Stupendous
I think that's about the best word I can describe when I first listened to the heftily priced AK SP1000.
Thank Lord that the copper variant is priced the same, unlike the previous flagship model which has a copper encasement that is significantly more expensive than the Duralumin version.
Still, it's a hefty price tag to swallow -- priced from MYR14,999 to MYR 17,500 (depending on which dealer you're buying from here in Malaysia).
But eh, why am I even bothering about questioning price tag in this hobby when there are setups far more expensive than this, right? This is meant to be a quick impression so I'll stop beating around the bush.
Usability
With an internal memory capacity of 256GB, there's more than enough room here to store most of your lossless files, including a bunch of DSD files (unless that's all you ever have in your thousands of high quality songs collections), and if that's not enough still, it also has a microSD card slot that can read up to 512GB, so that's a total of 768GB of music files here at your leisure. I know I won't be able to fill even a quarter of that myself, so I am happy with the total capacity here.
While the user interface is one of the friendliest and easy to utilize I've seen from an Android-based OS, lag was always the first primary issue with AK players for me, even for the supposedly amazing AK380.
While I enjoyed the sound quality of the 380, the interface lag is something I cannot forgive, especially knowing that player is priced over MYR 10,000.
Thankfully, the octa-core processor here did its job well smoothing out the lag-issue and it's easy to adapt. The fluidity of skimming through music files is significantly better than the predecessor.
The boot time is also a lot faster than AK380, which is another great thing since frankly, the load time on the 380 to me -- is a bit of an arse to deal with, for a gigantic brick that cost almost as much as a used second-hand vehicle.
While I haven't used it yet for file transfer through PC, the SP1000 uses a Type-C connector, which should be a lot faster than the usual micro-USB connection.
Sound
So...the sound. Right, right...
Let's just say that thanks to the use of the dual flagship DAC chips from Asahi Kasei Microdevices, the AK4497EQ, SP1000 is currently my favorite Astell & Kern player, replacing AK300 with the Amp clipped on.
The moment I listened to the SP1000, three things hit me immediately.
Clarity, Precision, Resolution.
Finally, there's also the neutrality that I grew to appreciate as my preference to sound matured on from the moment I started this hobby 2 years ago.
I used to be a big fan of very warm sound that has plenty of musicality and coloration, but as time passed on, I just feel that it's time for my ears to have a change of taste for something more...well, technically good and natural, to say the least.
And this is where I leaned on to SP1000.
The three key elements I mentioned that is the strength from SP1000 is extremely high, so much so that it made the AK300's experience looked like a complete joke, but then again, we're comparing something radically different in class so that there is an unfair comparison. But not that I dislike the AK380, though I have a feeling I might always go back to the SP1000 after listening it for so many times.
The sound has no emphasized addition towards any frequency and it's incredibly linear. It will bring out the best of the sound from even the cheaper category IEMs regardless of which output you prefer.
Both the 3.5mm and 2.5mm output also have pitch-black noise-floor and there's no hissing at all even with no music playing and the volume set to max. This is tested with the Elysian Acoustics Minerva-R on balanced output (See Pic above).
The staging is also impressively wide and deep, and has a very precise 3D imaging that will envelop your head nicely, especially if you're using CIEMs or universals that happen to have near ideal fitting and isolation on your end.
Bear in mind though -- just because I said it's a neutral-sounding DAP, doesn't make it dry, cold or boring. In fact, it managed to strike a great balance of musicality and being analytical.
Bass has incredible speed, attack, decay and texture over it. It's just layer upon layer with its presentation, giving it a very rich experience -- and yet thankfully no boom or bloat will be found here, unless your IEMs have that sound signature of course (like the Sony Extra Bass series)
When it comes to bass -- think quality over quantity. It's got a dynamic presentation that's very neutral in signature.
Midrange is very precise, resolving and full of life without any added flavor thrown into it, and I couldn't sense any unnatural positioning either, especially with vocal-tracks.
Treble is very sparkly, well-extended and superbly detailed. It pairs well with IEMs that has very strong high-frequency tuning, as it will definitely bring out the strength from pairing them with this DAP. If you're not a fan of energetic treble however, and are more of the type that appreciate a more rolled-off high frequency, it might be difficult to convince you to like its presentation.
Temporary End Words
Since this is only an impression write up on this gorgeous looking DAP, it's clear that I have more to say but that's only until I actually got the entire package of this thing to consider a full review. But from my time spent with the SP1000, I am very happy that in terms of sound, UI, and storage it's very much ticked most of my boxes.
Well...the only thing I will never agree to this player will be the price...which is equivalent to someone like me -- to at least donate several limbs in a charity campaign to even hope to afford it.
Until then...now, where is that new Opus player...?
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