I have had my AK380 for over a month now and its time to post a review
Before I had the AK380 I had an NW-ZX2 for 6 months, an AK240 for nearly two years and the AK120 before that, so yes, I like the A&K players.
I have been listening at least 4 hours a day at least 4 days a week since I got it
I have paired it with Beyerdynamic T5p's single ended, Shure SE846's JH Audio Angies balanced.
Here are my conclusions:
Sound
I find the sound of the AK380 to be absolutely amazing.
When people say something sounds neutral, that implies that they know what the recording should be like - I am not sure I do always know what was intended, but it seems very clear to my ears that the AK380 is able to paint an accurate picture of a piece of music. In fact it is this 'rendering' analogy that I keep coming back to - its like upgrading a graphics card and the image you see in a game being that much clearer and refined. The AK380 is working with the same music files I have always had, but it renders them in a more detailed hires way.
The bass coming out of the AK380 is the finest I have ever heard. When paired with the SE846's I get a sound like a massive Krell amp in my ears - astounding - a lot of fun. When paired with the T5p's or Laylas the sound is more balanced, but the bass is still so incredibly deep and detailed.
For me, the mids are just right. Neither too forward nor back for my tastes. Smooth and sweet. Again which earphones you use changes the experience, but for me it has never been bad. Probably the Laylas sounded best with the mids.
The highs go very high and this allows HD music to really sound startling. Cymbals and reverb and all the noises in the top register provide an amazing level of micro detail.
Micro-detail
I think that the AK380 renders everything that is stored in the file that you are playing and so all the detail in there is revealed. I have heard things I have not heard before in the music I have been listening to for years - yes, very surprising - the background sounds from the studio are discernable!
In between tracks the AK380 is as silent as I can imagine - even with the incredibly sensitive Lylas there is no hiss.
Sound-stage
The sound-stage is as wide as you earphones will go. In particular with the Laylas I am experiencing a sound that is even wider than the T5p's. I have even experienced some front-to-back separation in what I am hearing (how is that even possible?)
UI
I personally believe that the A&K player UI is the best out there. The only one that came close for me was the NW-ZX2, but the full android experience on that meant way to much clutter and bloat for me. I think A&K have achieved just the right amount of functionality.
AK Connect
This has the potential to be huge - it can even be used to stream music from one A&K device to another (240<->380 is possible). I think this could be a game changer.
Build Quality
Faultless - nuff said. The device is beautiful.
The Magic Word of Caution: Synergy
I believe that synergy is key when you talk about the AK380. I honestly believe that the AK380 can provide a balanced sound across the whole audio spectrum, and can provide an accurate musical representation to whatever earphones you use. It is not going to be the bottleneck in your system. Therefore it ends up being the job of the earphones to deliver that sound to your ears.
The earphones you choose dictates what you hear. The AK380 has always sounded good with my earphones, but they are all expensive. There is no point in buying an AK380 if you are not going to spend some decent money on the earphones you connect it to as well.
This leads to the perhaps the only pseudo-issue with the AK380 - it does not artificially flatter sound at all (say, like the NW-ZX2). So, if you have a bad recording with hard treble, it will sound like a harsh recording with bad treble. If you have crap earphones, then you will hear crap. It is not the AK380 sounding crap, it is the music and/or earphones sounding crap. It may sound obvious to some people, but this really comes into play when you buy something this TOTL.
Conclusion
To my ears the Ak380 is a definite improvement over the AK240 - The AK240 also sounds amazing, but the AK380 sounds more mature and larger, and the bass - oh the bass!!!
When compared to a player like the NW-ZX2 (which I really like) it is clear that the warmth and tubiness of the ZX2 is actually a muddiness and lack of detail, when compared to the AK380.
The unit does get warm if you listen to it continuously, and once it is warmed up is sounds even better.
The AK380 is a neutral, but very musical player that requires really good earphones to be truly appreciated. The JH Audio Laylas sound beautiful when paired, with bass at about 3pm. The SE846's are like a party in the head - the subwoofer is really used by the AK380 as it outputs well rendered bass even down there.
If you can afford it and understand the fact that it will lose value at some point (something that some people seem to not understand) then I highly recommend it. It is a solid foundation in your portable sound system.
