That's a very high-end device if I'm not mistaken. How often do you find yourself enjoying its use?
Surprisingly frequently. Such as tonight. I love using it.
I didn't bring it with me to Bosnia a few weeks ago, but then, I was travelling an awful lot within the country - several nights of only staying one night in a place - and brought the iPod Touch with me instead. However, if I am away for a month or two - or longer - it definitely travels with me.
When I returned from central Asia in 2014, Apple were threatening - or had just done so - to discontinue the iPod classic. And I wanted a device that was and is a dedicated music player; this suits my needs and personality.
Now, at the time, I had a perfectly functioning one, (which died last year), but I detest the Cloud rentier model of music, I want my music - bought as CDs - on a device I own and that I can take and play as I like and need and wish.
Anyway, on my return, I asked around for recommendations for some sort of robust and well made (and excellent from an audio perspective) device to eventually replace my iPod classic.
The guy in the best music store - where they also had a smaller high end audio store - recommended Astell & Kern. His boss had one. The boss - to my astonishment - pressed his device into my hand and told me to take it home with me for a week or so (they made a point of putting some of the music from my MBA onto it - no point in handing me a top end device with music I cannot abide) to see what I thought of it.
This was the old Astell & Kern 120; I was blown away and when I returned it, I promised myself that on my next deployment, I would treat myself to one of these devices, and that then, I would mourn the passing of the iPod classic somewhat less.
When I was home on leave earlier this year - I hadn't been home for Christmas - I made a few enquiries; frankly, I had been about to order one of the top-end but slightly older models, (such as the AK 240, or 380) but learned that they were no longer available and had been discontinued. So, as the SP1000(the new flagship model) had become available, I thought to order it.
It is a very solid piece of work and beautifully engineered. Actually, it is like a small, exquisitely engineered metal brick.
The audio is stunning, and the memory (256GB) very welcome. Shortly after I bought it, I bought a second charger and cable for it, so that I can have one permanently at home, and travel with one. It carries a decent charge, (transcontinental flights are no trouble to it, it will still have 50% or 40% capacity left), but it can take a while to recharge.
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Yes but it's also a touch screen. In that case I can just use my iPhone as it would be the same thing. The iPod had the uniqueness of the scroll wheel which can never be truly replicated. I loved the iPod as a dedicated music player and how it worked. I wish Apple still made one just with an SSD, retina screen and USB-C. Plus it would be nice if Apple had full support for FLAC files. Yes they have ALAC which is basically the same but if one were to download music from high quality sources it's usually FLAC as the file type.
Oh, yes, so did - and do - I; I loved the fact that it was a dedicated music player - I didn't want anything else.
Indeed, I truly grieved when Apple made the regrettable decision to discontinue it.
But, my iPod Touch is used solely as a music player.
Also, Schiit doesn't do sales, doesn't sell on Ebay, doesn't have 3rd party resellers, so any discount is kind of a big deal. Didn't get a ship notice yet, but I went with USPS Priority, so I figure it will be here before the end of next week.
