Review and Measurements of Fiio K5 Pro

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Actually I saw on FiiO website, it stated the max impedance headphone for k5 pro is 300. If you say it can drive k5 pro on low gain, does this mean it can drive above 300 impedance headphone? Sorry, new to this stuff

If you read just a few posts back I had the same concern.

I’ve now paired the K5 Pro with the Beyer DT990s and it has no problem driving them.

Advice is to keep the volume control between 9 O’CLOCK and 3. Having played a variety of material, everything has been loud enough between 12 and 3. No sound of any problems, distortion, etc.

 

[Tablation]

Hello everyone! How this amp will work with an AKG K702? Right Now, it's plug in a Behringer UM2, and the lack of bass is a bit frustrating, also, the soundstage is not mindblowing.... ( I've allready order the Amp, will receved him in 10 - 15 days, it's the only one i could found in Belgium in my price range for a Dac/Amp combo ) (Sorry for my english,... ) Thanks!

 

[flipflop]

Hello everyone!

Hello and welcome.

How this amp will work with an AKG K702?

Should be fine. There's nothing special about the K702 when it comes to impedance and sensitivity.

Right Now, it's plug in a Behringer UM2, and the lack of bass is a bit frustrating, also, the soundstage is not mindblowing

A lack of bass is inherent to the headphones and the problem is worsened by the exaggerated treble response. Both can be corrected with EQ.
The soundstage can also be improved with DSP, but that's a bit more complicated.

 

[Tablation]

Hello and welcome.

Should be fine. There's nothing special about the K702 when it comes to impedance and sensitivity.

A lack of bass is inherent to the headphones and the problem is worsened by the exaggerated treble response. Both can be corrected with EQ.
The soundstage can also be improved with DSP, but that's a bit more complicated.

Thank you for the answer! I'm a little bit lost, if there's no improvement in these "issues", what's the point to get an amp? I have already plenty of volume in my actual settup.. Dynamic? Sharpness? I was hoping to a "wow" effect, but i'm a little bit scared now...

( These headphone are allready fantastic by the way, it's my first pair of "good" headphone, i re-discoverd all the songs i loved... "Deja vu" from Crosby Still nash and Young sounds fantastic, all the discography of Bruce Springsteen too! )

 

[flipflop]

I'm a little bit lost, if there's no improvement in these "issues", what's the point to get an amp? I have already plenty of volume in my actual settup

In your case, there doesn't seem to be much of technical reason for it. I hope you will agree with me that it's an upgrade in terms of aesthetics and ergonomics, though.

I was hoping to a "wow" effect, but i'm a little bit scared now...

At least you know what you are getting. I can't find any measurements of the UM2, so it could be really poorly performing for all we know. I think peace of mind is worth something.

( These headphone are allready fantastic by the way, it's my first pair of "good" headphone, i re-discoverd all the songs i loved... "Deja vu" from Crosby Still nash and Young sounds fantastic, all the discography of Bruce Springsteen too! )

I'm glad you like them, but do consider EQing. All headphones can benefit from it.

 

[Tablation]

In your case, there doesn't seem to be much of technical reason for it. I hope you will agree with me that it's an upgrade in terms of aesthetics and ergonomics, though.

At least you know what you are getting. I can't find any measurements of the UM2, so it could be really poorly performing for all we know. I think peace of mind is worth something.

I'm glad you like them, but do consider EQing. All headphones can benefit from it.

I've already try some EQ, but i don't like to change what AKG want's for my ears

I will come back to give my impressions when i receved the Amp! Thank you very much!

(The UM2's headphone output is for monitoring recording, actualy, the sound is better with the in board sound system of my PC, but electrics noises screw the party...)

 

[companyja]

Thank you for the answer! I'm a little bit lost, if there's no improvement in these "issues", what's the point to get an amp? I have already plenty of volume in my actual settup.. Dynamic? Sharpness? I was hoping to a "wow" effect, but i'm a little bit scared now...

( These headphone are allready fantastic by the way, it's my first pair of "good" headphone, i re-discoverd all the songs i loved... "Deja vu" from Crosby Still nash and Young sounds fantastic, all the discography of Bruce Springsteen too! )

I just got a pair of used K712, and they sound absolutely fine with the K5 Pro. I was surprised that they need more juice than the K240, considering the sensitivity and impedance measurements, even independent ones and not AKG's reports...but the K5 pro does just fine, at the highest gain I consider anything past 12 o'clock to be too loud. I don't know exactly how much the K702 and K712 differ, I think they use different drivers, but the design is pretty much an evolution of the other.

