Skip to main content

Hi-Fi Corner: Astell&Kern’s new AK Jr portable makes hi-res affordable(ish)

By Ryan Waniata Apr 27, 2015 6:12 PM

Astell&Kern makes some of the most gorgeous pieces of high resolution portable gear — inside and out — that you’ll find on the market. But for many listeners, even the company’s entry level units have approached the point of being cost prohibitive. Not anymore. AK today introduced the newest member of its high-resolution brood, the AK Jr, priced at $499.

If $500 seems like a pretty penny for a portable player, it’s actually extremely competitive in the world of high resolution audio on the go. The Jr matches well with Neil Young’s $400 Pono Player (if you can find one) and it’s practically a steal in comparison to the company’s flagship AK240, which comes in at around $2,500. And although you won’t find the AK240’s sprawling feature set, or glistening internal components like a double shot of Cirrus Logic 4398 DACs, the new upstart is no slouch.

Recommended Videos

Related: Trade out your clunky gear for this silver sonic jack of all trades

While the name might not inspire loads of confidence outside of Indiana Jones fans (Junior!), the AK Jr boasts the same Wolfson WM8740 DAC as the original AK100 offered, which is also a preferred chip for top quality digital audio conversion throughout the hi-fi world. The device also offers 64GB of native storage, as well as a microSD slot for up to 64GB of add-on storage to accommodate your high-resolution files. As you’d expect, the resolution tops out at 24bit/192kHz, and the player can handle most common file formats like WAV, FLAC, and Apple’s ALAC, as well as single-rate DSD files.

There’s no balanced output like you’ll find with the AK240, so the AK Jr won’t be as ideal as the hub of your home’s hi-fi system, but the player does include unbalanced 3.5mm output with an impedance of 2 0hms, which should be enough to push most high end headphones. And like the rest of AK’s line, the player can also double as a USB DAC for your PC to bypass your internal sound card.

While no word has been given yet for the AK Jr’s release date, the device will be on display at High End Munich from May 14-17, and at the T.H.E. Show Newport from May 29-31.

This post first appeared on our brother site, Digital Trends.

Image by Alex An

Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a… Read Full Bio

Elevate your elegance: Choosing your first cigar

Face, Head, Person

Earlier this year, I was strolling the streets of New York and ended up sitting in the Carnegie Club with an Old Fashioned in one hand and a cigar in the other while My Way by Frank Sinatra played from a speaker flanking leather-bound books behind the couch I had been using as my perch. It was my first cigar, but it led to a slight obsession that recently found me on the back deck of a lodge in Kenya, staring at Mount Kilimanjaro and smoking a stick while giraffes meandered by. Admittedly, there has been no intention in my budding hobby; I am aimlessly choosing the cigars that look good (the ones that look like those smoked by Arnold or Stallone in the movies, obviously). But I have decided to approach these in a new way, with a little help from my friends over at La Aurora, who graciously decided to navigate my ignorance with some info compiled by Brand Manager John Gaglio, with input from Master Blender Manuel Ynoa, CEO Ed McKenna, and Brand Manager Elvis Batista.

What to look for in your first cigar

FIFA’s Gianni Infantino Is Uglifying the Beautiful Game With $20 Billion Plot — But the Global Soccer Community’s Punching Back

People, Person, Crowd

For the better part of two decades, perhaps even more, corruption has allegedly run rampant within FIFA. Sepp Blatter, in particular, became the face of alleged extortion schemes, and he operated with impunity while at the helm of the organization for 17 years, from 1998 until his forced resignation in 2015 amid an FBI corruption probe. He’s banned for life from all football-related FIFA activities. If you’re new to the organization’s alleged deep connection to corruption, Netflix offers a brilliant 2022 documentary, FIFA Uncovered. In that documentary, Gianni Infantino appears in his previous capacity as Secretary General of UEFA (2009-2016) and later as the newly elected FIFA president, who vowed to root out corruption and hand the beautiful game back to the people where it belongs.

That, as it turns out, was all wishful thinking.

Escobar Cigars, Co-Owned by Nas, Drops Four-Profile Robusto House Blend Collection

Blade, Knife, Weapon

Imagine that, Nas is getting closer to ruling the cigar world. The legendary rapper’s Escobar Cigars, which he co-owns, is making waves with the launch of a new four-profile House Blend collection. The launch is in partnership with Cigar Chief, one of North America’s largest premium cigar retailers.

The Manual has not yet had the chance to do a taste review (a pack is on the way), but Escobar Cigars says the four-profile House Blend collection (Maduro, Premium Blend Connecticut, Habano, and Connecticut Robusto) “has its own distinct wrapper, filler, and strength profile,” and that “all four are rolled in 5 x 52 Robusto format using classic Cubano entubado construction.”