@goldwerger I’m using an Onkyo DP-X1 with no problems at all. SQ is fine (to my ageing ears) and you can use balanced headphones with it, if that’s your thing. It has 2 SD slots, maximum of 200Gb each so you can take a selection of music with you when out of range of Roon.
I bought the Kann a few years ago (2018), and picked up the SE200 this year. SE200 has improved DACs and offers access to Qobuz (and other services than Tidal). The SE200 is also considerably lighter. The original Kann is a bit hefty.
-------Probably the same reason I have so many sets of headphones. It’s quite the habit/hobby.
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@rrwwss52 I’ve had AK Kann Cube and SP2000. Why don’t sell both and buy SP2000 instead. It gives the power of Kann, DAC is the superior one as far as I’m concerned and it is lighter than Cube. And it is Roon Ready. Problem solved?
TBH, Roon access on the DAP is not a critical need for me. It wasn’t a deal breaker when I bought the SE200. Attached files on the MMC/SD work great, and I have streaming services available if needed.
I have Roon access at home, and still use several other music players (JRMC, Audirvana, and Aurender Conductor). The DAPs work out to be but another player.
I would have hoped AK would have rolled Roon compatibility down to all current generation players. I see as a business decision by AK to get people to buy the higher end $$ player.
@rrwwss52 All DAP sellers, including AK release new models extremely often, that’s the only way for them to make money - it’s a niche market and people don’t tend to buy older models unless they are on sale. John Darko made a full video about it.
Well, SP2000 offers what you have + bigger SD cards compatibility, better DAC, also 5Ghz WiFi and obviously Roon Readiness.
If I wouldn’t be too stupid I would put my SP2000 into the box and didn’t touch it but I sold it already anyway over a year ago. You can get one in a very good condition for $3k relatively easy.
Understood. In my case Roon would be nice to have, but its not necessary for my usage.
I couldn’t justify the extra expense. AK software is good.
Now I’ve got my SP2000 and made the first tests.
Also the flagship from A&K isn’t able to play gapless through AKConnect as DLNA client.
Enabling Roon in the SP2000 shows, that here you can use PCM until
348 kHz and DSD128 (so the former informations where wrong).
Running as endpoint, you can only adjust the volume, pause/play and replay.
Wifi-connection seems to be much stronger and stable as with the SR25, but I’ve to test later Albus.
The next days, I’ve to decide, if the really not cheap SP2000 will stay here or not…
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I have both full Roon headphone setups and it’s really not night and day at all for highres, it’s does sound a little better yes but it’s not the huge and for CD quality and 44 1/24 it doesn’t resample at all and sounds super. My Hiby sounds excellent with my Focals, Mezes and Shures and is.as competent with Roon and Hibys own player or Roon bit perfect on my main head rig. Yes I want native hires but it’s far from sounding bad in any way.
And how was your A&K SP2000 and Roon experience retrospectively if I may ask?
I was looking info FIIO DAPs but then I found out about Android 48kHz limit issue…
Hence looking what are the alternatives.
I do not appreciate phone + DAC dongle solution personally as heaving dongle dangling attached to phone makes it cumbersome to use and I’m taking phone out of pocket quite often.
Hi Mikael,
And what could be nicer than moving to backyard and enjoy hi-res music there without need of moving there additional cables, devices, having to connect dongles and cables etc.
Just put on favourite headphones, push play on DAP and then one can relax. 
If you add to equation kids then believe me you would never know where you would be able to enjoy music and for how long, so keeping things simple, easy, quick to deploy and lunch is critical to me 
Sold my SP2000 some months ago, because:
- to big and heavy for a real mobile solution
- Roon isn’t running stable , if you change between Roon, playing local files or something from a dlna server
- if you’re activating Roon in the A&K, then it needs much more power, because here the sleeping modus is deactivated. So, if you want to start a longer hearing session, then you’ll need power cord.
- Wifi isn’t really good (better as with the small SR25) and Roon needs a rock stable connection
- You need an additional remote control for Roon (Mobile, Tablet, PC,…)
For me Roon isn’t designed for a mobile solution and at home I’ve running additional LMS and some DLNA servers and so I’m using (while walking around) a mobile with UAAP, which has a much better wifi performance.
