FiiO KA5 USB DAC Headphone Amp

It was smaller than I expected, but the screen is easy to read and easy to understand, and the cable can be unplugged in case it breaks, on my phone, an iPhone 14 pro max, the official Apple dongles sounded worse than this, and the cable for the old dongle was very weak and id go through them once every two months or so, but the cable for the KA5 has a braided sheath, and it adds an extra layer of protection for the cable, and the DAC feels ver durable in the hand, the glass is recessed for protection, within the metal body, and the controls are easy to use, and all the cables you need are in the box, listening to it, it makes it so you can play music loud, and hear the distinction of different objects in a song, the bass gets punchier, the guitars get more clear and distinct, the voices in a song feel like they fit with the song, and not one single instrument feels like its overpowering, and it just seems like they just got more distinct and clear-er, in my final notes, ive gotta say, its a very good device

Devo dire eccezionale,rapporto qualità prezzo imbattibile.Lo adopero per Qobuz e Tidal in cuffia.Avevo un’altro dac di una marca blasonata questo preso per gioco,a 1/8 di prezzo una qualità elevata.Se lo adoperate per musica liquida con i provider sopra menzionati resterete di stucco.

Ce dac portable est très réussi, il transforme vraiment la qualité de la musique écoutée. On le branche en USB C sur le portable puis en jack avec les écouteurs. Deux types de jack , le 3.5mm et le 4.4 mm. C’est un petit concentré de technologie. Il faut l’essayer pour ressentir la différence en terme de qualité d’écoute surtout pour des formats audio comme le FLAC.

I like FiiO products. Always have.

I have a few dongles and a couple of portable DAC/AMPs but I wanted something I could take with me and use on my computer, phone, and tablet. I love this one comes with a screen and a host of settings. The volume control is a little weird as what I think should be the volume increase is the volume decrease. Go figure.

It comes with what you see in the pic which I found to be perfect for what I need it for.

The sound is typical FiiO sound. Very well-balanced. Can be a little bassy on some tracks. Nice separation of instruments. The sound stage is good. Nothing to write home about but good. Bass/Sub-Bass is good. Depth of the sound is very good (Fleetwood Mac – Tusk/Kingdome Come – 17). The vocals are well done. Treble is there but by no means piercing. It’s a solid device. I like what I hear and that’s all that counts.

I am deducing two stars ONLY because this was an open box. I paid for a NEW product but, it worked and I have not had any issues with it. Still a little upset about that but, I don’t want to have to re-box it, find a return center, and go through all that hassle. It works. Be careful with this seller.

I guess I qualify as a headphone guy. I have a dozen pairs, ranging from in ear to both open and closed over the ear. These include some quite high end phones. I also have invested heavily and carefully in several pretty much state of the art standalone headphone amps and DACs.

This being said, I was really impressed by what this little thing can do. A lot of similar products can drive in ear phones acceptably. This product can drive big phones like HD650s well and to perfectly adequate volume levels using a simple stereo phone cable. Using a good balanced cable it produces even more powerful output, and the quality of that output easily matches a great many standalone DAC/Amp setups.

Perhaps the only things that might pose a downside is that when driving insensitive over the ear phones it necessarily draws a lot of power from your phone. I am using a Galaxy S23 ultra with a big battery. Even so, the battery drain is noticeable. This is not an issue for me, but it might be for someone with a tiny phone battery.