I switched on an Astell&Kern A&futura SE2000 digital audio player earlier today, and it reminded me that a firmware update was available, something I’d been skipping by for the past few weeks. My need to use the player was, for once, not urgent, so I tapped the relevant buttons and within moments the player was updating itself. It took somewhere between five and ten minutes, and after a reboot it was ready to go.
The update was from version 1.14CM to version 1.21CM.
I’d notice in the notes something about a TIDAL update. I wrote recently about installed APKs on Astell&Kern players. My main impetus for doing this was because the pre-installed TIDAL was an old version – 1.8 – which lacks the ability to stream music gaplessly. (That is, where two tracks should flow seamlessly from one to the next, the TIDAL player would insert a mood-breaking moment of silence.)
Thus the APK, to install a more recent version of TIDAL.
After the update I went to TIDAL (via the main menu, then Services). Instead of firing up the version of TIDAL that I had installed via APK (2.40.2), I started the default version TIDAL. After logging in, I could confirm that TIDAL had also been updated, from version 1.8 to version 2.1. Not the latest version, but that’s fine. It now provided the previously missing ability to stream gaplessly.
So, go on, install the update into your Astell&Kern player the first moment you get. That’s good practice anyway, and if you’re a TIDAL user, you’ll get an immediate tangible benefit.
I for one have just uninstalled the APK-installed version of TIDAL from the player. The built-in one is now fine.
Incidentally, if you do want to check whether a player works gaplessly but can’t remember which items from your music collection have run-on tracks, may I recommend The Hidden Land from Béla Fleck & The Flecktones. Aside from being great music, the first track runs into the second after less than two minutes.
