There ’s expensive and then there’sexpensive . Astell&Kern ’s SP3000Tportable music playerand NOVUS in - ear monitors go to the latter category .
The SP3000 T follows on from the SP3000 model thissite retrospect in 2023 , and it features Astell&Kern ’s cutting - bound Triple Amp System , with users capable to customise the audio using either pipe elaboration , a digital op - amp or a loanblend of both method .
The Tube Amp mode uses a three-fold Raytheon JAN6418 MIL - SPEC time of origin Vacuum Tubes to produce a “ fond and soothing tone ” , while the SP3000 T ’s Op - Amp return a dissimilar type of strait in what Astell describes as delivering “ dynamic extreme clarity ” in its blue noise floor .
Much like the SP3000 player , the SP3000 T expend AKM ’s latest flagship DAC in the AKM AK4499EX that features thoroughgoing separation of the digital and analog signals to produce a higher timber operation .
Elsewhere there ’s a Snapdragon 6125 Octa - core processor and 8 GB of DDR4 RAM to check everything run smoothly . File data formatting support includes WAV , FLAC , WMA , MP3 , OGG , APE , AAC , ALAC , AIFF , DFF , DSF , andMQA . computer memory is 256 GB , and expandible to 1 TB
Connections let in a 2.5 mm , 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm auxillary outputs , with the player house in a stainless - steel body made up of 99.9 % pure silver plating . It ’s a purpose that ’s already bagged Astell&Kern an iF Design Award .
The A&ultima SP3000 T is available now from the Astell&Kern site as well as retail merchant include Selfridges for £ 3199 / $ 2999 / € 3,599 . Though it ’s expensive , it ’s really less so than the SP3000 .
The 2nd new product that Astell&Kern announce was that of the NOVUS in - ear monitors , in a collaboration with Empire Ears .
These limited edition in - earpiece have been developed to extract the maximal performance when partner with the SP3000T. Astell&Kern say that every “ compenent and fabric has been meticulously chosen with via media ” to birth high fidelity strait through its purpose - build W9 + dynamic driver .
You also get a custom - made four - wire intercrossed atomic number 29 , amber , and silver cable that ’s been reinforced with black macro - molecular vulcanized fiber and a 4.4 mm balanced jack to extract every moment of audio good coming from the SP3000 T ’s audio signal .
The Astell&Kern x Empire Ears NOVUS arrive a little later on the scene than the SP3000 T towards the oddment of May . They are price at £ 4999 / $ 4,999 / € 5799 .
