@Strale I continued listening to music with the DAC today and would like to reiterate my statement that the DAC is relaxed and smooth. It is more on the hi-fi side than on the analog side.
As I wrote, I had only listened to a few songs that were quiet enough, and these were rather soft in nature.
Especially the highs are rather sharp, fast and energetic (e.g. Hi-Hats).
If you are after something similar to the Lotoo PAW S2 or Cayin RU6 for example, this device is not what you are looking for.
As I have already written, I am not an expert in this field.
I can only recommend everyone to wait for the first reviews from the professionals to see what they say about the sound signature. Sorry again, I shouldn't have commented on this at all.
Sorry I have been quite busy but did want to follow up. I think this is appropriate, its fast, and maybe in comparison to the SP3k, you could say the mid/upper mids are more congested, but that could be what I was perceiving with not getting the same depth or separation when comparing the two. Also, it's definitely not fair to compare this to a $3700 player. But it's what I had handy. Again, I think for $200 there's only so much you can critique about a portable dac. I feel like at this price point it's really more about what it can impart on your signal, and not about how perfect it can reproduce. I remember in the recording world, A/D was so clean and perfect that no one liked it, and now its all about what kind of flavor they can impart because we wanted "character" aka harmonic distortion lol.
Received! Unboxed in the upscale packaging....solid metal block...nice build quality. Hefty as dongles go, but can't say big (see picture comparison to iBasso DC03 pro).
Unfortunately, this is the end of my review. I either got an escapee from Quality Control or I am dumb. (The unit was factory sealed.) All I could do is plug, but not play.
On my MacBook Pro, the device was recognized correctly as the AK HC4. The little power light glowed. I opened the MIDI settings and enabled the HC4 at 96/24. Amazon Music kept defaulting to MacBook speakers; although the HC4 showed up as a playback option, it would connect for only a second or two, then revert to MacBook speakers.
I tried just website audio feeds....nothing, Still on speakers. And looked at MIDI setup: HC4 gone.
Then I tried lightning to USB-C cable from my iPhone. Music played on phone speaker only.
Received! Unboxed in the upscale packaging....solid metal block...nice build quality. Hefty as dongles go, but can't say big (see picture comparison to iBasso DC03 pro).
Unfortunately, this is the end of my review. I either got an escapee from Quality Control or I am dumb. (The unit was factory sealed.) All I could do is plug, but not play.
On my MacBook Pro, the device was recognized correctly as the AK HC4. The little power light glowed. I opened the MIDI settings and enabled the HC4 at 96/24. Amazon Music kept defaulting to MacBook speakers; although the HC4 showed up as a playback option, it would connect for only a second or two, then revert to MacBook speakers.
I tried just website audio feeds....nothing, Still on speakers. And looked at MIDI setup: HC4 gone.
Then I tried lightning to USB-C cable from my iPhone. Music played on phone speaker only.
Well I bit the bullet and picked one up. So first... this USB C cable is absolute trash. It took an ungodly amount of force to get in and it doesn't sit flush with the housing making the port rock like it's going to break. Tried other cables and the port is way more secure.
The sound is warm for sure. Instruments like guitars and pianos have a natural weight and feel. Definitely the best character of this piece. Vocals are centered and sound realistic.Bass has nice and natural weight but the clarity could be better. Definitely comes off Boomy in the Sub bass. Overall I would like a little more clarity. It's a bit veiled for my liking. The DAR switch adds a little clarity, but I feel at the sake of loss of realism. Also makes the sound much thinner.
I had the RU7 for a month and besides the horrible popping and clicking, I think the sound was more detailed. More to my liking. But I wouldn't buy that RU7 again. It's a DSD popping nightmare on sensitive IEMs.
Staging is good but feels a little congested. Not the widest presentation. I read some reviews where they said "holographic". Nah. Not seeing that. My Shanling UA2 Plus is more holographic than this,
Just to be clear, my personal preference lends to a more detailed sound. This almost sounds analog, which there is a huge fan base for. Maybe this opens up over time?
It has low noise, but not no noise. I am hearing artifacts before and after tracks. Now to be truthful, I am using Campfire Audio Solaris LE for testing. So your milage will vary.
Another con... drinks battery like a drunk at an open bar.
This has been tested so far on an iPhone 15 Pro Max and Sony Xperia 1V.
All in all, not a bad buy for $220 but I think there are better sounding units for less and obviously more. Seems the build quality is suspect with the cable and port housing. You are definitely paying an A&K tax here.
So after a few days I want to add to my original thoughts...
This dongle grew on me. It opened up to be very detailed after about 2 days. To the point that this became my favorite dongle I have tested. Here is a ranking that I made of my personal taste and testing...
1) This A&K
2) Hiby FC6 - Great sound but finicky as hell. Screen likes to shut off randomly and not come back on. It's an R2R so analog it is. But quite detailed for it. This is a VERY close second to the A&K. The rest below weren't this close.
3) Cayin RU7 - Decent sound with a nice soundstage but the pops and hisses will drive you nuts. This is a DSD nightmare.
4) iBasso DC06 Pro - Another decent sounding unit. Warm yet detailed but not ready for prime time and needs firmware updates. Too much of a headache to deal with as it's too new. Would work with one device and sound different or not work at all on another.
4) Questyle M15 - See R7...but worse. So plain Jane with no volume adjustment and it hates sensitive equipment.
5) FIIO KA13 - Sterile yet powerful. Too bland for me.
I know that list was pretty generically detailed but wanted to share some thoughts.
