- The Astell & Kern PS10 is coming in May 2025 for $2,500
- 32-bit PCM, DSD, Roon, aptX HD and LDAC
- Comes with desktop dock with XLR balanced and USB outputs
Astell & Kern has unveiled a brand new design direction for its music players, which always rank among the best Hi-Res Audio players. The new PS10 digital audio player, which will officially be unveiled at CanJam Singapore on 5/6 April, comes with a brand new look and a new desktop dock to give your home hi-fi an easy streaming upgrade at the same time as your your mobile music.
The Astell & Kern PS10 brings the new AKM AK4498EX chips to the player in what A&K says is a world first, and the docking cradle has XLR balanced outputs plus USB and USB-DAC digital output. It supports native playback of high-res PCM audio up to 32-bit, 768kHz and DSD512.
It’s also notable that it drops A&K’s iconic volume wheel, found on all of its current players. There’s an all-button approach here, that’s the end of an era. Or, at least, the start of a new era where some players don’t get the dial.
Astell & Kern PS10: key features and pricing
The PS10 has four AKM AK4498EX DACs and two separate AK4191EQ chips that handle digital signals. It takes the same HEXA audio circuitry developed for the A&K SP3000, which separates analogue and digital signals for what A&K promises is “astonishing” sound.
The PS10 also uses separate audio circuits for its balanced and unbalanced outputs, and it has two amplifiers with different tunings. The Normal Gain AMP “reproduces delicate details and delivers high-purity sound” while the High Gain AMP “excels in handling complex and dynamic sounds, rendering audio signals more vividly and with greater clarity for a more immersive listening experience.”
The PS10’s Smart Gain feature is a clever touch. It instantly detects the impedance of the connected headphones and sets the appropriate AMP – so headphones or earbuds with an impedance of 32 ohms or lower are set to Normal Gain and a maximum output of 5.5Vrms on the balanced output, while headphones with more than 32 ohms get High Gain of up to 8.3Vrms for balanced output.
That sound make it a little easier for beginners to the audiophile world to be able to pair some of the best wired headphones or best wired earbuds with the device without discovering they’ve made a frustrating mistake.
The PS10 has 256GB of internal storage and supports microSD cards of up to 2TB. There’s dual-band 2.4/5GHz a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, DLNA networking, USB digital audio output, USB-C for data transfer and charging, and the ability to use the PS10 as an external DAC via Bluetooth or a direct USB connection.
The Astell & Kern PS10 will be available in May 2025 for $2,500. We’d expect the UK price to be around £2,500 (about AU$5,100) but international pricing hasn’t been announced just yet. Hopefully we’ll hear more this weeken
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