Verdict

Almost implausibly , the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 gets this closelipped to justify the asking price . For those who demand ( and can give ) the in force ware around , you wo n’t have much to librate up here .

Pros

Cons

Key Features

Introduction

Astell & Kern is no stranger to an eye - popping Leontyne Price - shred – but with the SP3000 digital audio player it ’s outdone itself . You thought the price ofthe SP2000TI survey towards the end of 2021 was affirmative ? This new SP3000 chain - silk hat is almost twice as expensive .

What exactly does £ 3799 put Astell & Kern ’s manner get you , then ? Just a digital audio player ? Surely there ’s more to it than that ?

The Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 ( to give it its full and boundary line - incoherent name ) is on cut-rate sale now , and in the United Kingdom it costs a fearsome £ 3799 . In the United States you ’ll have to part with an only slightly more palatable $ 3699 to secure one , while in Australia you ’re looking at AU$5499 .

There ’s a Copper colour interlingual rendition of the speaker retailing at the same prices , available at stockists such as Selfridges and Astell Kern ’s own situation .

It rather expire without saying that this is very big money indeed for something that , on the face of it , does n’t do anything your smartphone ca n’t . So why on the button would you cough up the cost of a dainty clean second - mitt car for a portable music player ?

Design

First thing first : what do you think of when you hear the password ‘ portable ’ ? Because although the SP3000 is plainly portable – it can be pick up in one hand and easy moved from place to place – it may not fit your melodic theme of the Holy Scripture .

At 493 g and 139 x 82 x 18 mm ( HxWxD ) , it ’s sure as shooting not going to slip into a crown air hole , and its pointy metal corners are no friend to clothing either . Yes , it ’s cater with a tactile ( and doubtless pricy ) protective case supplied by French tanners ALRA , which helps a little – but it ’s made of goatskin , which is n’t going to charge up any vegetarian audiophiles intellection of spending money with Astell & Kern .

The primary body of the material body is only gently angular by A&K ’s standards , and it ’s build up from 904L stainless steel . Not only is the textile heroically resistant to corrosion , it also accepts an super gamey polish – which is why it ’s favoured by the likes of Rolex . The front and rear faces of the SP3000 are glass , and at the front it constitutes a 5.4 in 1080 x 1920 touch - screen . An exceedingly responsive touching - sieve , what ’s more , thanks in large part to A&K set apart a Snapdragon octa - heart and soul CPU .

The upper correct - hand edge of the frame have a push / turn ‘ crown ’ ascendancy wheel . It function with luxuriously damped precision , and sits above a circular light that glow in unlike colours to indicate the size of the digital audio recording single file that ’s playing . On the polar sharpness there are three low ascendancy buttons- they ’re every bit well implemented but nothing like as exciting to apply .

The bottom boundary is where you ’ll observe a USB - C socket for reload the battery – a full charge from empty takes around 3.5 hours , and the battery itself is good for about 10 hour of playback ( if you ’re listening to mid - res single file at mediocre volume ) . There ’s also a micro - Mount Rushmore State card time slot here , which can take cards of up to 1 TB to bolster up the player ’s integrate 256 GB of retention .

The top of the SP3000 is where you ’ll detect headphones socket . There are three here : a 3.5 mm unbalanced yield , and two balanced alternatives – one is 2.5 mm and works only with four - pole connectedness , while the other is 4.4 mm and supports only five - rod connection .

Features

Astell & Kern state the A&ultima SP3000 is ‘ the height of audio instrumentalist ’ , which is plain debatable . It also enounce it ’s ‘ the mankind ’s first DAP with independent three-fold audio frequency circuitry ’ , which is rather more hard to take issue with .

The independent dual audio circuitry , which keeps the signal path for balanced and unbalanced outputs entirely separate , also include completely independent digital and analogue signal processing . The SP3000 marks the first show of AKM ’s newfangled ‘ statement ’ AK4499EX DAC – or , rather , four of them .

In conjunction with a pair of the same fellowship ’s AK4191EQs , they constitute what A&K is calling HEXA - Audio circuitry . Other technical highlights – and there are plenty – admit a single arrangement - on - scrap manipulation CPU , memory and wireless communicating duties , and Teraton X. Teraton X , explains A&K , is a processor that keeps king - derive and DAC - derived interference to a minimum while providing clean , efficient amplification . A&K hint , without manifest exaggeration , it ’s the ‘ ultimate sound answer ’ .

