Astell & Kern’s New Player Is Gold, Because…Why Not?

High Res player-maker Astell and Kern has dabbled with all sorts of materials in the construction of their DAPs over the years. While the frame for their flagships has usually been stainless steel with an outer casing of varying materials (including copper) the newest “M” version of the SP1000 line proves that the bling bling isn’t just for the pinky ring.

The SP1000M that goes on pre order today comes fully equipped for playback duties with a brass frame and 99.7% purity gold plating. The smaller “M” line of the flagship options still harnesses the power of a Exynos 7420 Octa-Core CPU and two AKM AK4497EQ chips, but with a smaller overall footprint (handprint?). Internal memory is an expandable 256GB of internal space and the usual parade of streaming services via the onboard Open APP service.

The new goldilocks of the AK line is slated to release around February 8 and will retail for $3k, about $600 more than the plain Jane SP1000M. If you have even more cash burning a hole in your pocket, the SP1000 non-M line actually runs at $3.5k for the bigger screen in boring old Copper, Black and Stainless Steel.