Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 – New firmware with Roon ARC

Astell & Kern described the latest DAP Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 as a solution where luxury meets perfection, a solution aimed at particularly demanding hi-fi enthusiasts who also appreciate the finest products on the move. The Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 thus took over, not really surprisingly, the role as flagship in the Astell & Kern A&ultima Series.

New firmware v1.08 for Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000

Even though the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 has only been on the market for a few weeks, Astell & Kern is now already offering a first update: a new firmware is now available for this solution. According to the manufacturer, this firmware offers a number of improvements in detail, but in principle there are no major problems that need to be solved. A classic service release that manufacturers offer for their solutions from time to time. If there were not a particularly exciting point…

Roon ARC App is supported

Astell & Kern is one of those manufacturers in the field of DAP (Digital Audio Player) who rely on the Google Android operating system as a basis, but do not “present” it directly to the user, but rather rely on their own user interface.

This may be seen as an advantage or disadvantage, but the fact is that not just any app can be installed, as is possible with other DAP models with direct access to the operating system.

In this respect, Astell & Kern relies on a controlled environment, to put it this way, the developers make the choice here as to which apps are released for installation on their products, this is called Open App Service. The advantage of this approach is that the apps that are released ultimately work without any problems. Here you will find apps such as TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music.

With the latest firmware update, the Roon ARC App for Google Android is now also one of the selected apps at Astell & Kern, so Roon ARC can now be installed on the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000.

The complete media library on-the-road

Roon ARC is a completely new app introduced with Roon 2.0 by Roon Labs LLC. While the well-known Roon App for Google Android and Apple iOS will continue to be used for the control and comfortable control of Roon within one’s own four walls, the additional new app Roon ARC offers the possibility to access all contents of one’s media library on the road, to the full extent as one would do it at home.

Every smartphone thus becomes a mobile streaming service, with the content originating from one’s own server at home.

The fact that Roon ARC can now also be installed on the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 is particularly exciting, as one benefits directly from its outstanding signal processing and high-quality output stage. The data traffic is of course carried out via the WiFi module integrated in the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 or via a smartphone connected via Bluetooth.

Prices and availability

The latest firmware v1.08 for the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 is now available free of charge. It can be installed directly via the DAP; details are available in the support section of the manufacturer’s website. The Roon ARC app for the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 can then be found in the list of available apps.

Getting to the point

The fact that Astell & Kern has now decided to include Roon ARC in the list of apps offered via Open App Service for the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP3000 is extremely gratifying. This means that the flagship of the Astell & Kern A&ultima Series can be used to access Roon’s own content everywhere, whereby one of course benefits directly from the outstanding features of the DAP and can thus play back one’s own media library in the best quality everywhere.