the KANN ULTRA. They both sound different. I like the sound of the FiiO M17 better. Then again each time I kept switching between the two I seam to like the KANN ULTRA. I might return the KANN ULTRA since there's no DC Mode. The battery drains fast. What's interesting is all four gain levels sound the same and the lowest level is loud enough. Each time you jump up a gain level the previous volume level will be louder. There's more Base in the FiiO M17. The Base on the KANN ULTRA is good but more tracks played on the FiiO M17 sounded better. Base heavy tracks sound good on the KANN ULTRA. I might keep the KANN ULTRA or Return it. If I return it it's because the battery drains too fast. I can listen with Bluetooth or lead while charging. The question then is how much stress is this on the battery if I listen while charging? The FiiO M17 you can play in DC Mode without charging therefore saving the battery's life. Astell&Kern need to implement the same feature because then the KANN ULTRA would have been awesome. There both very load and you'll never listen on the loadest level. Headphone Champ do you listen anytime while the KANN ULTRA is charging? KANN ULTRA: I've listen with SONY WH-1000XM4 (BASE HEAVY) and SONY MDR-Z7M2 (BASE HEAVY - AWESOME SOUND). FiiO M17 Same Heaphones AWESOME BASE via iFi POWER ELITE Adapter 12V. I never had any problems with Bluetooth or losing connection. Haven't tested the Favourites yet. Music can sound better than the KANN ULTRA - Checkout FiiO M17 (iFi POWER ELITE Adapter 12V) DC Mode. This Mode is better than the KANN ULTRA. Both have Awesome Sound.

[@nightringer9815]

I appreciate the review, but I need to point out 1 very important nature of AK DAP. All AK DAP are produced to play the best quality of sound and music. All hardware and software focused on 1 thing and it is very heavy usage. A DSD file requires processing from 4 Mbps upto 30 Mbps of data processing, that's outside the amplification and sound processing, just the conversion. So if you are expecting to stream YT, don't buy AK. Go with FIIO or other brands. The best way to utilize AK DAP prowess is using local files of music. You can buy them and it's easy to find nowadays. Bonus info: AK Kann series is originally the continuation of AK320, the very flat sounding DAP AK has produced. Generally intended for muaic professionals to review the muaic they produced because it has a very revealing reproduction of sound. So don't be surprised if you find AK Kann lacking bass boom or warmth in vocal because that's not intended as daily music player. That's also why it's so big and heavy.

[@fredflint9153]

high quality songs and you have almost 70k songs on a 1tb micro sd card??? thats not high quality. i also have a 1tb microsd card filled with 26k flac songs and some hires songs. its almost filled. if i use all hires songs then probably only 15k songs

[@thedar7164]

JUNK.