Astell&Kern PD5

The PD5 is built to go everywhere with you. It fits comfortably in one hand and runs all day on a single charge, yet it plays far beyond its size, with the deep, detailed and rich sound Astell&Kern is known for.

Portability and high performance, finally in balance: a serious hi-fi player for everyday listening.

Weighing about 200g, with a curved 4.1-inch display shaped for the hand, the PD5 is easy to hold through long sessions, from the morning commute to the last track at night.

Choose the DAC configuration that suits where and how you listen.

Quad-DAC: Astell&Kern’s natural, smooth signature, tuned for efficiency. Up to 6Vrms balanced and up to 28 hours of playback.

Octa-DAC: maximum performance with greater detail, wider dynamic range and stronger channel separation. Up to 8Vrms balanced and up to 15 hours of playback.

EnviroTune, from “Environment” and “Tune”, listens to the world around you through the built-in microphone. It analyses ambient noise band by band in real time and restores the frequencies that noise would otherwise mask.

The music stays clear without turning the volume up, wherever you are. EnviroTune works with PCM up to 24-bit/192kHz.

Group delay is the small time difference between frequencies as they pass through an audio system, so they arrive slightly out of step. Astell&Kern’s ESA technology aligns them to arrive far more uniformly, reducing frequency distortion for a cleaner, purer sound.

The PD5 pairs its latest DACs with an advanced version of TERATON ALPHA, Astell&Kern’s in-house audio technology. It removes power noise, uses power efficiently, keeps amplification steady and converts the audio output cleanly, all to stay as close as possible to the original source.

DAR raises the sample rate of the music you play, going beyond the limits of the original file for smoother, more precise playback that sits closer to analogue.

• PCM mode: 44.1kHz-family tracks convert to 352.8kHz, 48kHz-family tracks to 384kHz
• DSD mode: PCM below 192kHz converts to DSD128
• DSD tracks always play natively, without conversion

DAR adapts to the source automatically and can be switched on or off to suit the track and your taste.

Four DAC filters: Low Latency Fast for fuller bass, Low Latency Slow for a pure, natural decay, Phase Compensated Fast for a dynamic, punchy character and Phase Compensated Slow for a light, airy texture.

Crossfeed sends a little of each channel to the other with a slight delay, centring the image like loudspeakers and easing fatigue on long sessions. Fine-tune it with Shelf Cutoff, Shelf Gain and Mixer Level.

ReplayGain evens out the volume between tracks, so a playlist plays at a consistent level (up to 24-bit/192kHz).