In its 1,5 years at market, the AK100 has been replaced/updated thrice. So, too, has its younger sibling, the AK120 (once called the Ultimate Joy of Music). Now there's the AK240 (which bears the dubious: BE THE ULTIMATE tag). If Astell&Kern had a porn name, it would be Prejack Luvpump. Its signature move would be ejaculating every time the word 'sex' was mentioned. Somehow that sticky icky appeals to Mono and Stereo.

“The AK100 II and AK120 II replace the Wolfson WM8740 DAC with the Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chipset found in the flagship AK240. The AK100 II features a single DAC chipset like its predecessor, while the AK120 steps up to two (2) DACs (Digital to Analog Converters) that output audio signals independently to each channel, making the AK120 II a true dual mono (dual monaural) setup like those found in expensive hi-fi equipment. The dual Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC chips found in the AK120 II dedicates each DAC chip to a completely separate left and right channel. In result, the AK120 II provides far superior depth, clarity, and spaciousness to the audio. By providing a much clearer sound with lower distortion, the AK120 II truly replicates how the original music was recorded. ”

Maybe I just don't get it. Or maybe, my hopes for luxury goods are higher, and clearer than iRiver's.

Luxury is a category established by superiority in service or product quality. It is punctuated by follow through, by grace, by snob appeal, and almost always, by lucid, intelligible copy. It is not established by escalating prices. It is not established by products or services whose relevance expires within a season, or whose copy contradicts itself. It is not established by Google translate and primary school editors.

Willy-nilly upgrades are the marks of indecisiveness; and indecisiveness is a mark of the cheap, of the mundane, of the mass market. It is a mark of the sticky-sheets adolescent who still chews his pronouns.