CanJam Singapore is a great time to catch up with Dave Jang, Head of Business Lead of Astell&Kern, especially when the company just announced a brand new Digital Audio Player that breaks away from the existing product lines – A&ultima, A&norma, A&futura – since 2018.
Initially codenamed PS10, the confirmed model number is PD10 and comes with a docking cradle with XLR balanced connectors and a USB port for DAC input and charging.
Why did Astell & Kern launch a new product lineup?
The reason is that the existing lineup has been so successful in defining the style, which leads to restrictions. For instance, A&future should be sold at this price range, A&norma should be compact, and A&ultima should feature powerful amplifiers.
We realised these product rules have limited our new product development, and we wanted to make something different that does not need to conform to the existing product lines. So, we decided that the best way is to start a new lineup.
How is designing the PD10 different from the predecessors?
When we started this project, we told ourselves that this new DAP should be usable for all kinds of situations, for headphones of different sensitivity, for speakers, at home and on the go.
With that in mind, we introduced dual amplifiers that work with different headphones or IEMS, automatically adjusting gain based on the impedance. We tuned the amplifiers differently to optimise for different headphone impedances. We developed the docking cradle so that the PD10 can connect to home systems as the source.
As for the internal components, we are largely based on the SP3000 architecture and, HEXA audio circuit design. The PD10 uses four new AKM AK4498EX DACS and two separate AK4191EQ chips that handle digital signals. The PD10 is the first DAP to use the AK4498EX chip, and it sounded different from the AK4499EX, so we tuned it differently to bring out the best of the new chip.
For the external look, the design team actually came up with eight different prototypes, and eventually we decided on this final design of which the basic concept is a control tower. And the PD10 is also the first A&K design without a volume wheel, a decision we made to signify a new start of a new product line.
I love the SP3000, so will the PD10 be positioned as a better product?
Well, I cannot say it is better, but it has a different sound. And now with this new product line, we are going to do our product planning with more freedom.
For instance, it does not mean our future models will not have volume wheels. It just means that we will not have limitations or constraints to create future DAPS.
To learn more about Astell & Kern, click here, or to purchase Astell & Kern, click here.
