Astell&Kern AK70 MkII: The £600 portable music player

Audiophiles looking for a music system that can play higher quality sound on the go than a smartphone – or iPod – are in luck, as Astell&Kern has just announced a MkII version of its AK70 portable audio player.

The AK70 MkII comes with a host of new features over the old model, including a dual-DAC (digital audio converter) design that helps provides higher quality audio to both left and right channels.

The device features wi-fi connectivity, allowing users to stream audio through popular music services such as Tidal, as well as 64GB of internal storage and a microSD slot for expanding its memory.

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Users can also play music from their computer through the device, says Digital Trends, which “circumvents the computer’s internal sound card and allows for hi-resolution, high quality audio playback”.

While it retains a similar look to its older sibling, What hi-fi? says the MkII is slightly taller and thicker than the outgoing model. It also ups the model’s weight by 18g to a total 150g, but the site says it can still easily fit into your jeans pocket.

At the top of the black aluminium-bodied music player sits a balanced and standard 3.5mm headphone port, the website adds. It also comes with Bluetooth connectivity so users can stream audio to wireless music players.

Orders for the AK70 MkII are set to open next month, with prices starting at £600.