Name: Astell&Kern A&futura SE300 | Digital Audio Player
Brand: Astell&Kern
SKU: AK-SE300-SLV
Price: 999.0 USD
Availability: InStock

Astell&Kern SE300 (x2) silver (x1) Titanium 3 quarter front and rear over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 (x2) silver front and back 3 quarter over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 silver (x2) stacked over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 silver (x2) front and back over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 silver front right 3 quarter over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 silver front over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 silver rear over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 Titanium 3 quarter rear inserted into stock case over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 Titanium 3 quarter rear over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 Titan retail box front 3 quarter over white background

Astell&Kern SE300 Titan 3 quarter front edge highlighting volume knob over white background

$1,899.00 $999.00 Save 47%

Finish

Silver

Titan Limited

Astell&Kern Brings Pure Analog Sound One Step Closer with the A&futura SE300

Features fully discrete 24 bit R-2R DAC
New UI with "Crimson" theme and option for OS / NOS modes
New Dual-AMP (Class A/AB) mode
A&K self-developed FPGA technology
Bluetooth 5.0 and Dual Wireless (2.4 & 5GHz) HiFi
Genuine Astell&Kern SE300 premium case available

Astell&Kern SE300 marketing banner with player over water background

Bloom's Take

Astell&Kern’s SE300, the 4th in the A&futura line, inherits A&K's innovative and experimental efforts within the series while expanding the scope of sound. The SE300 delivers A&K’s first R2R DAC along with an amp section that can operate in class A or class AB mode. They’ve also included their own flavor of FPGA, developed and optimized in-house. It’s noteworthy to add that every aspect of SE300’s user interface and experience has been drastically improved over previous A&futura DAPs.

A&K doesn’t miss a beat here when it comes to its reputation for premium materials, look and feel, resuming the evolution of their design language that began with the SP3000. We’ve noticed the SE300 on our teams’ desks more frequently since its release. It sports TONS of options for tweaking your sound and player efficiency, but you’ll need to be aware of how those options affect your battery (8-12 hours of life depending on your cocktail of settings.)

SE300 maintains the detail and resolution for which A&K is known, but with a push towards a true reference exhibition. And with its NOS/OS and Amp Mode options, you get further range above the core tuning (check out our full SE300 review to see some of the combinations we felt worked well with some popular headphones and IEMs.)

The SE300 is certainly competitive with other DAPs in its price range, but we feel it comes surprisingly close to SP3000's performance given the difference in cost and is a great blend of A&futura refinement and innovation.

Need some guidance getting your music files onto your Astell&Kern DAP? Check out our updated Audiophile 101 guide!

SE300 Titan Limited Edition

The SE300 Titan Limited Edition is a pioneer in material innovation, delivering both a premium feel and unparalleled sound from the R-2R DAC and analog amp.

Constructed using Grade 5 Titanium alloy (a blend of aluminum and vanadium), the SE300 Titan LE is designed to increase the internal corrosive resistance and strength inherent in pure titanium. The alloy embodies exceptional strength while retaining a light weight and is the material of choice in aerospace, medical, and a wide range of other applications. Its ability to withstand heat and electrical conductivity also positions it as an optimal substance for reducing temperature variations and electrical interference within R-2R DACs and analog amplifiers. The integration of Titanium alloy into the SE300 Titan relied exclusively on ultra-precision manufacturing methods such as the use of 6-axis control robots, highly skilled engineering hands, and a Swiss-made 5-axis vibration-free CNC machine.

Discover the SE300 Titan Limited Edition and embrace the cutting-edge analog sound experience from A&K at your fingertips. The limited edition package for the SE300 Titan includes a leather case.

Astell&Kern SE300 Titanium edition dramatic 3 quarter front over gray shadowy background

Fully Discrete 24bit R-2R DAC

The SE300 comes supplied with an R-2R DAC instead of a Delta-Sigma DAC commonly used in other players. R-2R DAC, also known as 'Ladder DAC,' offers natural yet dynamic Hi-Fi sound:

24-bit Decoding
48 pairs (23xR and 25x2R) of 96 ultra-precision resistors are arranged to create analog signals, realizing true Hi-Fi 24-bit decoding.

Ultra-precision Resistor Design
A&K inspected each specifically selected ultra-precision resistor of 0.01% error range for accuracy and precision.

Ultra-precision TCR10 Specs
To create Hi-Fi sound without distortions within such an extreme precision design, the SE300 comes with special TCR10 specs to minimize changes in the 0.01% resistor error range.

Astell&Kern SE300 3 quarter top over U2 vinyl jacket

Class A/AB Dual AMP Mode

The SE300 comes with Dual-AMP mode:

Class A Mode
Offers the best linear output, amplifying signals without distortion or loss of signal and providing soft, warm, and natural sounds for accurate reproduction.

Class AB Mode
Offers a powerful output with the added benefit of high efficiency, presenting dynamic and crisp sound with less harmonic distortion.

Astell&Kern screenshots of AMP class and gain modes

2-Step Gain Mode

The SE300 supports a 2-step Gain Level mode to create a perfect match for a wide range of headphones and IEMs. "Normal" and "High Gain" settings allow for high current output to create a powerful sound and excellent driver control. With up to 6 Vrms from Balanced connections, driving high-impedance headphones has never been easier.

Optimized FPGA OS / NOS Modes

The SE300 comes with exclusively developed FPGA and provides optimized OS / NOS modes. The FPGA uses an optimized, proprietary design over off-the-shelf semiconductor chipsets, and supports the most ideal OS (Over Sampling) / NOS (Non-Over Sampling).

