Fiio A5 Portable Headphone Amp Review

[Tortie]

That’s my biggest fear but it’s good to know. Someone needs to make a portable amp to compete with this one.

How about the FiiO A3? Do you think it's a worthy alternative now that the A5 is unavailable? I can live with less power btw.

A3 (fiio.com)

 

[Nango]

This clipping isnt necessarily audible from the first second.

 

[Tortie]

This clipping isnt necessarily audible from the first second.

Well I had an A5 and it did clip on me a couple of times. It's super obvious when it happens. But I was speaking to the fact that Amir measured less power output than FiiO claimed the A5 could deliver on their website.

 

[DanTheMan]

How about the FiiO A3? Do you think it's a worthy alternative now that the A5 is unavailable? I can live with less power btw.

A3 (fiio.com)

I bet it is for lower impedance drivers, but I really wouldn't want to say 'listening unheard' as no one says. It would be cool if Amir would measure it to be safe.

 

[Tortie]

I bet it is for lower impedance drivers, but I really wouldn't want to say 'listening unheard' as no one says. It would be cool if Amir would measure it to be safe.

Someone on HF has both the A5 and A3 and thought the latter sounded even cleaner. The A3 is quite popular if we go by the number of Amazon reviews which number more than 1,500 and are overwhelmingly positive. I might buy a unit and send it to Amir if he's interested in measuring it.

 

[DanTheMan]

I did a quick search for the A3 and couldn’t find it for sale Anymore either. Dark days are upon us. My e12 lasts just a couple hours now, but my A5 is still going strong.

 

[Tortie]

I did a quick search for the A3 and couldn’t find it for sale Anymore either. Dark days are upon us. My e12 lasts just a couple hours now, but my A5 is still going strong.

The last available A3 in Amazon.com was sold Sunday night. That ends my brief consideration of buying a portable amp. For those that don't mind rolling the dice there's an eBay merchant selling several 'open box' A3s for $68 but they're probably refurbs. I wouldn't bother.

I had a FiiO A5 for a couple of years. Very nice amp but not anywhere as good as a desktop amplifier. The A3 would have probably been a step down from the A5 and even if not I'd still have to deal with inevitable battery deterioration.

Every portable amp on the market looks unappealing for one reason or another.

 

[raif71]

The last available A3 in Amazon.com was sold Sunday night. That ends my brief consideration of buying a portable amp. For those that don't mind rolling the dice there's an eBay merchant selling several 'open box' A3s for $68 but they're probably refurbs. I wouldn't bother.

I had a FiiO A5 for a couple of years. Very nice amp but not anywhere as good as a desktop amplifier. The A3 would have probably been a step down from the A5 and even if not I'd still have to deal with inevitable battery deterioration.

Every portable amp on the market looks unappealing for one reason or another.

Have you heard of nx4 dsd? It's quite a good dac/amp. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...sd-dac-and-portable-headphone-amplifier.3507/

 

[Tortie]

Have you heard of nx4 dsd? It's quite a good dac/amp. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...sd-dac-and-portable-headphone-amplifier.3507/

That's not a pure amp nor does it measure as well as the A5 or have as much power.

 

[DanTheMan]

The last available A3 in Amazon.com was sold Sunday night. That ends my brief consideration of buying a portable amp. For those that don't mind rolling the dice there's an eBay merchant selling several 'open box' A3s for $68 but they're probably refurbs. I wouldn't bother.

I had a FiiO A5 for a couple of years. Very nice amp but not anywhere as good as a desktop amplifier. The A3 would have probably been a step down from the A5 and even if not I'd still have to deal with inevitable battery deterioration.

Every portable amp on the market looks unappealing for one reason or another.

My Atom is definitely a step up from the A5. Oddly enough, the measurements wouldn’t really indicate it. Maybe a little but from the measurements I wouldn’t think it would be audible, but it is. Nonetheless, the A5 is sweet and allows me to take any headphones I want to take on the go and get them sounding nearly as good as my Atom. Wish they made these things more serviceable. I actually use my e12 more just because I’m trying to make my A5 last longer. In truth I should just use it and when it dies just get the 9038 (I believe it’s called) designed by IVX. It doesn’t have A5 power, but it’s probably the best portable solution available and it doesn’t require a proprietary battery. I always worry about the digital end’s compatibility though when “upgrades” are forced on consumers.

