Activo P1 Review

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UI & Usage

Everyday use

On a day-to-day basis, the Activo P1 is – in my opinion – the most pleasant player to use from Dreamus.

UI is snappy and beautiful, music scan is fast, third party app can be downloaded directly from the app-store (or APK Pure for those who despise Google market) and compared to my SE180, I found the whole layout more natural to navigate through.

Same goes for the device in its physical form: 119mm tall, 62mm wide and 17mm thick, it fitted my jacket pocket perfectly. The aluminum body allowed it to glide smoothly in and out of the pouch, while the silicon top added a welcome touch of grip for a more secure hold.

No scroll wheel here, just physical buttons but, to be honest, I found that more reliable than the scroll wheel on the go – fine tuning is everything – and having a different design on each button really helps in blind use.

ACTIVO UI

As expected, the Activo P1 doesn’t enjoy the full Android experience, but an home brewed version of Google’s OS.

However, for the first time, I have to admit that I actually prefer this new UI over the standard Android interface, the new setup giving you a more refined experience, especially compared to the older A&K UI.

And, as I said before, there is no drawback this time, the P1 not being plagued by a slow CPU: library scan is swift, navigating inside local/micro-sd storage works flawlessly and I was even able to install Apple Music and Spotify in one swoop.

There is no “scan media library button”, once you plug your micro-SD card, or disconnect the player from your computer, the P1 automatically begins to search for new files. And if tagged accordingly, all will be correctly sorted by artist/genre/interpret.

The best A&K/Dreamus/Activo in this regard up to this day.

Third party app, WiFi and Bluetooth

Thanks to the new UI, you can install every app you want in just a few minutes, directly from the Google Play store – I tend to avoid APK Pure now, for compatibility purposes. I tried Spotify, Qobuz, Apple Music, and all worked, almost flawlessly, Apple Music giving me some trouble at the beginning, but once I got my account sorted, all went well.

Regarding the wireless connectivity, he Activo supports WiFi a/b/g/n/ac in 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, without the usual bottleneck found on A&K players, supplemented by your usual Bluetooth 5.3 chipset, allowing you to connect the Bluetooth headphone or speaker of your choice. Compatible with apt-X, AAC/SBC, and LDAC, the P1 also supports apt-X HD.

Cherry on top? The player is Roon Ready, so you can directly add it to your own Roon system and play all of your music library once connected to your local network.

USB-C and SD Card

All Astell&Kern players use a USB-C connector, and the Activo P1 makes no exception. The port can be used to charge the player, transfer your files and even connect the player to an higher-end DAC, as an USB transport.

But the P1 comes with another clever feature. If it can be used as a DAC/Amp once connected to your computer – something that all modern player do – the Activo goes a step further by being able to do so when paired with a smartphone. A geeky option that came quite handy with my iPad, which miss a headphone output.

Finally, let’s talk about the storage. The P1 offers 64Gb of internal memory (or 40Gb in real life) and relies on micro-SD cards for additional storage. Every type and size is supported, from SDHC to SDXC up to 2Tb. I tried my 1Tb card from Sandisk and it worked flawlessly, just remember to format the card in exFAT (should be like that out of the box).

Battery Life and Charging

The Activo supports quick charging (PD 3.0) and took about 1h to fill-up completely – much faster than the CA100T! Expect 20h of continuous listening on moderate volume, but if you push it a bit more like I did, 17-18h will be more realistic.

Still, on a regular basis, you should be able to use the P1 everyday on your commute sessions, only to charge it once at the end of the week.

The review continues on Page three, after the click HERE or by using the jump below.

Page 1: About the brand, design, layout

Page 2: UI & Usage

Page 3: Specifications

Page 4: Sound performances