Product Comparison: Astell&Kern AK240 vs Astell&Kern AK120

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Best Pick

Astell&Kern AK240 Portable High Fidelity Sound System

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Astell&Kern AK120 MP3/MP4 Players and Recorders (MP3 Player, 64 GB, LED, 3.5 mm, 143 g, Black)

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General Specifications

Brand

Astell&Kern

Model

AK240

AK120

Origin

Korea

About the Product

The AK240 is the new flagship model in Astell&Kern's growing range of exceptionally high-quality portable music players.

The Astell&Kern AK120 portable audio system is an audiophiles dream player. Like its predecessor it is capable of playing Mastering Quality Sound files (MQS) from online stores in addition to a slew of other lossless formats.

Key Specs

Memory

256 GB

64 GB

Display

Yes

Integrated Speaker(s)

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Astell&Kern AK240 Portable High Fidelity Sound System

The interface is so fast. It’s astonishingly good for a high quality DAP, where the emphasis is usually on the sound quality rather than the day-today using experience.
You can also insert a 128 GB microSD card to take the total storage up to 384GB.
Not only did it possess more memory, but the sound quality was vastly improved
It is a great player with vast storage capacity. I added the Sandisk128 gb micro SD card
The screen is quite a bit bigger than the AK120 which makes it easier when browsing through the menus and your music library.

Astell&Kern AK120 MP3/MP4 Players and Recorders (MP3 Player, 64 GB, LED, 3.5 mm, 143 g, Black)

Lots of storage (64gigs internal, with 2 micro sd card expansion slots).
The UI is really intuitive, very responsive and easy to use. Even though I have the unit almost fully loaded with FLAC files, about 150GB so far, it still responds with little lag.
It's main interface is through a sharp and responsive 2.4" QVGA IPS Touchscreen while on it's right side it has a analog volume control wheel
The dual-DAC AK120 holds 64GB of audio files via its internal memory and can add 128GB more via two 64GB microSD cards
All the controls function fully even when the screen is off and a brief touch to the power button brings back the display while another brief touch darkens it again.

Size & Weight

Color

Gun Metal Grey

Black

Height

4.21 in.

3.5 in.

Width

2.95 in.

2.33 in.

Depth

0.68 in.

0.57 in.

Weight

6.5 oz.

5 oz.

What customers say about "Size & Weight"

Astell&Kern AK240 Portable High Fidelity Sound System

To joe public, the price is extortionate, but in reality, the hardware inside and high grade materials used in the construction does support the price.
It lives up to my expectations in every department. They build quality is fantastic
WOW in every single way!! i'd really love to meet the design team who come up with these concepts they really are a thing of beauty when you see them in real life.
The fact that it is so diminutive in size belies its magnificent performance.
it provides value for the money because it is a sheer jot to look at, hold and listen to.

Astell&Kern AK120 MP3/MP4 Players and Recorders (MP3 Player, 64 GB, LED, 3.5 mm, 143 g, Black)

From opening the delivered package to seeing and feeling the sheer build quality - just blew me away. Not an ounce of plastic anywhere.
Form Factor - Gets an AAA (Built well, quality construction)
The AK120 may be for you if portability and usability are two of the top qualities you are looking for in a DAP.
The player feels rock solid in my hand and has a noticeably better build quality than any of the mid-fi level music players.
It is heavier than I originally thought it would be and I enjoy the overall grip I have while holding the player on the go.

Features

Supported Audio Formats

WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF

WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, APE, MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, DSD

Memory Card Slot

Yes

Input(s)

USB port, 3.5mm Jack, Optical Out, Balanced Out

USB port, Optical In/Out, Headphone Out

Usability

3.31" WVGA (480 x 800) AMOLED Touchscreen

2.4" QVGA (320 x 240) IPS Touchscreen

Voice Recorder

Video Playback

Bluetooth Enabled

Yes

Extras

Wi-Fi, MQS Streaming, Balanced Out and Dual DAC

Equipped with dual Wolfson 8740 DAC, External DAC support, Dual microSD card slots, Brushed aluminum body

What customers say about "Features"

Astell&Kern AK240 Portable High Fidelity Sound System

The sound is pure Hi-Fi. By that I mean its smother and mellower, less digital sounding, than the previous models.
The amplifier built in is quite powerful and will easily drive both the Fostex TH600 or TH900 comfortably.
The device now has full wifi support,. including over the air firmware updates, which is a massive improvement.
It offers wifi streaming from my PC and the sound quality is out of this world.
I love this device, you just plug into your USB port and the unit becomes an external harddrive...simply drag and drop your files into the folder (s)...no need to use clunk software.

Astell&Kern AK120 MP3/MP4 Players and Recorders (MP3 Player, 64 GB, LED, 3.5 mm, 143 g, Black)

This little unit delivers QUALITY. I'm not even playing back master quality sound files yet - my files are FLAC ripped from CD - yet I can hear detail that just isn't there on my iPOD files.
It doesn't have the soul-less glassy sound which I so despise of digital sound. That little combo makes music in the correct sense of the word.
I've just tried a 128gb micro sd card in the AK120 and it works perfectly.
Copying files to AK120 is easy. I don't use their software other than firmware upgrade. I just copy the files on Windows Explorer and manually scan the library. Easy.
Another benefit to the AK120 is the fact that it connects to my computer's USB port (USB2.0 only so far) which allows me to use is as an external DAC to listen to all the music I have stored on my computer

Accessories

Included With Unit

Exclusive leather case, USB cable

Power

Battery Life

96 hours

14 hours

Battery Life

Astell&Kern AK240

Astell&Kern AK120

What customers say about "Power"

Astell&Kern AK240 Portable High Fidelity Sound System

I was able to run continuously with Single and Double DSD for 3.5 hours on a flight from Chicago to Portland, Oregon, which drew the battery from 100% down to 40%
During my recent flight to Maui, I didn't have to worry about battery life at all.
Battery life is around eight to 10 hours.
The sound is awesome but with crappy battery life it will probably sit on my desk...
When playing high resolution audio you will be very lucky to get to 10h of usage

Astell&Kern AK120 MP3/MP4 Players and Recorders (MP3 Player, 64 GB, LED, 3.5 mm, 143 g, Black)

Long battery life if you're not playing it at max volume.
Battery life has been surprisingly good as I generally use it daily for at least 1-2 hours, sometimes more and only need to charge it weekly
I'm getting about 12 hours of listening time and haven't run it down to zero once.
The battery life is okay lasting a good 10+ hours, probably near the published 14
Astell & Kern AK120 is hard to beat as a truly portable player due to the combination of ease of use, battery life, charging, size, capacity, and sound quality.

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

1 year(s)

Certifications

CE, FCC