The leading brand in pocket-size hi-fi systems has returned to our attention by revealing their latest addition to an already impressive line of music players. An upgrade of the company’s best-selling AK70 player, the brand new Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II is set to cost a cool $700 and brags about on-the-go high-resolution digital audio capabilities.
The overall design isn’t all that different from its predecessor, showing off a boxy case and a physical volume knob on the right side, but the updates will be easily noticed by audiophiles. The addition of a second digital-to-analog converter (DAC) system, that processes both audio channels separately, helps this device to really stand out of the pack.
Another upgrade worth mentioning is an increase in the power delivered by its balanced output, meaning that this thing has enough juice to power basically any pair of headphones on the market today. The AK70 MKII also supports file resolutions of up to 24-bit/192 kHz, although down-sampling will allow the device to work around its limitations.
Furthermore, this player can be also connected to a PC or an Apple computer via USB and used as a standalone DAC. It comes with 64 gigabytes of onboard memory, but that could be increased by an additional 256 gigabytes stored on a microSD card. Available in black only, the MKII will be available in stores starting October 20th. I just know I found my early Christmas present.
