Astell&Kern, World number one in portable “Hi-Res” audio playershas just launched the A&ultima SP2000T Copper Nickel Limited Edition, an exclusive limited edition version of its current flagship, the A&ultima SP2000T. Taking as a starting point the South Korean firm’s goal of creating products that not only seduce people’s ears, but also their hearts, the A&ultima SP2000T Copper Nickel Limited Edition has been conceived to capture the particularities of the copper nickel alloy (the same one used in wind instruments) and its unique beauty, in order to complete a very unique design philosophy and values. Furthermore, the new material has a high electrical conductivity and low magnetic shielding compared to the aluminum used in the body of the A&ultima SP2000T, while exhibiting a superior corrosion resistance and it is highly antibacterial as well as very resistant to contamination, thus increasing its longevity. As far as its interior is concerned, the new Astell&Kern is identical to the A&ultima SP2000T, which means that it incorporates a quad DAC, the Replay Gain function and a revolutionary Triple Amplification System that allows the user to switch between the different sound characteristics of a conventional operational amplifier (OP-AMP), a vacuum tube (TUBE AMP) and a hybrid scheme (HYBRID AMP), thus combining the unique warmth and musicality of vacuum devices with clarity and dynamics of operational amplifiers.
Thanks to this innovative amplification technologythe most advanced ever used in a portable audio player, the user of the A&ultima SP2000T Copper Nickel Limited Edition can switch between the three modes mentioned to find the sound that best suits the music you are listening to. To obtain the sonic character of a tube amplifier, the A&ultima SP2000T Copper Nickel Limited Edition is equipped with one of the versatile Nutube 6P1 double triodes from Korg, which works identically to a vacuum triode, consuming much less power and exhibiting a estimated reliability in about 30,000 hours of continuous listening. On the other hand, and in order to overcome the potentially harmful internal microphonic resonances generated by vacuum tubes, Astell&Kern engineers have developed an intelligent modular structure physically separated from the main printed circuit board, which allows minimize any mechanical vibration. To this we must add the use of magnetic forces so that the amplifier floats in the air to reduce internal noise. Another key element of the A&ultima SP2000T Copper Nickel Limited Edition T is the D/A conversion scheme that incorporates, made up of four of the reputed ES9068AS “chips” from the American ESS Technology.
The new Astell&Kern incorporates the Replay Gain functionality, which smoothly and fully automatically adjusts the volume level of signals from sources with maximum 24-bit/192 kHz encoding. Another fundamental engineering solution of the A&ultima SP2000T Copper Nickel Limited Edition is the use of the so-called “TERATON ALPHA Sound Solution”, which aims to eliminate noise coming from the power brick to make power consumption and amplification as efficient as possible. Talking about “Hi-Res” compatibility, The A&ultima SP2000T Copper Nickel Limited Edition can play PCM files up to 32-bit/384 kHz and DSD files up to DSD512. This fabulous and very unique portable digital audio player is complete with a stylish “Full HD” resolution touch screen display and a generous wired and wireless connectivity of which the functionalities stand out AK File Drop (to facilitate wireless file transfer) and BT Sink (to facilitate connection to an external device via Bluetooth, version 5.0 to be exact). To this we must add a 256 GB internal memory expandable up to 1 TB additional via microSD card.
