Astell&Kern A&ultima SP3000 Digital Audio Player

The Astell&Kern A&ultima SP3000 is Astell&Kern’s flagship music player, the essence of more than ten years of its digital music engineering. It was the first player with a body of 904L stainless steel, the steel of luxury watches, and the first with digital and analogue processing completely separated: its HEXA-Audio circuit pairs two AKM AK4191EQ modulators with four AK4499EX DACs, the first use of AKM’s flagship DAC, and gives the balanced and unbalanced outputs their own independent audio circuits. Astell&Kern quotes a signal-to-noise ratio of 130dB, which it says is the best of any digital audio player.

904L stainless steel

The A&ultima series aims to offer value no one can imitate, through innovative, uncompromising design and craftsmanship. 904L stainless steel had never been used for a portable player: it is harder and far more time-consuming to machine than ordinary stainless steel, but its durability and corrosion resistance keep it looking beautiful, which is why luxury watchmakers use it. In the SP3000 it turns a digital device into a luxury object.

Digital and analogue, completely separate

Astell&Kern worked with AKM from the start of development on the DAC and circuit. In most players, the DAC processes digital and analogue signals together. In the SP3000, two AK4191EQ chips, separate digital delta-sigma modulators, take the digital signal and reduce its noise, and four AK4499EX DACs then handle only the analogue side. This physical separation, a first in a portable player, maximises the signal-to-noise ratio.

A shield can keeps noise and electromagnetic interference away from the audio block. The SP3000’s is plated with highly conductive, high-purity silver, and the digital and analogue signals are kept physically apart.

Independent dual audio circuit

Almost every player, including earlier Astell&Kerns, feeds both the balanced and unbalanced outputs from the same DACs, so an audio switch is needed between DAC and amplifier. A switch can only accept a limited signal range, so the signal is first reduced and then restored before the amplifier, which limits performance. The SP3000’s HEXA-Audio structure, with two AK4191EQs and four AK4499EXs, instead gives the unbalanced and balanced outputs fully independent circuits, with no switch, for a clean, pure and delicate sound and 130dB SNR (balanced).

TERATON ALPHA

Astell&Kern’s TERATON ALPHA sound solution, refined for the SP3000, combines effective power-noise removal, efficient power management, unwavering amplification and a fully converted audio output interface, for playback close to the original sound. With the HEXA-Audio structure and the independent dual circuit, it completes the SP3000’s sound.

Snapdragon octa-core and a new interface

A Qualcomm Snapdragon 6125 octa-core processor and 8GB of DDR4 memory, twice the usual amount, give fast system response and smooth, stable operation. The CPU, memory and wireless parts are combined in one module, with the digital circuitry grouped in the same area, which leaves more room for audio-only circuits and reduces heat and digital noise.

The new interface is built around listening: browse music categories with simple gestures, search, and see album art like a digital display of your CD covers, with a focus on rediscovering forgotten songs. The Crimson theme echoes the look of the SP3000 itself. Three ideas, Edge, Simple and Dark Mode, shape the graphics, and the black and red colours reduce eye fatigue, save battery and reduce heat. The 5.46-inch Full HD screen makes it all comfortable to use.

Shape the sound

DAC filters. Choose from six filters provided by AKM to create your own sound style:

Digital Audio Remaster (DAR) upsamples what you are playing beyond the limits of its format, for more refined, delicate and analogue-like playback with richer nuance. In PCM mode, 44.1kHz-family files play at 352.8kHz and 48kHz-family files at 384kHz (DSD is not converted). In DSD mode, PCM below 96kHz plays as DSD128, PCM above 96kHz as DSD256, and DSD below DSD256 as DSD256. DAR can be switched on or off.

Crossfeed eases the fatigue of long listening on headphones, where left and right are completely separate. It sends part of each channel to the other with a small time delay to centre the image, like speakers, with adjustable Shelf Cutoff, Shelf Gain and Mixer Level.

Everyday features

• Native DSD512 and 32-bit/768kHz bit-to-bit playback, plus MQA files and streams.
• LED volume wheel shows the volume and the bit depth of the track, and can be switched off.
• AK File Drop transfers music wirelessly from a PC, phone or FTP program on the same network.
• ReplayGain evens out volume across tracks (up to 24-bit/192kHz).
• BT Sink plays music from a phone through the SP3000 over Bluetooth, and Bluetooth 5.0 sends to headphones with LDAC and aptX HD.
• QC 3.0 fast charging: a full charge in about 3.5 hours.

Design and goatskin case

Where the SP1000 and SP2000 showed light spreading and scattering, the SP3000 is “wrapped in light”: light gathers and wraps around the wheel, symbolising everything Astell&Kern has learned. The polished steel body, shimmering LED and sharply machined ceramic panel complete the look.

A French goatskin leather case is included, made by ALRAN, a tannery in Tarn in the south of France founded in 1903 and one of the world’s leading goatskin makers. It uses ALRAN’s hand-boarding technique, rubbing the leather in different directions with wooden boards, so you can feel the texture of the surface.

Good to know

• USB-C charges the player and connects it to a Windows 10/11 or Mac computer. Firmware updates over the air.
• Colours: black or silver.
• This is an order-on-demand item and may take longer than our usual 2–4 working days.
• In the box: SP3000, olive-green goatskin leather case, USB-C cable, six protective films (front, back and top, two of each), two microSD slot covers, suede cloth and quick start guide.