 

[Nango]

The more power from the dongle IVX the more your battery will be drained.

 

[DanTheMan]

Even my s8 has a noticeable drain on my phone’s charge over a dongle and it has less power than the 9038. There’s no way to win at the moment. I actually bought 2 S8’s so that I could leave their cables permanently attached. 1 for the computer and 1 for the phone. I worry about the reports of fragile connectors. I think I do have audiophilia nervousa. They had a deal on them a while back and I couldn’t resist it.

 

[DanTheMan]

That Topping Raif71 linked may be the best overall option then. It has its own battery... probably proprietary with unusual connectors combined with potential for upgrade incompatibility and it’s still no A5. Apparently people like us are not a significant segment of the market. I should still be functional as is for a few years though. I just use these things everyday and enjoy it Immensely. There’s also the monolith by monoprice but it looks to have similar power to the Topping it’s all the same drawbacks and a few very nice features.

 

[Tortie]

@DanTheMan, I'm moving on from portable amplification. I was never terribly impressed with the FiiO A5. In fact I didn't use it for a very long stretch and instead just plugged my headphones directly into my LG smartphone. It was nice that it gave a boost for lower level recordings.

 

[DanTheMan]

Unless there are better options in the future, I’ll likely join your ranks.

 

[DivineCurrent]

Just got my hands on a barely used A5, I’m really impressed by the power! I got it specifically for my hard to drive HE-500, it drives them very well. And I don’t hear any clipping or distortion at all. It’s really too bad FiiO discontinued it, and now they are hard to come by. I do worry about longevity with the battery, but maybe by the time it dies in a few years there will be a better portable solution with more power.

 

[DanTheMan]

The Mont Blanc e12a is also a winner, but used prices are about the same as new prices and they were discontinued a long time ago. My battery life is about 4hrs on it now—just average use with various headphone. My A5 i still long enough that I haven’t bothered to check. I’d bet it’s still >80% of new. I put a lot of miles on my Mont Blanc and hate to see it fade away. I may attempt to replace the battery because it’s just such a nice amp. It’s not as clean as the A5, but it does have a bit more drive for 300ohm cans. Still the A5 does that well enough for sure.

 

[frogmeat69]

You guys are making me regret selling my A3 and e12a amps after getting an A5.
I still have my A5, and only use it on occasion, so hopefully it will last me, since it is a great amp paired with my X5 DAP to power just about whatever cans I want to use with them.

 

[Tortie]

You guys are making me regret selling my A3 and e12a amps after getting an A5.
I still have my A5, and only use it on occasion, so hopefully it will last me, since it is a great amp paired with my X5 DAP to power just about whatever cans I want to use with them.

Hang on to your A5. One of the online repair shops that handle battery replacement service for sealed phones and wireless bluetooth headphones might be willing and able to replace the battery in the A5 for you. I should have pursued that option before attempting to do it myself and breaking the battery connector on the circuit board.

 

[Hi-res-user]

Based on this review, I bought a used A5 on eBay last year for around $50. So far I have enjoyed using it with the following:
On the input end:
Fiio Q3 (normal gain)
iPhone 7
(Jellyfin on the iPhone)
On the output end:
Sennheiser HD540 (600 ohm).

I put the A5 on high gain, and I like the clear, and neutral, sound. But when I put the Q3 on high gain, the sound appears warmer than I like, so I set the Q3 at normal gain.

I’m not sure whether this tandem of Q3 and A5 allows the HD540 to work to its full potential. I prefer a portable setup so that I’m not “tethered” to where a desktop setup is. That is why I decided to use the Q3 and A5.

Any suggestions on how to best use the HD540 with a portable setup? Thanks!

(I’ll keep the A5 in any case, considering it’s so neutral.)