The AK100 is a first-effort HD player from iriver, and it feels like one. If premium sound is your guiding priority, and you have the cash, this digital music player may be worth taking a chance ...

Iriver's Astell & Kern AK100 ($699 direct) is a portable media player with the chops to surpass not just CDs in audio quality, but SACD and DVD-Audio as well—thanks to its support for 24-bit ...

The AK100 is a device to focus attention, to free you from the computer (at least once you’ve downloaded the files into it) and from multitasking. To remind you just how much music matters.

The AK100 does play the lesser-quality formats, including MP3, OGG and WAV. If you only fill it up with standard MP3s, it will hold thousands of songs, like most traditional digital music players.

The AK100 offers numerous connection options, including micro-USB, optical in/out and headphone out. Iriver has partnered with HDtracks to provide users with albums encoded with Master Quality Sound.

At $700, iriver’s Astell & Kern AK100 is easily the most expensive music player on the market. But as you might imagine, the AK100 is not a normal music player, which is why we didn’t call it ...

Astell & Kern AK100: Build and design The retro design is at odds with the touchscreen controls, but build is solid and the physical buttons and volume dial are actually handy when sat at a desk.

There's also the Oppo BDP-105 Blu-ray player and this, the Astell&Kern AK100 Portable music player. The AK100 promises unadulterated delivery of Mastering Quality Sound at up to 24-bit/192 kHz ...

The AK100 is $699 and is available at high-end audio stores and online at Amazon.com, Buy.com, ebay.com and www.iriverinc.com.

Astell&Kern AK100 Mk.2 verdict We have mixed feelings about the Astell & Kern AK100 MkII. That price is a real issue, considering how little memory you get out of the box. It could also be a little ...

I tested the AK100 with a $259.99 pair of Sony MDR-7509HD headphones I use for recording and mixing music, and Iriver sent along a pair of $249.95 Sennheiser HD25 IIs for testing purposes as well.

Iriver's Astell & Kern AK100 ($699 direct) is a portable media player with the chops to surpass not just CDs in audio quality, but SACD and DVD-Audio as well—thanks to its support for 24-bit ...