Astell&Kern Kann Portable Player

KANN is here to lead the portable high-res audio industry to a whole new level.

Astell&Kern’s experience with technology and portable devices makes it possible for the KANN to offer dynamic power and performance. KANN is the complete all-around portable high-res digital music player with powerful output and studio quality sound.

Overview:

Truly powerful, high-quality output

Astell&Kern has introduced a new product design that cleverly incorporates a high-performance amplifier into a player for a perfect merger of two independent devices. Supporting the output of 7Vrms when connected via high-gain balanced output, the KANN not only drives high-impedance headphones without an additional amplifier, but also reliably reproduces high-quality sound with low-impedance speakers.

Output optimized to user’s listening environment

KANN, the first Astell&Kern product, is equipped with a line-out circuit designed to set the output values in 4 levels, depending on the user’s listening preference; a significant step up from previous products, which did not provide output/volume control. With the selectable output function, you can fine-tune your sound to suit a home system, car audio, or any other listening environment.

KANN also supports Astell&Kern’s 2.5-mm 4-pole balanced outputs (2 Vrms). Unlike the unbalanced type, balanced output removes noise (common mode noise) from “signal + inverting amplifier signal” and has the strength to increase output with its double transmitting signals.

Deliver the perfect original sound

KANN offers the optimal condition to deliver perfect original sound.

KANN is capable of bit-to-bit playback up to 32bit 384kHz and native DSD playback up to 11.2MHz, delivering detailed, distortion-free sound just as the artist intended.

Scalability using USB Audio

To increase flexibility of use, you can connect additional USB Audio to KANN via the micro USB port. KANN allows output conversion according to the specifications of the external USB Audio that supports DoP (DSD over PCM) or PCM, and provides continuous music playback with charging via the Type-C USB port while connected to the external USB Audio.

The finest sound quality from audio files stored on a PC

Supporting the bit-to-bit playback up to 32-bit 384kHz when connected to the PC for use as a USB DAC, the KANN produces richer sounds with superior spatial effects and resolution that go far beyond the limits of any PC sound card.

Connecting to a Wireless Network

KANN supports wireless networking DLNA (Ver. 1.0), which makes it easy to work with PC/NAS on the same AP network and through the AK Connect app supporting smartphone/tablet computer interfaces.

DMP (Digital Media Player)

Finds a list of content on a media server for selection and playback.

DMC (Digital Media Controller)

Finds a list of content on a media server and establishes a connection to a playback-capable device (renderer). By default, a DMC establishes a connection between a media server and media renderer and controls content playback-related operations.

DMS (Digital Media Server = Network Server)

Actually stores the media content to be shared. When connected to a network, the DMS transmits/distributes the media content for other devices to stream or download.

DMR (Digital Media Renderer = Network Player)

Connects to a media server via media controller for content playback.

Dual memory card slots

KANN has an internal memory of 64GB, but this can be easily and flexibly boosted via the unit’s dual memory card slots. KANN supports both standard SD cards and micro SD cards, so users can select their preferred memory type. The memory is expandable up to 768 GB to easily handle larger audio files.

Fast charging

Enjoy up to 6.5 hours of your favorite music with a single 1 hour charge through the fast charger.

There is no fear of a dead battery when on a long journey as the 6,200mA large capacity battery offers 15 hours of continuous playback.

Specifications:

• Model – KANN
• Body Color – Astro Silver, Eos Blue
• Body Material – Aluminum
• Display – 4inch WVGA (480 x 800) Touchscreen
• Supported Audio Formats – WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE(Normal, High, Fast), AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF
• Sample rate – PCM: 8kHz ~ 384kHz (8/16/24/32bits per Sample) / DSD Native: DSD64(1bit 2.8MHz), Stereo / DSD128(1bit 5.6MHz), Stereo / DSD256(1bit 11.2MHz), Stereo
• Output Level – [Phone Out] Normal: Unbalance 2Vrms / Balance 2Vrms (Condition No Load) High: Unbalance 4Vrms/ Balance 7Vrms (Condition No Load) [Line Out] Unbalance 2Vrms / Balance 2Vrms (Condition No Load)
• DAC – AKM AK4490 x1 (Single DAC)
• Decoding – Support up to 32bit / 384kHz Bit to Bit Decoding
• Input – USB Type-C input (for charging & data transfer (PC & MAC)) / Connection Mode : MTP (Media Device)
• Outputs – [Phone Out, Line Out] PHONES (3.5mm) / Balanced Out (2.5mm, only 4-pole supported)[USB Audio] micro USB Connection / PCM: Up to 32bit 384kHz / DSD 2.8MHz, 5.6MHz
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)
• Bluetooth – V4.0 (A2DP, AVRCP, aptX™ HD)
• Dimensions – 2.80 ”(71.23 mm) [W] x 4.56 ”(115.8 mm) [H] x 1.01 ”(25.6 mm) [D]
• Weight – 9.83 oz (278.7 g)
• Feature Enhancements – Firmware upgrades supported (OTA)

Clock source

• Clock Jitter – 30ps(Typ)
• Reference Clock Jitter – 200 Femto Seconds

Battery

• Capacity – 6,200mAh 3.7V Li-Polymer Battery

Memory

• Built-in Memory – 64GB [NAND]
• External Memory – microSD (Max. 256GB) x1 SD (Max. 512GB) x1

OS

• Supported OS – Windows XP, Windows 7,8,10 (32/64bit), MAC OS X 10.7 and up