[iscorpio71]

Where are the photos and your impressions?

Here's one for your amusement:

 

[MariusAB]

Here's one for your amusement:

And expectations met reality? In sound, overal quality?

 

[iscorpio71]

And expectations met reality? In sound, overal quality?

Expectations meet, soundwise it's very revealing and not forgiving of the recording quality.

My only complaint thus far Is the Bluetooth connection, as it suffers from jitter, very annoying. I guess and hope that it's going to be solved with a firmware update.

Best

 

[MariusAB]

Expectations meet, soundwise it's very revealing and not forgiving of the recording quality.

My only complaint thus far Is the Bluetooth connection, as it suffers from jitter, very annoying. I guess and hope that it's going to be solved with a firmware update.

Best

Thanks, after all such amp dac meant to be used wired but ofcourse it would be better if bluetooth worked as it should. But it should be fixed in the future. Its very fresh product. But sound should be revealing in this level of gear so for me it is as should. Good to hear anything about this product so thanks for sharing

 

[iscorpio71]

Thanks, after all such amp dac meant to be used wired but ofcourse it would be better if bluetooth worked as it should. But it should be fixed in the future. Its very fresh product. But sound should be revealing in this level of gear so for me it is as should. Good to hear anything about this product so thanks for sharing

It's meant to be used whichever way, but yes, wired has the most sound quality.

Also it is not a fresh product in a sense that is a reiterating product, and Bluetooth technology has been used in multiple other products as well, besides being 5.1!
So, yeah I'm very disappointed on the Bluetooth implementation.

 

[FiiO]

I'm going through the same problem.
Fiio does not have a store or representative in my country, I always have to import from China and pay customs taxes and there is also the risk of being blocked from entering the country, entry is not always allowed.

But historically Fiio products have always surprised me with their audio quality, I have never regretted purchasing them and whenever I need to sell the sale is done quickly due to the good reputation of quality that Fiio products have.

With this in mind I placed my order for a Fiio K9 AKM unit that has already arrived in my country and is currently being inspected, I hope it will certainly enter my country, eagerly awaiting the news and tax amounts.

Dear friend,

Which country are you located in?

Best regards

 

[Riversalt]

Caro amigo,

Em que país você está localizado?

Atenciosamente

Brasil.

 

[FiiO]

Brasil.

Dear friend,

Thank you. We will try to communicate about your feedback with our seller in Brazil.

Best regards

 

[ekbalco]

The K9 AKM arrived yesterday courtesy of Amazon UK. Some thoughts;

First of all I’m a 60 year old man so my ears aren’t necessarily perfect nor capable of describing / defining what I’m hearing so please take all of this review with that in mind. Don’t shoot the messenger ! I’m just going to give my thoughts based on what I’m hearing when I’m listening and comparing the K9 to the other FiiO products that I’ve had/have.

Headphones used whilst listening are the
HD600
HD6XX
HD660S2

Yes, I’m a Sennheiser fan. I don’t own any other headphones so can’t compare with any other headphone. All are 300ohm so it will give you some idea of “power” in relation to the K9 AKM.

Other FiiO Amp Dacs owned-
K7
K11
K9 standard (not this AKM standard but the previous standard if you see what I mean - the ES9068AS one)

K5 (though some time ago)

K9 Pro ESS (only as a demo and therefore difficult to remember /compare)

Standard stuff - The K9 AKM is very well built and exudes a decent sense of quality. It doesn’t say K9 AKM anywhere on it but the USB C port on the side gives it away as not being the other K9 standard edition. All the usual bits and bobs are included and the power lead (UK lead) is just about a suitable length. Spare fuse and plastic stand pieces are included.

I didn’t alter any filters and the firmware was 1.1 and I left it at that. I don’t use the Bluetooth connection so can’t comment on it. The K9 AKM will just sit on a desk hooked up to a MacBook Pro and playing Apple Music Lossless.Hi Res lossless when available.

Initial impressions are that this is a spectacular piece of kit for £500. There is a depth and authority (and drive) that comes out of this that I’ve not personally heard before.

Examples ? Listening to Steven Wilsons Hand Cannot Erase album and that dynamism and drive muscles through in no uncertain terms. It’s a glorious album (well produced as well - like all of Steven’s stuff) that contains so much musical information and abrupt style changes and the K9 AKM handles it so well.

Blackfield Live in New York is another example. Those drums are powerful ! And every crowd cheer comes at you strong and you feel like you are there.


Going back to one of my old time classics Genesis The lamb lies down on Broadway and there’s stuff here that I’ve not heard/telegraphed before. Fine fine detail.

And so on and so on. It’s a killer headphone dac amp when you hear new things in better detail and this delivers.

Now some comparisons;

It all sounded great with the HD600 as expected. It all sounded great with the HD 6XX as expected. But when listening with the HD660S2 it seemed to make that particular headphone come alive ! And I mean seriously open up the staging /sound definition and overall quality. I wasn’t a huge fan of the 660S2 before (finding it pleasant but not overly impressive ) and I’ve changed my mind. The K9 AKM with the 660S2 is an absolute winner. Only my opinion of course but I’m going to keep the 660S2’s now whereas before I was going to let them go.

Comparisons to the other FiiO Headphone dac amps?

K11 - I like the K11 and still think it’s a great value for money deal but (not surprising as the price differential is so great ) the K9 AKM is miles ahead in every area. Which is to be expected .

K7 - I’m a great fan of the K7, it’s a stellar release for the money. The K9 AKM is miles and miles ahead. Miles. The micro detailing , the power , the soundstage , the lot. If you are a K7 fan and were wondering whether to upgrade I’ll be quick - it’s a no brainer if you can afford to.

