Apologies, I searched for it but my results did not show the Fiio oficial store for some reason. Thank you for the provided link.
[FiiO K9]FiiO Desktop DAC and Headphone Amplifier K9 Is Officially Released!
- Thread starter FiiO
- Start date
scracy
100+ Head-Fier
I'm surprised by the lack of reviews as well. You would think given the large difference in price vs the small difference in performance against the K9 Pro that the press and reviewers would be all over the K9.
Paco ignacio
Head-Fier
Agreed.
I'm thinking of upgrading from the K7 to the K9 but i would like to know if it's worth the upgrade.
KaiFi
500+ Head-Fier
Should note the AliExpress page erroneously lists the DAC as ES9038PRO instead of ES9068AS in the title.
scracy
100+ Head-Fier
I did upgrade from K7 to K9 personally no regrets. More power and similar in signature to the FiiO M11 Plus ESS, pairing with the Fiio FD7 in particular is sublime
Paco ignacio
Head-Fier
I did upgrade from K7 to K9 personally no regrets. More power and similar in signature to the FiiO M11 Plus ESS, pairing with the Fiio FD7 in particular is sublime
Nice.
I was thinking of stacking options at that price but nothing convinces me yet.
Dear friend,
Sorry about that. We will modified it soon. Thanks for reminding.
Best regards
Dear friend,
We have arranged some K9 to the reviewers. So the reviews will be released some time later.
Best regards
Was in worth it ? K9 retails for about 3x the price of K7.I did upgrade from K7 to K9 personally no regrets. More power and similar in signature to the FiiO M11 Plus ESS, pairing with the Fiio FD7 in particular is sublime
scracy
100+ Head-Fier
I think so. I certainly don't regret upgrading thats for sure, in my case I purchased the K7 and K9 for use with the IEM's that I have, those IEM's pair better with the K9
Currently running a K7 and tried a bunch of DAC/amps to compare. The Fiio K9 is a great device - compared to the K7 it's definitely better, layering and instrument separation is better and the K7 is congested, however compared to the K9 Pro ESS, you immediately notice the noise floor - the Pro ESS is just much more transparent.
Again I stress that I think this is a decent device - but I think I expected it to be 98% or more of the way to the K9 Pro ESS, which it isn't IMO (though looking at the price points, bit of an unrealistic ask perhaps!). That said, is it a good device, and is it good value? I think yes.
Again I stress that I think this is a decent device - but I think I expected it to be 98% or more of the way to the K9 Pro ESS, which it isn't IMO (though looking at the price points, bit of an unrealistic ask perhaps!). That said, is it a good device, and is it good value? I think yes.
Last edited:
Thank you for the comparisson. Would you be able to say if thr K7 is lets say 85-90% of K9 ? I am trying to justify paying 3 times the orice for it.
I'm honestly not sure how to answer your question unfortunately - I didn't A/B the K7 vs. the new K9 enough, so I will return to my audio shop sometime this week to do just that. If you have the opportunity to demo both devices I would suggest you do that - I'm too new to the hobby and frankly I don't think I'm well-versed enough, nor do I have golden ears that I would trust for consumers' advice
What I will say is I really like Fiio's amp/DAC combos, they are definitely my favourite devices I have tried and my previous comment on the K9 perhaps came across harsher than I really meant for it to be.
The K7 is ridiculous value at its price point, the upgrade to the K9 is not just for sonic improvements (better separation/layering, but I suspect the K9 has higher noise floor, so I plan to demo again), but also for a better built device that looks and feels far more premium (K7 feels like a cheap toy comparatively). If you value build quality & want your device to have a premium look and feel, then certainly the K9 is worth it. Just on the sound front I'm undecided at the moment.
scracy
100+ Head-Fier
Having owned both the K7 and now the K9 I can honestly say the build quality is substantially better on the K9. Noise floor wise they are both about the same no real difference using IEM's that I can hear. Layering wise and instrument placement wise the K9 is a long way in front of the K7, soundstage is also wider on the K9. Bass wise the K9 has more weight and impact to it relative to the K7. Overall the sound presentation of the K7 is smoother than the K9 but the K9 is cleaner. My favourite K9 pairing would be with FiiO's own FD7 which is sublime. Whether it's worth 3 times the price of a K7 that's debatable, for some yes for others no the laws of diminishing returns applies here. You could argue does the K9 Pro justify its price relative to the K9? Bottom line with audio price is not relative to performance.I'm honestly not sure how to answer your question unfortunately - I didn't A/B the K7 vs. the new K9 enough, so I will return to my audio shop sometime this week to do just that. If you have the opportunity to demo both devices I would suggest you do that - I'm too new to the hobby and frankly I don't think I'm well-versed enough, nor do I have golden ears that I would trust for consumers' advice
What I will say is I really like Fiio's amp/DAC combos, they are definitely my favourite devices I have tried and my previous comment on the K9 perhaps came across harsher than I really meant for it to be.
The K7 is ridiculous value at its price point, the upgrade to the K9 is not just for sonic improvements (better separation/layering, but I suspect the K9 has higher noise floor, so I plan to demo again), but also for a better built device that looks and feels far more premium (K7 feels like a cheap toy comparatively). If you value build quality & want your device to have a premium look and feel, then certainly the K9 is worth it. Just on the sound front I'm undecided at the moment.
Last edited:
Users who are viewing this thread
