Review and Measurements of Fiio K5 Pro

[majingotan]

Why do you think I would not? It is a dedicated DAC+AMP, not a noname sound chip integrated on the motherboard.
It should produce more decent sound. That is why it is much more expensive than a single mobo. BTW Amir recommended it. That is why.
Thank you for asking. Any stupid questions?

You have to understand that even just a 60 dB SINAD (your Mobo's sound output for example) is incredibly hard to distinguish from 80 dB - 120 dB SINAD when A/Bed volume matched sighted and especially DBT. There are a couple of reasons you only upgrade your DAC/amp and if these don't meet your criteria, expect to hear little to no difference:

1) Noisy motherboard output (mouse and coil while seeping through the analog stage of the sound card)
2) Ridiculous output impedance ( > 10 ohm). Some motherboards have over 50 ohm OI which will make a huge chunk of headphones sound incredibly thin and lifeless
3) Abysmal power output (can't even make greater than 30 mW at 32 ohm load)

If your headphones need more power or your IEMs (IEMs are far more sensitive to DAC/amp upgrades than headphones) have very low impedance, you will hear significant improvement with your K5. If your headphones are very efficient and your motherboard's output impedance is very good (2 ohm or less) + noise floor is dead silent with no electronic noises seeping through then you won't hear any difference between onboard and dedicated DAC/amp at all using that specific headphone only

 

[Rockfella]

I have just received my K5 Pro and currently absolutely not satisfied with it.
I used my PC (cheap motherboard) to listen to music, connected Creative T20 to the PC then plugged in Beyerdynamic DT 831 Pro T20's phone jack.
I can hear almost no difference between the DAC's sound and the mobo's.
I have CDs and high res vinyls digitalized, I can tell the difference between the CD, the vinyl and even mp3 listening them even on PC.
Do I really need this DAC?
Or should I invest on a better headphone?
Or should K5 Pro be burnt-in?

Invest in a better speaker and headphone. I could hear a TON of difference on my older Swans M50W 2.1 speaker system when it was on motherboard audio VS Asus Xonar DX, even more with the K5 Pro. You did what many people do = Investing more in dac/amp but have mediocre speaker/headphone.

 

[Shane D]

Thank you. I then send it back. Maybe a D10+Atom or Sabaj D5 wins.

I think it is a good DAC/amp for the price. It is well thought of on a few forums, but it didn't work for my needs. Good luck!

 

[dragonka79]

I think it is a good DAC/amp for the price. It is well thought of on a few forums, but it didn't work for my needs. Good luck!

The difference is so tiny, that it is not worth the extra price for it.
Why is the difference in the sample rate showing up on Fiio application and on Foobar2000 (win7 or win10)?
https://www.imageupload.net/upload-image/2019/12/25/Annotation.png

 

[dmac6419]

I think it is a good DAC/amp for the price. It is well thought of on a few forums, but it didn't work for my needs. Good luck!

The difference is so tiny, that it is not worth the extra price for it.
Why is the difference in the sample rate showing up on Fiio application and on Foobar2000 (win7 or win10)?
https://www.imageupload.net/upload-image/2019/12/25/Annotation.png

It's supposed to show up,you are playing a 176 file,play a 96 file and it'll say 96

 

[Veri]

It's supposed to show up,you are playing a 176 file,play a 96 file and it'll say 96

He's playing DSD, it's probably just his sacd plug-in settings.

 

[dmac6419]

He's playing DSD, it's probably just his sacd plug-in settings.

didn't see the bottom of the page.

 

[JiwaKelam]

need help and recc
i have kind of dilemma this k5 pro or ifi nano idsd black label for driving sennheiser hd600 (300 ohm) , which one should i buy?

 

[raif71]

need help and recc
i have kind of dilemma this k5 pro or ifi nano idsd black label for driving sennheiser hd600 (300 ohm) , which one should i buy?

I suggest you go and audition both devices before deciding if you're able to. However, imho both devices are good but I'm sure you'll narrow it down further if you plan on using it for desktop or mobile or both. I've been using k5pro with hd6xx (300 ohm) and it drives the headphones well. Good luck

 

[flipflop]

need help and recc
i have kind of dilemma this k5 pro or ifi nano idsd black label for driving sennheiser hd600 (300 ohm) , which one should i buy?

