DAPMobile AudioNews

Astell & Kern CAN Alpha now Roon Ready

A new firmware is now available for the Astell & Kern KANN Alpha. Above all, this brings with it certification as Roon Ready, so that the DAP can now be directly integrated into the Roon media management and multi-room audio streaming solution.

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP1000 and Astell & Kern A&ultima SP2000 were the first portable hi-res audio players from Astell & Kern to be designated as Roon Ready. Already when this new function was introduced for these players, the same was announced for further solutions, now also the Astell & Kern KANN Alpha counts as Roon Ready.

Roon as versatile music management

Roon is known to be an extremely versatile and appealing way to browse, organise and listen to music, and even more, to completely rediscover one’s own media library.

This is due to the unique way in which Roon, from Roon Labs LLC. processes music. Information such as artist photos, credits, biographies, reviews, lyrics, tour dates and composers are automatically found and then linked together to create a clear digital magazine.

But Roon is also a networked audio platform for multiple rooms and users, offering features such as bit-perfect playback, DSD and PCM upsampling, multi-channel support and signal path representation.

This is where Roon Ready certification plays an essential role. Roon Ready means that a wide variety of hardware from different manufacturers can be easily integrated into Roon, including selected portable hi-res players from Astell & Kern, such as the Astell & Kern KANN Alpha. This happens transparently and without any configuration, you only have to activate it and bit-precise audio streaming is possible.

OTA Firmware Update

As always, the new firmware for the Astell & Kern KANN Alpha is designed as so-called OTA firmware, i.e. the update is carried out over the air and thus via the WiFi network.

Getting to the point

Of course, the Roon Ready certification of the Astell & Kern KANN Alpha is not the essential feature, but a very welcome addition for all those who rely on Roon from Roon Labs LLC. They can use the DAP as an excellent streaming device for use with headphones, for example, and benefit from its impeccable converter and first-class output stage.

Manufacturer:iRiver Ltd.
Distribution:Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH
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Michael Holzinger

Michael Holzinger, founder and editor-in-chief of HiFi BLOG and sempre-audio.at, has been working for years as a journalist in the fields of IT, photography, telecommunications and consumer electronics.

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