[desertsilver]

So, today the new FiiO K9Pro ESS arrived. Absolutely great device. Processing perfect, I like visually very well, very nice!

I thus replaced my Burson Conductor 3XP. With the I was definitely never happy and would never buy again. Most annoyed me the volume control. That was the horror! Turn, turn, turn... there's no end to how much I hated it. I was also definitely never satisfied with the "sound". It sounded "floppy", bass was clearly missing to me and many headphones, which require a lot of power, just sounded lousy. Never again!

And lo and behold, with the FiiO everything is different, as you would expect. A perfect volume control. No more endless twisting. In addition, it runs extremely fine. You can't make it perfect. I also like the sound much better. Although the same power as Burson, you have felt twice the power. Drive it in high gain, like the Burson in each case also. At the moment I'm listening to the LCD-i4. Excellent. Also ZMF sound with it much better than Burson.

Conclusion: regret the purchase not a second and would buy it again immediately!

Nice clean setup!

 

[kRed]

So, today the new FiiO K9Pro ESS arrived. Absolutely great device. Processing perfect, I like visually very well, very nice!

I thus replaced my Burson Conductor 3XP. With the I was definitely never happy and would never buy again. Most annoyed me the volume control. That was the horror! Turn, turn, turn... there's no end to how much I hated it. I was also definitely never satisfied with the "sound". It sounded "floppy", bass was clearly missing to me and many headphones, which require a lot of power, just sounded lousy. Never again!

And lo and behold, with the FiiO everything is different, as you would expect. A perfect volume control. No more endless twisting. In addition, it runs extremely fine. You can't make it perfect. I also like the sound much better. Although the same power as Burson, you have felt twice the power. Drive it in high gain, like the Burson in each case also. At the moment I'm listening to the LCD-i4. Excellent. Also ZMF sound with it much better than Burson.

Conclusion: regret the purchase not a second and would buy it again immediately!

Wow! Isn’t the Burson like twice the price, while being only amp?
I always thought it was a way better product, like another class of performance!

 

[dsrk]

Wow! Isn’t the Burson like twice the price, while being only amp?
I always thought it was a way better product, like another class of performance!

No, Conductor 3XP is a DAC/AMP, Soloist 3X is the AMP.

 

[phiemon]

Is there anything against it if I connect and use the Fiio K9 Pro ESS to PC via USB-C instead of USB-B?

 

[Moon5123]

Is there anything against it if I connect and use the Fiio K9 Pro ESS to PC via USB-C instead of USB-B?

Works the same no difference felt for me.
Fiio told they prioritise the usb c port over usb b

 

[phiemon]

Another question: should I standby it or turn it off completely for example during the night?

 

[Ichos]

Another question: should I standby it or turn it off completely for example during the night?

Turn it off or deep standby or else it gets hot.

 

[phiemon]

Turn it off or deep standby or else it gets hot.

Deep standby: you mean long press the multi-function button for about 3s?

 

[Ichos]

Deep standby: you mean long press the multi-function button for about 3s?

Yes!

 

[phiemon]

Yes!

I'm already using it all the time. Would it be better if I turn it completely off?

Just curious: how can I put it to a "normal/not deep" standby?

 

[Moon5123]

Another question: should I standby it or turn it off completely for example during the night?

There is lot of debate on this many engineers says leaving the devices like AMP or DAC on all the time can benefit the sound quality (basically the device doesn't need to wait for some time to warm up completely) and also longevity as some electricity components wear more when switching from on or off state rather than left at running state.
I guess k9 do have sleep mode where it leaves the amps section on. However the implementation is not that good as when ever power goes the device reset it self and restarts.
So if you are not facing frequent power cut leave it on or you can turn it off in nights.

Take a listen to this post hope it helps:
https://www.psaudio.com/askpaulvideo/does-leaving-equipment-on-shorten-its-life/

 

[Robert Waller]

Another question: should I standby it or turn it off completely for example during the night?

the thing with mine is when i only used the front to power down the K9 would still (and 24/7) be connected to my phone via blutooth….i was wondering (in anguish of course) why my new Sony HT-A9 system was having problems…i turn my K9 off via the rear and now the HT-A9 works flawlessly (thru my phones blutooth)

 

[Ichos]

I'm already using it all the time. Would it be better if I turn it completely off?

Just curious: how can I put it to a "normal/not deep" standby?

If we are talking about the ESS version then a short single press on the far right button is stand by = about 1W of power consumption but unit remains hot.
Continuous press on the same button is deep standby = less power consumption and unit just mildly warm.
On/off button at the back = unit is completely shut down.

 

[Ichos]

the thing with mine is when i only used the front to power down the K9 would still (and 24/7) be connected to my phone via blutooth….i was wondering (in anguish of course) why my new Sony HT-A9 system was having problems…i turn my K9 off via the rear and now the HT-A9 works flawlessly (thru my phones blutooth)

The unit has low power Bluetooth mode that is always on even when not in Bluetooth listening mode.

 

[Stealer]

Recently, I am seeing dropouts in sound when playing with VLC for my movies. However, when I switched to playing on foobar2k with music, I dont have problem.
The error i get is USB connection error. I was thinking of reloading the driver for K9 but decided not too. Not sure why. I started playing my movies with my old JRiver 21 and so far no dropout...
I think it time K9pro get a firmware upgrade....
note: PC Win 11... K9pro AKM ...