Astell&Kern, the global leader in high-resolution products, has released another in the A&norma SR25 portable hi-res music player
The A&norma SR25 (£649) aims to offer luxurious design and audio reproduction in the manner intended by the artists, at an affordable price.
Related: What is High-Resolution Audio?
An upgrade of the award-winning A&norma SR15 player, the SR25 supports native DSD256 as well as up to 32-bit/384KHz PCM files. Similar to the SR15, the SR25 has two Cirrus Logic 43198 MasterClass DACs tucked into its form factor, but adds a slew of new features including a faster Quad-core CPU and newly designed circuitry for improved sound.
The design, as we’ve come to expect from the brand, is rather quirky. Its angular and distinctive aesthetic is channelled through an aluminum body that weighs just 178g. On the side is an ultra-precision volume control that has been machined using a vibration-free process usually reserved for luxury watches. The use of aluminum suppresses noise, and is said to improve sound quality, while A&K claims that the thin-bodied design allows the user to easily hold and operate the the device with one hand.
For the first time in an Astell&Kern player there’s LDAC Bluetooth support, a codec supported by Sony and Technics headphones, that allows listeners to stream 24-bit hi-res audio.
File support is comprehensive with WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF and MQA files all supported. Battery life is rated at over 20+ hours of continuous playback, the longest of any Astell&Kern player.
Internal storage is 64GB, with the ability to add microSD up to 1TB. There are also unbalanced out (3.5mm) and balanced out (2.5mm, only 4-pole supported) connections available.
Baek Chang-Hum, Director of Dreamus, the parent company of Astell&Kern said: “The SR25 is a new premium product that brings the philosophy of Astell&Kern to provide music the way it was meant to be heard, without compromise to an affordable, high quality player, with a luxury design that has received international award recognition.”
The Astell&Kern SR25 is priced at £649 and goes on sale May 2020.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
