The Fiio A5 thread: an upgrade of E12A, MUSES02+LME49600, 800mW, 19Vp-p, 12 hours
Nov 15, 2016 at 12:58 AM Post #181 of 1,039
@FiiO, next time you REALLY, REALLY, need to include Bluetooth. It is almost a necessity these days. There should be the flexibility to be wireless. The Creative E5 is one such great little amp and DAC that included Bluetooth connectivity and man was that very convenient. Bluetooth Apt X sounds stunningly good and including the chip isn't too expensive and it will not in any way sonically degrade the performance of the A5 (it can be defeated anyway if a user wants). The days of not having Bluetooth for devices such as the A5 are pretty much done. Hopefully in the near future FiiO can release something like the A5 with BT. I would love to buy the A5, but I'm sick of wires, I have my main rig for cables, but a nice little compact device like the A5 should be free of USB cables to phones as they fail and are just in general a real pain in the ass. Anyway, that aside man does this look like an amazing device!
 
Nov 15, 2016 at 1:28 AM Post #182 of 1,039
  @FiiO, next time you REALLY, REALLY, need to include Bluetooth. It is almost a necessity these days. There should be the flexibility to be wireless. The Creative E5 is one such great little amp and DAC that included Bluetooth connectivity and man was that very convenient. Bluetooth Apt X sounds stunningly good and including the chip isn't too expensive and it will not in any way sonically degrade the performance of the A5 (it can be defeated anyway if a user wants). The days of not having Bluetooth for devices such as the A5 are pretty much done. Hopefully in the near future FiiO can release something like the A5 with BT. I would love to buy the A5, but I'm sick of wires, I have my main rig for cables, but a nice little compact device like the A5 should be free of USB cables to phones as they fail and are just in general a real pain in the ass. Anyway, that aside man does this look like an amazing device!

 
The A5 is free of USB cables to phones since it has no DAC and its only input is the analog 3.5mm input - the USB port is for charing the battery only.
 
But in general - I agree - it's something that is missing in the Fiio line up but the A5 is a portable amp only - not a DAC/Amp - that would be the E18 and there the addition of BT makes sense. A pure analog amp like the A5 - is exactly what it is...analog cable from a DAC in - amplified sound out.
 
Cheers.
 
Nov 15, 2016 at 2:37 AM Post #183 of 1,039
  @FiiO, next time you REALLY, REALLY, need to include Bluetooth. It is almost a necessity these days. There should be the flexibility to be wireless. The Creative E5 is one such great little amp and DAC that included Bluetooth connectivity and man was that very convenient. Bluetooth Apt X sounds stunningly good and including the chip isn't too expensive and it will not in any way sonically degrade the performance of the A5 (it can be defeated anyway if a user wants). The days of not having Bluetooth for devices such as the A5 are pretty much done. Hopefully in the near future FiiO can release something like the A5 with BT. I would love to buy the A5, but I'm sick of wires, I have my main rig for cables, but a nice little compact device like the A5 should be free of USB cables to phones as they fail and are just in general a real pain in the ass. Anyway, that aside man does this look like an amazing device!

Hi, Sonic Defender
Thank you for your kind suggestion. We will report to our engineers about that. And it seems that our later product Q5 may meet your need: http://www.head-fi.org/t/772186/fiio-q5-flagship-dac-amp-an-dual-dac-usb-optical-coaxial-line-in-share-the-same-amp-module-with-x7/660
 
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Nov 15, 2016 at 6:34 AM Post #185 of 1,039
The A5 is free of USB cables to phones since it has no DAC and its only input is the analog 3.5mm input - the USB port is for charing the battery only.

But in general - I agree - it's something that is missing in the Fiio line up but the A5 is a portable amp only - not a DAC/Amp - that would be the E18 and there the addition of BT makes sense. A pure analog amp like the A5 - is exactly what it is...analog cable from a DAC in - amplified sound out.

Cheers.


I very very strongly agree! Fiio should get out of their comfort zone and make something that might rival the Astell&Kern XB10 (way way overpriced) or just a simple aptx bluetooth receiver with quality amp.
 
Nov 15, 2016 at 6:54 AM Post #186 of 1,039
  c5 has better bass than a5.
c5 is more natural.
a5 wins for the staging.
a5 is more transparent.
tonality: c5
lows: c5
mids: c5
highs: a5
soundstage: a5
details: a5
sub bass of c5 vs mid bass of a5.
both r good


Surprised A5 beats out C5 on sound-stage, as the Cayin was pretty great for that so A5 must be excellent !
 
Nov 15, 2016 at 11:59 AM Post #187 of 1,039
   
The A5 is free of USB cables to phones since it has no DAC and its only input is the analog 3.5mm input - the USB port is for charing the battery only.
 
But in general - I agree - it's something that is missing in the Fiio line up but the A5 is a portable amp only - not a DAC/Amp - that would be the E18 and there the addition of BT makes sense. A pure analog amp like the A5 - is exactly what it is...analog cable from a DAC in - amplified sound out.
 
Cheers.

Yes, my bad for not seeing that. Although, I'm trying to imagine why you would need a DAC as the BT chip handles incoming digital. I am not sure about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but in theory, could an amp not simply take the digital out from Bluetooth and amplify it? This isn't an area where I know as much as I feel I should so there could be a glaringly obvious reason why a DAC section would still be required with a portable amp to implement Bluetooth.
 
Nov 15, 2016 at 12:01 PM Post #188 of 1,039
  Hi, Sonic Defender
Thank you for your kind suggestion. We will report to our engineers about that. And it seems that our later product Q5 may meet your need: http://www.head-fi.org/t/772186/fiio-q5-flagship-dac-amp-an-dual-dac-usb-optical-coaxial-line-in-share-the-same-amp-module-with-x7/660

Good to know! I will indeed be quite interested in this.
 
Nov 16, 2016 at 8:19 PM Post #189 of 1,039
I've been without a portable amp for about a year after giving it to my niece so I ordered the A5 today. I had a chance to use my buddies E12 and was wondering if the A5 sounds as good or better seeing as its just an upgrade E12.

After reading through the thread I didn't see anyone saying they use the A5 with the Focal Elear, so if anyone has I'd like to know what you think. There's plenty of power obviously so I just want to know how they sound together, I'll be using the Elear along with my Nighthawk from time to time.
 
Nov 16, 2016 at 10:31 PM Post #190 of 1,039
I've been without a portable amp for about a year after giving it to my niece so I ordered the A5 today. I had a chance to use my buddies E12 and was wondering if the A5 sounds as good or better seeing as its just an upgrade E12.


From impressions, it seems to be a more refined version hybrid of E12A's sound and E12's power output.
 
I've already recommended it to a friend for his planars. Killer price positioning for what you are getting.
 
Nov 17, 2016 at 2:27 AM Post #192 of 1,039
 
@ Fiio
 
Will you please explain or graph the bass boost response.
 
Is it modeled the same as one of your other amps?
 
The graph would be of interest to more than a few of us
 
Thank you


Test condition:Gain=High
 
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Nov 17, 2016 at 12:06 PM Post #195 of 1,039
The E12, which has the same power specs, can easily drive my T40RP MK3.
And for easily, I mean at 11:00 volume position (high gain) it gets pretty loud already.
Go here and input 50 Ohm and 92dB/mW:
 
http://www.digizoid.com/power.php
 
With 200mW you already get 115dB SPL, which is pretty damn loud.
 

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