Astell&Kern A&futura SE180 Review
Verdict
Excellent sound and user experience, united with an innovative swappable DAC characteristic, while the A&futura SE180 isn't cheap and not all that portable, it's an impressively featured and assured music player.
Pros
- Open, expansive soundstage with lots of detail
- Premium build quality
- Intuitive user interface and performance
- Extensive specification
- Swappable DAC feature
Cons
- Player and DAC modules are expensive
- Not exactly portable
- Bombardment life non the longest
Availability
- UK RRP: £1399
- USA RRP: $1499
- Europe RRP: €1599
Cardinal Features
- Swappable DAC feature Can bandy the internal DAC and customise the audio functioning
- Teraton Blastoff Sound Solution Aims to remove power noise and provide more efficient power consumption
- Audio file Supports upwardly to native DSD256 and 32bit/384kHz support with original DAC
Introduction
If you believe the likes of Apple and Samsung, an iPhone or Galaxy smartphone is all you will ever demand to continue y'all visitor on your travels. Clearly, no one has told Astell&Kern.
The Korean company continues to swim against the tide, launching new portable music players and updating its older models – and for good reason. If you want the all-time audio performance on-the-go, yous ought to consider picking upwardly a dedicated music player.
And according to Astell&Kern, the A&Futura SE180 is its virtually advanced role player yet, offering users the ability to switch DAC modules on-the-wing to produce a unlike audio. It's a radical notion in the field of portable music, and it doesn't come up cheap, but quality this good rarely ever does.
Design
- Premium build quality
- Fantabulous volume cycle performance
- Non exactly pocketable
Surprisingly, the Astell&Kern A&futura SE180's appearance isn't every bit eclectic as some of its more angular and off-kilter brethren, taking on a – believe it or not – more than straightforward only nevertheless asymmetric and, almost definitely, minimalist approach to pattern.
As a unit, the SE180 feels reassuringly well built. When turned off, the touchscreen looks like information technology takes upwardly much of the actor's front existent-estate. Notwithstanding, the screen isn't a peak-to-bottom, side-to-side affair with black borders running effectually it. Nevertheless, the v-inch touchscreen looks handsome, and the back is covered by a tough glass surface.
Both the rear and front end are prone to picking up smudges and fingerprints, but other than that you'll find it hard to cause information technology any meaning (or, potentially irreversible) damage. Having dropped it (accidentally) on a wooden floor, the first thought was relief that it didn't fall on my pes, followed by a check on the integrity of the wood-panelled floor. They are screen guards included in the packaging, if you're concerned nearly potential scratches.
To call the A&futura SE180 portable is something of a stretch. At 280g it's lighter than some headphones; when carried in the paw, there's a weightiness that affirms its premium price point. But the weight isn't the issue – it's the A&futura's size. The SE180 takes up plenty of place in a trouser pocket, which makes it cumbersome to comport effectually – unless you're storing information technology in a jacket pocket.
At that place is a wonderfully tactile volume bike on the side, and backside it is a colour LED light that signifies the resolution of the file being played (16-bit is cherry, 24-bit is dark-green, DSD is purple). Beneath the book wheel is a office button for playback (start, end, skip etc).
At the bottom is a USB-C connectedness and microSD slot, while upwards meridian you lot'll notice ii.5mm and four.4mm balanced outputs aslope a iii.5mm unbalanced out. At either end of the role player'southward height one-half are buttons to prise the DAC module surface area away to insert a different one. It seems the more than you swap DACs around, the easier it becomes to pull it out.
Features
- Intuitive and well-designed interface
- Innovative swappable module characteristic
- All-encompassing file support
Where to begin with a player that's equally feature-complete as the A&futura SE180? Storage, similar other Astell&Kern players, is 256GB internally, with the microSD slot supporting cards upwardly to 1TB. Conveniently, the player's interface mixes albums/tracks from both storage options into one seamless whole.
A&K calls the user interface Android-like, but don't go in expecting a carbon copy of Android Pie; similarities comprehend the navigation and functioning functionality. A swipe from the top reveals notifications, wireless connectivity, EQ modes and a effulgence slider for the screen. Swipes to the left and correct picture through album tracks, and there's a degree of modification of arranging your tracks and albums just how yous similar them.
It's all fairly speedy cheers to the quad-core CPU, and intuitive to utilize, making perusing through your music collection a simple joy rather than a chore. Firmware updates are supported, and you can download streaming services such as Spotify and Tidal, although they're delivered in a slightly truncated class compared to their Android counterparts.
The 5-inch touchscreen features a 1920 ten 1080 Full Hd display, and it'due south first-class. Colours expect great, text is articulate and legible, and glare from whatsoever light source doesn't have a detracting consequence. Notch this up as another tick in the win column for the SE180.
There's no mention of battery life, just in use the A&futura SE180 feels like it eats up its battery like a savoury dish at times. Charging isn't the quickest either, with three hours considered a fast-charge and five hours in total to get back to total beans if the battery is depleted.
