Legit on Alie?

[KierStalin]

Hi

My first post. I hope you play nicely.

I am new to headphone type stuff and new to alieexpress. I want a new DAC. On alie express there is a seller with the Fiio F5 Pro ESS for about £72 ($96). This is a very good price that cannot be beaten in my country. The seller's name is the 'Fiio Audio Store' and they seem to have good feeback and sales and they have been around since Jun 4 2024. They are not the official store AFAIK.

I just wondered whether someone here can make me feel less anxious before I pull trigger. I haven't posted a link because not sure if breaking the rules. But it is easily found.

Is it too good to be true? Is the seller good? I am so new to alie that I don't know. Perhaps someone here has bought from them? There aren't any fake F5's are there? I have not seen any.. though I know there are fake Toppings about..

 

[Count Arthur]

Do you mean K5 Pro?

I've bought quite a few things from AliExpress, and I've never had any issues, but they have been lower priced items and some bicycle stuff, that are unlikely to be faked.

However, I would be cautious of items that are significantly cheaper than they are elsewhere, or even from other sellers on AliExpress. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[KierStalin]

Do you mean K5 Pro?

I've bought quite a few things from AliExpress, and I've never had any issues, but they have been lower priced items and some bicycle stuff, that are unlikely to be faked.

However, I would be cautious of items that are significantly cheaper than they are elsewhere, or even other sellers on AliExpress. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Oops.. F5 K5.. so many F5's...

Yeah Fiio K5 Pro is what I meant. Bear in mind it is 5 years old. So maybe the price isn't too good to be true?

 

[Count Arthur]

Oops.. F5 K5.. so many F5's...

Yeah Fiio K5 Pro is what I meant. Bear in mind it is 5 years old. So maybe the price isn't too good to be true?

It's still less than half what it is on Amazon.

 

[KierStalin]

It's still less than half what it is on Amazon.

Amazon can be expensive in the UK. It's about 2/3 what it sold for in USA a year or so ago.

 

[JSmith]

Yeah Fiio K5 Pro

Amir tested that back in 2019;

Review and Measurements of Fiio K5 Pro

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fiio K5 Pro DAC and headphone amplifier. It was kindly sent to me by the company. The K5 Pro is a budget product, costing US $150 on Amazon with free shipping. The Fiio K5 looks decent and sports a nice, large volume knob which I appreciated...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Amazon can be expensive in the UK.

eBay looks much better for this SMSL DS100, £65 + postage;

DS100

Foshan ShuangMuSanLin electronics Co., LTD. founded in 2009 which located in Shenzhen, China. And our branch company VMV Technology(HK) Company Limited registered in HK in 2013. Our company is specialized in the audio DAC, stereo headphone amplifier, power amplifier, and with own R&D...

www.smsl-audio.com

Smsl Ds100 for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for Smsl Ds100. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.co.uk

Maybe make a bid on this new Topping DX1, which ends in 26 hours... £33 atm, only 6 bids;

Pardon our interruption...

Plus welcome to ASR.


JSmith

 

[KierStalin]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Amir tested that back in 2019;

Review and Measurements of Fiio K5 Pro

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fiio K5 Pro DAC and headphone amplifier. It was kindly sent to me by the company. The K5 Pro is a budget product, costing US $150 on Amazon with free shipping. The Fiio K5 looks decent and sports a nice, large volume knob which I appreciated...

www.audiosciencereview.com

eBay looks much better for this SMSL DS100, £65 + postage;

DS100

Foshan ShuangMuSanLin electronics Co., LTD. founded in 2009 which located in Shenzhen, China. And our branch company VMV Technology(HK) Company Limited registered in HK in 2013. Our company is specialized in the audio DAC, stereo headphone amplifier, power amplifier, and with own R&D...

www.smsl-audio.com

Smsl Ds100 for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for Smsl Ds100. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.co.uk

Maybe make a bid on this new Topping DX1, which ends in 26 hours... £33 atm, only 6 bids;

Pardon our interruption...

Plus welcome to ASR.


JSmith

I am looking on ebay also..

A bit more about what I am looking for.

I was sort of stuck in my vintage hifi (mid fi) world. Not the slightest bit interested in headphones.

Several systems in the house. At the moment main system is PC toslink to SMSL DAC (can't remember which one), to Arcam Alpha 10 amp (from 1999) to Mission M74 speakers and a BK Gemini sub.

I started thinking about headphones. Not least to cut the electricity bill. I bought Hi-Fi HE400SE and quite liked them.. but realised I might need a bit more power to get the best out of them. But my SMSL has no headphone socket. The Arcam can power them but it consumes 100 odd watts just idling. Hence I thought the Fiio K5 might be a good replacement for the SMSL I have.... where I could use the headphone socket of the Fiio and still take an input from my PC and output to my amp.

I also have some HiFi Man silly big red can R9's coming. Ordered them from alie from hifiman. The 4th thing I have bought from there.