Astell&Kern SA700 128GB Portable Audio Player - Onyx Black

The media could not be loaded.  I've had zero luck with DAPs purchased through Amazon, no fault of Amazon of course and I find myself thankful for their no nonsense return policy. Three of the things all faulty within a couple of weeks to a month of each purchase.Firstly, the Fiio M11 complete with serious software glitch making it unable to work with Qobuz.Second try, Astell & Kern Kann which decided to completely brick itself believing it was an overpriced paper weight.And thirdly, this Astell & Kern SA700.This model considering it price is a massive disappointment dwarfing the two previous purchases!Where to begin with the issues I encountered... Well to start the battery life is atrocious, no other word for it. Four hours max whilst following the manufacturers usage guidelines concerning limited display brightness, colourful 'blingy' volume dial being disabled, no higher than 16/44.1 files being played and with no active internet connection or streaming service being used. Well it made it to 4 hours usage just the once for me.Every other time I attempted to use it it continually shut down and restarted itself, I guess overheating.To say this unit runs hot is the understatement of the year, you could cook a couple of boiled eggs in your pocket with it. The side of the stainless steel body hurts the hand to touch after anout 20 minutes use.Of course you could purchase an overpriced A & K official leather case or do like I did, buy a cheaper non official option at just shy of fifty notes. Neither assist in keeping this hot coal of a DAP from overheating although they could protect your crown jewels if you carried the SA700 in your trouser pocket ...The Wi-Fi connection is just as poor as what I experienced in the aforementioned A & K Kann. I literally needed to be within a maximum radius of 8 foot to be able to access my LAN music Nas or connect to any online music streaming services.My bedroom in the adjacent room was out of range, I estimate 12 - 15 foot away. My modem/Router is less than a year old and a costly upgrade not some ISP provided tatt.I know this is a digital device for accessing and replaying high quality digital music files and not a mobile device per se but some £20 buner phones have better connectivity than this £1300 DAP.Music quality was impressive depending on ones personal preferences.It is definitely mid centric and a little bass light for my tastes but when used with headphones or IEMs that aren't similar in this regard the combo can be pleasing, £1300 pleasing I'm not so sure. I suppose it's the normal case of serious diminishing returns.I had the limited pleasure of trying the SA700 with my Sony MDR Z1R and Beyerdynamic T5P gen2 headphones. I preferred the Beyer/SA700 combo.And for IEMs I used my IMR Zenith R1. This combo was very pleasing and when I added the excellent Funk Hulk cable the quality and synergy was unmistakable. I can't recommend that aftermarket cable highly enough.I find myself bitterly disappointed in Astell and Kern, one shouldn't need to pay thousands to get what I consider the basics of functionality. Bling means nothing to me once wrapped in leather or out of sight in ones pocket.I would imagine the Fiio M15 blows the SA700 out of the water but I'm beginning to believe DAPs just aren't for me. Back to my aging but trusty LG V30 phone... Sad.Edit and update; 13/11/2020Amazon replaced my first faulty unit with the one that appears in the video I'm currently adding to this review.This second unit had a loose volume dial that rattles straight out of the box. I noticed it straight awaywhen simply gently rotating it in the palm of my hand whilst trying to install APK apps via my laptop.Amazon seemed reluctant to offer a full refund at first and offered me a month to try the 2nd unit out to see if functionality was affected and offered a partial refund. Sadly its totally compromised.When using the volume dial the unit often switches itself imstantly off and reboots. You have to physically access the volume dial on the unit to bring the touch screen volume control up. Also the volume on this unit seems muvh lower. I had to go to 120+/150 to achieve decent volume levels on my Thieaudio Clairvoyance IEMs. I didnt have to go this high when powering my full-size Sony MDR Z1R headphones with the first overheating SA700.This second unit also operates at a ridiculously hot temperature just as the first. I believe the unit's design is fundamentally flawed.My final word is, don't expect this to do as stated on the tin, so to speak. It may operate well as a music player accessing your SD card but it is not equipped for online streaming. The innards can t seem to cope with more than one operation at a time. Something is amiss and makes too many demands of the unit. The core operating temperature is so wrong, way too hot. The fact I got a unit with a physical defect inside as a replacement is probably down to very bad luck, however the issues first reported at the beginning of this review remain.Avoid this model.

I've had this DAP a few weeks nowDont be fooled by its impeccable build qualityI almost was .Its understated audio can leave you yawning after an hours useI have the Astell Norma SR15 and it still makes me smileThe new revised version SR25 is available soon so there might be a significant price drop on the 15Im returning my SA700 because of faulty balanced output. Not good

I did quite a bit of research before buying the SA700 to replace my Kahn which had developed a fault. The reviews were mixed. However when speaking to a specialist he said that if you did not have quality reproduction in terms of amps, speakers or head phones I would be wasting my money and it was the reason for the reviews. When I advised him of my equipments he said that I would have no problems and he was right.The sound is superb when listening to music in AIFF. Even when listening to music which I have transferred over the years from singles and LPs bought in the sixties it is still very good. I have been upgrading favourite LPs to CDs and you do really notice the difference.The unit is well built, easy to set up and doing playlists is quick and simple. The only way to improve this is the battery life.It is expensive but, if like me, you love listening to music you will think it is worth every penny.

Wow, this is an amazing sounding device paired with my Focal Celestee headphones through a 2.5 mm cable.I found the SA700 easy to use, even if it was a faff to download Amazon Music. Battery life isn't wonderful but okay for up to 8 hours.Sadly I returned my unit as it was defective - after an hour of use it became perilously hot and you couldn't hold it in your hand or have it in a chest or trouser pocket. I will be reordering a replacement when it comes back into stock.Premium build - a class act!

Like another reviewer here, I was underwhelmed by the SA70. Yes, the build quality is exceptional, but the firmware is the flakiest I've ever come across. I had the Kann Cube before (also Astell&Kern), Agin, terrible firmware. Its shocking that A&K can carry on selling very expensive DAPs that keep crashing and switching themselves off etc. Plus they have the clunkiest way in the industry of downloading apps like Tidal or Amazon Music. It's going back!

Awesome, realistic sound

To small