Audio format back up is encompassing and is more a example of what isn't supported by the SE180. WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF, and MQA are all onboard, with PCM supported upward to 384kHz, and DSD up to DSD256. A slight addendum to that is you can reach higher bit-rates past plugging in different modules. The SEM2 Asahi Kasei AK4497EQ Dual DAC goes up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM and native DSD512.
And those modules tin can be bought from Astell&Kern, with the SEM2 and SEM3 available – although at the time of the review, the SEM2 was out of stock and both cost a chin-stroking £319. Switching the module isn't as piece of cake as A&M would have you believe. I managed to chip a few nails in the process; it isn't simply a case of easing the DAC module from the main housing – some forcefulness is well-nigh definitely required.
Other features include the AK File Drop, for wirelessly transferring files to a PC, smartphone of FTP plan on the same network and the BT Sink function, for connectedness to an external device over Bluetooth. Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity brings with it wireless high-res compatibility with aptX Hard disk drive and LDAC, too. However you await at the A&futura SE180, you're non short of options for feeding it with top-quality sources.
Sound quality
- Open and expansive sound
- Fantabulous levels of detail and insight
- Swappable DACs tin bear upon overall presentation
Having used the A&futura SE180 with a range of headphones, its fundamental traits become articulate: namely a polish, clear, and naturalistic approach to sound; a fanaticism for uncovering detail; and a presentation that'due south layered and spacious.
Of course, which headphones you pair the A&futura SE180 with will bring their own characteristics and quirks. A pair of Beyerdynamic AK T9iE in-ear monitors were supplied for this review, and I wasn't fond of their particular retrieval or their sharpness with higher frequencies. Equally such, I used other headphones.
The A&futura SE180 is a actor that rarely overcooks or oversells a track. It's transparent in the signal information technology feeds to a pair of headphones, natural and nuanced, and presents as much detail as information technology can wrangle from the recording. Separation of instruments within the soundstage is finely done, with each distinct from i another that makes for a dense, layered and – ultimately – very chatty soundstage that's wide and big in scale.
Smoothness is a discussion that comes to mind frequently when thinking about the SE180. It offered a equanimous and bodacious listen that's endlessly engaging and encourages the listener to play 'one more track' to hear how the Astell&Kern describes it.
The character of vocals is preserved well, with the smooth and distinctive delivery of Jez Williams' voice in Doves' The Universal Desire (24-chip/96kHz) retained or conveyance of mournful longing of Nick Cave's Ghosteen album (24-scrap/96kHz) continuing out. At that place's never been anything less of a sense that from an emotional standpoint, the SE180 guides the listener to where they need to be.
With college-resolution files, the A&futura SE180 – as you might expect from a £1399 actor – stretches its legs and flexes its muscles. The depression-frequency performance of Ludwig Göransson'southward Rainy Night in Tallinn (24-bit/44.1kHz) is big, weighty and propulsive when piped through the Meze Audio Liric headphones, while a DSD file of the Bach Concerto is fettered with tremendous item, clarity and insight, the timbre of instruments and texture of notes naturally described.
If in that location's an area of the SE180 that I could nit-pick at, information technology's that the player'due south measured approach can rein in greater levels of expression – but this was my perspective with the original SEM1 DAC in play. Brass instruments in David Bowie'south Modernistic Honey on Tidal sounded a piddling less expressive than I call back; the track more than well-baked in its delivery. A bandy to the SEM2 DAC module and there'due south more of a smoothness to the SE180 with vocals, there'south some more weight and texture to the bass, and a slight hint of more overall warmth; simply it all the same maintains its expansive stage and handle for unearthing item.
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Should y'all buy it?
If you want the intricacies of your music collection revealed Pinnacle-notch presentation from the Astell&Kern, with its expansive soundstage and fanatical sense for detail.
If what you lot seek is something portable It'southward big, mesomorphic and a bit heavy, besides – if you're looking to put the SE180 into a trouser pocket, you may want to think once more.
Final Thoughts
If you treasure your music drove, you ought to have a dedicated music role player – and Astell&Kern consistently puts out some of the all-time on the market. The A&futura SE180 is another endeavour of superior quality.
Build quality is excellent, the screen and interface make information technology easy to use, and the functioning provides an excellent foundation for your favourite music. The A&futura SE180 is expensive, nor is it especially portable, but its functioning is unarguably impressive.
How we test
We test every portable music player we review thoroughly over an extended period of fourth dimension. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We'll always tell you what nosotros find. Nosotros never, ever, take coin to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested with a range of audio formats
Tested over several weeks
Tested with various headphones
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FAQs
How much does information technology cost to purchase the swappable DAC modules?
Astell&Kern has priced both the SEM2 and SEM2 DAC modules at £319
Total specs
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Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/astell-kern-afutura-se180
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