Astell & Kern A&norma SR35 review: DAP’s magic

Introduction

The entire idea of “entry stage” is relative. You would possibly suppose it means the identical as being inexpensive or mainstream, and in a number of circumstances you’d be proper. However not the place Astell & Kern’s headphones, DACs and digital audio gamers are involved. The A&norma SR35 (sure, it’s a mouthful) is an effective instance.

Astell & Kern’s entry-level digital audio participant solely simply creeps in below $800/£800. I don’t find out about you, however these aren’t figures I’d affiliate with both inexpensive or mainstream. However in some ways in which’s irrelevant. The true query is: is the A&norma SR35 truly well worth the cash?

Design and construct: making some extent

It solely weighs184g and is barely bigger than a smartphone, however the A&norma SR35 is unmistakably Astell & Kern-y. Its aluminium chassis is complicatedly angular, to the extent that its 3.6in, 1280×720 touchscreen needed to be slanted over to at least one aspect to suit between all of the sharp edges. If it’s distinctive you need, you’ve come to the proper place, however you didn’t additionally come for pointy, this will not be the digital audio participant for you. The A&norma SR35 is well-made as it’s acuminate, although; regardless of its pocket-friendly weight, it feels substantial and constructed to final.

There are a couple of bodily controls right here. On the highest proper aspect there’s the standard jewel-like quantity management that Astell & Kern has became a design function, whereas on the highest left there are 4 little buttons dealing with energy, playback and observe skipping.

On the highest of the participant there are three analogue outputs, which you’ll probably use for attaching headphones. There’s an unbalanced 3.5mm output, naturally – however there are additionally 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced alternate options to be used with relatively extra upmarket headphones. This can be an entry-level participant however, like I stated, every little thing’s relative.

On the underside, in the meantime, there’s a USB-C socket and a microSD card slot. The A&norma has 64GB of inner reminiscence, which can refill fairly rapidly if you happen to load correctly high-resolution audio information – so you’ll be able to add as a lot as one other 1TB utilizing a microSD card. USB-C is used for charging the 3150mAH lithium ion battery, and in addition permits the A&norma SR35 to perform as a DAC if you need it to cope with the digital output of, say, your laptop computer.

Options: DAC DAC DAC DAC growth

There will not be a lot taking place on the skin of the Astell & Kern, however the inside is filled with helpful (and, let’s not be coy, costly) componentry designed to maximise sound high quality and, by extension, your listening pleasure.

4 Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC chips handle the digital-to-analogue conversion enterprise – all 4 can run without delay for optimum efficiency, or the SR35 can run in dual-DAC mode for larger effectivity the place battery life is worried. It’s a part of Astell & Kern’s Teraton Alpha platform, which is designed to minimise noise and maximise efficiency. Till now, Teraton Alpha has solely appeared on way more costly A&Ok fashions.

Naturally sufficient, the A&norma SR35 has wi-fi in addition to wired connectivity. Twin-band Wi-Fi is especially useful once you realise the Astell & Kern is Roon Prepared, and might run fairly plenty of excessive decision music streaming service apps – Apple Music, Qobuz and TIDAL are among the many extra high-profile. There’s two-way Bluetooth, too, so the SR35 could be a receiver in addition to a transmitter. There’s compatibility with aptX HD and LDAC codecs in addition to SBC and AAC, so wi-fi high-resolution playback is firmly on the menu.

The form of battery life you’ll be able to anticipate relies upon very a lot on the way in which you’re utilizing the SR35. Hear at reasonable volumes, to digital audio information of unremarkable dimension (16/bit 44.1kHz CD normal, say) utilizing wired headphones and try to be good for round 20 hours of playback. Change it up, although, and take heed to massive hi-res content material at important quantity utilizing wi-fi headphones, and that determine will dip all the way down to beneath 10 hours. Irrespective of how rapidly you run it flat, although, getting again to 100% battery energy takes round 150 minutes through the USB-C socket.

Interface: each grain

The few bodily controls the Astell & Kern has are helpful, in fact – however the touchscreen on the entrance of the participant is admittedly the place the motion is.

The A&norma SR35 debuts Astell & Kern’s new crimson-and-black UI – it’s each simpler to grasp and most restful on the attention, in keeping with the corporate. It’s simply as properly it’s simpler to know, as a result of the display will not be the largest – and so it follows that the related space you would possibly want to the touch isn’t very massive both. This isn’t a tool for the ham-fisted.

Fortunately, Astell & Kern has resisted the temptation to port over the total Android interface expertise for the SR35 – as a result of in spite of everything, who’s considering duplicate capabilities their smartphone can simply as simply handle? So the consumer interface right here is acquainted – but it surely’s very tightly targeted on the participant’s capabilities.

Which signifies that in addition to integrating your favorite music streaming providers, you’ll be able to regulate sound utilizing a 20(!) -band equaliser. You may examine 4 totally different DAC filters and a few amp settings. You may rearrange the on-screen structure of playback controls, set a quantity restrict, regulate display brightness, regulate the USB mode (media participant or DAC enter) and many extra in addition to. For those who’re considering controlling your digital audio participant on a granular stage, the A&norma SR35 has you coated.

Efficiency: all of this and extra

So that you’ve stuffed the participant’s reminiscence along with your favorite tunes. You’ve downloaded your most well-liked music streaming service apps. You’ve related some appropriately proficient headphones (both wired or wi-fi). You’re good to go.

And the headline is that this: it doesn’t matter the way you select to eke out the SR35’s battery life – it gained’t be lengthy sufficient. The A&norma SR35 sounds so clear, so detailed, so all-around nice, that you just’re going to wish to hold listening even when the battery is begging you for a go to to the mains.

It doesn’t actually matter if you happen to’re listening to a 160kbps MP3 of My Love Mine All Mine by Mitski or a 24bit/96kHz FLAC of I Need You (She’s So Heavy) by The Beatles, both – the SR35’s elementary character shines by means of. Oh, the larger and extra information-rich the file you take heed to the higher this participant sounds – however even in essentially the most unpromising circumstances, it’s nonetheless a really achieved system.

Tonally, it’s balanced very well. It extracts and divulges an enormous quantity of element at each level, and manages to place even essentially the most fleeting, most minor stuff into correct context. It’s bought the form of dynamic headroom that lets it describe even the largest adjustments in depth with none issues. It may organise a soundstage so that each aspect of a recording will get sufficient area during which to do its factor – but it surely doesn’t make them sound remoted from one another. As a substitute, it makes positive all of them cling collectively as a part of a standard thread. And it offers the areas and the silences in a recording the identical form of prominence and significance because the precise sounds themselves.

Bass sounds are deep, correctly formed and so properly managed that rhythmic expression is totally assured. On the prime of the frequency vary, there’s correct chunk and assault to treble sounds – but it surely’s by no means edgy or splashy, even once you actually crank the amount up. As a substitute, it’s crisp and convincing, and an awesome counterpoint to the punchy backside finish. And in between, the SR35 creates a lot area for a vocalist to do their factor, and carries alongside a lot of the nice element of their voice that much less achieved gamers ignore, that character, angle and emotion actually shine by means of.

Astell&Kern A&norma SR35 verdict

No, it’s not anybody’s concept of a cut price. However the A&norma SR35 is so superb at what it does that it justifies the asking value all day lengthy.

Astell & Kern might have deserted the entry stage as most of us perceive it. However its jumping-off level is healthier, it seems, than the perfect that almost all rivals can provide.

Astell&Kern A&norma SR35 technical specs