By Nick Smith, 10th October 2023
They say good things come in small packages.
You wouldn’t know it observing the trend in phones, where “Bigger Is Better” has been the market mantra for some time. As a former iPhone Mini user I was disappointed when Apple discontinued the Mini earlier this year, but it followed an established trend of users gravitating towards larger devices in recent times.
Unsurprisingly Digital Audio Players have ballooned as well. 2015’s Astell & Kern flagship AK380 was 230 grams, compared to last year’s SP3000 more than doubling that at 493g. Then you have behemoths like the 610g FiiO M17 & recently released 650g Cayin N30LE. When will the madness end?!?
Truthfully there’s nothing wrong with larger DAPs, especially if you mostly listen at home… but what if you choose to prioritise portability?
That’s where Astell & Kern’s storied line of micro players comes in. Having previously owned the SR70 MKII, SR15 & SR25, it’s fair to say I’m an ardent fan of their charms with absolutely no intention of hiding my bias. You simply have to experience one yourself to understand why they’re so much fun.
Which brings us to the present – just weeks ago I pulled the trigger on a shiny new Astell & Kern SR35 from Addicted to Audio and have been enjoying it ever since. At USD $799 it’s far from the cheapest micro DAP on the market, but undoubtedly one of the best and you’re about to discover why.
Tech Specs & Battery Life
At the heart of the SR35 lies four Ciruss Logic CS43198 DACs, two of which can optionally be switched off to extend battery life. Featuring two gain levels, in Hi-Gain mode the DAP outputs 6Vrms from its’ 4.4mm balanced jack with 2.7ohm impedance & 3.1Vrms from the 3.5mm unbalanced socket with 1.1ohm impedance. DSD up to DSD256 & PCM up to 384kHz are supported, and the SR35 features Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD & LDAC. 64GB of onboard storage is present with Micro SD cards up to 1TB supported.
In terms of battery life, A&K claims the SR35 lasts 20 hours playing local files from the 3.5mm jack in low gain, dual-DAC mode – essentially a best case scenario.
More realistically, if you mostly stream as I do these days and run the SR35 in quad-DAC mode with Hi-Gain enabled (for optimal audio performance) I estimate 7-9 hours would be more accurate depending on your streaming app, volume level, amount of screen on time & brightness level. Having said that, the ability to disable two of the DACs & lower the gain level to extend playtime during long trips or commutes are handy options.
Page 1 – Introduction, Tech Specs & Battery Life
Page 2 – Ergonomics & Usability
Page 3 – Sound Performance
Page 4 – Source Comparisons
Page 5 – Conclusion
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