Astell & Kern Kann (original version)

Description: An excellent dap at a bargain price. It's in excellent cosmetic condition and comes with the original A&K leather Miter case and an Amazon Basics travel case. So why is this dap so heavily discounted? (original MSRP $999) Once you pick it up, the reason is clear. It's BULKY and HEAVY. (I always include the bad news with everything I sell). Then, again, it's not too big to fit in my jeans pocket, and it's not exactly like you're carrying around a 20 pound dumbell. Compared to my Fiio X7 (see pics, not included in this sale) you can see that it's significantly thicker and a little wider. It's also heavier (10.0 ounces vs. 7.9 ounces) but if those factors are of no concern to you, consider where it really shines -- the sound. As the review in Sound and Vision (a Stereophile publication) says, "THE VERDICT Astell & Kern’s KANN is not only a subtly gorgeous-sounding performer loaded with features. It’s also a great value.Led Zeppelin’s “Dancing Days” (FLAC 96/24) emerged with the best balance of relentlessly jangling guitars, cymbal flows, and squealing organ I’ve ever heard. All of those elements are inherently bright and hard to control, but to hear them juggled so perfectly—inducing no numbing or fatigue—was a surprise. Then there was the verse in Nick Drake’s “River Man” (FLAC 96/24) that begins, “For when she thought of summer rain...” The strings always brighten and intensify, but this time they brightened and intensified into a rainbow."The dap is also a powerhouse. It drove my Hifiman HE500s with no problem. It'll drive just about any phones out there and can do double duty as a desktop unit. The only headphones it's couldn't play loud were my Audeze LCD 2 (very power-hungry planars).ATTENTION STUDIO PROS AND DIE-HARD EQers:The Kann has a feature I've never seen on any dap. It has a HALF-OCTAVE EQUALIZER with Q (BANDWIDTH) ADJUSTMENT.It even has an on-screen dial that you can easily use to precisely enter the amount of equalization you want at each frequency, and it goes up or down in 1/10 db increments. You don't have to drag a point on the equalization curve to the value you want (but you can if you want to). Just drag your finger across the scale at the bottom of the screen until you reach the the number of dbs you want. E.G. in the photo, 30 hz is raised 1.5 db. The other screen shot shows how you can adjust the bandwidth of equalization at a particular frequency.You can fine-tune the dap to bring out the best of any album or complement the sound signature of different headphones. You can even use it to do a little mastering on the go! And multiple EQ curves can be stored.See the extensive review in Sound and Vision for a complete description of the sound and features of the dap, and see my listing for a pair of Jerry Harvey JH Audio Roxanne II's if you're looking for iems that will give you spectacular sound with the Kann. They were made in collaboration with Astell & Kern and Moon Audio and were designed specifically to mate beautifully with A&K daps.See my ads for other gear I've collected over the years, from budget to high-end, with more to be listed. Audio is my passion, and I love to try all sorts of equipment, so stay tuned to this space, and I'll always alert you to any issues with everything I sell so you can know exactly what you're getting. Enjoy! Steve

Price: 295 USD

Location: Saint Cloud, Florida

End Time: 2025-02-11T20:28:37.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD