Astell & Kern has launched a copper-clad spin on its high-end SP4000 portable hi-res music player.
The new SP4000 Copper is teased as a "range-topping addition" to the brand's extensive arsenal of digital audio players, bringing together precision engineering and a 99.98 per cent pure copper exterior to bring the established SP4000 flagship player to a new level of audio performance.
This isn't the first time we've seen the Korean company send one of its portable players out to battle in shiny copper armour – the former AK380 flagship from around ten years ago also enjoyed a 'Copper' edition as an alternative to the duralumin-based standard model.
The new unit shares the same flagship specifications of the standard A&ultima SP4000 which we sampled at last year's High End Munich showcase. That means it's once again built around A&K's advanced quad-DAC, octa-circuit architecture and is capable of handling hi-res PCM files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside DSD512.
The addition of copper, however, promises to take take the player's performance to "another level". A&K claims the metal displays "ideal audio properties" which directly shapes the SP4000's sonic character, with copper's natural conductivity and shielding properties helping to preserve your music's finer details.
According to Astell & Kern, the SP4000 Copper delivers "deep, authoritative bass, a rich and articulate midrange" complimented by a "treble that decays with natural ease" thanks to its unique metal cladding.
The new model shares the same feature set as the standard SP4000, including support for the high-quality aptX Adaptive and LDAC Bluetooth codecs for 24-bit audio playback, as well as around 10 hours of continuous playback from a single charge.
The limited edition A&ultima SP4000 Copper is available now, priced at £3999 / $4499 / €4699. That's a modest advance on the £3799 / $3900 / €4499 for the standard iteration of the flagship player.
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