T he stars of this weeks’s Picture Sunday are the Astell&Kern AK70 and AK380. Check out our other Picture Posts Here, and Here.
Sometimes you see an audio setup and the first thing you can bring out or think is: WTF?!
This is one of those times. Earlier this week I saw a picture on Alex An’s Facebook Page (Astell&Kern’s Marketing man) in which he connected two AK70’s to eachother. The new AK70 doesn’t have the optical out the AK’s had up to now, but is has a USB Out in stead. Like all DAPs on the market, you can hook them up to your laptop/PC and use them as a standalone DAC (and amp). This isn’t different for the AK’s and so you can connect one AK70 to the other. One will serve as media carrier – and that’s all – and the other one will serve as DAC and AMP.
Alex’s post said: “OMG, i have been doing this test all day today and i think i’m going crazy… I will save my breath about it and will not make any comment cos what i say can be very misleading. But the only i can say is, it is worth trying!”
Because of the new USB-out function, you now also can connect the AK70 DAP to the Chord Mojo, which everyone except for me, seems to love. I have to admit the setup and connection worked but I just can’t get to love Mojo’s presentation of sound. The AK70 doesn’t always connect from the forst time to the Mojo though, it takes a few times.
But back to Alex. So after his post people started commenting on the picture he posted and soon enough someone posted a picture of his AK70 connected to his AK380. I was quite intrigued by what Alex and the posters were saying, so I decided to try it for myself. Connecting both units is just as easy as connecting the AK70 to the Mojo and this week’s Picture Sunday was born.
A lot of people have contacted me since then asking me what the purpose of such a setup is and if there is something different in the sound. First of I have to say that the idea itself is crazy: why on earth buy an extra AK player (we all know they’re not cheap) just to serve as a data carrier. Second I do have to admit that double AK’ing sounds really good but I’m also not sure my mind isn’t playing a trick on me.
Anyway, the test surprised me in a positive way. Does that mean I’m telling you to go double AK now? Not by far, I just had both units here and I didn’t buy them just to do this. That however hasn’t kept the most fanatic audiophiles among us and I’ve seen several post show up over the last few days of people buying the AK70 to serve just as storage and transport. The world of audio is crazy but being a little bit crazy never hurt anyone, right? Or is this simply a successful example of Social Media Marketing by AK?
Does all of this sound normal to you or do you think this is craziness brought to a whole new level?
Relevant links
AK380: https://www.headfonia.com/review-astell-kern-ak380-momentary/
Chord Mojo: https://www.headfonia.com/review-chord-mojo-the-chosen-one/
ElMariachi
I guess $600 for a transport is a deal once you’ve thrown $1800-$2000 for a WA8 or a hugo. Is it normal? Probably not 🙂 but who am I to judge. Sometimes that line between music lover and tech junkie can start to blur, especially with all the awesome gear thats coming out nowadays. I personally like the idea of a good all in one. To each their own i guess. Fun topic!