Upgrade from Fiio K5 Pro

[ImFilippo]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been using the FiiO K5 Pro as my only DAC/amp connected to my PC since 2019.

I mainly use IEMs, earbuds, and headphones (HD6XX, Moondrop OldFashioned, etc.).

Do you think it would be worth upgrading to a newer DAC/amp? I’m a bit out of the loop when it comes to this market, as I haven’t upgraded my setup since 2019.
I was wondering if there are any significantly better alternatives available today for around €300, or if I simply wouldn’t notice any meaningful difference by upgrading.

In other words: is it worth spending around €300 to move on from the K5 Pro, or should I just keep using it?

Thanks!

 

[RandomEar]

Looks like the K5 Pro doesn't measure the best, but it's also nothing concerning or immediately audible. Frequency response is flat, linearity is very good, distortion is good enough - it's fine overall. So unless you're somehow power-limited with your current headphones or have issues with audible noise/hiss during silent sections of the music, I don't think you can realistically gain something by "upgrading".

If you have any of the listed issues, I think a common recommendation these past months has been the Fosi ZH3. It is technically better than the K5 Pro, but apart from lower noise and a bit more power, likely not audibly so. The only compelling reason to upgrade I could see would be an added feature like an integrated EQ. But since you listen via your PC, you can get that for free by using EAPO.

 

[ImFilippo]

Looks like the K5 Pro doesn't measure the best, but it's also nothing concerning or immediately audible. Frequency response is flat, linearity is very good, distortion is good enough - it's fine overall. So unless you're somehow power-limited with your current headphones or have issues with audible noise/hiss during silent sections of the music, I don't think you can realistically gain something by "upgrading".

If you have any of the listed issues, I think a common recommendation these past months has been the Fosi ZH3. It is technically better than the K5 Pro, but apart from lower noise and a bit more power, likely not audibly so. The only compelling reason to upgrade I could see would be an added feature like an integrated EQ. But since you listen via your PC, you can get that for free by using EAPO.

Thanks for the detailed explanation!

At the moment I’m not power-limited with any of my headphones, and I’ve never experienced any audible noise or hiss either.

The only minor issue I have is with my IEMs: I have very little usable range on the K5 Pro’s volume knob, so making fine volume adjustments can be a bit difficult. The volume gets very loud with just a small turn of the knob.

As for EQ, I already use Peace with Equalizer APO on Windows, so I don’t really need an integrated EQ.

So it sounds like there isn’t really a compelling reason for me to upgrade from the K5 Pro, at least from a sound-quality perspective. I was mainly wondering if newer DAC/amps would provide an audible improvement, but it seems like the answer is probably no in my case.

 

[RandomEar]

I have the same volume adjustment problem using a sensitive / efficient IEM driven by a Google dongle, so I guess it can hit you anywhere. In the end, I added an aggressive -24 dB pre-amp in EAPO to the headphone EQ preset. That's technically sh*tty, but for my use case (some YouTube and the occasional video call on the notebook) it's good enough