Astell & Kern debuted its portable HD audio device at CES last year, the AK 100. For this year’s CES, the company prepared the much upgraded device – the new flagship AK240, billed as the “Ultimate Portable Player“. There is a lot of upgrades, including an entirely new operating system which is, interestingly enough, based on Android, as opposed to the Linux systems running the rest of the lineup. The new OS is claimed to allow the device to more easily integrate with online services, and the 240 is the first in the AK family to include Wi-Fi.
Apart from that, the device will include 256GB internal memory and one microSD card slot supporting up to 64GB of microSD card storage – resulting in a total of 320GB of music storage. The AK240 will also include a 3.31in AMOLED touchscreen with 800×480 resolution; Dual Cirrus Logic 4398 Digital-to-Analogue Converter chipsets and native DSD support – including DSD64 and DSD128 files. There will be a new dual-core processor for high-res audio files, so you’ll be able to connect to music download sites directly from the player.
The official pricing has not been announced yet but the company has started taking pre-orders, or £2,199,00 ($3,668,00). If that’s too much for you, you can opt for the company’s lower-end products sell from $700 to $1500.