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Many thanks for sharing your experience.
I’m thinking about SP1000M due to size as you mentioned.
In my use case I think the rest of points would be more or less acceptable except the one about Roon stability.
Would you please tell more what stability issues with Roon have you experienced with SP2000?
I guess it would be more or less the same problem for other SP2000 and SP1000.
Unless it was fixed later. It seems Roon Ready was added in SP2000 firmware v1.31 Mar 2021 and there were few more updates later on but none of them mention any Roon related fixes.
v1.42 in July include “Operational stability improvements” but if that affects Roon anyhow is hard to say.
I’ve had absolutely no Roon issues with my SP1000 and Kann Alpha. Personally I would not buy a DAP without Roon.
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I thought it might be worth updating the thread, to share the following experience:
I regularly listen with my player in my pocket and my phone either in my hand or on a stand nearby to control the playback and display.
It’s also nice to control the player directly from the rune core, for example, setting a whole album to play, and then freely moving about the house. In my youth case, that means I can keep my headphones on my dab in my pocket and work at my computer and the sound keeps going even if I step away to go get some coffee or just walk around to stretch my legs a little bit.
The sound quality is outstanding and night and day, compared to even a good Bluetooth set up. For example, I was using a Fiio BTR5 – a very well reviewed an excellent sounding little Bluetooth dongle- that produce very good results but nothing comparable to the Roon signal sent to the player. Since I loved the BTR five, I was thinking of upgrading to the BTR seven, but no longer a consideration after using Roon in this way.
I would be very hard-pressed to buy a DAP, other than an Astell & Kern with Roon Ready support going forward.
For example, I was thinking about splurging on a new iBasso DX 320 because they released a special edition version made of liquid metal that looked outstanding and I like the fact that you can exchange the amp modules inside.
But since it does not work with Roon, it is a no go.
If you’re thinking about buying a player, I would strongly consider this as a deciding factor, and if you are curious, the used market for Astell and Kern players offer some amazing value because, let’s face it, their retail pricing assumes we all bought Netflix stock when they were still selling DVDs.
But if you can get a used player Second hand the value is there and the sound quality and Rron support make it the obvious choice IMHO.
All the latest Fiio daps are Roon Ready and sound superb and far more stable with it than the A&K I tried. Many happy M11 Plus users on here.
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That’s very big news for me. I thought AK were the only rood ready DAPs. Any other DAPs that are Roon ready except Fiio and AK?
Also does Arc work well ok the Fiio apps?
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No others at moment they updated the M11’plus and M17 just before Christmas to be Roon Ready and the new M11S is also Roon Ready. They are rock solid with Roon no dropouts, no lag and sound so good. Ican roam about the house and it roams to my different access points without a drop in playback which I could not do with the Kann Alpha if and when it stayed connected and it lasts a good 11 hours of solid playing. Yes they are fully open to any app from Play store unlike A&K which has its silly whitelist thing.
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I’m a very, very happy M11 Plus owner but it’s great to hear that you’re enjoying the A&K.
It had an iBasso DX320 for a while - it’s not Roon Ready so frustratingly not bit perfect and it could not maintain a connection as I moved around my house. I have multiple access points and it was just an awful experience.
I also had a Chord Mojo + Poly setup. The Poly is sold as “Roon Ready”. In spite of “Roon Ready” on the box, it couldn’t maintain a connection and was very problematic.
The M11 Plus is rock solid. Sounds fantastic, never even a single hiccup. I tried an M17 for a while and it is also amazing but was too large for my usage. Since the M11 Plus is open Android, you can download and install anything you want from the Google Play store - opens the door to lots of fun stuff.
@goldwerger asked about ARC. ARC is ARC. ARC runs exactly as it would on an Android device which is to say that it works but is not bit perfect.
I don’t have any direct experience with A&K but I think the price to performance ratio on the M11 Plus is outstanding. It drastically changed my in-home listening behaviors.
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