The PA10 breaks away from Astell&Kern's high-end portable music players; however, the South Korean firm's first portable headphone amplifier sports the company's impressive Teraton Alpha tech as well as Class A amplification to drive your headphones in a more natural, analogue way.
Wrapped in aluminium, silicone and Astell&Kern's unmistakable design language, the PA10 takes advantage of the brand's expertise in amplifier circuit design to reduce the PA10's power consumption while increasing its output and eliminating distortion and other unwanted artefacts.
This allows 12 hours of playback time with a full recharge of its 4,200mAh 3.8V Li-Polymer takes three hours. Undoubtedly, the firm's Teraton Alpha tech assists here thanks to its power noise removal and efficient power management, which all go towards producing sound quality that's as close as possible to the original recording.
We're told that the PA10 controls the current to suit different pairs of headphones and in-ear monitors alongside offering two gain levels. Astell&Kern claims this makes for a more intensive, spatial sound. Frequency response is given as 20Hz~20kHz no matter gain or balanced/unbalanced.
Finally, the PA10 supports 4.4mm True Balanced input/output, and its crossfeed function uses purely a hardware circuit design, not digital software. This promises to offer a more seamless crossfeed effect without degrading the audio. Output is listed as Unbalanced 2.1Vrms / Balanced 4.2Vrms in Low Gain, whereas High Gain results in 3.1Vrms Unbalanced / 6.2Vrms Balanced.
Astell&Kern's PA10 is available now for £549.
Visit Astell&Kern for more information
Posted in: Headphones
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