John Adams
Research Methods
Module 4 Research I am a lover of music and everything that goes with it. I consider myself an early 90’s Sony Walkman baby, a true audiophile at heart. One of my passions in life is to collect headphones and portable media players. Also I need good music to go with all that gear. One of my peeves is the quality of the music I am listening to. Not in the sense of album artist and the songs they sing but the media it’s presented on and the overall quality of the music itself. In the near future I would like to spoil myself with a new media player. The media player comes from a company called Astell & Kern. Astell & Kern are the leaders in portable audio equipment. One of two key features I like most about their players is the ability to play High-Resolution Audio. High-Resolution Audio is in a class of its own when comparing quality to an mp3 file. The second is quality of the DAC chip inside the player. The DAC or Digital Audio Converter turns the digital signal into an analog signal thus creating a more natural sounding tone. One of the more recent releases is their new AK JR model PMP (Portable media player). Two key features of this specific model id thin and light design and an increase output with lowered impedance. As a “portable” device its design and weight is very important to me. I carry these devices with me all day, every day and being too heavy or an eyesore is very important to me. With an increased output and lower impedance this means that this device can push really demanding headphones or speakers without the need for amplifier. This is very important to an audiophile because if the player cannot properly push the headphones all you will get is a very tiny sound signature or nothing at all. One downside to this player is the price. This unit costs almost $600 without headphones. Astell & Kern are known for making high quality audio equipment with prices to match. Some of their most top of the line units can run upwards of $2500 without headphones. These players are for people who know what they want and understand the difference between studio quality sound or something you just purchased on iTunes.
In conclusion I would not recommend this product to anyone who owns a pair of headphones under $100 in price and no Beats Music Headphones do not count. I didn’t give specifics on file formats or popular headphones because most people will not understand or care. This is for people who are serious about their music and want a dedicated device to play them on.