Thanks to the intermediary of the distributor Audiogamma, the KANN MAX portable audio player from South Korea Astell & Kern arrives in Italy, suitable for connoisseurs of good sound, thanks to the support for Hi-Res output.
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Premium-level portable audio players is a segment that has become a niche over time, both due to the tendency to use smartphones to listen to music, and to the integration of DACs in these products which greatly increase their cost, compared to of a use that, however, is much more versatile and for connoisseurs. The South Korean Astell & Kern, leader in the segment, has announced the distribution in Italy, through the famous Audiogramma, of its latest ad hoc product, the KANN MAX audio player (priced at 1,699 euros).
The new KANN MAX has an aluminum chassis (68.3 x 117 x 23.6 mm for 305 grams) in Anthracite Gray, except the gold finish for the PVD (Titanium Nitride) coating around the three outputs: of these, one, which acts also from optical output on 3.5 mm jack, it is unbalanced while, in order to minimize interference, two balanced outputs are available, respectively 2.5 or with 4.4 mm connector (with up to 15 Vrms setting the audio gain level to Super).
Still on the subject of ports, there is a USB Type-C which, connected to a computer, PC or Mac, works in tandem with it as an external DAC (being equipped with a DAC with 4 ESS ES9038Q2M analog digital conversion modules , which support sampling in PCM at 768 kHz / 32-bit and in the original at 22.4 MHz: the port in question, of course, also serves for recharging, in 3.5 hours, the battery, from 5,600 mAh, sufficient for 13 hours of light use (low gain, volume at 40%, LED on, display off), controlled by the proprietary TERATON ALPHA technology that maximizes energy efficiency and reduces power disturbances. Among the wireless connections, Bluetooth 5.0 manages the AVRCP, A2DP, LDAC, aptX HD codecs, while the Wi-Fi n is mono-band (2.4 GHz).
On the front, there is a 4.1-inch touch LCD display, resolved at 720 x 1280 pixels: an LED circle around the volume side wheel takes on a different color in relation to one of the many formats (eg. FLAC, WAV, MQA, AAC , MP3. AIFF, WMA, OGG, APE, ALAC, DFF, DSF) that is being played at the moment.
Driving the KANN MAX audio player is a quadcore processor, with 64 GB of storage, expandable by 1 TB via microSD, capable of coordinating various smart functions: Replay Gain allows you to play up to 24 bit / 192 kHz while maintaining a constant volume, BT Sink facilitates BT connection with a device, while AK File Drop simplifies sharing with FTP servers, smartphones, or computers that are in the same network.
