Astell&Kern has unveiled the second player in its A&norma line of portable high-resolution audio players, the A&norma SR25 (£649), it arrives in a stylish Silver Moon finish and now a striking Black Edition. The SR25 is an upgrade of the A&norma SR15 player, and supports native playback of DSD256 and 32-bit/384KHz PCM high-resolution audio.
The SR25 features two Cirrus Logic 43198 MasterClass DACs in dual-mono configuration like the SR15, but adds a number of new features such as a faster Quad-core CPU and newly designed circuitry to improve sound quality enhancements. A first for Astell&Kern players, the SR25 adds LDAC Bluetooth support, allowing users to wirelessly stream 24-bit hi-res audio to compatible speakers, headphones or IEMs. It also provides 20+ hours of continuous music playback, more than twice the playback time of the SR15 and longer than any other Astell&Kern player.
It features an aluminium body with an ultra-precision volume wheel machined with a vibration-free process used for luxury watches. The aluminium body suppresses noise and improves sound quality, while the case allows the user to easily hold and operate the 3.6-inch touchscreen display with one hand.