Fifth digital audio player Portable “Hi-Res” From Astell&Kern’s KANN range, the KANN Ultra is a pride piece of engineering that stands out first of all for being equipped with a powerful headphone amplifier, capable of authoritatively attacking models of any type, including high impedance ones. To do this, it incorporates a Innovative Triple Output Mode that, thanks to the Teraton Alpha technology from the prestigious South Korean brand, allows you to have separate amplification circuitry for the headphone and line/preamplified outputs (via unbalanced jacks for a 3.5 mm plug and balanced jacks for a 4.4 mm plug in all three cases). in order to provide a optimal sound in each application. Thus, at the headphone output the user You can choose between four preselected gain modes and one ultra-high amplitude (16 Vrms), while the preamplified is supplied through a specific preamplification subsystem and the line directly from the DAC without the need to go through an amplifier.
Another essential feature of the KANN Ultra is that its D/A conversion circuitry ride the newest ESS9039MPRO “chip” from the American ESS Technology in double configuration, which integrates a Stereo MQA renderer and a more advanced modulation than its predecessor, enabling the new Astel&Kern to reproduce without limitations the aforementioned encoding along with PCM files up to 32 bits/768 kHz and DSD up to DSD512. This new High End portable player also includes the practical Digital Audio Remaster scheme (DAR), developed to resample the signal from the source, in order to increase its musicality by adding its own nuances that bring its sound closer to the original analogue. On the other hand, the Crossfeed function It mixes parts of the original signal from one of the channels and sends it to the opposite channel with a time difference, centering the sound image as would happen with a pair of speakers, shrinking substantially the hearing fatigue which can occur during prolonged listening sessions with headphones.
The KANN Ultra also has a total of seven filter settings in the DAC so that the user can customize listening, as well as the automatic volume level leveling function between tracks Replay Gaintransferring files from a PC or AK File Drop NAS drive and connecting to an external device via Bluetooth (version 5.3) via BT Sink. Finally, let us highlight that the new Astell&Kern is presented with a new industrial design (the main body is made entirely of aluminum) and that its management is carried out by an advanced eight core processor along with a fourth-generation user interface complemented by a 5.5-inch (140 mm) Full HD display screen. Likewise, it supports wireless high-resolution audio transmission systems. aptX HD and LDAChas a 128 GB internal memory expandable in 1 TB additional via miniSD card and its lithium polymer battery It guarantees an autonomy of 11 hours (FLAC at 16 bits/44.1 kHz).
