Which is exactly how it should be.īattery life is an adequate-we-suppose nine hours (which is enough to see you through all but the longest-haul flights), and the SP2000T needs three hours to go from ‘flat’ to ‘full’ (which will seem a lot longer than it actually is). It’s also clean and clear in its typeface, and smooth-scrolling. If previous Astell & Kern players have had a recurring weak point, it’s been the quality (or otherwise) of their control interfaces - but here the screen is responsive.
Operating the SP2000T is done using the big (5in), bright, full HD (1920 x 1080) capacitive touchscreen. There’s ‘thoroughly specified’ and then there’s the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP2000T. And we think it’s worth saying that just one more time: four DACs. Once the information is on board (the SP2000T is able to handle any file type you care to mention) it’s pored over by four ESS Sabre ES9068AS DACs, capable of handling file sizes from the poverty-spec Spotify free-tier variety to huge DSD512 alternatives.
Wireless connectivity is via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth - the latter can handle AAC, aptX-HD and LDAC codecs, so high-resolution wireless streaming is firmly on the menu. So you’re able to deploy 2.5mm or 4.4mm balanced headphones as well as the (much) more common 3.5mmm unbalanced alternative.īut before your digital audio information gets anywhere near the amplification or the headphone output(s), it has to first get on board. It should go without saying that the SP2000T demands high-end (and high-priced) headphones for you to enjoy the complete audio experience - but at least Astell & Kern has fitted three headphone sockets. The user can select one method or the other to amplify their headphones, or can choose one of the five different hybrid settings that combine the two.
This is the sort of expensive, complicated and fragile amplification beloved of audiophiles, but not the sort of thing that tends to show up in a portable digital audio player. In addition to its customary OP AMP amplification, Astell & Kern has also fitted the SP2000T with dual-triode KORG Nutube amplification - which is fundamentally an extremely compact vacuum tube, or valve, amplification stage. Perhaps it’s the tri-amp element of the specification that’s most immediately attention-grabbing. If the SP2000T doesn’t feature it, it’s because it’s not worth featuring. And as seems only sensible when asking this sort of money, the SP2000T is constructed with the kind of solidity more commonly associated with bank vaults - and it doesn’t weigh much less than one, either.īeing a fair bit bigger in every direction than even the biggest smartphone does at least mean there’s plenty of space, both inside and out, for all the specification Astell & Kern has decided to deploy. So the A&ultima SP2000T is edgy, pointy and slightly unharmonious in its shape it could never be confused as the product of any other brand. Astell & Kern established its design vocabulary quite a while ago, and it’s not about to change now - certainly not after investing a lot of money on fancy-pants metalworking machines.