FiiO K1--smaller and better for less

[dokiace]

Thank you Aves and Vidal for replying, I would like to use this amp  for my takstar ts 671, i don't know if u know it but it's popular in my country for budget headphone.
Any other suggestions would be gladly appreciated!

 

[greasyg]

Hi,
How did you make the custom connection cable?  Looks good.  Do you have any problems with the K1 drawing too much power from the phone and cutting out?

 

[Vidal]

There's a thread here explaining how - it's not that detailed as its a fairly simple operation although tricky as the wires are so tiny.

homemade lightning to micro usb cable - DIY Thread

The K1 does draw power from the iPhone but never too much to trigger the error message.

 

[greasyg]

Thanks

 

[Vidal]

  Thank you Aves and Vidal for replying, I would like to use this amp  for my takstar ts 671, i don't know if u know it but it's popular in my country for budget headphone.
Any other suggestions would be gladly appreciated!

 
 
Hi Dokiace
 
I missed your reply earlier, looking at the Takstar I note two comments from the reviews high(ish) impedance but high sensitivity.
 
The only headphone I have that are considered moderately hard to drive are my AKG Q701s. So after dusting these off I gave them a try - to get a decent volume with these the K1 and iPhone are at full volume. I haven't tried to analyse the sound quality.
 
I'm not an expert so please bear this is mind. If your Takstars behave in the same way as the Q701s you might find that they are too quiet for your personal taste. I'm also guessing that with the K1 struggling to drive these the sound quality will be affected as well.
 
For me I'd go with the Q1 or E17K if you're wanting to stay mobile, Q1 being the budget friendlier option - if being mobile isn't a priority then maybe the E10K is a good option as well. 
 
You didn't say where you live so I'm not sure what's available in your country.

 

[bixby]

Kinda bummed with my new Fiio K1.  Set it up on Win pc with foobar wasapi event mode to burn in and get some hours on it.  After several hours, gave it a listen and sounded pretty good then it started making a tick sound every 1.5 seconds along with the music.  The tick was loud enough to be heard without it being a quiet part of the track.  It was kind of like it had some issue with sync.  Tried to duplicate the issue with stopping and restarting playlist.  Came back several hours later and no issue. 
 
Then came back another hour or so later and there it is again.  Overall the sound quality of the Fiio was a bit crisp in lower treble, but decent overall and probably not near where it would have ended up with full burn in.  But it did not make the cut with this intermittent sync, tick problem and back to the vendor it went.

 

[iL15hts]

I just got it today. iPhone 6 works, but my iPad mini 2 not working

 

[Trying2Learn]

I just got it today. iPhone 6 works, but my iPad mini 2 not working

Works with iPhone 6 via CCK?

 

[iL15hts]

Works with iPhone 6 via CCK?

Yes.

 

[Vidal]

Managed to get the cable size down even further. I stripped the case off the CCK and then soldered some silver plated 26AWG cable direct between the circuit board and a micro-usb connector.
 
Not sure if there's any real benefit in the silver plated audio cable it just seemed appropriate. I think this has to be the most low profile smartphone/DAC stack (so far).
 

 

[SSSN]

Is the Fiio K1 suitable as a DAC only to feed a signal into a big headphone amp?

 

[Vidal]

Drives my Oppo PM3s fine, but struggled with a set of AKG Q701s.

 

[iL15hts]

Managed to get the cable size down even further. I stripped the case off the CCK and then soldered some silver plated 26AWG cable direct between the circuit board and a micro-usb connector.

Not sure if there's any real benefit in the silver plated audio cable it just seemed appropriate. I think this has to be the most low profile smartphone/DAC stack (so far).

Nice setup mate. Anyway is that a genuine CCK or cheap ones?

 

[sandman2338]

  Kinda bummed with my new Fiio K1.  Set it up on Win pc with foobar wasapi event mode to burn in and get some hours on it.  After several hours, gave it a listen and sounded pretty good then it started making a tick sound every 1.5 seconds along with the music.  The tick was loud enough to be heard without it being a quiet part of the track.  It was kind of like it had some issue with sync.  Tried to duplicate the issue with stopping and restarting playlist.  Came back several hours later and no issue. 
 
Then came back another hour or so later and there it is again.  Overall the sound quality of the Fiio was a bit crisp in lower treble, but decent overall and probably not near where it would have ended up with full burn in.  But it did not make the cut with this intermittent sync, tick problem and back to the vendor it went.

Don't stress out I don't think its the K1. I had clicks and pops, when using foobar, it was almost like listening to vinyl lol, and some of my friends did as well, but we switched to JRiver and don't experience any such annoyances now
Not looking for confrontations here, just my experience and hope this might help

 

[Vidal]

Nice setup mate. Anyway is that a genuine CCK or cheap ones?

 
It's one of the cheap ones off Ebay - beware though I bought a batch of 10 only 4 worked. Check them before taking them apart, otherwise you may be wasting your time.