ASTELL & KERN – AK JR PORTABLE AUDIO PLAYER

Astell & Kern have announced details of a new entry level high-resolution portable audio player and promises to retain many of the features found in its more expensive brothers. The AK Jr is small in price and small in size, measuring just 6.9mm at its thinnest point – equal to the iPhone 6 – and 8.9mm at the largest point. It’s lightweight too, weighing in at 93g.

The new AK Jr player supports 24-bit/192kHz high-resolution audio playback and supports a wide range of file types, including DSD audio. 2.8MHz DSD files are converted to PCM. A 1.95V RMS headphone output drives headphones more effectively than high-res-supporting smartphones and rival portable media players, whilst not requiring a separate headphone amp. The AK Jr can also function as a USB DAC when connected to a Mac or PC, thanks to an integrated Wolfson DAC, although using the AK Jr this way disables the AK Jr’s EQ settings.

Control of the AK Jr comes via a 3.1″ LCD touchscreen display, while storage is via either the 64GB built-in storage or a Micro SD card slot. The Micro SD input supports cards up to 64GB, allowing for a maximum possible storage of 128GB – roughly enough space for 1,250 high-resolution audio files. The AK Jr also supports Bluetooth 4.0, so you can wirelessly stream music to Bluetooth headphones and speakers. And it wouldn’t be an Astell & Kern product without aluminium casing and textured aluminium volume wheel…

For more information and in-depth tech specs, you can view the Astell & Kern AK Jr product page here.