Astell & Kern SP2000
The SP2000 delivers a spacious, transparent presentation packed with fine detail, dynamic freedom and assured rhythm. What Hi-Fi? found its neutral refinement especially absorbing with dense recordings, while dual AKM DACs, balanced output, streaming and vast expandable storage make it a lavishly built flagship source for serious headphone and hi-fi listening.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
96/100
Build Quality
92/100
Features Usability
86/100
Value for Money
83/100
Pros
Exceptionally open, detailed and refined sound with a generous soundstage that keeps dense arrangements clear.
Authoritative rhythmic delivery and strong compatibility with high-end headphones and speaker systems.
Premium metal construction, intuitive physical controls, extensive streaming support and substantial storage capacity.
Cons
Large, heavy chassis makes it less practical for pocketable use.
Average battery life and a decidedly premium price limit everyday value.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 96/100
What Hi-Fi? found the SP2000 exceptionally open, transparent and refined, with a neutral presentation that favours sophistication without becoming dull. Its unusually strong clarity, detail retrieval, spaciousness and rhythmic authority make it a highly accomplished portable digital source.
Tonal Balance Musicality
96/100
The presentation is described as big, transparent and refined, with a neutral tonal balance that prizes sophistication over overt liveliness. What Hi-Fi? regarded that restraint as a strength rather than a shortcoming, finding music easy and absorbing to hear.
Resolution Detail
97/100
What Hi-Fi? was particularly impressed by the SP2000's openness, clarity and detail, calling its overall performance staggeringly good. Its generous soundstage and ability to resolve subtle elements within dense jazz arrangements were also singled out.
Digital Performance
94/100
The player was praised for its clean, transparent and authoritative delivery, with convincing rhythmic organisation and no reported digital roughness. The review does not isolate DAC or clock behaviour in technical listening terms, but its verdict places the SP2000 among the strongest portable players it had heard.
FEATURES USABILITY PERFORMANCE 86/100
The SP2000 combines streaming and substantial onboard library capacity with strong wired-output flexibility and high-resolution format support. Review commentary is favourable toward using it as a streaming player, though it says little about long-term software stability or interface responsiveness.
Streaming Software
84/100
What Hi-Fi? notes both the SP2000's large library capacity and music-streaming capabilities, adding that it is a player they would not hesitate to use. The review offers little detail on app design, setup, update support or day-to-day streaming reliability.
Features Connectivity
90/100
The SP2000 supports extensive PCM and native DSD playback, MQA, Wi-Fi streaming, USB-C computer input, 512GB of internal storage and microSD expansion. It also provides separate 3.5mm unbalanced/optical and 2.5mm balanced outputs, making it flexible for both headphone and external-system use.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
92/100
What Hi-Fi? found the SP2000's substantial weight reassuring and specifically praised its excellent build quality. Its sandblasted metal chassis was described as a lavish expression of Astell & Kern's distinctive design approach.
Value for Money
83/100
At $3,499, What Hi-Fi? considers the SP2000 neither especially portable nor accessibly priced. However, it also says the player sounds unlike any other portable music player it had heard, giving the premium a meaningful performance-based case for listeners seeking a flagship portable source.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
Online Reviews & Mentions
YouTube Reviews
Forum Mentions
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Specifications
- Model
- SP2000
- Body Color
- Vegas Gold / Onyx Black / Stainless Steel / Copper
- Body Material
- Vegas Gold, Onyx Black, Stainless Steel : Stainless Steel / Copper : Copper
- Display
- 5inch (720 x 1,280) Touch display
- Supported Audio Formats
- WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF, MQA
- MQA playback
- Services(Tidal Masters), Local files, External USB, MQA-CD(ripped)
- Sample rate
- PCM : 8kHz ~ 768kHz (8/16/24/32bits per Sample) / DSD Native: DSD64(1bit 2.8MHz), Stereo
- Specification
- DSD128(1bit 5.6MHz), Stereo / DSD256(1bit 11.2MHz), Stereo / DSD512(1bit 22.4MHz), Stereo
- Output Level
- Unbalanced 3.0Vrms / Balanced 6.0Vrms (Condition No Load)
- CPU
- Octa-Core
- DAC
- AKM AK4499EQ x2 (Dual DAC)
- Decoding
- Support up to 32bit / 768kHz Bit-to-Bit Playback
- Input
- USB 3.0 Type-C input (for PC & MAC)
- Outputs
- Unbalanced Out (3.5mm) / Optical Out (3.5mm) / Balanced Out (2.5mm, only 4-pole supported)
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz)
- Dimensions
- 3.00 ”(76.3 mm) [W] x 5.19 ”(132 mm) [H] x 0.61 ”(15.7 mm) [D]
- Weight
- Vegas Gold, Onyx Black, Stainless Steel : 14.49 oz (410.8 g) / Copper : 15.25 oz (432.4 g)
- Feature Enhancements
- Firmware upgrades supported (OTA)
- Frequency Response
- ±0.015dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Unbalanced / ±0.010dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Balanced ±0.050dB (Condition: 20Hz~70kHz) Unbalanced / ±0.030dB (Condition: 20Hz~70kHz) Balanced
- Signal to Noise Ratio
- 124dB @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / 125dB @ 1kHz, Balanced
- Crosstalk
- -138dB @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / -144dB @ 1kHz, Balanced
- THD+N
- 0.0005% @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / 0.0004% @ 1kHz, Balanced
- IMD SMPTE
- 0.0003% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Unbalanced & Balanced
- Output Impedance
- Unbalanced Out 3.5mm (1.5ohm) / Balanced out 2.5mm (1ohm)
- Clock Jitter
- 25ps(Typ)
- Reference Clock Jitter
- 200 Femto Seconds
- Capacity
- 3,700mAh 3.8V Li-Polymer Battery
- Continuous Playback Time
- Up to 8 hours (Standard - MUSIC: FLAC, 16-bit/44.1kHz, Unbalance, Volume 80, EQ OFF, LCD OFF)
- Charge Time
- About 2.5 hours (Standard - 9V/1.67A Fast charging) / About 5 hours (Standard - 5V/2A General charging)
- Built-in Memory
- 512GB [NAND]
- External Memory
- microSD (Max. 1TB) x1
- Supported OS
- Windows 7,8,10 (32/64bit), MAC OS X 10.7 and up
- Specification
- - Audio was NOT muted during the measurement. - The image/specification may be changed without notice to improve product performance and quality.
