Interface: Two words: Seamless and beautiful. The interface is browsed via the touch screen. Yes, you read that correct, TOUCH SCREEN. To top that off, the touch screen interface is much seamless against the iBasso DX100. Where the iBasso lags and jitters, the iRiver AK100 performs seamless. Touch navigation and tap points are precise and can be assumed similar to Apple devices’ touch experience. Album artworks are displayed nicely as the background of the current song being played. The EQ capability of the AK100 has good potential, although I found it hard to use the curve drawing method to create the EQ setting I wanted. Not much of an issue since 3rd party applications on iOS and Android devices with the same feature, also falls short in copying your finger’s EQ curve drawing. The whole menu setting is also very easy to navigate and is pretty much user friendly. I was able to navigate wherever I wanted to go even without having to read the manual. It takes just a few minutes to get a hang off. Overall, iRiver’s AK100 interface can probably be summarized as one of the best interfaces for portable hi-fi audioplayers. Not to forget that the AK100 supports more formats than the competition. The AK100 with a recent update, can play ALAC files. So you Apple users who already converted your lossless library to ALAC need not to worry.
Sound Quality: What’s a hi-fi player gonna be without veering in the sound quality primarily? The iRiver AK100 is a neutral to bright sounding player. It gives a great sense of balance and space. Imaging is just superb. Using its own Master Quality Sound format in the supplied micro SD card was an ethereal experience. iRiver AK100‘s Wolfson WM8740 24-bit DAC is well know for being used in high-end components, so no question on how good it really is. Sense of imaging, separation and space is what caught me the most. I personally don’t like cold sound qualities so I had to plug the iRiver AK100 to a portable amp to satisfy myself with a little warmth. It’s personal preference though. Pairing the iRiver AK100 with a warm or dark sounding headphone or in-ear would synergize really well. To be honest, I can simply go AK100 and Unique Melody Miracle and that’s done.
