Phones and MP3 players may have far better sound than we ever thought possible from a portable device, but they're still compromised in many, many ways. Astell & Kern, a new brand from iRiver, seeks to bring true audiophile-pleasing sound to portable applications. The company soft-launched its $699 AK 100 player late last year; CES was the official U.S. launch. The player has 32 GB internal memory plus two SD card slots, for max storage of 160 GB—vital for audiophiles who use the FLAC lossless codec for best-quality sound. It's capable of storing and playing files at up to 24/192 resolution. According to the company, a Wolfson digital-to-analog convertor chip and a high-quality amp with 22-ohm output impedance provide sound quality comparable to that of full-size components.