K9 standard edition - was always an interesting release and like many others I purchased immediately. I liked it but felt that it would struggle to fill whatever void FiiO thought there was between the K7 and the K9 Pro. Was it an improvement over the K7? Of course. Enough to justify the price? Possibly. I went back to listen to it and then listened to the K9 AKM and I’m hearing a great difference. Or should that be I’m hearing from the AKM version of the K9 differences that I prefer? Yes, that’s probably it. But FiiO has clearly been tweaking things and working some sort of magic as I can have the K9 AKM at the 1pm clock position on the dial yet the standard K9 I have to have it at the 2.30 pm position on the dial to achieve the same sound levels. And the sound coming from the AKM version sounds better. Just my opinion. I went back and checked again. Same result. This was all done in balanced output I should have mentioned. Make of it if as you will.

K9 Pro ESS - hard for me to remember now when I first auditioned it and I just remember coming away thinking it was decent but not special. It didn’t grab me at the time. But that was a good year ago and I didn’t audition it for long.

Those are my thoughts anyway and take them as you will. I’ve noticed on these forums that people tend to hold onto their own favourites and beliefs in their own special headphones/Amps/whatever and get very territorial over someone else’s opinions or experiences and it’s a bit off putting to be fair. I’m just laying out what I’m hearing based on my very limited experience and that’s it. Nothing more.

Long story short - I thoroughly recommend the K9 AKM

 

[Riversalt]

@FiiO

Estou correto ao pensar que o botão ON/OFF frontal apenas desliga a amplificação e a parte dac (modo de espera)?

Desligando o K9 através do botão ON/OFF frontal (modo Standby) a fonte de alimentação linear do K9 permanece operacional (modo standby) neste caso o calor ali gerado seria exclusivamente devido ao funcionamento da PSU Linear correto?

Olhando vários outros Dac Amps notei que no modo standby o calor gerado era apenas da fonte PSU e não da parte Chip Amp como alguns relataram em relação ao K9, neste caso o K9 só ficaria realmente frio se o standby o modo foi desligado usando o botão traseiro que corta 100% da energia da PSU, correto?

Alguns de vocês que já têm o K9 há muito tempo sempre o deixam no modo standby sem danificar o aparelho?

 

[iscorpio71]

@FiiO

Estou correto ao pensar que o botão ON/OFF frontal apenas desliga a amplificação e a parte dac (modo de espera)?

Desligando o K9 através do botão ON/OFF frontal (modo Standby) a fonte de alimentação linear do K9 permanece operacional (modo standby) neste caso o calor ali gerado seria exclusivamente devido ao funcionamento da PSU Linear correto?

Olhando vários outros Dac Amps notei que no modo standby o calor gerado era apenas da fonte PSU e não da parte Chip Amp como alguns relataram em relação ao K9, neste caso o K9 só ficaria realmente frio se o standby o modo foi desligado usando o botão traseiro que corta 100% da energia da PSU, correto?

Alguns de vocês que já têm o K9 há muito tempo sempre o deixam no modo standby sem danificar o aparelho?

"Am I correct in thinking that the front ON/OFF button only turns off the amplification and the DAC part (standby mode)?

By turning off the K9 using the front ON/OFF button (Standby mode), the K9's linear power supply remains operational (standby mode). In this case, the heat generated there would be exclusively due to the operation of the Linear PSU, correct?

Looking at several other Dac Amps I noticed that in standby mode the heat generated was only from the PSU source and not from the Chip Amp part as some reported in relation to the K9, in this case, the K9 would only be really cold if the standby mode was turned off using the button rear that cuts 100% of PSU power, correct?

Some of you who have had the K9 for a long time always leave it in standby mode without damaging the device."

Since getting the K9, recently, I've not used the main IO switch on the back, only the front, and not noticed any heat.

 

[FiiO]

@FiiO

Estou correto ao pensar que o botão ON/OFF frontal apenas desliga a amplificação e a parte dac (modo de espera)?

Desligando o K9 através do botão ON/OFF frontal (modo Standby) a fonte de alimentação linear do K9 permanece operacional (modo standby) neste caso o calor ali gerado seria exclusivamente devido ao funcionamento da PSU Linear correto?

Olhando vários outros Dac Amps notei que no modo standby o calor gerado era apenas da fonte PSU e não da parte Chip Amp como alguns relataram em relação ao K9, neste caso o K9 só ficaria realmente frio se o standby o modo foi desligado usando o botão traseiro que corta 100% da energia da PSU, correto?

Alguns de vocês que já têm o K9 há muito tempo sempre o deixam no modo standby sem danificar o aparelho?

Dear friend,
Hi.
1. When using the switch in the back panel to turn off the K9 AKM, all the power supply for K9 AKM will be turned off, including the Linear PSU.
2. When using the switch in the front panel to let the K9 AKM enter standby mode, the power supply of most hardware circuit will be turned off. But the Linear PSU is working still. The K9 will not be hot at the time since the power consumption is very low at that time.

Best regards

 

[FSerj]

Hello! Has anyone compared the Fiio K9 pro AKM with the Fiio k9 AKM, is there any difference in sound?

 

[MariusAB]

Hello! Has anyone compared the Fiio K9 pro AKM with the Fiio k9 AKM, is there any difference in sound?

At the moment i found only one review in head fi, but there is comparison with ess version of k9 and k9pro. Not with k9pro akm, which was limited version and not so much have it.I think it will be really hard to find such version. Actually there is still not so much info about newest k9akm compared to anything

 

[FiiO]

Hello! Has anyone compared the Fiio K9 pro AKM with the Fiio k9 AKM, is there any difference in sound?

Dear friend,

Hi, we have arranged some K9AKM to the reviewers, so you could refer their reviews when they release. And if there is local store in your country, you could have a try by youself as well.

Best regards