Astell&Kern OS/NOS FPGA workflow diagram

NOS (Non-Over Sampling) Mode
Player reproduces the pure original sound without any digital processing, allowing users to enjoy true, unprocessed sounds decoded by the R-2R DAC.

OS (Over Sampling) Mode
OS mode offers partial digital processing that expands the bandwidth of the original signal to offer impressive details, with an expansive sense of space and crisp, clear sounds.

Astell&Kern OS/NOS mode conversion rate diagram

Other Features

Supports native DSD256, 32bit/384kHz
AK File Drop wireless transfers
Wireless Hi-Fi sound via BT Sink
ReplayGain automatically and uniformly adjusts volume

Astell&Kern SE300 screen closeup with connected Vision Ears earphones on wood table

Specifications

Material: Aluminum and Stainless Steel | Grade 5 Titanium Alloy
Supported OS: Windows 10, 11 (32/64bit) Mac OS X 10.7
Astell&Kern 1 Year Warranty
Display: 5.46" HD 1080 x 1920 touch
Supported Audio Formats: WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF
Sample Rate
- PCM: 8kHz ~ 384kHz (8/16/24/32-bits per Sample)
- DSD Native: DSD64 (1-bit, 2.8MHz) Stereo | DSD128 (1-bit, 5.6MHz) Stereo | DSD256 (1-bit, 11.2MHz) Stereo
Output Level
- [Normal] UnBAL 2.Vrms | BAL 4Vrms (No Load)
- [High] UnBAL 3.Vrms | BAL 6Vrms (No Load)
CPU: Quad-Core
DAC: Full Discrete R-2R
Decoding: Support up to 32-Bit / 384kHz Playback
Input: USB-C (for charging & PC/MAC)
Outputs
- UnBAL: 3.5mm (Optical)
- BAL: 2.5mm, 4-pole | 4.4mm, 5-pole
Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz)
Bluetooth: v5.0 (A2DP, AVRCP, Qualcomm® aptX™ HD, LDAC)
Dimensions: 3.01" x 5.49” x 0.69"
Weight: About 11.18 oz
Firmware upgrade supported (OTA)
Operating Temp: 0℃ ~ + 40℃ (32℉~ 104℉)

Audio

Frequency Response
- ±0.038dB (20Hz~20kHz)
- ±0.45dB (20Hz~70kHz)
S/NR (Normal): 114dB @ 1kHz, UnBAL │ 115dB @ 1kHz, BAL
S/NR (High): 115dB @ 1kHz
Crosstalk: -135dB @ 1kHz, UnBAL │ -144dB @ 1kHz, BAL
THD+N: 0.006% @ 1kHz
IMD SMPTE: 0.005% 800Hz 10kHz (4:1)
Output Impedance: 1.3Ω, all outputs

Clock Source

Jitter: 25pS (Typ)
Reference Clock Jitter: 500 Femto Seconds

Storage Capacity

Built-In Memory: 256GB [NAND]
External Memory: (x1) microSD (Max. 1TB)

Battery

Capacity: 5050mAh, 3.8V Li-Polymer
Charge Time: About 3.5 hours (9V/1.67A General Charging)
Playback Time: About 12 hours (FLAC, 16-bit, 44.1kHz, Normal Gain, Vol. 50, LCD Off)

In the Box

SE300 Device
Leather Case included only with Titan LE | SE300 cases available separately
USB-C Cable
Quick Start Guide
microSD card slot cover
Protective Films

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Not very helpful

I was hoping for some sound improvement over plugging in some Focal Clear MGs directly to my iPhone or iPad. Unfortunately, if there is an improvement, it’s not recognizable, or slap me in the face identifiable running mp3s at 320 with all the se300 battery suckers turned on.

It does have more power to push the volume beyond what the apple devices cap out at, and believe you me; the focals love extra power. But I only listen at those volumes for a short time as you can’t get hearing back when it’s gone.

The OS does offer apps for Spotify and Tidal. But free Spotify runs video ads that lag and buffer, even with 400 meg internet .

If you are looking for an open source device to drop files on easily and get away from apple’s proprietary music app and you thoroughly enjoyed an mp3 player, like removable SD card, and aren’t scared of the price tag, this device is for you. The build quality makes me think it will live for years on end and still be able to plug into newer OS generations to come because it’s fairly open source.

If you are looking for high quality streaming, big gains in sound quality, additional apps like en email app or a weather app, and don’t enjoy carrying around a phone and this device to charge all time, I’d recommend passing on this and put the money into better headphones instead.

Bloom Audio was great though. I’d buy more stuff from them for sure.

Very nice for people who love to play with the sound settings

Wide variety of se300 preferences will satisfy music lovers of all kinds.

a title?

as far as audio sound? great. cant complain. as far as a&k's op system? a lil slow when the player has 250gb on board and a 1 tb sd card chocked to the brim. not the most responsive... takes five-six tries to "click" the favorite track heart icon before it takes. adding to a new playlist takes a bit longer than perhaps it should in 2024 for thousand dollar player. but as far as audio. it does what it says it can. just dont expect to fly through a 1.25tb library.

Terrific sound quality, wifi reception is a little weak.

Unique Player at a great price

This unit sounds incredible. Clear clear wide open soundstage. It sounds so close to the flagship M3000 but at a better price. Some Gripes. Ui not as snappy as current AK daps. Also battery life not great. But the sound is worth it.

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Astell&Kern A&futura SE300 | Digital Audio Player