Astell&Kern PD20 | Digital Audio Player

A New Kind Of DAP

Sorry, folks. I put this in paragraph form, and then when it did this I went and edited it with a five-space indentation.. No idea why it is presenting as one big paragraph. Finally, a DAP that has a hearing aid-type testing app (and earbuds to use it) to set a baseline sound signature, as well as three tone controls (bass, mids, treble). It also has a full EQ, if you want that. As well as three amp modes and three current levels. And filters. And crossfeed. And four built in “special” sound signatures. It is fully tunable to the listener’s desires. And it is an Astell&Kern, so it has precise sound that is solid but not too warm, a wonderful UI, and well-thought-out controls. There has been some quibbling about the direction of the volume knob, as it reverses what we commonly think of as the “correct” direction to go soft to loud, or loud to soft. It took me all of one listening session to get used to that. Most of us suffer some hearing loss - after all, we listen to music much of the time, and often we listen at too-loud a volume for too long a time. So certain frequencies become impacted, as well as sometimes one ear becomes more affected than does the other. Often we are unaware of this fact until we take a hearing test and see the results. This DAP lets you take a hearing test and then sets your results as the baseline tuning. You can then use the tone controls and/or the EQ to further refine it. I know I have hearing loss (60+ years of loud rock and roll) and I have the hearing aids to show for it. I ran the app and saw that it gave me pretty much the same information that I got from several audiologists: I have a major drop in treble and my left ear is slightly less impacted than is my right ear. I listened to the results on the DAP, added +5.5 bass using the tone control, played with the amp and current settings, and got a sound signature that was quite astounding. This is my fifth A&K (120ll - 2000T) and it makes me as happy as any of the previous ones, plus I have the knowledge that I’ve tuned it to be the best it can be for me. It’s not just how A&K tuned it for all of us to use. I suppose if your ears are perfect, buying an A&K 4000 will do. But I doubt that many here have perfect ears. The PD20 is the only model that will have the hearing aid app feature. So if you think you’d like the ability to adjust your DAP to your hearing, this is the way to go. Build quality on mine is perfect. The price is right even though we have to pay extra for a case. I see no downside to the PD20 unless you are sure your ears are perfect and you just have to have something like the 4000 because it is “the best.” Oh, I’m using it with a Volk Etoile and an Empire Ears Odin.

A&K PD20

Excellent customer service & highly enjoying my new unit ordered from them. Would highly recommend Bloom Audio to everyone out there.

Nice for travel

I currently own an AK SP4000 and the PD20 came in today. First off, it's not a SP4000 (that's a home run btw)but I don't think it's intended to be. I originally purchased the PD20 as a travel DAP (14hrs) since it has substantially better battery life than the SP4000 (6hrs). In addition, it is light! Very light! When I had it in my pocket, my iPhone felt heavier; which, sort of makes it feel cheap. Speaking of cheap, the switches on the side of the unit have play in them and THAT makes it feel cheap. Further, why they didn't bevel the bottom corners is beyond me. The top are beveled and the bottom is nice and pointy. Perfect for making a hole in your jeans. Quite frankly, I'm not too impressed with the chassis design and switches/knobs. I tried out the Sound Studio and it feels like a gimmick to me as I'm listening to the demo songs it comes with on my Subtonic Storms. The Audiosphere also doesn't do much for me; nor did I notice any immediate difference from the current settings. While it may seem like I'm not giving a glowing review, if I considered its intended use case for me (portable every day DAP) I find the audio quality to be passable and the battery life to be exceptional. I would not recommend this to anyone as a last stop DAP. I think for travel and daily use where you can scuff it up and throw it in your bag its great but it doesn't have the audio/build/etc quality of the higher end AK DAPs. It's a C to C+ but a solid B solely based on weight and battery. Travel a lot? Get one. Need to listen to music at work to stop yourself from strangling someone? Get one. Use it at your desk at home 90% of the time? Get a desktop system. Edit: I've decided to add a star after I used the DAP with wireless iems. I think I may have unfairly judged the audio when I used iems that were outside the general target scope of the product. Further, I wanted to state that I felt like the snappiness of the touch screen is not bad but loading software and downloading does lag the system a little. That could easily be improved with updates though. My previous sentiments still hold true though if you are using higher end iems. In addition, as another reviewer pointed out, the chips used do create a clinical audio experience and a case would help the feel of the device quite a bit. What changed my thoughts? I tried out the DAP with the Noble Audio FoKus Prestige Encore. Bloom Audio sells them and they are quite good except I had audio artifact and drop out using LDAC bluetooth. To my ears, AAC sounded the best even if that is contrary to what should be occurring due to compression. AptX made the audio sound leaner and less fun.