 

[blse59]

Thank you for the answer! I'm a little bit lost, if there's no improvement in these "issues", what's the point to get an amp? I have already plenty of volume in my actual settup.. Dynamic? Sharpness? I was hoping to a "wow" effect, but i'm a little bit scared now...

( These headphone are allready fantastic by the way, it's my first pair of "good" headphone, i re-discoverd all the songs i loved... "Deja vu" from Crosby Still nash and Young sounds fantastic, all the discography of Bruce Springsteen too! )

If you've got plenty of the volume you need you really didn't need an amp. The amp does offer way more input and output connection options and it's easier to control volume.

 

[DeadmAn]

Hi, Amirm

I just got this K5 pro and a set of jds atom + khadas tone board after reading your test results and the reviews from some others.
I connected them with my laptop and listened some music that I usually use for testing the sound quality. My output device are Harman Kardon gla 55 and beyerdynamic dt880. However, I didn’t notice too much difference between these two sets of DAC/AMP. Based on your data, looks like the score for atom and KTB is much higher than k5 pro. maybe I’m just an amateur and can’t recognize the difference, or the actual difference is barely not noticeable from a human’s ears?

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:

View attachment 34311​

As you can see, there is the usual input selector and triple gain setting. An informative LED light around the volume control changes color depending on whether the device is in use.

The back panel is as you expect:

View attachment 34312​

The power supply is rather unique, outputting 15 volts which typically indicates good power delivery when it comes to headphone output. Note that on AC side of it, the removable cable has the three-pin, round holes like laptop power supplies do.

The rear Line Out changes with volume on the front but not the gain switch. The headphone output and rear Line Out are active at the same time so you have to remember to disconnect one or the other if that is what you intent.

DAC Audio Measurements
As usual, we start with our dashboard, measuring what comes out of the line out:
View attachment 34313

Well, this is disappointing. I almost put aside the unit thinking it is not worth testing more. The SINAD puts it in the fourth quadrant of all DACs tested:
View attachment 34314

Oops, forgot to mark which one it is in that graph. Sorry about that. Click on it and you should be able to find it.

Note that SINAD improves good bit to 90s when the output is lowered to 1 volt or so.

Before giving up, I ran a power test on its headphone out and found that quite good. So I continued with testing that port, rather than line out.

Headphone Amplifier Audio Measurements
Here is our jitter test:

View attachment 34315

That's quite good as indicated on the graph. Worst case jitter components are at -135 dB which is way, way lower than threshold of hearing.

Linearity really impressed me:
View attachment 34316

Intermodulation+noise test shows some weakness but nothing badly broken:
View attachment 34317

Here is our dynamic range:

View attachment 34318

Good enough on 2 volt dynamic range but middle of the road on 50 millivolts of output:

View attachment 34319

Most important test is power versus noise and distortion:
View attachment 34320

We see that the Fiio K5 Pro has a lot of power, running neck and neck with Topping DX3 Pro. Yes, distortion rises at the limit but there is no clipping.

Here it is at 33 ohm:
View attachment 34321

We have nearly 1 watt of power into 33 ohm load!

Output impedance is comfortably low:

View attachment 34322

And channel balance as expected is perfect due to digital attenuation in the DAC:
View attachment 34323

Headphone Listening Tests
I started testing with my new DROP + MRSPEAKERS ETHER CX headphones which have a very low, 25 ohm impedance. The Fiio K5 Pro was comfortable to drive them hard and very well. Maybe at the last 5 to 10% of the volume it got a bit distorted but in any reasonable listening scenario, it was very comfortable and satisfying.

The experience with Sennheiser HD650 improved yet again. There was enough power to even vibrate my earlobes! Excellent dynamics were there as a result with great bass and overall joy.

Conclusions
The typical approach in a product like this is to build a DAC that performs very well. And then throw in a headphone amplifier that is just adequately. Here, the DAC is just good enough to drive the amp. The amp is designed to produce a lot of power and at low enough distortion to not be an audible issue. For a budget product and its intended use which is with headphones, it is a fine compromise.

