 | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | October 2013 [1] |
Number of locations | 28 [2] (2016) |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Owner | Iriver |
| Website | www |
Astell & Kern is a South Korean consumer electronics company founded in October 2013, [1] and is wholly owned by Dreamus. The company manufactures media players, CD players, headphones, and home cinema products. It was launched as a premium successor to iriver products.
In January 2013, iriver debuted the AK100 media player at CES 2013, to polarizing reception from critics at release. [3] [4] [5] In July, a pair of in-ear monitors dubbed the AKR01 were released to complement the media players. [6] In August, the AK100's successor, the AK120, was released with minor design enhancements but notoriously the addition of two Wolfson WM8740 DAC chipsets, [7] and was released to better reception. In October, Astell & Kern was founded by iRiver to develop the in-brand products. [1] A limited edition called the AK120 Titan was released shortly in December. [1] [8]
On 9 January 2014, the company debuted the AK240 for CES 2014, with it debuting Wi-FI connectivity, and an operating system based upon Android instead of Linux directly. Following the acquisition of Wolfson by Cirrus Logic, the company replaced the Wolfson DAC duo with Logic 4398 chipsets. At CES, the AKR02, the successor to the AKR01, debuted in February; Astell & Kern also revealed Home cinema products, such as a valve amplifier and cylindrical speaker, as well. [9] In May, collaborating with Jerry Harvey Audio, [1] the company released the AKR03 monitors, successing the AKR02, as well as the AK120II [10] and AK100II players, the second-generation of the AK120 and AK100 players respectively. [11] In honor of the 75th anniversary of Blue Note Records, the AK240 announced a "Blue Note Special Limited Edition" on 17 October. [12] [13]
In January 2015, the "AK T5p" headphones, which were co-produced with Beyerdynamic, were released. In February, the company debuted the stainless steel model of the AK240, the AK240SS, [14] and the AK500N, a Network Audio System which can store 1TB of files in a solid-state drive, can stream lossless from PCs and NAS devices, and is noiseless when plugged in. [15] In April, the AK Jr. was released. Unlike other models, Jr. is an entry-level and much smaller media player than other models. [16]
In August, the all-in-one system AK T1 was released, along with the Super Junior x AK Jr collaboration and the Beyerdynamic-produced AK T8iE monitors. [17] In November, Hyundai Card collaborated with Astell & Kern to create the AK100II x HCC model, as well as the AK320's debut and Beyerdynamic-produced AK T1p. In 2015, Astell & Kern collaborated with Japanese voice actress Kana Hanazawa to create the limited AK100II Kana Hanazawa edition, which would include a special song titled "Tadoritsuku Basho" (A Place to Reach) pre-installed in the player. [18]
On 21 January 2016, the company released a Copper Edition of the AK380. [19] In February, the company released four sets of monitors co-produced with Jerry Harvey Audio: Layla II, Roxanne II, Angie II, and Rosie. In July, the company developed a new media player: the AK70. [17]
Astell & Kern markets 24-bit audio with a 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz sampling rate under the name Mastering Quality Sound (MQS). Music sold with this tag comes in both the lossless formats: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, APE as well as lossy formats: MP3, AAC, WMA and OGG. [20]
