The brand new A&Ultima SP3000M hi-def music player is much more compact and cheaper than the older SP3000 but still makes no compromises in terms of sound quality, and the battery life, storage, and range of functions are practically identical to the top model.

At first glance, the new Astell & Kern A&Ultima SP3000M looks very similar to the older SP3000. Still, the touchscreen has shrunk from 5.46 inches to 4.1 inches, the resolution has dropped to 1,280 x 720 pixels, and the case is much more compact and less than half as heavy, measuring 12 x 6.9 x 1.9 centimeters and weighing 237 grams.
Unlike most high-definition music players, the A&Ultima SP3000M does not use Android but a proprietary operating system. However, the music player app’s plugins for Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, and Apple Music are available. Wi-Fi 5 also lets music stream directly to the player via Roon. 256 GB of flash memory and a microSD slot are available to store the music library locally. Bluetooth 5.0, with support for Sony LDAC, Qualcomm aptX HD, and LHDC, allows wireless headphones to be connected.
Astell & Kern uses a Qualcomm QCS6125 designed for IoT devices with 8 GB of RAM. You can connect headphones using a 3.5 mm or a symmetrical 4.4 mm jack. The portable hi-fi music player aims to justify its still very high price by delivering first-class sound. To achieve this, the manufacturer, as with the SP3000, installs four AK4499EX digital-to-analog converters and two AK4191EQ chips for processing digital audio data. This setup allows the player to process DSD512 and MQA formats.
Astell & Kern A&Ultima SP3000M price and availability
The Astell & Kern A&Ultima SP3000M is available for $2,299 on Bhphotovideo.com and Amazon.co.uk. It makes the hi-def music player much cheaper than the A&Ultima SP3000T (approx. $2,999).
This separation of digital and analog signals and the separate amplifier circuits for the two headphone jacks should result in more detailed sound with less noise. The Audiophile-grade audio player features a 4,200 mAh battery, providing up to ten hours of music playback, and charges through USB-C.