Astell & Kern AK300 Portable Audio System with Single DAC and Parametric EQ Launched

Astell & Kern AK300 portable audio system has been officially launched which is one of the youngest player in the AK3xx lineup. AK300 has own a same design as AK320, but slightly lower hardware with single DAC AKM AK4490 chip, 24-bit / 192 kHz bit amplifier decoding support and only 64GB of native storage. Especially, in addition to DSD128 high quality stereo support.   The AK300 pricing starts from $899 USD.

The design has been inherited from AK320, AK300 still retains some remarkable features such as a parametric equalizer (PEQ), Femto Clock – a voltage-controlled crystal oscillator (VCXO) high-precision clock with a reference jitter value of 200 femto seconds.

It also supports USB DAC output at 24-bit / 96kHz, AK Connect application support, Wi-Fi connectivity for use with DLNA functionality. For music, AK300 is capable of bit-to-bit playback up to 24bit, 192kHz, 32bit audio is downsampled using a sample-rate converter (SRC). In addition, DSD 64/128 can be played back via conversion to PCM. AK380 is only supports native DSD decoding without the need to convert DoP.

Astell & Kern also introduced high-quality recording accessory is capable to record DSD128 format (5.6 MHz). This external device provides two mini XLR port left / right, 3.5mm port (supports microphone / line-in) or AES / EBU, supports 48V phantom power supply. AK Recorder owns 4700 mAh / 3.7V battery, has the ability to record continuously for up to 4 hours. The AK320 and AK380 players are also compatible with the new AK recorder (PRF11). Astell & Kern also offer the AK Stereo MIC Kit option that comes with two MIC and many accessories.

Astell & Kern AK300 will be sold this month, priced at $899 with only Midnight Blue color option. This is a very nice price when compared to previous models such as AK120 II or AK240. While the AK Recorder has been priced at $795.

Astell & Kern AK300 Specifications:

• Dimensions of 75.15 x 112.4 x 15.45 mm
• Weight of 205g
• TFT LCD Display of 4.0 inches with Touch
• Resolution of 480×800 pixels
• Internal memory of 64GB
• Expandable memory up to 128GB
• Audio Formats: WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE(Normal, High, Fast), AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF
• Sample rate: PCM: 8kHz ~ 192kHz
• Single AKM AK4490 DAC
• Decoding: 24bit / 192kHz
• Connectivity of Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, Micro-USB 2.0, OTA, 3.5mm audio jack
• Battery capacity of 3100mAh

Source