Finally! A new flagship DAP from iRiver! AK100

[koicafex]

Any stores in sg sells whiplash twag v3 physically ? Or only forum distributors?

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/m...udio-twag-v2-cables-3328592.html#post57889989

 

[anodize]

LATEST!


finally i put my microSD into my Gold AK100... its true about the sound between the black and gold. heng ah~ Gold is a good hoot. soundstaging, imaging, spaciousness, black background, and sounds more energetic and creamy mids and awesome subs.. no amps for me =)

What's the total damage? Lol. You used tenso right? Expensive?

 

[FatalethaL]

u already mentioned that your miracles can pair well with stock black AK100 ma, so gold will definitely be an slight upgrade...

but the difference is pretty significant to me. numbers cannot quantify the difference but to me, gold is a better option versus black+amp.


*btw i also heard the ak100 black wif vorzuege amp

 

[FatalethaL]

What's the total damage? Lol. You used tenso right? Expensive?

initially wanted to use tenso... but they tax 15% on the thing u buy.. which is quite stewpig imho. so i sought for another service which is cheaper.

 

[Legend2127]

Any stores in sg sells whiplash twag v3 physically ? Or only forum distributors?

most need to order ba... do a quick search and you find who is selling locally...

better to test the cables to see which cable synergies well with your JH16...

 

[Taeyeonie]

Here's mine..

 

[Guan22]

LATEST!


finally i put my microSD into my Gold AK100... its true about the sound between the black and gold. heng ah~ Gold is a good hoot. soundstaging, imaging, spaciousness, black background, and sounds more energetic and creamy mids and awesome subs.. no amps for me =)

but the difference is pretty significant to me. numbers cannot quantify the difference but to me, gold is a better option versus black+amp.


*btw i also heard the ak100 black wif vorzuege amp

The background for original AK100 is already among the blackest in the market right now. Could the gold version better that?

Also, I'm sceptical about the improvement in staging, imaging, spaciousness, energy and mids.
Could just the colour change account for all those differences?
What you've just described sounds like a different product altogether.

There have not been any news of a retune of signature, so might just be your new toy syndrome at play here. No offence.

 

[Legend2127]

but the difference is pretty significant to me. numbers cannot quantify the difference but to me, gold is a better option versus black+amp.


*btw i also heard the ak100 black wif vorzuege amp

i wan change battery!!!

but then again, agree with Joe, difference shouldn't be that great...

 

[FatalethaL]

The background for original AK100 is already among the blackest in the market right now. Could the gold version better that?

Also, I'm sceptical about the improvement in staging, imaging, spaciousness, energy and mids.
Could just the colour change account for all those differences?
What you've just described sounds like a different product altogether.

There have not been any news of a retune of signature, so might just be your new toy syndrome at play here. No offence.

yea i agree with you with regards to new toy syndrome. but then again, i tried ak100 black with and without vorzuege amp... i can still rmb the sound sig.


or like i said, maybe Merlin and AK100 are really made to pair each other damn well. anyways im just gonna sit here and listen to my Muse 24bit album and queen and michael buble and norah jones and teresa teng.

 

[Legend2127]

yea i agree with you with regards to new toy syndrome. but then again, i tried ak100 black with and without vorzuege amp... i can still rmb the sound sig.


or like i said, maybe Merlin and AK100 are really made to pair each other damn well. anyways im just gonna sit here and listen to my Muse 24bit album and queen and michael buble and norah jones and teresa teng.

end of the day, as long as you are happy!

 

[rickysio]

Human's aural memory is very very poor.

 

[weng]

if no side by side a-b and just based on memory (also how long ago it was?), to be able to discern such many differences in a supposedly same product (abeit the internal change)... indeed sounds quite kua zhang. maybe can see how to arrange for a-b with a black AK and see how is it.

 

[tm.chen]

We need a meet up to A/B the black, silver and gold AK100s

 

[RazorLotus]

anyone wanna meet up and listen to my ibuds?

 

[RazorLotus]

but then again, some paper say ur ears cant hear any diff, and some other paper say, WOAH PLENTY OF DIFFERENCE.


bottom line... juz go with ur hearing capability.

