Review and Measurements of Fiio K5 Pro

[companyja]

Congrats on your purchase, mate

I'm also from Serbia and I know how hard it is to get some quality audio gear; I also went with the K5 Pro and bought a second-hand AKG K712, the K5 is just great, I doubt you can tell the difference between it and a basic stack on the majority of headphones

 

[cineaste]

I have a Topping NX4 DSD and I had bought it mostly for its portability. Nowadays, I spent more time at home, so maybe this is worthwhile upgrade? Should I go with a Magni combo instead? Any recommendations welcome!

 

[blse59]

I have a Topping NX4 DSD and I had bought it mostly for its portability. Nowadays, I spent more time at home, so maybe this is worthwhile upgrade? Should I go with a Magni combo instead? Any recommendations welcome!

I think it's an amazing all-in-one unit. Saves so much space compared to amp/dac stacks, has lots of connections, completely balanced left/right channels at low volume, great sound. It has RCA inputs so if I choose, I can listen to the dac of an external device. Lots of products only have optical input so you have to listen to that product's dac instead of the external one.

 

[gorman]

One question: I read that line out and headphone out are on at the same time... Is that true even when one connects headphones?

Because that would be a serious downside.

 

[raif71]

One question: I read that line out and headphone out are on at the same time... Is that true even when one connects headphones?

Because that would be a serious downside.

Why not just :
1) disconnect headphone when you want to listen to external speakers
2) switch off the external speakers when you listen to your headphones

 

[gorman]

Why not just :
1) disconnect headphone when you want to listen to external speakers
2) switch off the external speakers when you listen to your headphones

Because #2 can be a huge PITA if your speakers have rear on/off switch. In my case it would be. So if that's the way this product works, it would not be right for my use case.

 

[ImFilippo]

Hi, I am going to buy this product but I have some questions about it, I hope you can help me!

1. I am going to use the k5 pro with my windows 10 desktop. My motherboard does not have the spdif input, so i have to connect it via usb cable? Also do I have to use both the usb cable attached to my pc and the power supply connected to the electrical socket? or just one of the two?
2. Does the volume of the wheel control that of windows or does it have its own volume? If it is in the second case, should I set the volume of windows and applications to 100%?
3. I also have logitech z337 speakers that connect via a 3.5mm jack cable. Is it possible to connect them to the k5 pro? (not to the front headphone jack, I would like to have headphones and speakers connected at the same time)
4. Do you have any advice on using this item? I seem to have read to always keep the volume between 9 and 3 but I don't understand why
   
   Thanks!

 

[L5730]

Hi, I am going to buy this product but I have some questions about it, I hope you can help me!

1. I am going to use the k5 pro with my windows 10 desktop. My motherboard does not have the spdif input, so i have to connect it via usb cable? Also do I have to use both the usb cable attached to my pc and the power supply connected to the electrical socket? or just one of the two?
2. Does the volume of the wheel control that of windows or does it have its own volume? If it is in the second case, should I set the volume of windows and applications to 100%?
3. I also have logitech z337 speakers that connect via a 3.5mm jack cable. Is it possible to connect them to the k5 pro? (not to the front headphone jack, I would like to have headphones and speakers connected at the same time)
4. Do you have any advice on using this item? I seem to have read to always keep the volume between 9 and 3 but I don't understand why
   
   Thanks!

1. You'll need to power it as well as provide data over USB. 5v 500mA is just not enough power.
2. I'd imagine the volume control is not linked to the PC system in anyway, so you are free to set digital volume to whatever you want. Generally speaking 100% would give best SNR, but if you were to use ReplayGain in playback software, that is adjusting the digital gain anyway.
3. Yeah, buy a 3.5mm female TRS to 2x RCA male cable. We have one of these from our Topping D10 to a pair of desktop PC speakers.
eg. https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-c...3.5mm+female+trs+to+rca&qid=1599506610&sr=8-5

4. i don't own one, sorry. Others will chime in soonish.