Now although I LOVE the sound, I returned it. It has a very questionable build quality with the USB port and cable. From what I have seen from earlier A&K dongles this seems to be their first that is detachable and it shows. This needs a revision. The port is flimsy and the cables do not sit flush. This will break. I also received a second one thinking the first was faulty... same issue. It's a shame because it's really a pleasantly surprising dongle that would be my daily driver. Truly captivating and detailed sound after burn in. But its a mobile device that needs to be durable. I think they missed the mark on that. Maybe production gets adjusted and they fix the tolerance? Hopefully?
But right now it's a pass. Promising for the next iteration.
Could write forever about this but I just want to say that the HC4 is the best portable DAC amp that I have ever tried. It is better than my Hugo 2 to my consternation honestly. Its just so good and nice and coherent and I honestly don’t know what’s going on in there but it’s replaced all of my others, specifically with my Kypton 5 which is neigh unlistenable on a Hugo 2.
I'm very curious about the A&K HC4, I am wondering if anyone can compare it to the two main dongle dacs being talked about. The Cayin RU7 & Hiby FC6. The RU7 & FC6 are around $80 more expensive. So the HC4 goes for $400 AUD and the other two go for around $480. I just want a plain and simple easy to use portable dac/amp that focuses on sound quality. I don't need crazy driving power as I'll be using iems. So far on this thread, impressions seems good and some prefer it over the RU7 which gets high praise. Any more impressions?
The Astell & Kern dongle presents itself in a very clean way, two buttons for the volume (software) and a selector for the maximum sampling (DAR) which at least for now does not add anything unmissable to the sound... on the contrary. Quite large and solid, it makes a good impression, but let's find out the most important thing... how it sounds. At first it sounded a little strange when it was turned on... it sounded like a mix of various dongles that I own and listen to very often. The sound seemed to consist of very noticeable features found in some of my best dongles. Let's start with the bass... they seem to be those of the M15 in terms of power (really very deep as well as very powerful) and in terms of tone and speed close to those of the RU7... so everything is ok. The mids resemble in every way the splendid mids of the PAW S2... the sound is dense but not heavy, the tonality is very refined and the study of the Astell & Kern engineers in creating a thickness in the notes can be heard in a very distinguishable way which however does not affect its smoothness and naturalness. The highs closely resemble those of the W4, very extended, crystal clear, never offensive but very rich in truly convincing details. However, all of this seemed a bit disjointed... not organic and at times artificial, but after a bit of running in (most likely also my brain) it all became incredibly cohesive and integrated. What I had read about Astell & Kern daps (especially for those with a few years behind them) is absolutely not reflected in this dongle. The very technical sound, bordering on sterility, with little musicality and many technicalities is not at all the sound of this dongle which on the contrary makes musicality and body clearly its main characteristics. Not having listened to other Astell & Kern I can't know if the engineers have changed their priorities in terms of sound, but if they have done so they have chosen exactly the right path. The bass makes the scene very engaging but never overlaps with the other frequencies, the mids give softness and the right amount of warmth and the highs are a magnet for details. A truly excellent dongle, which will surely make those who purchase it happy especially considering that among the top dongles it is perhaps the cheapest one as well as being one of the ones that sounds best. The only weak point is in the amplification which is not at the level of everything else... it will certainly make all your IEMs sound (even the not easy IER-Z1R) but certainly if helped by external amplification it will become completely another thing, I'm not saying it's a bad amplification but it doesn't allow the dongle to shine as it deserves and should. Listened to the RA2BFE it reaches very high levels of performance, doing full justice to the work of the A&K technicians who truly endowed it with a spectacular sound. The comparison with the iBasso DC-Elite can easily be made and not like other dongles where it is absolutely impossible as well as useless. The AKHC4 has a much more prominent bass than the Elite and with comparable extension and quality but the real difference is in the mids and highs. The Astell & Kern has fuller mids with heavier notes, while the Elite moves towards a lighter, thinner, more agile representation and therefore faster and attentive to details and nuances (not that these are lacking in the HC4). The highs, on the other hand, are more evident on the A&K with a comparable recovery of details and an extension of the same level. The difference here is in the greater integration of the highs within the sound spectrum by the Elite which is much less on the HC4. The HC4's soundstage is slightly smaller in width than the Elite, but it is greater in depth, translating the discussion to video level it is as if with the Elite you are watching a film on a 16:9 screen while with the HC4 the screen has a ratio of 4:3. The amplification is certainly to the advantage of the Elite, as is the richness of the sound stage and the synergy compared to the various IEMs is certainly more extensive due to its better balance. Having said this, I consider the Elite superior, but I wouldn't be surprised if out of a group of ten blindfolded listeners at least three (with the right IEMs and their favorite music) might prefer the HC4. This dongle from Astell & Kern is truly a beautiful discovery, unfairly overlooked and not reviewed except by sites that sell it (so reviews so to speak), it certainly deserves a place alongside the best dongles around and very often much more expensive than it and being like a cocktail of their best sonic characteristics mixed by the expert hands of A&K engineers. Well done Astell & Kern!!!
Thanks to its soft but very detailed sound used as a pure DAC and listening to it with the HD800S is truly a listening experience with few rivals, it has a much superior synergy even compared to the iBasso DC-Elite with the same configuration. Really excellent!!!
If we consider the AKHC4 and AKP10 as a single Astell&Kern dap they go far beyond the 700 euros required for the sound they offer. Having said that, in my opinion they are much more than a dap considering their versatility.
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