Astell&Kern AK380 Music Player - Black

Just very short review.I am extremely happy with it. I tried AK300 and I was happy with it until I heard AK380. The difference was obvious for me. Soundstage, bass! separation, all of those are noticeably improved compared to AK300. Luckily I paid way less than £2k (Black Friday etc) while it is now over 3k.Cons:Price,It may be warm/hot after some time of playing.

I was so very disappointed in the AK380 I ended up returning it.I thought it would be a step on from the current players, such as the ZX2 and the Cowon P1 for example.The reality is it sounds no better, not worse but not better.Truth is I had forgotten how awful the Android File Transfer programme is on the MAC. Constantly fails to transfer files and of course transferring large amounts of lossless files we are taking gigabytes of transfers so very frustrating.The GUI is not as good as the ZX2 and I also experienced problems when stopping an album turning the machine off and later returning to it to findthe music player crashed. So software still buggy.Battery life poor compared to the ZX2 which lasts 30 hours compared to 8 hours.I used mainly Laylas iems both balanced and non balanced and mainly red book Flac files. Could not see any improvement over the ZX2 or Cowon P1.It is not that the AK380 is bad it is just seriously almost offensively over priced for what is does. You can buy the P1 and indeed the ZX2 if you shop around for 750 pounds. Heck you could even buy the Laylas as well and still be quids in.Note the AK320 at 1,495 pounds. Why pay almost 3k.Guessing this is because 380 not selling that well.

I had owned an AK120II since its release then upgraded to an AK320 and now I own a rather fabulous 380 in Copper.Sound Quality: Well it's just superb, whether it's playing DSD's, 192Hz 24bit Wav or Flac files. And even CD rips sound amazing. Without doubt it sound significantly better (as it should for the extra money) than the 320 which also feels so much less significant in the hand.. I've been into HiFi for over 40 years and as I write this I'm looking at my main system which costs over 30K and sounds superb. But here's the rub, for serious listening the sound quality of the AK380 Copper can't be beaten, the detail and dynamics are so real, it has superb musicality and is a really enjoyable listen. All at less than 10% of the value of my main system. Which ironically make it great value. . .One of the reasons for upgrading from the AK320 to the AK380 was that I wanted to use it as a DAC/pre-amp driving a power amp and speakers in my studio. It was really faultless in that installation alway able to decode even DSD file natively. And volume and music selection was controlled with the Astell & Kern app on my iPhone. all very cool and turned a portable player into a HiFi component.Today I use my AK380 entirely as portable player driving a pair Audeze LCD-3 headphones. Due to their advanced design the LCD-3's are quite inefficient so I've recently bought the Copper AK AMP (which I highly recommend) This clamps onto the back of the AK380 to make one larger unit. The amp provides the extra power to really make the LCD-3s perform, with the added advantage of portable flexibility. Giving me great sound in every room in the house, for that matter hotel or wherever I am.Build quality and use.The AK380 Copper is actually machined out of a solid block of Copper. As such the build quality is superb. I've owned A&K's for some years and they're been faultless. File transfer from my MAC is really simple using the free Android app downloaded from the A&K website. All of the artists name and artwork shows with every file type. Occasionally some of the metadata is missing on downloaded files, on these occasions I use the Metadatics App to add the missing info. Reload the file and the AK380 automatically index's the album.Conclusion.If you can afford an AK380 Copper buy it, it really is simply the best. However if your budget is less just buy a lower AK model and it will still out perform other players at its price point . . . and sound great.

Over £3000 for a product with a loose wobbly volume wheel...unbelievable...!!

I upgraded to the AK380 from my AK240 which I bought just over a year ago when it was first launched. Once again Astell have pushed the limits of what can be achieved from a portable music player. Just when I thought the AK240 couldn’t get any better the AK380 trumps it in every way. I was fortunate enough to still be able to get very good money back for my AK240 when I sold it on ebay.Now let’s get down to the essentials… the sound! This is nothing like I’ve ever heard before from a portable, such spacious and lush sound with great dynamics. The 2 things which stand out the most for me as improvements over the AK240 are the soundstage and the bass! The subsonic bass is unworldly good, like I’ve never heard, and the soundstage is so wide It’s like being in a concert hall. Feature wise most things are the same, you get a larger screen which is much better having that extra real-estate. Just before I sold the AK240 they done a firmware update which mirrors the same firmware on all the A&K devices which is fantastic. The option to upgrade with different accessories is very exciting, I’ve just ordered the AK380 amp, just waiting for it to turn up so I’ll leave some feedback once I’ve had a chance to test.I would suggest this to anyone in the market for the best possible listening experience on the move… although it’s at a premium, they hold their resale value so well.Back to the listening!