K5 Pro since it's cheaper, has better channel balance, and more power.

 

[dragonka79]

He's playing DSD, it's probably just his sacd plug-in settings.

Yes, it was related to that.
Anyway, sent the device back to the seller. I cannot recommend it.

 

[Rockfella]

Yes, it was related to that.
Anyway, sent the device back to the seller. I cannot recommend it.

You need to tweak foobar for it

 

[AudioSonic]

So I have this setup.

I have the original K5 (used to have this paired with a e17k - which was great) but recently swapped the e17k DAC out with the Topping D30.
Originally had the Topping D10 but for some reason when it was plugged into the K5 using RCA, it was causing quite a bit of white noise output. But D30 has resolved that.

Now I have this setup:
K5 (headphone amp)
D30 (DAC)
Using the Elegia as my headphones.

This setups sounds great thus far, from what I have read so far on this thread, it looks like the K5 PRO would actually be worse than the original K5 as a pure amp yes?

Also as a pure amp, would you guys recommend staying with the K5 at this price range or going to something like that Atom to pair with the D30? I'm thinking the original K5 I have is better than the A30 (from topping) to pair with the D30.

Thanks in advance!

 

[flipflop]

This setups sounds great thus far, from what I have read so far on this thread, it looks like the K5 PRO would actually be worse than the original K5 as a pure amp yes?

K5 Pro has better channel matching. K5 has lower distortion and lower output impedance. It's an apples to oranges comparison, but I'd say they're neck and neck.

Also as a pure amp, would you guys recommend staying with the K5 at this price range or going to something like that Atom to pair with the D30?

Atom wouldn't be a meaningful upgrade to K5. Not a lot of amps would be regardless of price.

I'm thinking the original K5 I have is better than the A30 (from topping) to pair with the D30.

A30 has a high output impedance and is rarely recommended for this reason. It would be an especially bad pairing for the 30 ohms Elegia.

 

[AudioSonic]

K5 Pro has better channel matching. K5 has lower distortion and lower output impedance. It's an apples to oranges comparison, but I'd say they're neck and neck.

Atom wouldn't be a meaningful upgrade to K5. Not a lot of amps would be regardless of price.

A30 has a high output impedance and is rarely recommended for this reason. It would be an especially bad pairing for the 30 ohms Elegia.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[AudioSonic]

Oh one more thing. What do you guys think of the Audioengine D1 headphone amp vs the K5?

 

[flipflop]

Oh one more thing. What do you guys think of the Audioengine D1 headphone amp vs the K5?

It hasn't been measured yet, so it's hard for me to comment on.
Manufacturer specs look decent, but completely omit power measurements. That's a red flag.

Measurements of the Audioengine D3 look very unimpressive. Clipping at 0 dBFS, soft clipping AND hard clipping with a 33 ohms load, and high output impedance, which is also much higher than official spec.

Not a company I would like to do business with for the time being.

 

[AudioSonic]

It hasn't been measured yet, so it's hard for me to comment on.
Manufacturer specs look decent, but completely omit power measurements. That's a red flag.

Measurements of the Audioengine D3 look very unimpressive. Clipping at 0 dBFS, soft clipping AND hard clipping with a 33 ohms load, and high output impedance, which is also much higher than official spec.

Not a company I would like to do business with for the time being.

Thanks again for your insights!

 

[Rockfella]

Just to add (not related with anyone's queries) I hear more noise on K5 pro (which is suppose to be better than at-least E10) on both speakers and any headphone but I hear zero noise on any headphone connected to E10! because of this reason as of now I won't sell my E10 and use it exclusively for gaming. I usually game with gaming music off and can hear any noise easily. E10 is dead silent and that tech is more than a decade old!

 

[matthewacbroad]

Hello I bought this few days ago over my X3 gen 1.

When using jriver Bitstream option (bypass PCM and stream DSD over) is there anyway of controlling the filtering on the K5 pro?