Astell & Kern KANN ALPHA Portable Player

OVERVIEW

KANN ALPHA, the third product in the KANN series of Digital Audio Players.
While the goal of the Astell&Kern KANN line is to provide ultra high power output to drive any headphone or IEM, KANN ALPHA has not forgotten the essence of being a portable DAP, so you can enjoy a near-perfect sound experience wherever you are. The first Astell&Kern DAP to feature a 4.4mm balanced output. Complete separation of balanced lines to provide noise-free output. Crosstalk of 141dB and top-notch audio performance through a complete circuit redesign. Powerful 12Vrms ultra-high output support. 14 ½ hours of continuous playback. Equipped with the latest version of Bluetooth, Bluetooth 5.0. Artistic design and ultra-precision metal shaping technology that Astell&Kern has perfected.

FEATURES

First DAP to Feature 4.4mm Balanced Output Port, Completely Noise-Free.
The newly introduced feature of the 4.4mm balanced output port is exciting, however, the most important part is how we implemented it. Unlike other manufacturer’s products, KANN ALPHA has physically separated the 2.5mm and 4.4mm outputs using micro relays. When 2.5mm and 4.4mm structures are connected only to the mute circuit they do not prevent noise interference that may occur because each signal is not properly blocked. KANN ALPHA boasts noise-free output because we built in an independent structure that completely blocks interference from outputs that are not being used and to be switched off therefore preventing the noise from occurring.

The Highest Level Of Channel Separation(Crosstalk)

KANN ALPHA boasts excellent performance measurement for crosstalk. Channel crosstalk is how much signal leaking there is between the L and R channels. The higher the crosstalk number, the better the separation between channels and the deeper and wider the sense of space that can be felt. As evident with the newly developed audio circuit design, KANN ALPHA features a never before seen Crosstalk measurement of -141dB(High Gain), which is unmatched by any other portable audio products in its class.

Customize Your Sound

With KANN ALPHA, you can enjoy the fun of creating your own customized sound by selecting among various DAC filters provided by the DAC manufacturer.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Body Color: Onyx Black
• Body Material: Aluminum
• Display: 4.1inch HD 720 x 1280 Touch Display
• Supported Audio Formats: WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF, MQA
• Sample rate: PCM : 8kHz ~ 384kHz (8/16/24/32bits per Sample) / DSD Native: DSD64(1bit 2.8MHz), Stereo/ DSD128(1bit 5.6MHz), Stereo / DSD256(1bit 11.2MHz), Stereo

• Output Level:
    o High: Unbalanced 6Vrms / Balanced 12Vrms (Condition No Load)
    o Mid: Unbalanced 4Vrms / Balanced 8Vrms (Condition No Load)
    o Low: Unbalanced 2Vrms / Balanced 4Vrms (Condition No Load)

• DAC: ESS ES9068AS x2 (Dual DAC)
• CPU: Quad-Core
• Decoding: Support up to 32bit / 384kHz Bit-to-Bit Playback
• Input: USB Type-C input (for charging PC & MAC)

• Outputs:
    o Unbalanced Out (3.5mm) / Optical Out(3.5mm)
    o Balanced Out (2.5mm, only 4-pole supported 4.4m, only 5-pole supported)

• Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)
• Bluetooth: V5.0 (A2DP, AVRCP, Qualcomm® aptX™ HD, LDAC)
• Dimensions: 2.68 ”(68.3 mm) [W] x 4.60 ”(117 mm) [H] x 0.98 ”(25 mm) [D]
• Weight: about 11.14 oz (about 316 g)
• Feature Enhancements: Firmware upgrades supported (OTA)

• Frequency Response:
    o ±0.021dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Unbalanced / ±0.024dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Balanced
    o ±0.021dB (Condition: 20Hz~70kHz) Unbalanced / ±0.155dB (Condition: 20Hz~70kHz) Balanced

• Signal to Noise Ratio: 116dB @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / 117dB @ 1kHz, Balanced
• Crosstalk: -128dB @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / -136dB @ 1kHz, Balanced
• THD+N: 0.0003% @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / 0.0005% @ 1kHz, Balanced
• IMD SMPTE: 0.0003% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Unbalanced / 0.0003% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Balanced
• Output Impedance: Unbalanced Out 3.5mm (0.8ohm) / Balanced out 2.5mm (2.0ohm), 4.4mm(1.8ohm)
• Clock Jitter: 25ps(Typ)
• Reference Clock Jitter: 250 Femto Seconds(VCXO)
• Capacity: 5,600mAh 3.8V Li-Polymer Battery
• Playback Time: About 14.5 hours (Standard : FLAC, 16bit, 44.1kHz, Vol.80, LCD Off, Low Gain)
• Charge Time: About 3.5 hours (9V/1.67A Fast Charging) / 5hours (5V/2A General Charging)
• Built-in Memory: 64GB [NAND]
• External Memory: microSD (Max. 1TB) x1
• Supported OS: Windows 7,8,10 (32/64bit), MAC OS X 10.7 and up