Topic: AK on the Way (Read 4264 times)

burnspbesq · « **Reply #20 on:** February 14, 2013, 04:59:13 PM »

Finally got to spend some time listening. This thing pushes all my buttons: open, resolving, reasonably good extension at both ends, very good with micro-detail. Bass is a tad flabby compared to my desktop setup, but pitch and timbre are correct and there is neither too much nor too little. Good transient response. Judged purely on SQ, the AK beats every other portable device I have on hand (latest gen iPod Touch and Classic, iPhone 5, iPad Mini).

Battery life is very good (although it takes a very long time to recharge).

The interface, hower, is a disaster--at least for Mac users who manage metadata and album art using iTunes. Out of close to 160 gigs of files loaded on the AK, I have album art visible for exactly one album. Every attempt to do a library scan (to populate the song, album, and artist lists) has ended in a crash, so that only what's stored in internal memory is listed. Access to what's on the cards is limited to navigating the folders, which works but is an annoying kludge. There are persistent mis-reads of metadata.

I'm probably keeping it, but I will be writing some pretty stern emails to iRiver regarding the shortcomings of the product. Maybe it works fine for people who live in Windows environments and use FLAC files, but that's not me and the days when companies can treat Mac users as second-class citizens should be long gone. Don't know if I would recommend it.

burnspbesq · « **Reply #21 on:** February 18, 2013, 10:06:24 PM »

There is no bad situation that can't be made worse. Especially if you're an idiot. Herewith, a cautionary tale.

So I got frustrated at the repeated crashes while trying to do a library scan, and wrote a post comment about my issue in the AK 100 thread at HF. Someone suggested "reinstall the software." Seemed like a not unreasonable suggestion. Here's where it starts to go terribly wrong.

Boy Genius that I am (you should be visualizing Wile E. Coyote at this point), I say to myself, "Self, if you're going to do this, do it right." So instead of just deleting the system software and drag-and-dropping a new copy to the internal storage, I fire up Disk Utility and reformat the internal storage, then drag-and-drop.

Oops!

The next time I try to do a library scan, I get an error message saying "there is not enough free space to run." This, needless to say, is impossible. There is at least 31 gigs of free space available (31.41.gigs, to be exact, per the "File/Get Info" command when I plug the AK into a USB port on my MacBook Pro). However, when one opens "System Information" on the AK, it says the following about the internal storage: "1KB left/19.36MB." "System Information" also disagrees with "Get Info" as to the capacity and available space of the micro SD cards, but that doesn't worry me as much (perhaps it should). And if I try to drag and drop 29.5 gigs of music to the internal storage on the AK, the MacBook Pro politely does it, with no drama.

I can still play what's on the SD cards, but I can't play what's in internal storage, so I've only managed to semi-brick the thing. And of course, when I call the support number listed for iRiver USA on the corporate website, there is no answer.

Those of you who have been polite enough not to break out laughing may now do so.

burnspbesq · « **Reply #22 on:** March 15, 2013, 10:40:15 PM »

iRiver support has suddenly become very helpful (after taking an unacceptably long time to respond to my initial request).

I dropped my AK at their office in Irvine today. They're going to wipe the internal memory and restore it to fresh-out-of-the-box condition, and I should have it back by Tuesday.

And I got a big honkin' A&K lapel pin and a HDTracks discount certificate for my trouble. Woo-hoo!

burnspbesq · « **Reply #23 on:** March 26, 2013, 03:09:26 AM »

My UERMs are at UE for repair, so I listened to the AK with my backup IEMs (Westone 4) for a couple of hours last night.

Pretty awful. As in "iPad Mini is much better" kinda awful. Where did all that nicely controlled bass I was hearing with the UERMs go? I was ready to take the AK out to the back yard, dig a hole among the tomato plants, and give it a decent burial. Really had me wondering if my initial favorable impression listening with UERMs was influenced by some form of confirmation bias.

It's either going to Vinnie for the mod, or its going on the market.

MuppetFace · « **Reply #24 on:** April 20, 2013, 02:11:11 PM »

Some IEMs are going to sound better on this thing than others, I'd imagine. A friend of mine really adores this with his MH335DW, so I'm going to give it a shot.

I'm just not so fond of really "specialized" gear that has good synergy with only a handful of stuff under the right conditions like a blue moon and transmutation circle drawn around it.

And yet this thing is popular in Japan and Hong Kong, enough to merit several companies making IEMs specifically for it (special editions of the FitEar F111 and Final Heaven IV specifically tuned for it). Plus there's the Heir Tzar 350. I've never encountered a player that so many different manufacturers made products specifically for, aside form the iPod of course.

Author Topic: AK on the Way (Read 4264 times)

burnspbesq

Re: AK on the Way

burnspbesq

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burnspbesq

Re: AK on the Way

burnspbesq

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Author Topic: AK on the Way (Read 4264 times)