[scracy]

I get no ‘clicks’ like that on my K9. Totally silent. On start up as well as during use. I turned it off last night and stayed in the room to listen (just in case of post turn off ‘sounds’) and, once again, nothing at all.

I have no clicks or anything like that either, I'm not sure why this "clicks" thing is such a big deal

 

[FiiO]

Recorded on the microphone these clicks, which I spoke about earlier. I completely turned off the device, and within an hour after that there were 5-6 clicks. It’s clear that I won’t include an hour-long audio recording here, so I made a separate audio track of a few seconds, where I specially cut out the moments with clicks.

This is how it sounds: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q6TBgPYJTM3U20hIyxKmJhY4wAExd5AR/view?usp=sharing

Exactly the same clicks are heard some time after the launch of K9.

Dear friend,

What did you use for recording the sound? Please try to turn off the K9(turn off the switch in the back panel). Will you hear this sound still?

Best regards

 

[Kegra]

Dear friend,

What did you use for recording the sound? Please try to turn off the K9(turn off the switch in the back panel). Will you hear this sound still?

Best regards

I used the Audio-Technica AT2020 USB+ microphone. The device on the recording has already been turned off using the switch on the rear panel. Within an hour after the power was turned off, 5-6 metallic clicks were heard, in the audio file I cut them out and added one after another so as not to listen to the hourly version of the audio. This happens every time, always. Also, the device clicks 2-3 times after turning on for half an hour.

 

[scracy]

Finally a comprehensive FiiO K9 written review for those that are interested
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/fiio-k9-desktop-dac-headphone-amplifier/

 

[Bret Halford]

I review IEMs using the K9 Pro and the K9 shown here. Sounds fantabulous using IEMs much better than you would imagine the Penon 10th anniversary shown here is a 9 ohm IEM meaning they are more sensitive than average IEMs. No hiss on my end out of both the K9 pro or the K9. Fiios dac/amps are excellent for IEMs by the way. I did my review of the K7 mostly with IEM usage. You might get a waterfall at the most using something like the Andromedas but otherwise I haven't heard an IEM out of one of these that I didn't like or any showing obvious hiss.

I ended up picking up a K9 pro ESS yesterday. Unfortunately I can definitely hear audible hissing on all the IEMs I tested (Beyer Xelento 2, FIR Rn6 and Thieaudio V16).

If you have the unit on (powered up and load up some music but don't play, the amp doesn't actually turn on otherwise lol), plug in your IEM and then toggle between HP and Pre modes. I think you might be surprised at how audible the noise floor is on your 10th Annis... I can definitely hear (a very quiet) hiss on my IEMs, even on Low gain It's easiest to distinguish when it 'turns off' as you toggle to the absolute silence in 'pre' mode.

Are there any lower power FIIO modules worth looking at? I think the K9 is an excellent unit, but there's probably just way too much max power for it to be a clean source for sensitive IEMs, no matter how tidy the supply. I really wish the market wasn't so focused on catering to insensitive, over ear, planar, power paranoia... it ruins the experience for so many of my IEMS (and over ears too, Fostex and new Beyer are quite sensitive!).

 

[unknownuser]

Finally a comprehensive FiiO K9 written review for those that are interested
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/fiio-k9-desktop-dac-headphone-amplifier/

No comparison to the K7? At least @vsg28 didn't mention in the text, have you compared these or you no longer have the K7?

 

[vsg28]

No comparison to the K7? At least @vsg28 didn't mention in the text, have you compared these or you no longer have the K7?

I still have both, I was not sure if those in the market for a K9 will be necessarily looking at the K7 and that page was long enough as it is. But overall I'd say the K7 is better value for money although the K9 is more solidly built, has more features out of the box, and the amp section does feel better executed. For example, with planar headphones I could get a better sense of instrument separation and detail retrieval with the K9 compared to K7. Sensitive IEMs also seemed to fare better with the K9 given the lack of any background hiss.

 

[unknownuser]

I still have both, I was not sure if those in the market for a K9 will be necessarily looking at the K7 and that page was long enough as it is. But overall I'd say the K7 is better value for money although the K9 is more solidly built, has more features out of the box, and the amp section does feel better executed. For example, with planar headphones I could get a better sense of instrument separation and detail retrieval with the K9 compared to K7. Sensitive IEMs also seemed to fare better with the K9 given the lack of any background hiss.

Thanks. So no day and night difference in your experience, maybe I'd be better off spending this money on HP (eyeing with the iBasso SR3 as an addition/upgrade to my HD6xx) and keep the K7 instead which would be more noticeable difference than a DAC/Amp upgrade.

