Excellent review as usual, very happy with my K9 and certainly no regrets upgrading from the K7, I agree that the K9 is a cleaner sounding amp/dac vs the K7 which has a smoother presentation, both are excellent but in different ways, both represent excellent value for money.

Great review. What's the mini laptop thing in several of your shots?

Look it up its called the GPD win Max2. I am a gamer so I bought one for my trip to Korea earlier this year. Fantastic smaller form mini laptop that can play AAA games. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/...tBh2FlwQrEAAYASAAEgLZ1fD_BwE&utm_medium=cpc#/

They have an indegogo campaign for a newer upgraded version on this link. I can't even begin to tell you how good this little laptop is. It has a hidden lid location toward the top of the keyboard that houses a fully integrated Xbox controller lay out. Full functionality with haptic feedback. Fun piece of high tech computing on the go.

Thinking about my modest stable of IEM listening, the AKM K9Pro was the one I always gravitated to.
Never heard the ESS variants though..
Kudos for exploring, the K9 sounds great value!

My last closing comment. "A message to my fellow IEM enthusiasts. You gotta try the K9 with your IEMS. You can thank me later." Wait till you try your IEMs with something like the K9. ESS sound has changed for the much better since yesteryear earlier ESS production chips. Highly recommend trying out a current variant of the ESS sound.

I'm about to buy a new Dac/Amp. How do you think this will stand up against the Topping EX5 or the new Loxjie D40 Pro? I appreciate the possibility to connect my RIAA and use my (way to expensive) XLR headphone cable. All three of them can do that, and are in the same price range. I'm using Hifiman Arya Stealth and stream Tidal via (USB) Raspberry.