Happy listening.
Before I had the AK380 I had an NW-ZX2 for 6 months, an AK240 for nearly two years and the AK120 before that, so yes, I like the A&K players.
I have been listening at least 4 hours a day at least 4 days a week since I got it
I have paired it with Beyerdynamic T5p's single ended, Shure SE846's JH Audio Angies balanced.
Here are my conclusions:
Sound
I find the sound of the AK380 to be absolutely amazing.
When people say something sounds neutral, that implies that they know what the recording should be like - I am not sure I do always know what was intended, but it seems very clear to my ears that the AK380 is able to paint an accurate picture of a piece of music. In fact it is this 'rendering' analogy that I keep coming back to - its like upgrading a graphics card and the image you see in a game being that much clearer and refined. The AK380 is working with the same music files I have always had, but it renders them in a more detailed hires way.
The bass coming out of the AK380 is the finest I have ever heard. When paired with the SE846's I get a sound like a massive Krell amp in my ears - astounding - a lot of fun. When paired with the T5p's or Laylas the sound is more balanced, but the bass is still so incredibly deep and detailed.
For me, the mids are just right. Neither too forward nor back for my tastes. Smooth and sweet. Again which earphones you use changes the experience, but for me it has never been bad. Probably the Laylas sounded best with the mids.
The highs go very high and this allows HD music to really sound startling. Cymbals and reverb and all the noises in the top register provide an amazing level of micro detail.
Micro-detail
I think that the AK380 renders everything that is stored in the file that you are playing and so all the detail in there is revealed. I have heard things I have not heard before in the music I have been listening to for years - yes, very surprising - the background sounds from the studio are discernable!
In between tracks the AK380 is as silent as I can imagine - even with the incredibly sensitive Lylas there is no hiss.
Sound-stage
The sound-stage is as wide as you earphones will go. In particular with the Laylas I am experiencing a sound that is even wider than the T5p's. I have even experienced some front-to-back separation in what I am hearing (how is that even possible?)
UI
I personally believe that the A&K player UI is the best out there. The only one that came close for me was the NW-ZX2, but the full android experience on that meant way to much clutter and bloat for me. I think A&K have achieved just the right amount of functionality.
AK Connect
This has the potential to be huge - it can even be used to stream music from one A&K device to another (240<->380 is possible). I think this could be a game changer.
Build Quality
Faultless - nuff said. The device is beautiful.
The Magic Word of Caution: Synergy
I believe that synergy is key when you talk about the AK380. I honestly believe that the AK380 can provide a balanced sound across the whole audio spectrum, and can provide an accurate musical representation to whatever earphones you use. It is not going to be the bottleneck in your system. Therefore it ends up being the job of the earphones to deliver that sound to your ears.
The earphones you choose dictates what you hear. The AK380 has always sounded good with my earphones, but they are all expensive. There is no point in buying an AK380 if you are not going to spend some decent money on the earphones you connect it to as well.
This leads to the perhaps the only pseudo-issue with the AK380 - it does not artificially flatter sound at all (say, like the NW-ZX2). So, if you have a bad recording with hard treble, it will sound like a harsh recording with bad treble. If you have crap earphones, then you will hear crap. It is not the AK380 sounding crap, it is the music and/or earphones sounding crap. It may sound obvious to some people, but this really comes into play when you buy something this TOTL.
Conclusion
To my ears the Ak380 is a definite improvement over the AK240 - The AK240 also sounds amazing, but the AK380 sounds more mature and larger, and the bass - oh the bass!!!
When compared to a player like the NW-ZX2 (which I really like) it is clear that the warmth and tubiness of the ZX2 is actually a muddiness and lack of detail, when compared to the AK380.
The unit does get warm if you listen to it continuously, and once it is warmed up is sounds even better.
The AK380 is a neutral, but very musical player that requires really good earphones to be truly appreciated. The JH Audio Laylas sound beautiful when paired, with bass at about 3pm. The SE846's are like a party in the head - the subwoofer is really used by the AK380 as it outputs well rendered bass even down there.
If you can afford it and understand the fact that it will lose value at some point (something that some people seem to not understand) then I highly recommend it. It is a solid foundation in your portable sound system.
Happy listening.
