Astell & Kern SP1000
The SP1000 makes portable listening feel expansive: its black background, natural resolution, and deeply layered soundstage let texture, decay, and instrumental placement breathe. PortaFi highlights its neutral control, lifelike detail, and exceptional treble, while Direstor's Garage praises the added space, bass authority, and jewelry-grade finish. A reference-grade player for serious headphones and IEMs.
WATT RECOMMENDS
Save your favorites. Compare them anytime.
Create a free HiFi Hub account to save products to your Wishlist and compare your favorites side by side.
Nicely Roasted
Sound Quality
94/100
Build Quality
89/100
Features Usability
66/100
Value for Money
87/100
Pros
Exceptionally natural, resolving sound with lifelike texture, clean transients, and realistic decay.
Expansive, precisely organized soundstage with strong instrument separation and a silent background.
Premium machining and finish give it a genuinely luxurious, jewelry-like physical presence.
Cons
Its original $3,499 price places it firmly in luxury-player territory.
At nearly 400g, it is substantial for a portable player and less suited to effortless everyday carry.
WATT RECOMMENDS
Save your favorites. Compare them anytime.
Create a free HiFi Hub account to save products to your Wishlist and compare your favorites side by side.
What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 94/100
Reviewers describe an exceptionally refined portable presentation, combining neutral, natural tone with strong texture, transient definition, spatial separation, and convincing decay. The SP1000 is also praised for a notably silent background and expansive, well-organized imaging.
Tonal Balance Musicality
94/100
PortaFi describes a substantial step forward in neutrality, control, naturalness, and realism, with lively texture and especially accomplished treble. Direstor's Garage also found the SP1000 more powerful-sounding than earlier Astell & Kern players, with deeper bass weight and a larger sense of space.
Resolution Detail
94/100
PortaFi praises the player's resolution, attack and decay, natural overtones, textural insight, and exceptionally clear separation of layers. Direstor's Garage similarly highlights realistic snare reverb and decay, with more space around instruments than the older AK240.
Digital Performance
93/100
PortaFi reports an extremely dark, silent background even with sensitive headphones, with sounds emerging cleanly from silence and no audible noise or unwanted artifacts. The review also describes sharply outlined images and a controlled, clean presentation, though direct assessment of the digital section is otherwise limited.
FEATURES USABILITY PERFORMANCE 66/100
The SP1000 is extensively equipped for local high-resolution playback, with generous onboard storage, expansion, balanced output, optical output, Wi-Fi, and broad format support. Reviewers provide little direct insight into the software experience, setup stability, or streaming-interface behavior.
Streaming Software
55/100
The supplied reviews say little about interface responsiveness, library management, streaming integration, or long-term software stability. Its touchscreen, Wi-Fi capability, and OTA firmware support indicate a modern portable-player platform, but there is not enough reviewer experience to make stronger claims about daily software use.
Features Connectivity
91/100
The SP1000 offers 256GB of internal storage, microSD expansion up to 1TB, 3.5mm headphone and optical output, and a 2.5mm balanced output. It supports PCM up to 384kHz, native DSD256, MQA playback, USB-C data transfer, Wi-Fi, and a reported 10-to-12-hour battery life with fast charging.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
89/100
Direstor's Garage calls the SP1000 “jewelry,” specifically admiring its manufacturing and finish. The supplied reviews offer little further comment on long-term durability or physical controls, but the reported fit and finish are clearly premium.
Value for Money
87/100
At its original $3,499 price, PortaFi considers the SP1000 extremely expensive, but argues that the cost buys what it regards as the best available sound from a portable player and says close alternatives are absent. Direstor's Garage notes that used examples had fallen to roughly $1,500, improving its appeal for buyers comfortable purchasing pre-owned.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
Online Reviews & Mentions
YouTube Reviews
Forum Mentions
No forum mentions found yet
Specifications
- Model
- SP1000
- Body Color
- Onyx Black / Stainless Steel / Copper
- Body Material
- Onyx Black, Stainless Steel : Stainless Steel / Copper : Copper
- Display
- 5inch (720 x 1,280) Touchscreen
- 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
- 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
- Unbalanced 2.2Vrms Balanced 3.9Vrms (Condition No Load)
- CPU
- Octa-Core
- DAC
- AKM AK4497EQ x2 (Dual DAC)
- AKM AK4497EQ x2 (Dual DAC)
- Support up to 32bit / 384kHz Bit to Bit Decoding
- Input
- USB 3.0 Type-C input (for charging & data transfer (PC & MAC)) / Connection Mode : MTP (Media Device)
- Outputs
- PHONES (3.5mm) / Optical Out (3.5mm) / Balanced Out (2.5mm, only 4-pole supported)
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)
