Huckle
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2013
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Why don't you post those news on the se300 thread? It would be helpful...
Astell&Kern Launches KANN Ultra DAP and AK HB1 Bluetooth Amp/DAC
- Thread starter JasonNYC
- Start date
pippen99
Headphoneus Supremus
After 3 weeks of trying to get this thing to work and waiting for A&K to debug the Wifi the dealer and I gave up and went with a SE300 Titan. Fingers crossed on this.
Huckle
100+ Head-Fier
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You did well. This is a great sounding unit, only let down by outdated os specs. As usual, AK is dead silent about potential software updates that could improve the ux...
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I’ve had mine since the week it came out, and I’ve had absolutely no Wi-Fi issues. In fact, when I was burning it in, I let Qobuz play for two straight days while the unit sat on my desk and it never dropped the Wi-Fi.
Not sure what is happening with other folks, whether it is their individual unit, or something about their particular network that isn’t getting along with the Ultra. Some of us definitely don’t have this issue.
Not sure what is happening with other folks, whether it is their individual unit, or something about their particular network that isn’t getting along with the Ultra. Some of us definitely don’t have this issue.
I've had the ultra for about a month and haven't had any wifi issues.
tonyl59
100+ Head-Fier
@JasonNYC, is there any update on the availability of Apple Music Classical? Thanks.
Firmware update for KANN Ultra was pushed to February 27 due to a bug that they found in the last firmware update affecting DAR when playing certain specific file formats. There will be a fix for this in addition to adding Apple Classical support in the Feb 27 firmware.
@JasonNYC Will the planned firmware update released on 27.02.2024I will politely remind you of the topics for the meeting of Kann Ultra
It would be nice if the first update included:
1. USB-DAC - color change and information on the display, e.g. 44.1kHz - 24bit...
(You wrote yourself that you also see shortcomings here.)
2. End of charging mode - the red LED turns off after finish?
3. "Safely remove SD-Card" - placing this function deeper in the menu
(after so many years in the old UI, in the new perfect UI Crimson it's already there time to move it "deeper"
- no one takes out the SD card every day) I accidentally click on it
4. Colleague Badgerio also reported a next "very old" wrong message
5. Turning DAR on and off distorted at different sampling rates.
When this happens, it is necessary to turn DAR back on for a while and then turn it off
6. What type of potentiometer does in Kann Ultra ?
On very high gain in a quiet song you can hear electric clicks in the headphones
very, very quietly, as well as outside the case when turning the volume control quickly.
include our comments that you asked for on 20.12.2023
and which I collected in one post (see attachment) ?
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pippen99
Headphoneus Supremus
Will it also address the issue of the inability to stay connected to Wifi. Was told it was being worked on but that was weeks ago with no updates.
I thought the comment was that it was being “looked into” to confirm whether or not it was a repeatable issue as not everybody seems to have the problem.
pippen99
Headphoneus Supremus
My dealer was able to replicate the problem. I gave up and returned the Ultra for an SE300 Titan. It is nice but would prefer the Ultra for its superior processor.
I have had Astell & Kern Kann Ultra practically since its release in November 2023.
I have probably performed all possible tests, both on the premiere firmware and on the v. 1.050 update.
I tried to verify and check any imperfections and collect comments from others, taking into account "remains of imperfections that remained unnecessarily from the old software - previous devices".
I didn't state anything other than what I stated in the previous post.
I have no problems with range or WiFi transmission on either 2.4 or 5 Ghz. Maybe someone else has similar situations?
You may notice a similar situation to WiFi problems when playing very old Tidal playlists.
Where the songs are no longer licensed, they no longer exist,
Kann tries to recreate them and the circle goes around - but these songs no longer exist at all on Tidal. This can be misleading.
I have probably performed all possible tests, both on the premiere firmware and on the v. 1.050 update.
I tried to verify and check any imperfections and collect comments from others, taking into account "remains of imperfections that remained unnecessarily from the old software - previous devices".
