Astell & Kern KANN
The Astell & Kern KANN pairs a warm, organic presentation with serious drive, delivering deep bass, sparkling highs and spaciously organised detail. The Absolute Sound found it equally adept with sensitive IEMs and demanding planars, while What Hi-Fi? praised its dynamic, insightful performance. Balanced output, USB DAC capability and generous expandable storage make this a formidable high-resolution portable.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
92/100
Build Quality
91/100
Features Usability
94/100
Value for Money
91/100
Pros
Powerful yet refined headphone amplification works convincingly with sensitive IEMs and difficult full-size planar or high-impedance headphones.
Detailed, punchy and dynamic sound with deep bass, strong timing and a spacious, well-organised presentation.
Exceptionally versatile: balanced and single-ended outputs, line out, USB DAC operation, Wi-Fi streaming, aptX HD Bluetooth and dual SD storage expansion.
Cons
Its bulky, heavy pyramid-like chassis is not especially pocket-friendly and its distinctive design will not suit every taste.
The Android-based interface can feel slow or clunky during screen rendering.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 92/100
Reviewers consistently describe a detailed, spacious and musically engaging presentation with strong timing, deep bass and sparkling highs. The KANN combines a slightly warm, organic character with serious output capability, working convincingly with both demanding full-size headphones and sensitive in-ear monitors.
Transparency Resolution
92/100
What Hi-Fi praises the KANN's depth, detail and ability to reveal small vocal-texture and modulation cues that lesser players miss. HomeTheaterHifi likewise found enough resolving power to distinguish subtle differences between headphones, though AudioAdvice felt pricier players offered still greater space and fine detail.
Tonal Balance Musicality
91/100
The Absolute Sound characterises the KANN as slightly warmer and more organic than Astell & Kern's flagship players, with a convincing overall musical feel. Reviewers also report deep bass, sparkling highs and neutral-to-slightly-smoothed mids, resulting in an engaging rather than aggressively analytical balance.
Dynamics
93/100
What Hi-Fi found the KANN dynamic, well timed and free from a weighted-down or compressed character as tracks rise and fall. HomeTheaterHifi heard no strain over wide dynamic swings or deep bass, while several reviewers found its amplifier capable of getting the most from difficult full-size headphones.
Noise Floor
91/100
The Absolute Sound specifically reports sufficiently low noise on Normal gain to give in-ear monitors a spectacularly refined, three-dimensional presentation. No reviewer reports hiss, hum or intrusive background noise, and the available gain settings appear useful for matching sensitive earphones.
Headphone Compatibility
94/100
The KANN's Normal and High gain modes were praised for combining delicacy with IEMs and plenty of muscle for full-size planar-magnetic headphones. AudioAdvice also found it able to drive difficult high-impedance models effectively, while the 3.5mm and 2.5mm balanced outputs broaden pairing options.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
91/100
What Hi-Fi calls the aluminium body beautifully finished and sturdy, while AudioAdvice describes the one-piece aluminium shell as extremely well made. The Absolute Sound notes that its extruded chassis is simpler than the brand's flagship construction, but still attractive and purposeful.
Features Usability
94/100
This is an unusually versatile portable player, with balanced and single-ended headphone outputs, line-out capability, USB DAC functionality, Wi-Fi streaming, aptX HD Bluetooth, DLNA support, and extensive high-resolution format support. Its 64GB internal storage plus SD and microSD expansion are especially practical, and The Absolute Sound found the interface intuitive and easy to learn.
Value for Money
91/100
At $999, HomeTheaterHifi considered the KANN expensive compared with many competing DAPs, but felt that it delivered on its promise. The Absolute Sound calls it terrific musical value and says it gives up very little to Astell & Kern's more costly models, while other reviewers were notably impressed for under $1,000.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
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Specifications
- Model
- KANN
- Body Color
- Astro Silver, Eos Blue
- Body Material
- Aluminum
- Display
- 4inch WVGA (480 x 800) Touchscreen
- Supported Audio Formats
- WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE(Normal, High, Fast), AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF
- Sample rate
- PCM: 8kHz ~ 384kHz (8/16/24/32bits per Sample) / DSD Native: DSD64(1bit 2.8MHz), Stereo / DSD128(1bit 5.6MHz), Stereo / DSD256(1bit 11.2MHz), Stereo
- Output Level
- [Phone Out] Normal: Unbalance 2Vrms / Balance 2Vrms (Condition No Load) High: Unbalance 4Vrms/ Balance 7Vrms (Condition No Load) [Line Out] Unbalance 2Vrms / Balance 2Vrms (Condition No Load)
- DAC
- AKM AK4490 x1 (Single DAC)
- Decoding
- Support up to 32bit / 384kHz Bit to Bit Decoding
- Input
- USB Type-C input (for charging & data transfer (PC & MAC)) / Connection Mode : MTP (Media Device)
- Outputs
- [Phone Out, Line Out] PHONES (3.5mm) / Balanced Out (2.5mm, only 4-pole supported) [USB Audio] micro USB Connection / PCM: Up to 32bit 384kHz / DSD 2.8MHz, 5.6MHz
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)
- Dimensions
- 2.80 ”(71.23 mm) [W] x 4.56 ”(115.8 mm) [H] x 1.01 ”(25.6 mm) [D]
- Weight
- 9.83 oz (278.7 g)
- Feature Enhancements
- Firmware upgrades supported (OTA)
- Frequency Response
- [Phone Out] ±0.067dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Unbalance & Balance ±0.75dB (Condition: 20Hz~70kHz) Unbalance & Balance [Line Out] ±0.07dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Unbalance & Balance ±0.75dB (Condition: 20Hz~70kHz) Unbalance & Balance