- Dimensions
- 2.98 ”(75.8 mm) [W] x 5.2 ”(132 mm) [H] x 0.64 ”(16.2 mm) [D]
- Weight
- Onyx Black, Stainless Steel : 13.64 oz (386.6 g) / Copper : 13.68 oz (387.9 g)
- Feature Enhancements
- Firmware upgrades supported (OTA)
- Frequency Response
- ±0.062dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Unbalanced / ±0.061dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Balanced ±0.68dB (Condition: 10Hz~70kHz) Unbalanced / ±0.67dB (Condition: 10Hz~70kHz) Balanced
- Signal to Noise Ratio
- 120dB @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / 122dB @ 1kHz, Balanced
- Crosstalk
- 138dB @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / 143dB @ 1kHz, Balanced
- THD+N
- 0.0005% @ 1kHz, Unbalanced / 0.0008% @ 1kHz, Balanced
- IMD SMPTE
- 0.0004% 800Hz 10kHz(4:1) Unbalanced & Balanced
- Output Impedance
- Balanced out 2.5mm (1ohm) / PHONES 3.5mm (2ohm)
- Clock Jitter
- 30ps(Typ)
- Reference Clock Jitter
- 200 Femto Seconds
- Capacity
- 3,700mAh 3.8V Li-Polymer Battery
- Continuous Playback Time
- Up to 12 hours (Standard - MUSIC: FLAC, 16-bit/44kHz, Volume 75, LCD Off)
- Charge Time
- About 2 hours (Standard - 9V/1.67A Fast charging)
- Built-in Memory
- 256GB [NAND]
- External Memory
- microSD (Max. 1TB) 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
All New High-End, A&ultima SP1000
Astell&Kern is proud to introduce the A&ultima SP1000.
The A&ultima SP1000 is a one-of-a-kind, high-end,
powerful flagship high resolution music player equipped with the latest advanced features.
The A&ultima SP1000: delivering the ultimate Astell&Kern technology.
- A true flagship high-resolution music player
- First Astell&Kern player to feature an octa-core CPU for outstanding response and performance
- High Definition HD5 display to create the best viewing experience
- Innovative new Multi-function Wheel
- Rigid stainless steel/Copper housing
Great Performance for the Ultimate Experience
The A&ultima SP1000 is equipped with an octa-core CPU which allows the player to produce the exact musical detail present in the original recording without distortion and provides a quick, lag-free operation. The A&ultima SP1000 features faster booting times, speedy file transfers, lag-free processing and a new intuitive user interface for the ultimate player experience.
Ultimate Sound Quality
The latest AK4497EQ dual-DAC design and the upgraded CPU in the A&ultima SP1000 allows for
accurate
playback of native 32bit/384kHz audio with no compromise on sound quality. The music is played
back,
bit-for-bit, just as the artist and engineer intended for it to be heard.
The A&ultima SP1000 also supports native bit-to-bit DSD playback up to 11.2MHz for the best
sound possible.
32-bit bit-to-bit Playback by the SP1000
32-bit Playback by Other Products
New Intuitive User Interface
The A&ultima SP1000 features a revamped interface design which
Provides music playback from the home screen to give users a more
music-centric experience.
By placing the power button on the Multi-function wheel located on the
Side of the A&ultima SP1000 instead of on the top, users can control the volume and turn
the LCD screen ON/OFF, all with one simple control.
The A&ultima SP1000 features a bezel-less design to maximize screen size. The high-definition HD5 grade display delivers a vibrant and engaging viewing experience. Song and player information is sharp, colorful and easily to read on the larger, brighter screen.
- Player is in the main. All functions are centered on "music replay."
- Secure access to the music DB and features to manage music files
- Minimum menu depth and simple structure
Next generation USB Type-C support allows file transfer speeds up to 10Gbps and supports both data transfer and charging from the same cable. USB 3.0 protocol transfers data twice as fast when compared to other Astell&Kern players. Charging with a fast charger (at 9V/1.67A) takes only two hours and allows up to 12 hours of continuous playback.
- The maximum 12-hour continuous play is based on 16-bit/44 kHz, FLAC file format, screen off, 75 of volume playback.
- Fast charger (9V/1.67A) and general Charger (5V/2A) are not included in the package.
DESIGN
The A&ultima SP1000 is like a natural gemstone carefully refined by professionals.
Knowing that sound is reflected from mass, like light is reflected from a surface;
we designed the A&ultima SP1000 like a gemstone with reflective features on its surface.
The crown-patterned volume wheel on the right corner is similar in appearance to
a cut gemstone,
which reflects light from various angles. The sophisticated volume wheel on A&ultima SP1000
not only delivers visual and textual details with precision, but allows convenient,
one finger ON/OFF control and fine volume control with the addition of both push and turn features.
The external chassis of the A&ultima SP1000 is made of rugged Stainless Steel/Copper that resists aging and external shock. The A&ultima SP1000 is the ultimate music player, crafted in an artistically designed metallic setting.
Introducing the new SP1000 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
Online Dealers
All Dealers
Zoom out the map to see more dealers
Authorized dealers for Astell & Kern SP1000
- 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