Remarkably, it gets pretty close to justifying the asking price.
Its specified without compromise (full independent balanced and unbalanced audio circuits?
Half a dozen DACs taking care of business?
Best of all, though, is the way it sounds.
Need I say with undue emphasis that this is quite a lot of money for a digital audio player?
In each and every circumstance, the SP3000 is an uncomplicated pleasure to listen to.
Its overall presentation is almost instinctively correct, positive without being pushy, and utterly convincing.
I could listen to this Astell & Kern almost indefinitely.
Detail levels are high in the same way that The Shard is tall.
Control, from the top of the frequency range to the bottom, is unarguable.
Dynamic headroom is extensive, so big shifts in intensity and/or volume are made plain.
Lower-key dynamic variations in voices or harmonics are made absolutely plain, too.
Tonality is never anything but balanced and naturalistic, and the SP3000 knits the whole frequency range together smoothly.
Its precise and meticulous, but it’s no dry tool of analysis.
It hits very hard through the low frequencies, but it never gets bogged down under its own weight.
Its spacious and open, but its seamlessly unified.
To be fair, the body of the SP3000 isnt as aggressively angular as some A&K designs.
Im confident youve never seen such a shiny digital audio player.
The Snapdragon octa-core CPU thats in charge means its an extremely responsive touch-screen, too.
The top of the SP3000 is home to three headphone sockets.
Should I buy the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000?
You like nice thingsThe SP3000 is beautifully made and finished in the manner of high-end jewellery.
Youre vegetarianSpecifying goatskin for the travel case seems a bit wilful.
Youre carelessIt would be a tragedy if anything were to happen to that super-polished stainless steel finish.
I mostly used the Sennheiser IE900 via the 4.4mm balanced input and theBowers & Wilkins Px8via Bluetooth.
