The AK240SS

After successfully launching the AK100 and the AK120 models, Astell & Kern wondered, “What is the ultimate sound quality?” After much consideration, they decided to move a step further with the goal, which is to deliver the sound “exactly as the artist had intended” for us to hear. Moving from the AK100 to AK120, Astell & Kern decided to provide a Dual DAC setup to create better left and right channel separation with clearer sound quality. We thought that the Dual DAC setup would be enough, but while developing the AK240, we felt the need to further improve sound quality in order to accurately reproduce the original sound recording. After countless hours of research and testing, Astell & Kern were able to find the answer.
The answer was to create both a balanced output and native DSD playback through the Dual DAC setup.
Now with the AK240, Astell & Kern can dare say that they have gotten “that much closer” to the sound quality of the original recording.

General Specifications

• Aircraft Grade Duralumin
• 3.31inch WVGA (480 x 800) AMOLED Touchscreen
• WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE(Normal, High, Fast), AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF
• FLAC, WAV, ALAC, AIFF : 8kHz ~ 192kHz (8/16/24bits per Sample)
• / DSD Native : DSD64 (1bit 2.8MHz), Stereo / DSD128 (1bit 5.6MHz), Stereo
• Unbalance 2.1Vrms / Balance 2.3Vrms (Condition No Load)
• Cirrus Logic CS4398 x2 (Dual DAC)
• Support up to 24bit/192kHz Bit to Bit Decoding, DSD64/128
• USB Micro-B input (for charging & data transfer (PC & MAC))
• / Connection Mode : MTP (Media Device)
• PHONES (3.5mm) / Optical Out (3.5mm) / Balanced Out (2.5mm, only 4-pole supported)
• 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)
• V4.0
• 2.59 ”(66 mm) [W] x 4.21 ”(107 mm) [H] x 0.68 ”(17.5 mm) [D]
• 6.5 oz (185 g)
• Firmware upgrades supported (OTA)

Audio Performance

• Frequency Response – ±0.023dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Unbalance & Balance
• – / ±0.3dB (Condition: 10Hz~70kHz) Unbalance & Balance
• Signal to Noise Ratio – 116dB @ 1kHz, Unbalance / 117dB @ 1kHz, Balance
• Crosstalk – 130dB @ 1kHz, Unbalance / 135dB @ 1kHz, Balance
• THD+N – 0.0007% @ 1kHz, Unbalance / 0.0005% @ 1kHz, Balance
• IMD SMPTE – 0.0004% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Unbalance / 0.0003% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1)Balance
• Output Impedance – Balanced out 2.5mm (1ohm) / PHONES 3.5mm (2ohm)

Clock source

• Clock Jitter – 50ps (Typ)

Battery

• Capacity – 3,250mAh 3.7V Li-Polymer Battery

Memory

• Built-in Memory – 256GB [NAND]
• External Memory – microSD (Max 128GB) x1