| Year | Model | Type | Spec | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Input | Battery | |||
| 2013 | AK100 | Media player | microSD | micro USB | 16 hours |
| AKR01 | In-ear monitors | — | Phone jack | — | |
| AK120 | Media player | 64GB 64GB microSD | microUSB 2x microSD | 16 hours | |
| AK120 Titan | 128GB 64GB microSD | 14 hours | |||
| AK10 | USB DAC/AMP | — | micro USB | 11 hours | |
| 2014 | AK240 | Media player | 256GB 128GB microSD | microUSB | 10 hours |
| AKR02 | In-ear monitors | — | Phone jack | — | |
| AKR03 | |||||
| AK100II | Media player | 64GB 128GB microSD | microUSB | — | |
| AK120II | 128GB Internal and microSD | — | |||
| AK240 Blue Note Special Limited Edition | 256GB 128GB microSD | — | |||
| 2015 | AK T5p | Headphones | — | Phone jack | — |
| AK240SS | Media player | 256GB 128GB microSD | microUSB | — | |
| AK500N | Network Audio System | 1TB | AES/EBU | 7 hours | |
| AK Jr | Media player | 64GB Internal and microSD | microUSB | 6–8 hours | |
| AK380 | 256GB 128GB microSD | 10 hours | |||
| AK T1 | Sound system | — | Auxiliary | — | |
| Super Junior x AK Jr. | Media player | 64GB Internal and microSD | microUSB | 6–8 hours | |
| AK T8iE | In-ear monitors | — | Phone jack | — | |
| Layla | — | ||||
| Angie | |||||
| AK100II x HCC | Media player | 64GB 128GB microSD | microUSB | — | |
| AK320 | 128GB Internal and microSD | — | |||
| AK T1p | Headphones | — | Phone jack | — | |
| 2016 | AK70 | Media player | |||
| AK300 | |||||
| AK380 Copper | 256GB 128GB microSD | microUSB | 10 hours | ||
| AK T8iE MkII | In-ear monitors | ||||
| Angie II | — | Phone jack | — | ||
| Layla II | |||||
| Michelle | |||||
| Rosie | |||||
| Roxanne II | |||||
| 2017 | KANN | Media player | 64GB Internal and SD+microSD | USB-C | 15 hours |
| AK70 MKII | 64GB Internal 256GB microSD | micro-USB microSD | — | ||
| A&ultima SP1000 (SS/CU/BK) | 256GB Internal 256GB MicroSD | USB-C microSD | 12 hours | ||
| Michelle Limited | In-ear monitors | ||||
| AK CD-Ripper MKII | CD ripper | ||||
| 2018 | A&norma SR15 | Media player | 64GB Internal 400GB microSD | USB-C | — |
| A&futura SE100 | |||||
| A&ultima SP1000M | 128GB Internal 400GB microSD | 10 hours | |||
| Billie Jean | In-ear monitors | ||||
| Diana | |||||
| AK T5p 2nd Generation | Headphones | ||||
| 2019 | A&ultima SP1000M Gold | Media player | |||
| A&ultima SP2000 | |||||
| KANN Cube | |||||
| SA700 | |||||
| SP1000 AMP | Amplifier | ||||
| AK T9iE | In-ear monitors | ||||
| Layla Aion | |||||
| 2020 | A&futura SE200 | Media player | 256GB Internal 1TB microSD | USB-C | 10 hours (AK4499EQ) 14 hours (ES9068AS) |
| A&norma SR25 | 64GB Internal 1TB microSD | USB-C | 21 hours | ||
| KANN Alpha | 64GB Internal 1TB microSD | USB-C | 14.5 hours | ||
| 2021 | A&ultima SP2000T | Media player | 256GB Internal 1TB microSD | USB-C | About 9 hours (Standard : FLAC, 16bit/44.1 kHz, Unbalance, Volume 50, LCD Off, LED On, OP AMP Mode) |
| A&futura SE180 | 256GB Internal 1TB microSD | USB-C | About 10.5 hours (SEM 1: ES9038PRO x 1) About 10.5 hours (SEM 2: AK4497EQ x 2) About 13 hours (SEM 3: ES9038Q2M x 4) About 14 hours (SEM 4: AK4493SEQ x 2) (FLAC, 16bit, 44.1 kHz, Vol.50, LCD Off) | ||
| A&norma SR25 MKII | 64GB Internal 1TB microSD | USB-C | Up to 20 hours (based on MUSIC: FLAC, 16bit, 44.1 kHz, Unbalance, Volume 50, EQ Off, LCD Off) | ||
| AK Solaris X | In-ear monitors | ||||
| AK ZERO 1 | |||||
| 2022 | A&ultima SP3000 | Media player | 256GB Internal 1TB microSD | USB-C | About 10 hours (Standard: FLAC, 16-bit/44.1 kHz, Vol. 80, LCD off) |
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