Review on Astell&Kern KANN Alpha Portable Hi-Res Audio Player, Onyx Black by John Frazier

I wasn't a fan of DAP's implementation of ESS DAC until I tried this player. This is a great sounding DAP. I haven't had any major problems but I only use this DAP to play music files from the micro SD card in the player. With this limited use I had no problems. I can't talk about anything but this. However, this player sounds great. The sound quality is top notch. I have only one small problem that makes it impossible for me to give 5 stars. CLOCK. I don't use wifi so I set the time manually and it loses about a minute every 4 or 5 days. Considering you can buy a $5 digital watch that tells near-perfect time, I would expect a $1,000 DAP to be able to do the same. I would have sent this DAP in for exchange if I had noticed within 30 days, but I didn't. If the replacement had the same problem I would still keep it. This DAP sounds too damn good to pass up for a buggy watch. While the Alpha has plenty of power, it's not as much as I expected. I want to see the rated output power in the specified load. Even better, I'd love to see a unified performance rating system for all manufacturers (but I'm not holding my breath). However, this is not a complaint, just a statement. Absolutely fantastic sounding player. but it should get one star because it's a $1,000 player with a digital clock that can't keep time. Addendum: 04.07.21. A recent firmware update that should have only updated the built-in Tidal app. also seems to have taken care of the issue of the clock not showing the time (when set manually). So I'll check my review and give the player 5 stars.