Manufacturer's Description — Astell & Kern
Next Level, A&ultima SP2000
A&ultima SP2000 is the third player released in the A&ultima lineup.
A&ultima SP2000 features newly developed audio circuitry and amplifier design.
Introducing Astell&Kern's new flagship, A&ultima SP2000.
- Stainless Steel and Copper body finishes for the best acoustics
- Dual DAC of AK4499EQ from AKM
- Native playback of 32bit/768kHz PCM and DSD512 without compression or loss
- Dual Band Wi-Fi (2.4/5GHz)
- Twice the Amount of Internal Storage of Previous Flagship Models
- Improved Audio Output Power and Greater Acoustic Details
Newly designed audio circuit
The SP2000 is the first Astell&Kern player to use separate, independent audio channels
between the Unbalanced and Balanced outputs.
This design offers much more power than ever before, with 6 Vrms for Balanced output and 3Vrms
for Unbalanced output.
With this design, the SP2000 offers the ultimate audio experience as Astell&Kern's newest
flagship player.
The Most Advanced Asahi Kasei DAC Chips, Dual AK4499EQ
The AK4499EQ DAC chip uses the most advanced 'Current Output Architecture' technology.
To take full advantage of this new architecture, Astell&Kern redesigned the Op Amp and analog amp block configuration completely.
The new circuit design optimizes the current consumption and brings out the most from these new DAC chips.
The combination of the SP2000 and AK4499EQ chips provide mind-blowing audio quality.
32bit/768kHz, Native DSD22.4MHz Support
SP2000 is the first Astell&Kern model to support 32 bit/768 kHz
and DSD512 (22.4MHz) playback natively without compression or loss.
32-bit bit-to-bit Playback by the SP2000
32-bit Playback by Other Products
Dual band Wi-Fi(2.4/5GHz)
With streaming music services becoming more popular, stronger and more reliable network reception becomes even more important for your audio experience. The SP2000 supports Dual Band Wi-Fi (2.4/5GHz, a/b/g/n/ac) with an improved 3-dimensional antenna design. With a stronger Wi-Fi signal and faster speeds, music streaming from the most popular services is better than ever on the SP2000.
Twice the Internal Storage (512GB)
As CD-ripping and offline storage of streaming content gets more popular,
the SP2000 offers twice the amount of internal storage compared to SP1000.
512GB internal storage can hold up to 700+ CDs or 8,000+ tracks of FLAC files (60MB/track).
DESIGN
The design motif of the SP2000 resembles the dispersion of light around the player.
The main focus of the design is the volume wheel, which is the starting point of the usability design.
The exquisite details of the crown pattern crossed over the pattern of the body, reflect the craftmanship and quality of the player.
The back stainless steel panel encompasses Astell&Kern's philosophy of bringing
listeners the original performance, without compromise, by featuring a full back plate
without screws. This provides a more solid feel to the player and enhances the natural
beauty of the body materials used.
Introducing the new SP2000 Vegas Gold and Onyx Black. This sleek and premium black coated
stainless steel was made possible using PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) coating technology.
It is environmentally friendly and the results are finishes that provide long-lasting
protection and durability, are resistant to chemicals, easy to maintain and protect against
corrosion and wear. PVD coating has been used for products where higher endurance and
reliability is demanded, including medical instruments, luxury accessories and more.
Verified Dealers
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- Addicted to Audio — online and in-store — Epping, Victoria, Australia (website)
- Advanced MP3 Players — online and in-store — Musselburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom (website)
- ALAIN CHOUKROUN — online and in-store — Paris, Île-de-France, France (website)
- Alpha High End — online and in-store — Brasschaat, Vlaams Gewest, Belgium (website)
- American Sound — in-store — Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada (website)
- Analogue Seduction — online and in-store — Whittlesey, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Anquan — online and in-store — Glika Nera, Greece (website)
- Area Hifi — online and in-store — L'Eixample, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain (website)
- Audio 46 — online and in-store — New York, New York, United States (website)
- Audio Advice — online and in-store — Raleigh, North Carolina, United States (website)
and 69 more verified dealers