The AKM AK4497S chips that equip the K15 belong to the new “Velvet Sound” series from the Japanese manufacturer, with impressive specifications: signal-to-noise ratio of 129dB and total harmonic distortion plus noise of -117dB. This improvement compared to previous generations is based on DWA (Data Weighted Averaging) Routing technology, inherited from the top model AK4499EX, which significantly minimizes the impact of conversion element variations.
The choice of AKM for these converters is no coincidence. The Velvet Sound series, launched in 2014, represents a unique approach to audio conversion, where technical measurement is combined with the pursuit of natural sound. These new chips support resolutions up to 768kHz/32-bit in PCM and DSD512, allowing faithful reproduction even of the most demanding high-resolution recordings.