Astell & Kern AK Junior Review featuring Sennheiser HD650

Rating: 9.0.

Astell & Kern has had a place in the high-end Digital Audio Player market for years now, with its top-tier model running up a hefty £3300 price tag. However, there are those out there who enjoy quality audio products but don't want to spend thousands of pounds on equipment and for those there is the Astell & Kern AK Junior, a £399 portable player that packs in a lot of quality with a more manageable price tag.

Don't get me wrong, £399 is still a lot of money but if you happened to catch our earlier articles on the top ten headphones that money can buy, or more recently, our flagship headphone/amplifier round-up, then the price gets put in to perspective!

This isn't just a posh iPod or your standard MP3 player, in-fact buying this to listen to MP3s would be a total waste of money. The Astell & Kern AK Junior is more specifically for those that own a decent pair of headphones and want to continue listening to lossless audio on the move. The AK Junior also has the added benefit of housing a decent amp, meaning high-impedance headphones like the Sennheisser HD 650's (featured in this review) will continue to sound great on the move.

Features and Specifications:

• 6.9mm thick
• 1.95 VRMS output
• DSD audio format support
• works as external DAC for Mac and PC
• 3.1-inch LCDW QVGA (240 x 400) touchscreen
• 64GB storage
• Micro SD card support up to 64GB
• Wolfson WM8740 x1 DAC
• Support up to 24bit/192kHz Bit to Bit Decoding
• 1,450mAh battery
• Works with Windows and Mac
  

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