Astell&Kern Adds New Features To Latest Line Of Portable High-Resolution Audio Players
Firmware Update Will Be Available This Week
Astell&Kern, the global leader in high resolution portable and home audio playback devices, will add new features for the AK70, AK300, AK320 and AK380 portable high-resolution audio players this week with a firmware update starting Thursday, October 13.
The new features being added to players include:
TIDAL
One of the most requested features from Astell&Kern users, support for TIDAL will make its debut on Astell&Kern’s full line of portable high-resolution audio players.
TIDAL is a global, experiential, entertainment platform built for fans, directly from artists around the world. TIDAL members enjoy exclusively curated content that?directly connect artists with their fans in multiple ways. The service offers high-fidelity, CD sound quality music, high resolution video, an opportunity to discover new artists, and unique experiences via TIDAL X. TIDAL is available in more than 52 countries, with more than a 42.5 million song catalog and 140,000 high quality videos. For more information, please visit www.tidal.com.
TIDAL support will be added first to the AK70 and AK300 Series players this week and will roll out to the AK240, AK100 II and AK120 II Wi-Fi enabled players soon after.
aptX™ HD Support
This week’s firmware update for the AK70 and AK300 series players will add support for Qualcomm®’s aptX™ HD protocol.
aptX™ HD supports streaming of 24-bit/48 kHz high-resolution audio over Bluetooth. Astell&Kern is the first portable high-resolution audio player manufacturer to feature support for high-resolution audio streaming via Bluetooth.
When paired with devices supporting aptX™ HD, such as the Astell&Kern XB10 Bluetooth DAC ($189), users can now playback high-resolution audio wirelessly from their players to headphones or speakers without being physically tethered to their player.
New AK Recorder Features
A popular use for the Astell&Kern AK Recorder module is to digitize vinyl so users can listen to their collections on an AK300 series portable player on the go.
With the latest firmware update for the AK300 series players, the AK Recorder now features a new LP Recording feature that will separate songs recorded from vinyl into individual tracks and then add full album information and artwork via Gracenote lookup. Now it is even easier for you to take your entire music collection with you, anywhere in the world.
The new firmware for the Astell&Kern AK70, AK300, AK320 and AK380 high-resolution audio players will be available starting October 13 and can be downloaded by enabling Wi-Fi on the players. Once the update is ready to be downloaded, the player will notify the user a new update is available. After clicking ok, the firmware will be downloaded and installed automatically.
