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Fiio K7 or Topping A30 pro + D30 pro

besbos

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I'm a newbie and just got my DT 1990 Pro headphones. Connected to the headphone jack of my Macbook Pro (2019) they sound pretty good but if I remember right they sounded better in the store with an amp.

I'm interested in the Fiio K7 because of the good reviews and I also like how it looks. But I could also buy a second hand Topping A30 pro / D30 pro stack for about €100 more. Is this worth it? Would I hear a difference? Any other suggestions are welcome too. Schiit and JDS labs are difficult to get here.

I don't plan on buying more headphones in the near future. I mostly listen to music via my Macbook Pro.

Additional question: I also own a Pro-Ject Essential III turntable with pre-amp built in but I can turn that off. Can I connect it to these amps and would this be an upgrade?
 

fishergod

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Fiio has had tons of problem with the K7, to the point where they're pulling it from market and re-releasing a version with Bluetooth later in the year. I would'nt personally go for the Topping D30/A30 stack... I'd go for the Topping DX5.
 
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besbos

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Fiio has had tons of problem with the K7, to the point where they're pulling it from market and re-releasing a version with Bluetooth later in the year. I would'nt personally go for the Topping D30/A30 stack... I'd go for the Topping DX5.
Why wouldn't you go for the Topping stack?
Now that the Fiio is re-released, I would think it's fine?
 

Dunring

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I'm currently using an A30pro/D30pro and you can't go wrong. Low gain is great for IEMs and high gain can handle the he6se. Also no buying balanced cable since it's the same power on all connectors.
 
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besbos

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I'm currently using an A30pro/D30pro and you can't go wrong. Low gain is great for IEMs and high gain can handle the he6se. Also no buying balanced cable since it's the same power on all connectors.
Good to hear. Would you think there is an audible difference with the Fiio?
 

pagan84

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Fiio has had tons of problem with the K7, to the point where they're pulling it from market and re-releasing a version with Bluetooth later in the year. I would'nt personally go for the Topping D30/A30 stack... I'd go for the Topping DX5.
Like what problems?
From what I see both versions are available.
What are the differences except the BT support?
Regards,M.
 

fishergod

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Why wouldn't you go for the Topping stack?
Now that the Fiio is re-released, I would think it's fine?
I just prefer the Topping DX5 more. I will check out the re-released Fiio and see if I would like to go that route.
 

fishergod

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Like what problems?
From what I see both versions are available.
What are the differences except the BT support?
Regards,M.
It's only seems sketchy they had to pull it out from the market only for the sake adding bt. Then later re-releasing it. Also, the K7 puts out pretty ridiculous amounts of power. On low gain and 6.35mm, it'll push the DCA expanse up to unsafe volumes. I listened to it at the 1 o'clock position, about 60%. On high gain, it becomes physically painful quickly. I don't had the 4.4mm connector on hand, but the K7 puts out roughly 2x the power over balanced and should be way more than enough for any headphones.

This is my personal view about the K7, hopefully the re-released version would have a better balanced power.
 

pagan84

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It's only seems sketchy they had to pull it out from the market only for the sake adding bt. Then later re-releasing it. Also, the K7 puts out pretty ridiculous amounts of power. On low gain and 6.35mm, it'll push the DCA expanse up to unsafe volumes. I listened to it at the 1 o'clock position, about 60%. On high gain, it becomes physically painful quickly. I don't had the 4.4mm connector on hand, but the K7 puts out roughly 2x the power over balanced and should be way more than enough for any headphones.

This is my personal view about the K7, hopefully the re-released version would have a better balanced power.
I use K7 with HD6XX balanced cable, yes it can go extremely loud on low gain.
The only problem I have is a sporadic freeze on Foobar/ASIO driver when I jump from album to album or track to track but that looks like a buffering issue (I blame Foobar).
Also I prefer the K5pro LED colours. There should be an option to change them via Fiio USB driver.

Maybe they have changed the way the volume knob works (pacing), is there anyone who can confirm that?

Also the current lineup is a bit weird: K7 BT for 220GBP and new K9 (basically K7 BT + XLR) for 499GBP. Am I missing something?
 

fishergod

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I use K7 with HD6XX balanced cable, yes it can go extremely loud on low gain.
The only problem I have is a sporadic freeze on Foobar/ASIO driver when I jump from album to album or track to track but that looks like a buffering issue (I blame Foobar).
Also I prefer the K5pro LED colours. There should be an option to change them via Fiio USB driver.

Maybe they have changed the way the volume knob works (pacing), is there anyone who can confirm that?

Also the current lineup is a bit weird: K7 BT for 220GBP and new K9 (basically K7 BT + XLR) for 499GBP. Am I missing something?
Okay, thanks for your input. I also like the K5pro LED colors. I am not sure if they made changes to the volume knob, I will check it out.
 

DTTOM37

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Also, the K7 puts out pretty ridiculous amounts of power. On low gain and 6.35mm, it'll push the DCA expanse up to unsafe volumes.
I do use the K7 with HE400i, HD650, Meze 109pro and the Truthear zero.
I really like the big volume knob with his very low upturn (sensitivity) for volume off the start (I have read some very critical comments about that, too), just because you can adapt to your higly sensitive IEM and HPs smoothly.
About the BT version, I would guess that FIIO was made aware that missing it (the BT chip) was a minus point on an otherwise almost perfect package (pricepoint!).
 

fishergod

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I do use the K7 with HE400i, HD650, Meze 109pro and the Truthear zero.
I really like the big volume knob with his very low upturn (sensitivity) for volume off the start (I have read some very critical comments about that, too), just because you can adapt to your higly sensitive IEM and HPs smoothly.
About the BT version, I would guess that FIIO was made aware that missing it (the BT chip) was a minus point on an otherwise almost perfect package (pricepoint!).
Okay, thanks for enlightenment.
 
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