How far would you go to improve your music on the go?
The Astell&Kern AK HC3 is designed for Android phones with a USB-C port and carries the promise of a sublime listening experience with a compact portable, in-line DAC.
The price? A cool $299. Ouch.
But what you get, aside from the luxurious aesthetics, are two ESS SABRE ES9219MQ DACs, which in English, means that these are audio-grade decoders known for the quality of their output as well as low power consumption.
The DACs support Native DSD256 and 32-bit/384kHz audio (MQA 8X as well), meaning you’re more likely to run out of storage space on your mobile device before you run out of processing power to decode the highest-resolution files that you have.
The upside of the dongle design is that you can use it with other devices. | Image: A&K
The good thing about the dongle design is that the HC3 isn’t constrained to smartphones; you can also use the HC3 on your computers, laptops and tablets, and it’s Roon Tested as well. According to A&K, part of the reason why the DAC is housed in a separate dongle (as opposed to the USB port housing like most other DACs) is that processing the digital signal after passing through the dual-shielded cable yields a cleaner sound.
The HC3 is also somewhat compatible with iPhones via the included lightning adapter; however, the companion app is only available to Android users. The dongle also supports the use of a microphone, so you can use this DAC for gaming and video calls (note that calls are not supported on iPhones).
The AK HC3 can be used on an iPhone, but with an adapter. | Image: A&K
The device might seem a little unwieldy with a mobile phone but I guess this is down to personal preference; an uncompromising music lover can put up with quite a bit of inconvenience and the HC3 is arguably the most elegant–and possibly most affordable–of the many high-end alternatives.
The HC3 is now available at AV One, AV One Lazada, Connect IT, Headphones.sg, SAM Audio, TK Foto and Treoo.
