Astell & Kern SP3000T Digital Audio Player – A Video Review

It’s a substantial, weighty, sharp-edged, and expensive little device. It retails for USD $2,999.00.

There’s no getting around it. This is a gorgeous unit. And it can easily be classed as an object of desire. So much so that everyone that I’ve gotten to hold it and interact with it has immediately fallen for it.

The SP3000T is beautifully designed. On the exterior, you’re greeted with a silver-plated body and hairline finish. (There’s also a Copper version of the SP3000T available as well). A glass panel adorns the front and rear panels, the bottom 3/4 of the back panel being matte. The top portion features those twin glowing red vacuum tubes. The right edge of the player features a volume wheel, which has an LED light that flows out. It’s illuminated in different colors depending on the bit depth of the music that’s playing.

RED: 16-BIT
GREEN: 24-BIT
BLUE: 32-BIT
PURPLE: DSD

The left side features four unlabeled buttons near the top, for controlling the player.

The top edge features a power button, a headphone input, and two balanced inputs. (Unbalanced Out (3.5mm), Optical Out(3.5mm), Balanced Outs (2.5mm, only 4-pole supported and 4.4mm, only 5-pole supported)

The display is a 5.5-inch 1080 x 1920 Full HD touchscreen. The interface is pretty great too. It admittedly takes a bit to get used to coming from an iPhone. And I do find it to lag a bit. But only just, and since this only plays music (music listening is inherently a slow activity), it just doesn’t matter. I’m not scrolling Instagram or texting.