Astell&Kern A&Ultima SP3000 Portable Audio Player

Astell & Kern – A & ultima SP3000

Luxury meets innovation, A & ultima SP3000

With the A&ultima series, Astell&Kern has set the standard for perfect sound using the latest innovative technology. The A&ultima SP3000 is the latest flagship that represents the essence of everything that has been learned and developed in digital music processing over the past 10+ years.

The A&ultima SP3000 is the world's first DAP with independent Dual Audio Circuitry and the latest DAC with HEXA - Audio Circuitry structure, and uses all audio technologies and the best materials, which let you feel the overwhelming impact of sound and music. Experience perfection firsthand with the A&ultima SP3000, the pinnacle of audio players.

Summary of characteristics

• World's first use of 904L stainless steel as housing material for DAPs
• World's first DAP with full separation of digital and analog signal processing (using Asahi Kasei's latest flagship DAC chip AKM4499EX)
• Stunning audio performance with independent dual audio circuitry
• Equipped with powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 6125 octa-core CPU
• New graphical user interface
• Support for aptX-HD and LDAC
• Material Innovations - World's first use of 904L stainless steel as DAP case material

To achieve the goal of the A&ultima series, which is "to offer the best value for money that no one can imitate, while using the most innovative and uncompromising design and craftsmanship", the SP3000 uses 904L stainless steel material, never before used in a portable audio player. The use of this material has expanded the value of the device from a purely digital device into the realm of a luxury item.

904L stainless steel is harder and more difficult to machine than general stainless steel and requires significantly more time and labor. However, due to its excellent durability and corrosion resistance, it has unrivaled properties. That is why it is used in expensive luxury watches where the perfection of all materials and parts with a wonderful shine is sought.

Experience the uncompromising beauty and luxury of the SP3000, made with the expert craftsmanship of Astell&Kern.

TERATON ALPHA - The essence of A&K audio technologies combined in the SP3000

To create the ultimate audio player like never before, AK uses not only the latest DAC, but also innovative audio technology TERATON ALPHA, AK's ultimate sound solution, refined for the SP3000.

TERATON ALPHA, developed through endless research, is Astell&Kern's unique technology to produce audio reproduction that comes very close to the original sound through effective noise reduction, efficient power management and lossless amplification, as well as a fully converted audio output interface.

The HEXA audio circuit structure and independent dual audio circuit, implemented for the first time in the SP3000, are combined with the TERATON ALPHA sound solution to produce the purest original sound.

First use of AKM's latest flagship DAC - complete separation of digital and analog signals

The SP3000 is a product with the latest technology and uncompromising design. Astell&Kern worked with AKM from the initial development phase to develop the DAC and the optimal circuit structure.

As a result of this collaboration, the world's first four AK4499EX DACs, AKM's latest flagship, have been used in the SP3000. The innovative HEXA – Audio Circuitry structure, employing two AK4191EQs processing digital signals separately, completes the amazing sound unique to Astell&Kern.

Most digital players process digital and analog signals together in the DAC. However, the advanced HEXA - Audio Circuitry structure of the SP3000 reduces the noise of the digital signal input through the AK4191EQ, a separate digital delta-sigma modulator, and the AK4499EX DAC is then designed to process the analogue signals separately.

Through this unique design, physically separate processing of digital and analog signals has been achieved for the first time in a digital audio player, and the stunning SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) is maximized, resulting in an incredible, unprecedented audio experience.

Silver-plated shielding can

A shielding case is used to prevent external noise and electromagnetic interference from affecting the audio block.

AK takes the SP3000 a step further to achieve excellent audio performance and perfect shielding by applying highly conductive, high-purity silver to the existing shielding can.

Stunning audio performance with independent dual audio circuitry

To create a truly innovative DAP, not just a great DAP, it was necessary. to push the boundaries of sound. To do this, an independent dual audio circuit was designed that has never been attempted by anyone with a HEXA audio circuit with unbalanced and balanced outputs.