 

[scracy]

I still have both, I was not sure if those in the market for a K9 will be necessarily looking at the K7 and that page was long enough as it is. But overall I'd say the K7 is better value for money although the K9 is more solidly built, has more features out of the box, and the amp section does feel better executed. For example, with planar headphones I could get a better sense of instrument separation and detail retrieval with the K9 compared to K7. Sensitive IEMs also seemed to fare better with the K9 given the lack of any background hiss.

Interesting that the K7 gets an "Editors Choice" award as does the K9 Pro, yet K9 only gets a "Highly Recommended" despite being 40% cheaper than a K9 Pro and sonically not that different? Surely both K7 and K9 would both be better in terms of value for money relative to the K9 Pro? Or is it that there is more competition in the K9's price range? Just curious.

 

[vsg28]

Interesting that the K7 gets an "Editors Choice" award as does the K9 Pro, yet K9 only gets a "Highly Recommended" despite being 40% cheaper than a K9 Pro and sonically not that different? Surely both K7 and K9 would both be better in terms of value for money relative to the K9 Pro? Or is it that there is more competition in the K9's price range? Just curious.

K9 Pro would not have received that same award today. I have more context in terms of what's in the market now and have reviewed newer items that push the value for money barrier further.

 

[Kegra]

Interesting that the K7 gets an "Editors Choice" award as does the K9 Pro, yet K9 only gets a "Highly Recommended" despite being 40% cheaper than a K9 Pro and sonically not that different? Surely both K7 and K9 would both be better in terms of value for money relative to the K9 Pro? Or is it that there is more competition in the K9's price range? Just curious.

I suspect that yes, for such money the K9 has a lot of competitors, although I personally found the K9 setting very useful, at the moment it is my favorite device for listening to music (although I have not listened to the K9 Pro, maybe in the future I will buy it ). For its price, the K7 is an incredible device in terms of sound quality and capabilities. With the PL50, the K7 comes very close to the K9 in terms of overall sound quality.

 

[Earbones]

Can somebody walk me through all the iterations of the K9 Pro and which is considered best?

There’s the K9 Pro, which originally came with an AKM chip, this was before the fire. I haven’t been able to find any of these on the various online shops.

Then the K9 Pro ESS, which used two 9038 chips. These seem to sell for around $849

Then I found a couple of K9 Pro units not label “ESS” yet still apparently using two ESS chips, the 9068 (which I think is a newer chip than the 9038), listed inexplicably for $499.

Is this about right? Is the cheaper 9068 ESS version better than the 9038 version, just cheaper?

 

[EdgeDC]

Can somebody walk me through all the iterations of the K9 Pro and which is considered best?
There’s the K9 Pro, which originally came with an AKM chip, this was before the fire. I haven’t been able to find any of these on the various online shops.
Then the K9 Pro ESS, which used two 9038 chips. These seem to sell for around $849
Then I found a couple of K9 Pro units not label “ESS” yet still apparently using two ESS chips, the 9068 (which I think is a newer chip than the 9038), listed inexplicably for $499.
Is this about right? Is the cheaper 9068 ESS version better than the 9038 version, just cheaper?

There have been two versions of the K9 Pro - AKM and ESS, as you noted - the AKM version is also known as the K9 Pro LTD (i.e. "limited"), because a limited number of them could be made with the remaining AK4499EQ DAC chips that FiiO still had in stock after the AKM fire. That's also why you are having a hard time finding them, especially unused.

The 3rd version you listed is not a "Pro" model. It is just the K9. It could also (unofficially) be called the K9 (non-Pro). This unit contains most of the K9 Pro's features, but as you noted, a lower level of DAC chips (ESS9068AS). It's certainly better value than the K9 Pro for the money, but you could also say the same about the K7 compared to the K9.

I hope that helps to clear it up a little.

 

[Dsnuts]

I am currently working on a write up which will have some comparisons between the K9 and the K9 pro ESS.

K9 for the bucks is easily Fiios value point leader. Its sound quality is at a very similar level to the K9 pro ESS. K9 pro ESS is got a slight edge in sound quality but that will more or less depend on what headphone or IEM you have connected to them. With a lot of my phones and IEMs I test with them. It will be hard to figure out which one is a clear better sounding product. It is only when you do a close head-to-head comparison like I am doing is when you can tell the differences between them.

I will get into that in my eventual review of the K9 but for now. I can say if you want the absolute best SQ Fiio has for a DAC/AMP the K9 pro ESS is still top dog but the K9 comes dangerously close at a bit over half the price. Very similar power output from the K9 as well.

 

[e-dub]

How does the M17 in desktop mode compare to this new K9?