TechRadar Verdict
Bargain hunting?
You’re in the wrong room, friend.
The good news, though, is that its completely worth it.
If the slanted screen doesn’t bother you, there’s so much to love
This player is nice to hold, simple and logical to operate, and a pleasure to listen to.
The difference in ticket price is negligible, especially when you factor in the age of the SR25 MKII.
Amplification, for instance, is provided by a new in-house A&K design called New Generation AMP.
As with the SR25 MKII, there’s a 4.4 balanced headphone jack for extra connectivity
Teraton Alpha has featured in Astell & Kern players before now, but only the much more expensive ones.
There are wired and wireless connectivity options here, of course.
Battery life is very dependent on how youre using the player.
An unmarked quartet of brutalist black buttons. But once you know, you know
Charging from flat to full takes around two-and-a-half hours.
Wired headphones can be plugged into one of the three headphones sockets on the players top edge.
Internal memory is 64GB.
The rotary volume dial: still a winner
Which should last you a little longer.
But believe you me, by Astell & Kern standards the SR35 is compact and lightweight.
Some of this is explained by everything thats going on inside, of course.
This plucky player was driving the huge, open-back FT5 headphones at the time and – doing a marvellous job
You may be the owner of some similarly expensive and appropriately talented headphones.
If you are, then youre good to go.
Even though the SR35 thrives on the best standard of content, its more agnostic than many alternative players.
In both cases, the sound this player makes is deft, musical and entertaining like you wouldnt believe.
This one, though, is musical and then some.
So this interface is familiar, but far more focused on whats actually important.
you’re free to rearrange the layout of playback controls.
you might audition four different DAC filters and a few amp options.
There are a few nicely implemented physical controls here too.
A&K doesn’t mark these buttons, that would upset the aesthetic.
But you’ll be listening so often, you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Astell & Kern A&norma SR35: Should you buy it?
You’re laughing here.
Youre not paying for a top-tier streaming serviceSpotify free?
Its more affordable, its similarly specified in many ways, and it sounds great.
Read more about it in ourFiiO M11S review.
