Astell&Kern AK UW100: Surprisingly Affordable High-end in-ear Headphones

The high-end personal audio company delivers a stunning listening experience with its first true wireless stereo earphones.

- By James Barber

Astell&Kern has a sterling reputation in the audiophile world, so you have to think it carefully considered the decision before it put the A&K name on a pair of wireless in-ear headphones priced for a broader market. The AK UW100 (fave.co/35JSepR; $260) utilize technology originally developed for the company's hi-fi gear and certainly qualify as a product that deserves the Astell&Kern name.

Building high-quality in-ear headphones is quite a challenge. Sure, there are plenty of inexpensive earbuds that will keep a Bluetooth connection, and there are also plenty of listeners who can't tell the difference or don't care.

When a manufacturer aspires to make something better, it usually gets tripped up at the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) stage. Most choose low power consumption DACS to maximize battery life, but that trade-off severely limits the audio quality they can deliver.

Astell&Kern believes it has solved the problem by tapping amplifier and audio circuit technology originally developed for its digital audio players. The AK UW100 use an Asahi Kasei AKM AK4332 32-bit DAC to deliver a much better audio experience than the competition.

The AK UW100 also use Knowles balanced armature drivers instead of the dynamic drivers commonly used for standard in-ear headphones. Balanced armature drivers are known for their accurate music reproduction, and they're a common feature in pro-level in-ear stage monitors.

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