Almost all other DAPs, including Astell&Kern, use an internal DAC for both unbalanced and balanced outputs. Since the signal is split into unbalanced and balanced by the DAC and then passed to the AMP, an audio switch is essential. However, when using a switch, the range that can receive the signal sent by the DAC is limited, so most DAPs must first reduce the signal size and then, when the signal is transmitted back to the amplifier, restore the original signal size. This limits the possibilities for improving audio performance.

To overcome these limitations, AK's engineers created a HEXA audio circuit structure using two AK4191EQs and four AK4499EXs, which is an innovative unbalanced and balanced independent dual audio circuit design. As a result, the SP3000 achieves an SNR of 130 dB, the best of any DAP available. With the SP3000 you can feel the clean, pure delicacy of sound that you can't experience with any other DAP.

The latest Snapdragon octa-core CPU for the latest flagship device

The A&ultima SP3000 is equipped with a Snapdragon 6125 octa-core processor, so you can enjoy stunning sound, faster system response and a redesigned user interface.

With a high-performance CPU and an upgraded 8GB DDR4 memory, twice the usual size, the more powerful system is stable and moves fast and fluidly.

The CPU, memory and wireless communication parts are configured as one module with the digital circuit parts arranged in the same area, resulting in a single system on a chip (SoC). This maximizes the efficiency of the overall circuit configuration by freeing up more space for audio-only circuitry and reducing heat and noise from digital circuitry.

• 11nm process
• Qualcomm® Adreno™ 610 graphics processor
• Qualcomm® Kryo™ 260 CPU (octa core)
• 8GB DDR4

New graphical user interface experience

With the newly designed UX/UI, the SP3000 focuses on the process and experience of listening to music. The SP3000 was intended to be a "player for music".

The new design focuses on rediscovering forgotten songs: with simple gestures you can quickly scroll through the music categories. A convenient search function has been added along with album covers, so you can enjoy a digital display of the CD covers of your music collection. So you can not only listen to music, but also have fun operating the device.

In addition, the main feature of the new generation of the user interface has been redesigned. The graphics are simple and unobtrusive, focusing on usability and intuitiveness. The key concepts of Edge, Simple and Dark Mode are used to improve usability and increase clarity with a unique style of AK. The colors black and red were chosen to reduce eye fatigue, minimize battery consumption and reduce heat generation.

Real-time information through illumination

Inside the A&ultima's new volume control are LED lights. You can check the bit depth of the currently playing song or the set AMP mode by the LED light spreading inside the SP3000.

* The LED light can be turned on/off in the user settings and changes depending on the sound source information and the selected AMP mode.

16bit - red / 24bit - green / 32bit - blue / DSD - purple

Premium case made of goatskin

The SP3000 comes with a French goatskin case that protects and enhances the beauty of the 904L stainless steel case.

The case is made by ALRAN in Tarn in southern France, a historic tannery founded in 1903 and making leather for over 100 years. It is one of the world's leading tanneries, known for its natural leather manufacturing technology since the 1980s. ALRAN is recognized as the best goatskin manufacturer and supplies other leading luxury brands such as H and L.

The leather case that accompanies the SP3000 was developed using ALRAN tannery's unique hand-boarding technology. With this technology, the leather is rubbed in different directions with the help of wooden boards, so that you can feel the structure of the surface. This process is unique compared to the production of other goatskin cases.

A&Ultima SP3000 Design Concept – “Covered in Light”

The interpretation of light and shadow in the SP3000 is expressed as "shrouded in light" while the earlier SP1000 and SP2000 represented the light as diffusion

This symbolizes that the SP3000 is the all-encompassing culmination of all the technology and capabilities that Astell&Kern has accumulated over the years. The polished stainless steel body shines at every moment, and the beautifully shimmering LED light and the sharp-edged ceramic plate further underline the luxury.

Created through thoughtful design and craftsmanship, the SP3000 offers the ultimate beauty to match the ultimate sound.

Addendum: Save a virtually unlimited amount of music!

A nice feature is the ability to connect separate hard drives/memory sticks to the USB socket for virtually unlimited music selection.

A&Ultima SP3000 Specifications