The SP3000 supports all the obvious audio formats like FLAC , MP3,MQAand WAV , as well as quite a few of the more esoteric choice . sampling rate of up to 32 - bit/784kHz and DSD512 can be wield natively , and the player is Roon Ready too . Wireless connectivity is via Bluetooth 5.0 , and there ’s support for SBC , AAC , aptX HDandLDAC codecs .

What else ? Well , there are half - a - twelve DAC filters to try out with . There ’s DAR ( digital audio remaster ) , which will – if you want – upsample the sample distribution charge per unit of the file you ’re take heed to in an cause to deliver ranking sound . And with Crossfeed , A&K stand for the SP3000 to create the effect of listening to loudspeaker system when you ’re listening to headphones by mixing part of the signal from one television channel into the other , with a clip - adjustment to concentrate the audio image .

Extensive seems a reasonable word to use when hash out the A&ultima SP3000 ’s feature - set .

Sound Quality

There ’s no two ways about it : the openhanded and more information - rich the digital sound recording Indian file you play , the well the SP3000 likes it . But it ’s equally fairish to say this Astell & Kern participant is no snob – rather than scupper the limit of lower - resolution content , it just does what it can to make the proficient of it .

It ’s similarly lay - back where the quality of your headphones is concerned , too ( although it ’s dependable to say you should be spending big money on headphones if you want to hear exactly where the enceinte money you spent on this player went ) . It ’s an admirable trait , and not one that ’s all that common in high - death audio equipment of any type .

So whether it ’s a peat bog - received 16 - bit/44.1kHz WAV Indian file of Shopliftingby The Slits or a DSD64 copy of Stevie Wonder ’s Big Brother , the SP3000 is an engaging , entertaining listen with a list of transonic talents as long as your arm .

item levels are eminent enough to provoke vertigo . Control is absolute – the blast and disintegration of individual sounds is judge beautifully , and so where the lower frequencies are concerned there ’s veridical momentum to go along with almost implausible weight . data regarding tone and texture is serve up in unstinting fashion . dynamical clearance is portentous where the big shifts are concerned , and the miserable - key dynamic magnetic declination in a solo instrument are made absolutely evident too .

The SP3000 link the entirety of the absolute frequency range together seamlessly – from the recondite , substantial bottom end to the clean , crisp top , the A&K is bland and convincing . It creates a believable , well - defined and easy to follow soundstage , and carry off the by - no - agency aboveboard task of allowing each element of a transcription the infinite it needs to express itself while mix it effortlessly into the overall performance . Which means that timing – that sense of unity and commonness – is about as good as it gets .

Fiddling with the DAC filters can make slight , rather fussy , difference to the way of life the SP3000 die about fork out euphony – but in all money plant , the fundamentals of its public presentation persist unchanged . It ’s exact and accurate , but not analytic for the interest of it . It ’s punchy and substantial , but it ’s not muscle - stick . It ’s widely - unresolved , but it ’s tightly unified .

It ’s at about this breaker point of a critique that I care to do the ‘ yeah , but … ’ affair to try and add a little salt to the menu . But in all honesty , in purely sonic term the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 just does n’t put a foot wrong . It ’s a pleasure to listen to , to the point that the 10 - 60 minutes battery life begins to seem inadequate .

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Should you buy it?

: Here it is … get your cite - card out .

This is the well - sounding DAP around , no question – but it ’s not twice as in effect as something be half as much .

Final Thoughts

In all honesty I was quick to dislike the SP3000 . laughable price , not as portable as it thinks it is … and then I spent a few days listening to it . That it ’s not for everyone is somewhat obvious – but those who demand ( and can afford ) the best products of their type around do n’t have much to count up here .

Trusted Score

How we test

We try every portable music player we review thoroughly over an drawn-out menstruum of clip . We use industry received tests to compare features the right way . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to retrospect a product .

Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .

FAQs

The SP3000 can defend microSD cards up to 1 TB .

Full Specs

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