 

[ImFilippo]

1. You'll need to power it as well as provide data over USB. 5v 500mA is just not enough power.
2. I'd imagine the volume control is not linked to the PC system in anyway, so you are free to set digital volume to whatever you want. Generally speaking 100% would give best SNR, but if you were to use ReplayGain in playback software, that is adjusting the digital gain anyway.
3. Yeah, buy a 3.5mm female TRS to 2x RCA male cable. We have one of these from our Topping D10 to a pair of desktop PC speakers.
eg. https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-c...3.5mm+female+trs+to+rca&qid=1599506610&sr=8-5

4. i don't own one, sorry. Others will chime in soonish.

Thank you very much, I hope someone else can give me some advice regarding the 4th point.

 

[flipflop]

Thank you very much, I hope someone else can give me some advice regarding the 4th point.

Before 9 it's practically muted because the volume control is also used to turn the unit on and off. This is a safety feature to avoid a potential sudden jump in volume when you turn it on.
Past 3 it will start soft clipping, so it's better to up the gain than to turn the pot past that point.

 

[themuts]

Hello, i have got a question about the K5 pro:

how can i connect it to a apple ipad , would it be as simple and cheap as just buying the adapter shown below, and use the apple lightning to USB - A cable that came with the ipad ( to charge the ipad and connect to a PC) ?

 

[ImFilippo]

I'm currently using my Fiio K5 Pro with MusicBee and in the player option i can select these options:

What do you recommend to use? (I installed the DAC drivers)

 

[gorman]

I'm currently using my Fiio K5 Pro with MusicBee and in the player option i can select these options:

View attachment 83219

What do you recommend to use? (I installed the DAC drivers)

Wasapi exclusive allows you to bypass Windows internal mixer.

 

[ImFilippo]

Wasapi exclusive allows you to bypass Windows internal mixer.

Is Wasapi Exclusive better than ASIO?

 

[gorman]

Is Wasapi Exclusive better than ASIO?

For basic playback of music they should be equivalent. ASIO might be better for less latency in production, as far as i know.

 

[maverickronin]

Using WASAPI with the MS UAC2 drivers is often better because then your player can automatically switch the DAC's sample rate. The ASIO drivers for DACs usually don't support this any more so if you use ASIO, you'll need to make sure your player has an automatic resampler unless all you music is the same sample rate.

 

[Veri]

Using WASAPI with the MS UAC2 drivers is often better because then your player can automatically switch the DAC's sample rate. The ASIO drivers for DACs usually don't support this any more so if you use ASIO, you'll need to make sure your player has an automatic resampler

Eh? Aren't both WASAPI and ASIO just an interface for whatever data your player is pushing? Both should support sample rate switching. On Fb2k I can do it with either WASAPI and ASIO in any case.

 

[maverickronin]

Eh? Aren't both WASAPI and ASIO just an interface for whatever data your player is pushing? Both should support sample rate switching. On Fb2k I can do it with either WASAPI and ASIO in any case.

Maybe it just depends on the devices driver's. I've had to use SoX in foobar to resample everything to a fixed rate with different ASIO drivers in the past.

 

[Rockfella]

Something I want to share. I took out my Fiio E10 (Not k) and played few games on it and kinda like it over the K5 Pro/s headphones out. E10 is very old but something about it is very fun and engaging. Specially in games. No clue maybe the K5 Pro is too clean to my liking. My monitors sound amazing on the K5 pro but AKT M40X sound great E10 VS just not there on K5 Pro.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Something I want to share. I took out my Fiio E10 (Not k) and played few games on it and kinda like it over the K5 Pro/s headphones out. E10 is very old but something about it is very fun and engaging. Specially in games. No clue maybe the K5 Pro is too clean to my liking. My monitors sound amazing on the K5 pro but AKT M40X sound great E10 VS just not there on K5 Pro.

Did you have your bass mode on E10?