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Review and Measurements of Fiio K5 Pro

Rockfella

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I wonder why Fiio didn't explicitly call it a pre out then ?
Any caveats if using it as pre for JBL actives (LSR306) ?
No RCA on 306 so a RCA to TRS is needed. Apart from that mine woks great with LP6 (RCA)
 

Hifisound

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Bizarre! I don’t remember posting that, and I’m not even sure that comment is right.

Many apologies in every front.

Why ? What you said
"Theres no proper line out, the Pro acts more like a pre amp. Connect the RCA outs and the volume control still works."
is true , right ?
 

Yorkshire Mouth

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Why ? What you said
"Theres no proper line out, the Pro acts more like a pre amp. Connect the RCA outs and the volume control still works."
is true , right ?

I know the internet is full of people convinced of their own certainty about everything, but I’m not one of them.

I can’t remember.

But yes, I think that’s right.
 

panther

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Line out on this to my powered speakers is picking up some bad coil whine I believe. I have tried a few RCA cables and I keep getting "buzzing" when my GPU is in heavier use in games.
 

Dipypang

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Line out on this to my powered speakers is picking up some bad coil whine I believe. I have tried a few RCA cables and I keep getting "buzzing" when my GPU is in heavier use in games.
I have the same setup line out from this to powered speakers but I never had this problem tho, maybe you can try shorter RCA cables. If the buzz still occurs then you probably having grounding issues I believe.
 

Rockfella

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Line out on this to my powered speakers is picking up some bad coil whine I believe. I have tried a few RCA cables and I keep getting "buzzing" when my GPU is in heavier use in games.
Nvidia gpu?
 

Jimmy

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If you have a USB hub at hand (I understand that's how you're using it), try to put it in the middle, or switch to optical. A galvanic isolator is better but sometimes a simple hub can also provide some power filtering and it may be enough.
 

panther

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If you have a USB hub at hand (I understand that's how you're using it), try to put it in the middle, or switch to optical. A galvanic isolator is better but sometimes a simple hub can also provide some power filtering and it may be enough.
Nvidia gpu?
I have the same setup line out from this to powered speakers but I never had this problem tho, maybe you can try shorter RCA cables. If the buzz still occurs then you probably having grounding issues I believe.
I tried a couple different RCA cables but had the same issue, 3FT was the shortest I had on hand. I didn't have any issues with them in their "normal" use going to an active sub.
I did try using Optical input but still had the same noise coming when the GPU (yes nVidia) ramps up. I also found my Furman power conditioner and plugged my speakers and the Fiio into it as well as separate. Ultimately what has worked is just plugging the optical cable directly into the speakers and using it's own DAC I guess. No coil whine noise now coming through the speakers. Not sure if I should send the FIIO in as I did buy and extended protection plan with it.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
 

Rockfella

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I tried a couple different RCA cables but had the same issue, 3FT was the shortest I had on hand. I didn't have any issues with them in their "normal" use going to an active sub.
I did try using Optical input but still had the same noise coming when the GPU (yes nVidia) ramps up. I also found my Furman power conditioner and plugged my speakers and the Fiio into it as well as separate. Ultimately what has worked is just plugging the optical cable directly into the speakers and using it's own DAC I guess. No coil whine noise now coming through the speakers. Not sure if I should send the FIIO in as I did buy and extended protection plan with it.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Check the Fiio on a diff set up if you can.
 

Jimmy

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There are cheap USB isolators like the one you mention, the problem is that as far as I know, they don't support USB 2.0 data rates, normally max speed is 12 Mbps., and if I'm not mistaken that means max audio data format will be 24 bit/96 Khz :

USB 1.0/Low-Speed: 1.5 Megabits per second (Mbps)
USB 1.1/Full-Speed: 12 Mbps.
USB 2.0/Hi-Speed: 480 Mbps.

I would test optical input with the USB cable unplugged from the FiiO, since it's the most likely culprit.

BTW I have one of these and I can't hear any noise even at max volume, irrespective of the computer load.

 

panther

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I think it's my powered speakers that are my issue. I forgot the line in on the back of them doubles as a pre amp (Triangle Elara LN01A). It has a little switch but it is definitely set to line in and not phono when I am using it. When I used optical on the speaker input the sound is fine, no coil whine. Also when I just used optical or USB without the speakers running to line out on the K5 Pro I get no coil whine through my headphones.
 

panther

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I think it's my powered speakers that are my issue. I forgot the line in on the back of them doubles as a pre amp (Triangle Elara LN01A). It has a little switch but it is definitely set to line in and not phono when I am using it. When I used optical on the speaker input the sound is fine, no coil whine. Also when I just used optical or USB without the speakers running to line out on the K5 Pro I get no coil whine through my headphones.
Just as an update, I tried the K5 pro with some Adam T5V speakers and have the same buzzing when the GPU spins up a bit, or when I move my USB mouse around (this seems to be intermittent though). USB, Optical both had the same issue. I tried 6ft RCA as well as the 1.5 FT WBC RCA I have (that worked fine with a JDS Element II). K5 pro seemed to be fine when I connected it to a Samsung TV through optical though.
 

oneils

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I route my external HDMI audio sources (OTA TV - UHD Disc Player - Chromecast) from optical out on the TV thru a FiiO D3 DAC to PC analog line in. That gets summed with the internal PC audio thru Windows mixer to USB and a K5 Pro. Reason for doing so is I use Equalizer APO for speaker and headphone EQ. I find the K5's line outs plenty loud, clean, and as quiet as my JBL 305P studio monitors, which have their own self noise within 1ft.

Source switching is thru LG Smart Remote Chrome extension on PC or Android app. Speaker/Headphone switching is done with a smart AC powerstrip app using voice commands and APO configuration editor from Windows taskbar for EQ selection.

I'm sorry for replying to a post that almost 2 years old now...I just bought this dac/headphone amp (it is in the mail) and have a similar set up. I have 4 devices connected to my avr through hdmi. The avr goes out to my tv using hdmi (arc). I plan to use the tv's optical out to go to the headphone amp when I want to use a headphone.

However, I have two other analog sources connected to the avr via red and white cables (a turntable and tape deck). Would you happen to know of a way that I could connect them both to my avr (so they can be used on my passive speakers) and the fiio k5 pro?
Thank you.
 
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francky

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Hello, I will use this DAC between computer and active speakers. Is that better to use headphone out rather than line out for my speakers (I will rarely use headphone) considering the measurements and review here ? ( sorry I'm a noob).
 
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