- Signal to Noise Ratio
- [Phone Out] 110dB @ 1kHz, Unbalance / 109dB @ 1kHz, Balance [Line Out] 116dB @ 1kHz, Unbalance / 117dB @ 1kHz, Balance
- Crosstalk
- [Phone Out] -108dB @ 1kHz, Unbalance / -130dB @ 1kHz, Balance [Line Out] -135dB @ 1kHz, Unbalance / -135dB @ 1kHz, Balance
- THD+N
- [Phone Out] 0.004% @ 1kHz, Unbalance / 0.0008% @ 1kHz, Balance [Line Out] 0.0008% @ 1kHz, Unbalance / 0.0007% @ 1kHz, Balance
- IMD SMPTE
- [Phone Out] 0.0008% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Unbalance / 0.0008% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Balance [Line Out] 0.0006% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Unbalance / 0.0006% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Balance
- Output Impedance
- [Phone Out] PHONES 3.5mm (0.65ohm) / Balanced out 2.5mm (1.3ohm) [Line Out] PHONES 3.5mm (1.9ohm) / Balanced out 2.5mm (5ohm)
- Clock Jitter
- 30ps(Typ)
- Reference Clock Jitter
- 200 Femto Seconds
- Capacity
- 6,200mAh 3.7V Li-Polymer Battery
- Built-in Memory
- 64GB [NAND]
- External Memory
- microSD (Max. 256GB) x1 / SD (Max. 256GB) x1
- Supported OS
- Windows XP, 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
One player to rule them all
Astell&Kern's KANN provides a new power standard for mobile music performance. Combining a high-quality
audio player and a high-performance amplifier, KANN draws on the technological expertise of Astell&Kern,
the leading Portable Hi-Fi Audio manufacturer.
Focusing on a strong output and crystal-clear sound, the all-in-one KANN offers the following features.
Output optimized to user's listening environment
KANN, the first Astell&Kern product, is equipped with a line-out circuit designed to set the output
values in 4 levels, depending on the user's listening preference a significant step up from previous
products, which did not provide output/volume control. With the selectable output function, you can
fine-tune your sound to suit a home system, car audio, or any other listening environment.
KANN also supports Astell&Kern's 2.5-mm 4-pole balanced outputs (2 Vrms). Unlike the unbalanced
type, balanced output removes noise (common mode noise) from "signal + inverting amplifier signal" and
has the strength to increase output with its double transmitting signals.
Deliver the perfect original sound
KANN offers the optimal condition to deliver perfect original sound.
KANN is capable of bit-to-bit playback up to 32bit 384kHz and native DSD playback up to 11.2MHz, delivering
detailed, distortion-free sound just as the artist intended.
* The maximum audio output would be limited based on the output capacity of your source device.
32-bit bit-to-bit Playback by KANN
32-bit Playback by Other Product
Scalability using USB Audio
To increase flexibility of use, you can connect additional USB Audio to KANN via the micro USB port. KANN
allows output conversion according to the specifications of the external USB Audio that supports DoP (DSD
over PCM) or PCM, and provides continuous music playback with charging via the Type-C USB port while
connected to the external USB Audio.
USB audio (Digital Out) output is available only when digital input is possible through USB.
* DoP (DSD over PCM): This is a standard for transferring DSD data to USB
interface. This standard
sends DSD data by mounting them onto PCM data frames.
* To link KANN with an external USB Audio, an OTG cable (purchased separately) is required. The
separately purchased cable connecting the OTG cable to an external USB Audio must be appropriate for the
specification of the USB Audio.
* USB Audio (Digital Out) Specs DoP : 2.8MHz / 5.6MHz PCM : Max 384kHz
The finest sound quality from audio files stored on a PC
Supporting the bit-to-bit playback up to 32-bit 384kHz when connected to the PC for use as a USB DAC, the KANN produces richer sounds with superior spatial effects and resolution that go far beyond the limits of any PC sound card.
* The KANN supports up to 32-bit 384kHz with specs of USB Audio Class 2.0.
* 64/128/256MHz DSD formats can be played back with the USB DAC driver installed
The AK Connect and AK Connect HD apps Download
The AK Connect and AK Connect HD apps are available for download from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Dual memory card slots
KANN has an internal memory of 64GB, but this can be easily and flexibly boosted via the unit's dual memory card slots. KANN supports both standard SD cards and micro SD cards, so users can select their preferred memory type. The memory is expandable up to 576 GB to easily handle larger audio files.
* Memory cards other than validated products such as Sandisk or Samsung may not be compatible with this product.
Fast charging
Enjoy up to 6.5 hours of your favorite music with a single 1 hour charge through the fast charger. There is no fear of a dead battery when on a long journey as the 6,200mA large capacity battery offers 15 hours of continuous playback.
* The maximum 15-hour continuous play is based on 16-bit/44 kHz, FLAC file format, screen off, 50 of volume,
and Normal playback.
* Fast charger (9V/1.67A) and general Charger (5V/2A) are not included in the package.
DESIGN
The design of KANN stands apart from
Astell&Kern's other product lines.
During assembly, the parts are slid into the
aluminum extruded body, and the unique, no-joint
design delivers a durable yet sleek appearance.
The glittering space-based 'Astro Silver' and 'Eos Blue'
representing the goddess of dawn embody the strong
yet soft features of KANN.
The innovative volume wheel makes one-hand control
easy. By positioning the main control buttons to the
bottom of the front panel, convenient music search
and quick home screen operation are intuitive.
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