Astell&Kern - AK UW100MKII

It is a decent, value for money product TWS earbuds. The sound quality is amazing and can match with pricey earbuds. The tonal quality is clean and the soundstage is wide. The instruments are well separated in space. I find the musicality of these earbuds is way above the IEMs which I possess. A very convenient option for those who want to enjoy hi-res music on the go.

So starting from start-
Why I bought it - Seen some Ad that its on sale, checked it costs around 200$ but sells like 5k rupees in India. Decided to try it out, I already own sony xm4 , Lypertek Z7 and many other IEms and stuff.

First impression - Very different and sweet sound, treble doesn't hurt or cause headache, build quality is fine. Overall a good Experience.
Oh! when I unboxed the battery was Dead, but its okay.

So first I will mention
Cons-
1. Case is big but sturdy
2. Magnet is too strong , opening the case is a huge task as well as oh god taking out the earpieces , its a pain.
3. earpieces are big in size and it can hurt your ears. Yes your outer ears where earpiece rest can hurt on the edge, at least mine does.
4. APK is not available , yes you have to download from a 3rd party source, I did , and there is nothing much to do there, Just equaliser, DAC setting and Ambient sound.
5. It really irritates me when the charging light keeps blinking Blue and Green, whenever it charges.

Pros -
1. Sound is so well balanced and sweet, Its perfect not bass y , yes you can change it in the settings.
2. SOundstage is wide, I listen to a lot of qawali and classical and yes it does sound better than Sony xm4.
3. Ambient sound mode is good , yes its good.
4. I didn't found an Imbalance but if you do then Download the Ak control App and just change DAC filter .

Final question - Should you get it?
Answer is - Yes and No
Yes if you have no good TWS then go for it , its premium and sounds really good. Wider soundstage and crisp sound, with a 32bit DAC .
No , If you already have a good pair of TWS earbuds, or you are a basshead.
I hope mine last long, I hope so. lets see...

Design: I own many Astell&Kern products and exquisitivity, exclusivity and exotic design are some of the common characteristics found on all their products including the UW100MKII. From the cradle to the earbuds and to the ear-tips, everything screams quality on the UW100MKII and it also exhibits a robust build which is quite uncommon amongst other TWS earbuds that feel flimsy and plasticky to the touch.
Comfort: I was initially skeptical about this particular area due to the typical sharp cuts and unique design of the earbuds but was satisfied once I found the right ear-tip size.
Sound: The lows are well textured, the mids are organic and the highs are quite well extended for a TWS. The soundstaging and imaging are two standout qualities of these earbuds.
Conclusion: I was very contented with almost everything from the niche and compact cradle displaying different led colours varying on the amount of charge on both the earbuds and the cradle, built-in eq presets and customisable eq (though not parametric and wide ranged frequency bands) on the AK Connect app, the passive noise-cancellation that reaches ANC levels and also the good spread of ear-tips to get the right fit, except for the touch interface which is neither tactile nor responsive, and if truth be told it is quite erratic. Nevertheless, these are some of the teething troubles that could be ironed out in the future through firmware upgrades. All in all, what matters the most is the sound quality and once the music starts to play, everything else becomes ephemeral.

One issue, I have thick fingers so struggling every time to take out buds. Rest ok

Positives:

What else its SOUNDDD..damn good full bodied sound with great details and good sound stage no matter what codec your are connected with. About lows..mids..trebles etc., that 32 bit dac taking awesome care of all frequencies..small nit pick is that I felt bass llitle bit bloaty few times may due to some low bittracks tracks, its just a nit pick though.

Now Negs.

i) Bad Connectivity causes sync issues between both buds some times and its annoying. We need to place them back in case to set it.
ii. Multi point connection is bad..while connecting from one device to other, we get mono instead of stereo output..may be due to codec differences I dont know.. need to reset the buds to coorect this. I have done reset atleast 5 6 times now.
iii. On myLenovo tab though Aptx codec is available it connects as aac..not a big issue though just nit picking.
iv. App not supported on my samsung note 8..not a big issue to me as i can check for work around. I tried app on other device but I felt app is not that useful to me.
v. Liked the design but I kinda look like Frankenstein with buds in ear.

