[Dimitry188]

K9 Pro ESS or Jot2/BF2 paired with Aryas?

I used my Fiio K9 Pro ESC with Hifiman Arya. It sounds quite decent. The power is quite enough.

But compared to higher-class sources (for example, a bundle of Singxer SDA-6 and Singxer SA-1), the low frequencies with the K9 Pro are slightly simplified.

 

[cleg]

My video about non-pro K9 and comparison to pro



Changes are small, so K9 is better by value, K9 Pro by absolute sound. FiiO really wanted to give a great sound for a less

 

[llysender]

Being playing with the PRE out of a couple of days now. One thing I noticed is that there is noticable loss in quality when between setting to LINE out and maxing out PRE out. Controlling the volume at the software level and then going line out to my speaker amp seems to give the best results. Not that the warmish and slightly smearish sound when using the pre out cant be good esp for country music and other guitar+vocal music.

 

[Dobrescu George]

My video about non-pro K9 and comparison to pro



Changes are small, so K9 is better by value, K9 Pro by absolute sound. FiiO really wanted to give a great sound for a less

Super nice work!

Being playing with the PRE out of a couple of days now. One thing I noticed is that there is noticable loss in quality when between setting to LINE out and maxing out PRE out. Controlling the volume at the software level and then going line out to my speaker amp seems to give the best results. Not that the warmish and slightly smearish sound when using the pre out cant be good esp for country music and other guitar+vocal music.

So the best expected sound is when you don't engage the volume contrl and leave DAC output at max?

---

I've got a question for everyone, I am curious about this, does the sound degrade if you're using XLR and RCA line outs at the same time, for example RCA to a subwoofer and XLR to speakers?

 

[llysender]

Super nice work!




So the best expected sound is when you don't engage the volume contrl and leave DAC output at max?

---

I've got a question for everyone, I am curious about this, does the sound degrade if you're using XLR and RCA line outs at the same time, for example RCA to a subwoofer and XLR to speakers?

Yes the best sound I find is using windows volume control and then setting the output to LINE out. Even setting it to PRE out and maximizing the volume you still get some bluring. Not sure if this is strictly a K9 pro AKM thing, do let me know if this issue if this happens with K9 pro ESS as well. @FiiO Willson is there any way to fix the preout sound degradation?

I have RCA connected to speakers and XLR connected to tube headphone amp. When both are on I dont hear any sound degration. Although I feel that using speaker outputs to send signal to subwoofer is better as there may be colouring and timing disconnect depending on what speaker amp you use.

 

[elira]

Yes the best sound I find is using windows volume control and then setting the output to LINE out. Even setting it to PRE out and maximizing the volume you still get some bluring. Not sure if this is strictly a K9 pro AKM thing, do let me know if this issue if this happens with K9 pro ESS as well. @FiiO Willson is there any way to fix the preout sound degradation?

I have RCA connected to speakers and XLR connected to tube headphone amp. When both are on I dont hear any sound degration. Although I feel that using speaker outputs to send signal to subwoofer is better as there may be colouring and timing disconnect depending on what speaker amp you use.

I think the bottleneck is the volume control circuit, those volume control chips are not very good in general.

 

[csch92]

why is this thing so massive compared to the k5?

 

[elira]

why is this thing so massive compared to the k5?

More better.

 

[Ichos]

why is this thing so massive compared to the k5?

Internal linear power supply with toroidal transformer.

 

[Dimitry188]

why is this thing so massive compared to the k5?

Because the K9 Pro is two levels better.

I have used Fiio 5 Pro - that device does not cope at all with either high-resistance headphones or full-size planars.

 

[ahmonge]

Because the K9 Pro is two levels better.

I have used Fiio 5 Pro - that device does not cope at all with either high-resistance headphones or full-size planars.

My Aeon 2 Noire and my Hifimsn Ananda are well served with the 1,5 W at 32 Ohms and 1 W at 16 Ohms of my K5 Pro (AKM version). In fact, they sound the same when connected to a Topping A30 Pro, which brings up to 6 W at 16 Ohms. To put this statement in context, it is essential to know the listening volume, which in my case is 85 dB peak for pop/rock and 90 dB peak for classical.

 

[llysender]

My Aeon 2 Noire and my Hifimsn Ananda are well served with the 1,5 W at 32 Ohms and 1 W at 16 Ohms of my K5 Pro (AKM version). In fact, they sound the same when connected to a Topping A30 Pro, which brings up to 6 W at 16 Ohms. To put this statement in context, it is essential to know the listening volume, which in my case is 85 dB peak for pop/rock and 90 dB peak for classical.

The problem is never how high it can go. It's always how low it can go at a set volume say 68dB average for euro metal.

If it was just loudness even dongles can handle it full size planars just fine.

But eh what do I know, must have been a fool to buy the k9 pro akm after A/Bing with my k5 pro akm and finding the k9 pro handled saperation, noise floor, micro details and imaging with the only thing that the k5 pro wining being slam impact.

 

[Dimitry188]

My Aeon 2 Noire and my Hifimsn Ananda are well served with the 1,5 W at 32 Ohms and 1 W at 16 Ohms of my K5 Pro (AKM version). In fact, they sound the same when connected to a Topping A30 Pro, which brings up to 6 W at 16 Ohms. To put this statement in context, it is essential to know the listening volume, which in my case is 85 dB peak for pop/rock and 90 dB peak for classical.

I had Ananda and I have tried to use it with Fiio K5 Pro. The sound was terrible, flat and boring. Very far from the sound that these headphones are capable of.

I seriously advise you to try using Ananda with some other, obviously quite powerful source. You may be very surprised.

 

[Dimitry188]

with the only thing that the k5 pro wining being slam impact.

I completely disagree with this.
Fiio 5 Pro sounds relatively good with 32-ohm headphones.
(Although an experienced listener will certainly hear the difference of sound compared to more advanced devices.)

But with high-resistance and planar headphones Fiio 5 Pro sounds terrible, it does not cope with them at all.

Using 250-ohm Beyerdynamic Amiron Home the "whistle" Fiio ka3 gives a much more correct and full-fledged sound than the K5 Pro.

Here is a table of the output power of the K5 Pro when connecting various loads in ohms in Hi Gain mode.:
(Taken from https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/amp/fiio-k5-pro-hi.php#gsc.tab=0 )

You can see that for 200-ohm headphones, the output power will be 99 mW, for 300-ohm headphones - 66 mW.
This is absolutely not enough for full-fledged sound on full-size headphones.

 

[llysender]

I completely disagree with this.
Fiio 5 Pro sounds relatively good with 32-ohm headphones.
(Although an experienced listener will certainly hear the difference of sound compared to more advanced devices.)

But with high-resistance and planar headphones Fiio 5 Pro sounds terrible, it does not cope with them at all.

Using 250-ohm Beyerdynamic Amiron Home the "whistle" Fiio ka3 gives a much more correct and full-fledged sound than the K5 Pro.

Here is a table of the output power of the K5 Pro when connecting various loads in ohms in Hi Gain mode.:
(Taken from https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/amp/fiio-k5-pro-hi.php#gsc.tab=0 )


You can see that for 200-ohm headphones, the output power will be 99 mW, for 300-ohm headphones - 66 mW.
This is absolutely not enough for full-fledged sound on full-size headphones.

I am not sure about measurements but after pulling out my r70x and he560 to test I still stand by the slam on the k5 pro is heavier. Not that it matters since it's very low quality and not precise by comparison.