In that regard, and in the context of a budget product that is designed reasonably well, I am going to recommend the Fiio K5 Pro.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

As you can tell I am working overtime in the night shift to produce the second review of the day. There is just so much gear to review. You don't have to pay me overtime but the panthers are saying the law requires them to be paid time and a half. So please donate using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

 

[Veri]

Based on your data, looks like the score for atom and KTB is much higher than k5 pro. maybe I’m just an amateur and can’t recognize the difference, or the actual difference is barely not noticeable from a human’s ears?

Both should clear audible thresholds. The K5 looks worse on paper, but it has plenty of power. Lots of power on tap usually gives a very pleasing listening experience. KTB+amp might be better value, but if you properly compare both set-ups as you appear to have done.. then yes, result might be disappointing that they sound basically the same.
It also proves once more: KTB(ESS DAC), K5 Pro(AKM DAC), that DACs have no sound signature. So much bullshit on the internet about these things. But at least you seem immune to it

 

[Rockfella]

Both should clear audible thresholds. The K5 looks worse on paper, but it has plenty of power. Lots of power on tap usually gives a very pleasing listening experience. KTB+amp might be better value, but if you properly compare both set-ups as you appear to have done.. then yes, result might be disappointing that they sound basically the same.
It also proves once more than KTB(ESS DAC), K5 Pro(AKM DAC), that DACs have no sound signature. So much bullshit on the internet about these things. But at least you seem immune to it

Really! Wow, Good to know

 

[DeadmAn]

Both should clear audible thresholds. The K5 looks worse on paper, but it has plenty of power. Lots of power on tap usually gives a very pleasing listening experience. KTB+amp might be better value, but if you properly compare both set-ups as you appear to have done.. then yes, result might be disappointing that they sound basically the same.
It also proves once more: KTB(ESS DAC), K5 Pro(AKM DAC), that DACs have no sound signature. So much bullshit on the internet about these things. But at least you seem immune to it

This is a hard choice for me to decide which one I should keep.

 

[companyja]

If you don't mind the extra $50-ish, you can definitely keep your atom KTB setup, there's really no huge reason not to, and the atom still has a bit more power than the K5 Pro. The K5 Pro also has only a pre-out so the KTB is better used as a line-out if you ever need a more powerful amp in the future

 

[1roger]

if possible, borrowing a `high-end` headphone like the DT1990 could potentially settle the contest. just a thought

 

[DeadmAn]

If you don't mind the extra $50-ish, you can definitely keep your atom KTB setup, there's really no huge reason not to, and the atom still has a bit more power than the K5 Pro. The K5 Pro also has only a pre-out so the KTB is better used as a line-out if you ever need a more powerful amp in the future

thank you for the suggestion. but I thought K5 pro is more powerful than Atom from their specification. K5 pro is 1.5W@32ohm while Atom is 1W@32ohm. Atom doesn't provide a data for the output at 300ohm so I can't compare.

 

[DeadmAn]

if possible, borrowing a `high-end` headphone like the DT1990 could potentially settle the contest. just a thought

I also ordered a HD6xx on the way. Not sure if that can give me a better comparison. lol

 

[flipflop]

Atom doesn't provide a data for the output at 300ohm so I can't compare.

 

[DeadmAn]

View attachment 68429
View attachment 68430

looks like from the chart that Atom has 250mw@300ohm if I read it correctly. then it's much higher than K5 pro. Interesting.
good thing for Atom is that it has much lower distortion than other competitors with similar cost.

 

[Nathanael]

How audible/bad is a 82 DB sinad in real listening scenarios? I've read that you have to listen really loud and listen to records with very high dynamic range (that most records on the market don't offer) to make it a real disadvantage. Or is it so that it always be at least a little audible and you will have lower dynamics compared to betters units?

 

[flipflop]

How audible/bad is a 82 DB sinad in real listening scenarios?

It's a non-issue.

I've read that you have to listen really loud and listen to records with very high dynamic range (that most records on the market don't offer) to make it a real disadvantage. Or is it so that it always be at least a little audible and you will have lower dynamics compared to betters units?

There's no guarantee of a -82 dBFS H3 being audible under any circumstances. It has zero influence on "dynamics".