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Review and Measurements of Fiio K5 Pro

panther

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Picked one up today and am quite happy with it. I am not a critical listener and use headphones rarely. But more then enough volume for me on medium gain with HD 660s and quite pleasing with my music and playing some Elite Dangerous this evening.
 

gdourado

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Hello, hope everyone is doing good.

I currently have a SoundblasterX G6.
But I am looking for a more desktop type of amp.
In regard to the dac/amp, is the K5 Pro an upgrade?
I only use the G6 in direct mode and have no need for dsp and SBX processing.

thanks!
 

Dreyfus

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Hi all,

has anyone ever had trouble with the grounding of the K5 Pro? For some reason the PSU of my unit loads the ground shell with up to 100 V. The resistance is high enough so that I only end up with roughly 130 uA, as far as my DMM can be trusted. I can definately feel a tingling when I brush my finger over the metal housing, though. Sometimes I even get a light zap when I touch the shell of the 1/4" connector. And another thing: With the device turned off (PSU still connected) I hear a loud buzzing with my R70X connected. As soon as I power the device on, the noise disappears.

I have been told that the high voltage on the ground shell is due to the loaded y capacitors inside such two-poled power supplies. So, everything normal here?

Would you recommend to try another type of PSU?
Or just bridge the whole thing to earth?

Regards
Dreyfus
 

da_mau5

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Picked one up today and am quite happy with it. I am not a critical listener and use headphones rarely. But more then enough volume for me on medium gain with HD 660s and quite pleasing with my music and playing some Elite Dangerous this evening.
I have the same combo and it's just fine (if not perfectly fine imo) even for critical listening. Also, I connect a subwoofer through the lineout and a pair of powered speakers from the headphone out and love it for that use case as well. Does get warm in that case but hasn't been damaged in more than an year of doing so.
 

AdamG

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I have the same combo and it's just fine (if not perfectly fine imo) even for critical listening. Also, I connect a subwoofer through the lineout and a pair of powered speakers from the headphone out and love it for that use case as well. Does get warm in that case but hasn't been damaged in more than an year of doing so.
Welcome Aboard @da_mau5.
 

panther

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I have the same combo and it's just fine (if not perfectly fine imo) even for critical listening. Also, I connect a subwoofer through the lineout and a pair of powered speakers from the headphone out and love it for that use case as well. Does get warm in that case but hasn't been damaged in more than an year of doing so.
Nice good to know on the powered speakers. I ordered some for the desktop setup and will try running them through the K5 Pro.
 

CRKebschull

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Simply turning off the amp when using headphones should be fine, but you need to unplug your headphones when you're using speakers.

I never tried it until I read that; until now I've used the K5 solely as a USB DAC + headphone amp, I completely ignored the fact that there's a line out (and even a line in in various formats) out back.

So, with my powered monitors now connected to the line out, and the ATHMSR7 connected via the front headphone jack... I see that both line out and headphone jack have a signal. And the headphone and line out gains are adjusted simultaneously via the volume knob. And it makes me turn the volume on the active monitors waaaay down... is that really line level coming out of the K5?!

This is interesting... it opens up the possibility to get rid of my PCIe sound card and use the K5 as my PC monitor and headphone sound source. It''d be nice though if the line out at 100%, because the active monitors ofcourse have their own volume, so that you can listen to your speakers and not get any output on your headphones, which is a bit disturbing... which is what you were talking about.
 

cestmoi

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Hi all.

Noob question here...

I've been using my K5 Pro for about two years now. It has been paired with he4xx, hd6xx, and dt990 pro with no problem. Would drop 789, Monolith 887, or sp200/sh-9 be an upgrade (regarding amplification) from it?

I've tried to figure this out by myself by reading the topics of all these models but I did not succeed.

TIA
 

flipflop

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Would drop 789, Monolith 887, or sp200/sh-9 be an upgrade (regarding amplification) from it?
Nope, the DAC is the weakest part of the K5 Pro, so that's where you should look if you want to "upgrade". Waste of money if you ask me.
Most, if not all, of these amps also have analog (and therefore flawed) volume control. In that regard, they would make a downgrade.
 

cestmoi

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@flipflop

I'm indeed surprised because I was pretty much convinced that the THX amps I've listed would improve detail and clarity compared to my budget K5 Pro.

Any suggestions for a better DAC?

Thank you!
 

flipflop

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I'm indeed surprised because I was pretty much convinced that the THX amps I've listed would improve detail and clarity compared to my budget K5 Pro.
You must have been reading the wrong forums or not reading this one carefully enough :)
Any suggestions for a better DAC?
Any of the well-reviewed $100 DACs will do, such as Topping D10s, SMSL Sanskrit 10th MK II, Schiit Modi 3+, Monoprice Liquid Spark DAC, JDS Labs Atom DAC.
I very much doubt any of them are going to make an audible improvement, though.

You should make an attempt at equalizing your headphones if you haven't already.
 

cestmoi

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You must have been reading the wrong forums or not reading this one carefully enough :)

Likely... :)

Any of the well-reviewed $100 DACs will do, such as Topping D10s, SMSL Sanskrit 10th MK II, Schiit Modi 3+, Monoprice Liquid Spark DAC, JDS Labs Atom DAC.
I very much doubt any of them are going to make an audible improvement, though.

You should make an attempt at equalizing your headphones if you haven't already.

It says a lot. I can then keep my k5 pro and hence save for better cans. :)

Thank you!
 

Davis87

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Hello! Right now i choose between Flio k5 pro and creative g6. Mostly for music. I want use my headphones and sometimes speakers (edifier 350db). Which device better and how they work with speakers ? Can they improve speakers sound too ?

I am not rly good in this theme but ty for any answers!
 

cestmoi

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@Davis87

Both here.


Do you mean Sound BlasterX G6, right?

If so, skip it because it has serious (non solved) driver issues (crackling sound) on Windows 10.

K5 Pro hands down if you won't need dolby effects.
 

Davis87

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@Davis87

Both here.


Do you mean Sound BlasterX G6, right?

If so, skip it because it has serious (non solved) driver issues (crackling sound) on Windows 10.

K5 Pro hands down if you won't need dolby effects.

Yea, i heard Creative G6 have bad soft, but i dont think this problem so huge. Do you have K5 Pro ? Its works ok with speakers ?
 

Hifisound

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Probably not a good choice for your set up.

Theres no proper line out, the Pro acts more like a pre amp. Connect the RCA outs and the volume control still works.

I wonder why Fiio didn't explicitly call it a pre out then ?
Any caveats if using it as pre for JBL actives (LSR306) ?
 
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