Astell&Kern has announced an upgrade to 2021's "mass premium" A&norma SR25 MkII digital audio player. The SR35 comes with new amplifier technology, four DACs, a 20-hour battery life and a fresh new user interface.
Though many music lovers listen to tunes on the go via their smartphones, those for whom audio quality is paramount will likely invest in a dedicated DAP – or Digital Audio Player. To help cater to mobile audiophiles on a budget, luxury brand Astell&Kern launched an "entry level" A&norma device back 2020 to cater for mobile audiophiles on a budget – for nearly seven hundred bucks.
It's MkII replacement increased the cost of entry to US$749, and though that's hardly what most folks would call entry level pricing, the company's current flagship commands an eye-watering US$3,699. Astell&Kern says that the A&norma SR35 is an upgrade to the award-winning SR25 MkII, not a successor, and it packs in some top-notch tech for $799.
The new DAP is home to the same Cirrus Logic 43198 MasterClass digital-to-analog converters as the SR25 MkII, but rocks four instead of two. Users are given the choice to run two or four though, with the dual-DAC mode supporting up to 20 hours of continuous playback per charge of the integrated battery.
The quad-DAC is paired with the company's Teraton Alpha technology – which combines noise removal, power management and amplification for the promise of faithful audio playback – and the audio circuit now incorporates the recently introduced next-generation amplifier design to further improve noise reduction at higher output.
The player is reported capable of supporting demanding high-impedance headphones as well as sensitive in-ear monitors, and offers two step gain control for up to 3.1 Vrms available for unbalanced connections or up to 6 Vrms for balanced.
In a first for A&norma devices, the SR35 boasts dual-band Wi-Fi for connecting to streaming services such as Qobuz, Tidal, Apple Music and Spotify, and there's a feature called BT Sink for routing audio from an external source such as a smartphone over Bluetooth so that listeners can benefit from hi-res audio decoding. Users can also pair the player with Bluetooth speaker, headphone or earphones for 24-bit hi-res wireless audio thanks to support for LDAC and aptX HD codecs.
The crimson-themed 4th-gen user interface which debuted in the A&ultima SP3000 has trickled down to the SR35, which puts a focus on usability and intuitive use while aiming to reduce eye fatigue, maximize battery usage and reduce heat.
The player sports a 3.6-inch touchscreen display for digital album art and device control. There's 64 GB of internal storage plus support for microSD cards up to 1 TB, a full MQA decoder is built in, and there's native playback of DSD256 and 32-bit/384-kHz audio files.
The A&norma SR35 DAP goes up for pre-order on May 1 for $799, with general release expected to follow from May 15.
Product page: A&norma SR35