Conclusion:

Get these buds blindly….Why do you think earbuds that get sold between 27k-12k range are available for 5k? I think the company is well aware of issues that are there with these. 5k you are paying is for that awesome distortion free sound..Infact you get more than what you pay for in my opinion.

I am coming from Sony wf-1000xm4. i was very happy with the sony earbuds till one of them started developing battery drain issues. As i had got it as a gift from a friend in US, i was unable to return it within warranty period for replacement and so i panned a change. I was considering the sennheiser momentum TWS but did not have the budget for that. Was planning to buy the lypertek Z3, but the sale price on these buds were irresistible.
Packaging was good. You get the promised earbuds with case, a short USB C cable, different sized tips, guide book and a warranty card.
The case is bigger than the sony ones and so are the earbuds.
The exterior panels feature a raised geometric design, typical astell kern design that reflects light and looks genuinely cool
The earbuds do not snap back easily into the case as the sony ones. Due to its shape sometimes they can sit at an odd angle and we have to rotate and fit it in properly. So a bit difficult to put them back in the dark.
The earbuds are much bigger than the Sony ones but doesnt feel that heavy when worn. One of my concerns was on some websites it was mentioned that the earbuds tend to fall and not very secure. That was in the back of my mind and I would lighten them every 10-15minutes when i was out for a walk/jog but they never actually fell down.
Sound quality is amazing. I liked the sound signature better than the sony earbuds. There is no active noise cancellation on these. They do a decent job passively blocking off ambient sounds.
Ambient sound feature is OK but when you put it on the sound signature seems to change. The buttons are tactile and feels great.
But why only 3 stars you may ask
Android app not available for android 14 as of 11/12/2024.
I cannot customise the settings which i do with all my earbuds for my own comfort. I am also unable to find out which codec is being used.
I used the EQ in the music app to some extent but not completely satisfied with it.
When walking at a brisk pace with the phone in my hand a couple of times there were signal issues for fraction of a second.
Once the app is available i may change my ratings.

Like other users i also faced channel imbalance in this tws and even initiated return as well.But i figured out a way yo fix this issue.You need to change dac filter setting to "Short delay slow roll off" in AK control app(App can be downloaded from androidcombo.com ,if play store does not permit.Not a big deal).

Beware,Other DAC filters sound imbalanced except "Short delay slow roll off".

Now taking about the sound,its best in the price at which it offered.

next upgrade from this is libratone air+,beoplay ex,beyer amiron 300.But they are 200$+. without any hesitation you can buy.better.

Astell&Kern - AK UW100MKII, my best purchase of 2024! Thanks to the wonderful team at Headphone Zone, I was able to avail the massive 80% discount of this extraordinary product. It is a Black Friday steal deal, so if you have this in your wishlist—now is the perfect chance to snag this deal!

The delivery was impeccable, and the product arrived in mint condition. It is a genuine product that is manufactured in South Korea! I used to own an iRiver music player "back in the day", so this was coming full circle (A&K is the successor of the famous iRiver products). These are some of the absolute best TWS earbuds you could buy! It's packed with so much good tech, and is even future proofed. I love that they went with PNC (Passive Noise Cancellation), because Apple never tells you the drawbacks of ANC (Active Noise Cancellation)—there is a substantial loss in audio quality with ANC. I had to find the correct silicone ear tips to suit my ear canal, and once I found the perfect fit—the music experience began. I tweaked the EQ using the AK Control app on my phone. I love the sensitive touch controls on the buds, and the Ambient Mode is handy when I want audio pass-through from the environment. The device also comes with AptX codec, provided you use a phone that supports it.

The audio playback is smooth and crisp, with the highs mids and lows in equal clarity. Tweaking the EQ enabled a more bass-rich sound (which I prefer). The product comes with a lot of potential to deliver the exact quality of sound as per each user's predisposition. I sampled nearly every genre of music, and it plays back the tracks perfectly. Wireless earbuds are never gonna beat the audiophile experience that wired buds offer, but these come pretty close!