I remember some 24 or 26bit discussion in this thread not long ago.

but here's what I found online. Quite interesting

24bit vs 16bit, the myth exploded!

 

[justin007]

end of the day, as long as you are happy!

Bro, U got your ak100 back?

maybe I missed your comments.. how is the sound like now

 

[FatalethaL]

shud have ak100 stock and RWAK and gold and maybe stage 1 & 2 mod to test. see which one sounds best =D

 

[Haonan]

The background for original AK100 is already among the blackest in the market right now. Could the gold version better that?

Also, I'm sceptical about the improvement in staging, imaging, spaciousness, energy and mids.
Could just the colour change account for all those differences?
What you've just described sounds like a different product altogether.

There have not been any news of a retune of signature, so might just be your new toy syndrome at play here. No offence.

Hey fellow bros, this is just my own take on this matter, it's just my pure speculation so don't flame me if you disagree with me or find my conclusions without basis or facts, just making some guesses here that's all.

I think it's during this period when the Gold/Silver editions of AK100 are been released, iRiver may be making some small updates to the built-in lithium battery pack usually manufacturered for their AK100 sets. As Gold/Silver editions are their latest batches, the new battery pack was used in these new colors instead of the Black one. But my personally speculation is that after a certain batch for the Black color ones, the Black color will also get updated with this new revision of lithium battery pack. Simply put, my speculation is that iRiver may have halted the production for the prev battery pack, and decided to use this latest one on their newer batches of AK100's instead (with the Gold/Silver colors been 1 of the first few batches to have it).

It's not entirely uncommon for audio manufacturers to make slight hardware revisions for their products actually. To put my explanation into a clearer perspective for everyone I will just quote a few examples that I can recall of frm the back of my head.

JDS Labs C421 had a manufacturer revision in terms of the hp out impedance output, it originally had a 10 ohms rated impedance out but after Oct 2012 batches, this was changed to 2 ohms according to ClieOS reviews. JDS Labs did not originally provide original customers to do the ferrite mod change free for older customers, they just updated this impedance changes on their website purchase pg shortly after Oct 2012, stating that new orders of their portable amp will have the new 2 ohms impedance output in effect.

Meridian's pocket-sized USB DAC/amp Explorer also had a impedance output hardware revision, after purrin from Head-fi published some proper test findings of the Meridian Explorer to the public, with further tests confirmed by Tyll of Inner Fidelity that it has a pretty high impedance output rated at ard 48 ohms. After these findings were published on Head-fi, Meridian made some changes to its impedance output (i think it's changed to 5 ohms IIRC) during mid-March and sent out the updated revision Explorers to each region's distributors/retailers. You can also see this information now also on TTVJ's website, which Todd was one of the first few US retailers to carry this USB DAC/amp product.

In Japan, Audio-technica is also known for making some minor hardware revisions to some of their IEM products, such as those under the CK series. (CK9/CK10/CK100 all had relatively minor hardware revisions to my knowledge, but it's mostly to do with their housing enclosure/strain reliefs material so I don't think it's necessary for me to explain it all here, but if you would like to know more abt it u are always welcomed to PM me)

Yup. So my own personal take on this matter, is that yes it's definitely possible that iRiver may have made some battery part revision changes to the Gold/Silver color batches. (but they are not obliged to update the info on their website or make a press announcement) And as we already know by now, having a cleaner or better power supply is considered quite crucial and does translate to a better overall listening experience in terms of SQ, I know this as I have certainly experienced this phenomenon personally for myself as well.

Just my 20 cents. Sry abt the WOT.

 

[Legend2127]

Bro, U got your ak100 back?

maybe I missed your comments.. how is the sound like now

Improvement in bass hit harder on my jh16, but not day and night difference... Perhaps stock ak100 tames jh16 bass abit, tf10 got big difference...

 

[Legend2127]

shud have ak100 stock and RWAK and gold and maybe stage 1 & 2 mod to test. see which one sounds best =D

I want try vorzuge too... Hope dun get poisoned...