I didn't state anything other than what I stated in the previous post.
I have no problems with range or WiFi transmission on either 2.4 or 5 Ghz. Maybe someone else has similar situations?
You may notice a similar situation to WiFi problems when playing very old Tidal playlists.
Where the songs are no longer licensed, they no longer exist,
Kann tries to recreate them and the circle goes around - but these songs no longer exist at all on Tidal. This can be misleading.
The firmware update v1.26 is 628MB for Kann Ultra and is already available. I have already downloaded and installed it. The update takes about 20 minutes.
Ultra must be connected to the power supply - with 75% battery it did not want to be installed without power supply.
The update message appears immediately after launch, but there is no update on the official website yet.
Description of included fixes:
- Fixed DAR issue (I'm testing)
- Added support for Apple Music Classical, Gboard apps (I checked it works - I recommend it if someone likes great)
- System stability improvements (looking for changes)
Ultra must be connected to the power supply - with 75% battery it did not want to be installed without power supply.
The update message appears immediately after launch, but there is no update on the official website yet.
Description of included fixes:
- Fixed DAR issue (I'm testing)
- Added support for Apple Music Classical, Gboard apps (I checked it works - I recommend it if someone likes great)
- System stability improvements (looking for changes)
I performed tests on the new firmware and checked whether it contained the necessary changes reported.
Unfortunately, nothing has changed (at least in this update)
1. USB-DAC - color change and information on the display, e.g. 44.1kHz - 24bit...
(@JasonNYC You wrote yourself that you also see shortcomings here.)
The color of the knob does not change - there is still no information on the display about the sampling of the signal reaching the DAP.
What's irritating is that you can't call up the menu from the top to be able to change the GAIN to another one,
you have to exit the USB connection, change the GAIN and re-enter.
2. End of charging mode - the red LED turns off after finish? Without changes
3. "Safely remove SD-Card" - placing this function deeper in the menu
(after so many years in the old UI, in the new perfect UI Crimson it's already there time to move it "deeper"
- no one takes out the SD card every day) I accidentally click on it
uff.
This old function is still displayed and waiting when you accidentally click on it
(removing the rubber bands, the cover and the card from the slot will be done with one wrong click)
After all, this function is already in the menu: Setting - System Information - Unmount SD Card Safely.
So why should it appear after each careless swipe from the top?
5. Turning DAR on and off distorted at different sampling rates.
When this happens, it is necessary to turn DAR back on for a while and then turn it off
Perhaps this error has been removed, this error appeared very rarely.
Unfortunately, nothing has changed (at least in this update)
1. USB-DAC - color change and information on the display, e.g. 44.1kHz - 24bit...
(@JasonNYC You wrote yourself that you also see shortcomings here.)
The color of the knob does not change - there is still no information on the display about the sampling of the signal reaching the DAP.
What's irritating is that you can't call up the menu from the top to be able to change the GAIN to another one,
you have to exit the USB connection, change the GAIN and re-enter.
2. End of charging mode - the red LED turns off after finish? Without changes
3. "Safely remove SD-Card" - placing this function deeper in the menu
(after so many years in the old UI, in the new perfect UI Crimson it's already there time to move it "deeper"
- no one takes out the SD card every day) I accidentally click on it
uff.
This old function is still displayed and waiting when you accidentally click on it
(removing the rubber bands, the cover and the card from the slot will be done with one wrong click)
After all, this function is already in the menu: Setting - System Information - Unmount SD Card Safely.
So why should it appear after each careless swipe from the top?
5. Turning DAR on and off distorted at different sampling rates.
When this happens, it is necessary to turn DAR back on for a while and then turn it off
Perhaps this error has been removed, this error appeared very rarely.
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Good afternoon, when transferring files from the phone to the player via Bluetooth, the phone does not find the player. If it's just without transferring files, then it sees everything. What could be the reason?
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