[Dimitry188]

Then again I can kind of see the dry and articulate bass as being "simpified" if he wants wet and nasty bass.

The difference is not at all that one is "wet" and the other is "dry". The difference is in the detail, the accuracy of the sound and the separation of the instruments.

 

[Dimitry188]

If for "top-end planar headphones", you are talking about the DCA Expanse (which I have heard driven plenty loud on high gain, though indeed close to maxing out my amp) or Susvara, sure, the K9 Pro ESS may indeed be objectively not powerful enough to drive those headphones to the desired dynamic peaks, but for more efficient planars like the HE1000se

I've heard this effect with headphones Hifiman Arya and 1000se, Kennerton Thekk and Wodan, Dan Clark Ether С Flow with almost all high-resolution music tracks.
First of all, in complex symphonic works.

And I'm afraid that this effect has nothing to do with the "lack of power" - Fiio K9 Pro has quite enough power.
This effect is more likely due to the way the device amplifies sound, which is not ideal.

If you use the Fiio K9 Pro as a standalone DAC, by connecting a third-party headphone amplifier with good quality to its output
(for example, I have connected the Singxer SA-1 and the Aune S17 Pro),
the sound experience improves significantly. This is why I believe that the amplification component has its limitations.

P.S. Nothing personal, Fiio K9 Pro is still one of the best devices in its price range, but it does have some objective limitations that should be taken into account.

 

[MrHaelscheir]

I've heard this effect with headphones Hifiman Arya and 1000se, Kennerton Thekk and Wodan, Dan Clark Ether С Flow with almost all high-resolution music tracks.
First of all, in complex symphonic works.

And I'm afraid that this effect has nothing to do with the "lack of power" - Fiio K9 Pro has quite enough power.
This effect is more likely due to the way the device amplifies sound, which is not ideal.

If you use the Fiio K9 Pro as a standalone DAC, by connecting a third-party headphone amplifier with good quality to its output
(for example, I have connected the Singxer SA-1 and the Aune S17 Pro),
the sound experience improves significantly. This is why I believe that the amplification component has its limitations.

P.S. Nothing personal, Fiio K9 Pro is still one of the best devices in its price range, but it does have some objective limitations that should be taken into account.

I had already described in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/rec...nely-curious-objectivist.972411/post-18078699 (post #9, which is admittedly long) that using Qobuz for some high-res recordings of "complex symphonic works" and when using my FiiO K9 Pro ESS's DAC output into a few "higher-level" amps, I personally found absolutely no noticeable or reliable sonic benefit, especially in regard to "the detail, the accuracy of the sound and the separation of the instruments." I had for that listening session chosen my Meze Elite over my HE1000se since I knew it was measurably much better in harmonic and multi-tone distortion performance, hence theoretical "resolving capability". The amps sounded identical in tonality and their relaying of exceptional texture among other factors. Even with a cursory volume match, for my A/Bing approach which for my purposes would reveal the kinds of changes that would matter to me, switching between amps was merely like replaying the exact same track or passage with any subtle differences bearing no quality of preference or being attributable to imprecise volume-matching or my own awareness of the inherent imperfection and perceptual drift of my auditory memory.

Sure, "nothing personal", but the problem is that you are explicitly making sweeping objective claims ("objective limitations") about the performance or electrical properties of a piece of gear or a component therein substantiated purely by your personal experience that we have shown is not necessarily consistent with everyone else's. This is not in line with the "subjectivist" view apparently embraced by this forum.