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

I have four models of these players and this is the best model I have ever bought. The first one I bought was the AK100 MKII 3oHm version and it still works very well. It was the most durable version of my four players. It plays 24-bit 196kHz files very well, but has no network connection and Bluetooth isn't the newer version. I also have an AK120, which has two DACs, but it doesn't sound as good as the AK100 due to the way it's built. The first AK100 I bought wasn't actually the MKII 3oHm version and it didn't sound that good with my Shure 535s I had at the time. I returned it and got the MKII 3oHm version and it still sounds very good. It has no Wi-Fi and I have two 64GB SD cards. I also have an AK240 which I bought on vacation since I got on a plane to New York and forgot my players, but I had a couple of wallet-sized microSD cards. I bought this player with a charger and a pair of Westone 4R headphones which were significantly cheaper but sounded really good with this player. I got a lot of this from a famous camera shop in New York. Unfortunately, the Westone headphones were lost during a home renovation. I purchased Kann Alpha from a third party that is extremely reliable and I have dealt with them many times in the past. I bought it at a discount as it was a demo item. When it arrived I actually got a new one as another employee was selling a demo and they honored the original price they quoted me. I wish new players had chargers attached to the cradles they use instead of the horribly designed back shells that are meant to be both a cradle and a protective case. Kann's line of players are just two tough cases for these stands. This player also stays cooler than my original Kann player. The only thing that frustrated me a little was having to add Tidal to the device myself. This is easy for most people with a work laptop or desktop computer. Our Windows desktop that I created myself decided the PSU was going to fail and I'm still waiting for Corsair to send it back. We mainly use our iPad Pro devices and they do everything we need, except they allow you to download the Android APK file to install the Tidal service on the device. I finally managed to get a boot from an old laptop we bought in 2012 and it's very slow. After getting Tidal to work with this player and a very well made Revain 4.4mm headphone cable that fits my MMXC connectors on my Shure 846 headphones, I was in business. This player sounds phenomenal and is worth every penny providing it doesn't have the same issues as my original Kann player! It got so hot you could burn your fingers on the screen. Then three white spots began to appear on the screen. I posted a photo on the purchase page. I had to ship it back to California and it cost almost $400 out of pocket to repair. They replaced the battery, screen and headphone jacks. A year later and very little used, I noticed that one channel stopped working and that was the balanced jack. I used an unbalanced jack and it started doing the same thing. Now it won't charge or turn on. The cable I bought sounds a lot better than the other one that was $300 but didn't have a 4.4mm input. I use it now on AK240. Overall I am very happy with my Astell&Kern turntables, with the exception of the original Kann turntable. This new player was exceptional at playing Tidal and that's why I bought this model. MQA audio quality playback via Tidal. The replacement cable came from Revain and the link is below. a separate MQA preamp to play about 30 Japanese MQA CDs that I bought when they first came out. Can Alpha actually sounds a lot better than my home setup. I'm using a first generation Beyerdynamic Tesla headphone set for my home setup, running through an MQA decoder to a small tube amp. I got a pair of Focal Utopia headphones for Christmas and I have to say they are not worth the price. I have other Focal speakers and a couple more headphones that sound great. They have a new version of Utopia which is more expensive and I don't know if they sound better or not. I also have a pair of Focal Elegia High-Fidelity Close-Back Circum-Aural headphones, which haven't even hit the market yet, and they sound really good and I don't have to turn on this player's built-in amp. I was invited to a demonstration of the kit by the company I bought this player from. Her enclosed enclosure is perfect when I'm not interested in what my husband is watching on TV. This player will be the last Astell&Kern player I will buy if I have problems with it like I had with my Kann player. I paid the original price for it and after all the trouble I had with the original jug I was torn to buy another of their products! My biggest gripe with this company is that they don't ship a proper charger with the player. Apple is doing the same with its new iPads and iPhones. These electronic devices are too expensive for these companies not to provide the right power supply! I've also noticed that some people have problems with files on SD cards. I haven't put it in my alpha player yet as I plan to buy the 1TB version. I have the largest at the moment 256GB. I have a couple of 64GB microSD cards, but I'd rather have everything on one card. These players are also very picky about the type of SD card they use as well as the format of the card. The card must be a SanDisk Class 10 microSD formatted in FAT32 or you will experience the issues described in other reviews. Another reason I didn't upload my hi-res and DSD files to the micro SD card is that we are still in quarantine and I can also access the files from my home network or music server. When everything is relatively normal and we start moving more, I will then upload the files to the micro SD card. If I have any issues with the player's reliability, I will update my rating. So far I'm very happy with this player and I hope it doesn't become another player that I would never buy. There are more expensive models out there as well as other brands, but based on my experience with the original Kann experience, I'm a little hesitant to spend three thousand on one of their top-of-the-line players. I have bought several different models of Fiio players and they have been extremely disappointing and unreliable. I've lost faith in Sony and their new products. So there are few other brands left and they are very expensive compared to this player. It's not exactly cheap either. However, there are several other companies that make drinking players and they are very expensive! It's exactly what I wanted and it has the features I was looking for in a portable MQA player and the price was within my budget. I currently recommend this player to anyone who wants a good audiophile player without any problems. I will update my review if this changes. Another thing that you need to consider is the choice of headphones that you want to pair with the player. A $30 pair of headphones doesn't sound like a high-end pair of headphones just because the player supports MQA or High Definition. The best way to find the best sound quality is to go to a high-end audio store and try different combinations of players with headphones or earbuds. Some people find it difficult because of Covid! I personally love my Shure 846 headphones and they have the most incredible bass I have ever owned. I bought Jerry Harvey Audio headphones and didn't like them. They, where two heavy ones, fell out of my ears. They also have metal edges that hurt my ear when I lay down. They sound as good as my Shure 846s and sometimes better, but they are also very expensive. Finally, I'm a big fan of wired and in-ear headphones. I find they sound better than the Bluetooth wireless models. It's a personal preference and I think it's a bit silly as the player works without Wi-Fi, but I've noticed interference with Bluetooth headphones in the past and have preferred a wired connection over wireless.