[Niouke]

I've had issues connecting my K1 to a small headphone amp (E11K) with a massive electrical hoomph coming out so I'm not sure the K1 mixes well with active amplification as it does not have a "line out" output...
I don't know about the DAC with speakers...you do need a chip doing the conversion at some point but as the heavy lifting is done by the AMP it may be of lesser importance...

 

[Jimster480]

Has anyone used this with active speakers ? Is it correct that active speakers are not benefited much by a DAC ?
I want to buy this for my Swans M10 but I'm not sure if it's worth it

yes it will yes it will work just fine with speakers. I use my swans with the headphone output of my television in my room and there are no problems. You can just adjust the volume via the control panel in Windows or you can use the volume on the speakers themselves and leave windows at 100% volume. If you are using a mobile device it would be the same thing except obviously there is no windows.

 

[Hitesh]

I've had issues connecting my K1 to a small headphone amp (E11K) with a massive electrical hoomph coming out so I'm not sure the K1 mixes well with active amplification as it does not have a "line out" output...
I don't know about the DAC with speakers...you do need a chip doing the conversion at some point but as the heavy lifting is done by the AMP it may be of lesser importance...

Hmm that's not good news.

yes it will yes it will work just fine with speakers. I use my swans with the headphone output of my television in my room and there are no problems. You can just adjust the volume via the control panel in Windows or you can use the volume on the speakers themselves and leave windows at 100% volume. If you are using a mobile device it would be the same thing except obviously there is no windows.

Which Swans are you using ? How big is the improvement ?

 

[Jimster480]

Hmm that's not good news.



Which Swans are you using ? How big is the improvement ?

Well I'm not using the K1 with the Swans.
I have the same Swans as you do (M10)

But I was saying that I am using an Amped source (like the K1) to drive my Swans.
Just don't put the volume on either source too high, or if you leave the output at 100% (like on the K1) then you have the Swans at a lower volume.

But I use the Swans at like 40% volume and then control the rest with my TV output and have my TV in Variable output mode (Amped).

 

[greenflash]

The K1 with my Nexus 6P and a proper OTG cable has been a total success. I exclusively use it for Spotify but the sound is amazing. Now, I'm getting a second phone, work related, and it's an affordable but quite nice Motorola Moto G (Moto G5 Plus to be exact). Love the phone but well the audio is even worse (The Nexus was mostly low volume, this one at first listen seems to lack good quality too).

Anyway - want to use the K1 in the Moto G 5th generation.. Anybody is doing that? Seems to be OTG compatible but I've found little more than that. Also, have to get a new OTG cable or adapter (Micro USB to Micro USB, darn non standard standards! )

 

[Jimster480]

Mostly every single phone since Lollipop has been OTG supported, and even many on KitKat

 

[greenflash]

Well it seems it does support OTG.. I bought a Micro USB to USB cable and connected a thumb drive (a big one, 32gb) and it worked perfectly. But when using another cable to go to the K1 DAC.. I get only noise and static from time to time a little sound.. The second cable is a standard USB cable (to micro usb)..

 

[Jimster480]

Well it seems it does support OTG.. I bought a Micro USB to USB cable and connected a thumb drive (a big one, 32gb) and it worked perfectly. But when using another cable to go to the K1 DAC.. I get only noise and static from time to time a little sound.. The second cable is a standard USB cable (to micro usb)..

So did you connect the FiiO K1 cable to that?
When I used my K1 on the phone I used a USB-C to a MicroUSB cable.

There are microUSB to MicroUSB also and you probably need one of those. .

 

[greenflash]

So did you connect the FiiO K1 cable to that?
When I used my K1 on the phone I used a USB-C to a MicroUSB cable.

There are microUSB to MicroUSB also and you probably need one of those. .

Hi @Jimster480, my problem is with my Moto G5 Plus/MicroUSB connector.

I did connect the microUSB-Female USB and then the Male USB-Micro USB as per the left picture. This way, the K1 turns on its blue light and issues some static/hiss (only one time I heard some music by pushing a little). Using in the reverse mode, it would not turn up so the problem is in the standard USB cable without a doubt.

Right! I do need to get a MicroUSB to MicroUSB cable but they're not available here and importing is a mess..
Not sure where to get them internationally either, maybe eBay.

NOTE: On the right just for reference the fantastic MicroUSB/USB C from Fusion that I use in my other phone (Nexus 6P)

 

[Jimster480]

Hi @Jimster480, my problem is with my Moto G5 Plus/MicroUSB connector.

I did connect the microUSB-Female USB and then the Male USB-Micro USB as per the left picture. This way, the K1 turns on its blue light and issues some static/hiss (only one time I heard some music by pushing a little). Using in the reverse mode, it would not turn up so the problem is in the standard USB cable without a doubt.

Right! I do need to get a MicroUSB to MicroUSB cable but they're not available here and importing is a mess..
Not sure where to get them internationally either, maybe eBay.

NOTE: On the right just for reference the fantastic MicroUSB/USB C from Fusion that I use in my other phone (Nexus 6P)

Check ebay they do sell them there.

 

[Qazi Shehryar]

How does K1 sounds compared to ESS Sabre 9218 DAC found in LG V20?

 

[Jimster480]

How does K1 sounds compared to ESS Sabre 9218 DAC found in LG V20?

I would say that if the Sabre is implemented properly (its a 9028q2m) then it will sound better than the K1.
But the K1 sounds great for its price tag and can drive many headphones, I personally use it as my portable setup.

 

[Brooko]

My thoughts on the FiiO K1 - https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-k1-portable-headphone-amplifier-dac.21130/reviews#review-19556

 

[Jimster480]

My thoughts on the FiiO K1 - https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-k1-portable-headphone-amplifier-dac.21130/reviews#review-19556

Pretty nice review, goes along with most of my feelings about the K1. But I have no experience with the Q1 so I can't make the same comparison you did.
For $40 its pretty hard to beat at this price IMHO.

 

[Lifted Andreas]

Just an update on my unit, working perfectly well after all this time! For the price I paid (£35.99) I couldn't have asked for a better quality product.