Astell & Kern jr. or Fiio X5 Gen2

[bk123]

Please help me to decide between Astell & Kern Jr. and Fiio X5 Gen2.
The current price difference is not too high on amazon.com

I will use mostly wav files of old Bollywood songs.
Which player should I go for?


Thanks,

 

[bk123]

Any input guys?

 

[hifiramr]

Hi select a dac which have Wolfson WM8740 DAC chip. I think Astell & Kern is having that one.Personally I know this dac chip which is excellent in musicality go for it no second thought.

 

[davinci]

AK is a best in it's class... Check the sound signature, which suites your bud.

 

[soulforged]

I heard the AK100 for a short while at the Hong Kong airport. You would be hard pressed to find a better PMP...solid build quality, super low noise floor, great specs...IMO you should pick this...

Going a bit off topic...are your wav files procured from SaReGaMa? I have a few of those and most sound pretty pedestrian...some are just transcoded from lossy MP3s and the others seemed to have been fiddled with digitally. If that is what your experience has been, buying an expensive, hi-resolution player may not do much, in fact it might do just the opposite by exposing the shortcomings of the recording...strictly IMHO...

 

[audiodelic]

Im using a IBasso DX90 I'm satisfied with the SQ on the Vsonic GR07 bass, i use it via coaxial to feed the Schiit Bifrost also. For the desktop purpose its fine but for travel purposes the software has its share of problems, the battery and build quality also not that great, now i also have line on the screen with dead pixels. Now I'm regretting buying the Astell and Kern in the first place its built like a tank with good software, but of course its expensive.

I might just sell the Ibassoi DX90 and buy an AK player at some point of time surely.

 

[bk123]

Thank you all for your valueable advice. I will go for AK Jr. It is available for US $379 with free 64GB SD card on Adorama.com

I heard the AK100 for a short while at the Hong Kong airport. You would be hard pressed to find a better PMP...solid build quality, super low noise floor, great specs...IMO you should pick this...

Going a bit off topic...are your wav files procured from SaReGaMa? I have a few of those and most sound pretty pedestrian...some are just transcoded from lossy MP3s and the others seemed to have been fiddled with digitally. If that is what your experience has been, buying an expensive, hi-resolution player may not do much, in fact it might do just the opposite by exposing the shortcomings of the recording...strictly IMHO...

No, I don't have wav files from saregama website. I have mostly all old original CDs from HMV/RPG to Universal, EMI, Cresendo.
I agree some of SAREGAMA CDs' recording is very poor.I have ripped all of my cd using EAC secure mode.

 

[bk123]

Thank you all for your valuable advice. I will go for AK Jr. It is available for US $379 with free 64GB SD card on Adorama.com

I heard the AK100 for a short while at the Hong Kong airport. You would be hard pressed to find a better PMP...solid build quality, super low noise floor, great specs...IMO you should pick this...

Going a bit off topic...are your wav files procured from SaReGaMa? I have a few of those and most sound pretty pedestrian...some are just transcoded from lossy MP3s and the others seemed to have been fiddled with digitally. If that is what your experience has been, buying an expensive, hi-resolution player may not do much, in fact it might do just the opposite by exposing the shortcomings of the recording...strictly IMHO...

No, I don't have wav files from saregama website. I have mostly all old original CDs from HMV/RPG to Universal, EMI, Cresendo.
I agree some of SAREGAMA CDs' recording is very poor.I have ripped all of my cd using EAC secure mode.

 

[bk123]

Finally, I managed to place the order for AK Jr. It will be with me in first week of January.
I will post my experience once I get used to it.

Thank you all for helping me to make a call on this.

 

[soulforged]

congrats! looking forward to your review...

 

[matbhuvi]

Interesting thread..I was also on the same boat and ordered AK Jr.