[FiiO KA17] Mini desktop-class amp, flagship dongle is officially released!

[FiiO]

So I continued to troubleshoot my peq issues this afternoon and as happens so often I “bricked” the unit on the Control website. Too lazy to downgrade firmware to upgrade again I thought I’d try other methods to get the ka17 to work…

***DO NOT TRY WHAT FOLLOWS AT HOME***

I have the buttons set to “B” where holding down the middle button brings up the settings menu. I decided to try holding down the middle button while connecting the ka17 to the windows 10 computer. This did “unbrick” the device but it woke up ***AT FULL VOLUME 60/60***. Luckily I only had the headphones on one ear as I had a funny feeling about this. Settings were saved and it works now but yeah *** do not try this method at home ***

This is seriously disappointing - especially because this device has such potential if they can stabilize it.

Dear friend,

Hi, what do you mean by 'bricked'? If you are convenient, you could contact support@fiio.com with more details and a small video. Thanks in adavance!

Best regards

 

[nycheadphones]

Dear friend,

Hi, what do you mean by 'bricked'? If you are convenient, you could contact support@fiio.com with more details and a small video. Thanks in adavance!

Best regards

It means that buttons don’t respond at all - you can’t adjust volume nor change any settings. This “bricking” issue is on your forum under firmware updates as well as on Reddit - seems common when using the Control website.

See here:

https://forum.fiio.com/note/showNoteContent.do?id=202403121546197194373&tid=77

Edit: if you want to quickly replicate the issue you can try to adjust the sound curve in the Control website below the peq table as opposed to typing in numbers - the device becomes completely unresponsive although music does play at a low level.

Edit 2: I don’t think support can do much here as it’s apparently not just my device - seems fairly common so it is either a batch of defective units (I think unlikely) or new software needs to be issued to get the devices working properly.

Edit 3: I just saw that I got my first Fiio device more than 10 years ago (you can check my content history here) - confident this will get fixed; can you report back what you find out from your team?

 

[povidlo]

Yes, estick was made at the request of everyone after the release of KA17. Therefore, there are many limitations. At the same time, this product is too small, and we must ensure that as much space as possible is left for the battery. In addition, considering the sales volume of any HIFI product, the sales volume of accessories made for niche products will be even smaller, and our price is also set very low. We hope everyone can understand. We also hope that everyone can support and understand. Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to do such a thankless task in the future.

Such a remark is uncalled for. Someone whose motto is "serve the customers, listen to customers" should be thankful himself and appreciate the free feedback he's getting from consumers who have spent their hard-earned money on his product.

 

[sofastreamer]

Such a remark is uncalled for. Someone whose motto is "serve the customers, listen to customers" should be thankful himself and appreciate the free feedback he's getting from consumers who have spent their hard-earned money on his product.

another reason to be done with fiio for a while....

 

[floeezy]

Is anyone using a Samsung S21 Ultra with the KA17?

My Questyle M12 dongle makes extremely loud popping sounds with my S21 Ultra, so I'm looking for an alternative.

 

[sofastreamer]

Is anyone using a Samsung S21 Ultra with the KA17?

My Questyle M12 dongle makes extremely loud popping sounds with my S21 Ultra, so I'm looking for an alternative.

did you try if this occurs with other phones too?

 

[floeezy]

did you try if this occurs with other phones too?

I have not unfortunately, but my first plan is to have a working setup with the S21 Ultra as I enjoy the phone and would like to keep using it.
To my dismay, I have read that the S21 has a poor implementation of USB audio, leading to audio glitches like the popping. I am hoping that perhaps its USB audio driver is more compatible with other dongles.

 

[sofastreamer]

I have not unfortunately, but my first plan is to have a working setup with the S21 Ultra as I enjoy the phone and would like to keep using it.
To my dismay, I have read that the S21 has a poor implementation of USB audio, leading to audio glitches like the popping. I am hoping that perhaps its USB audio driver is more compatible with other dongles.

i see. which player app do you use? did you try uapp? i have no clue what could cause the pop, though i read that questyle has some shielding issues. sadly i cannot help you with experience of the k17 and the s21. hope others can help!

 

[floeezy]

I have also read that using USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) can solve the issue. Unfortunately, I do all my listening on Spotify and YouTube, and I don't think it's possible to use these apps through UAPP.
Do you know of any other Android apps that implement their own USB driver and can play Spotify and YouTube?
Thanks for all your help!

 

[sofastreamer]

I have also read that using USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) can solve the issue. Unfortunately, I do all my listening on Spotify and YouTube, and I don't think it's possible to use these apps through UAPP.
Do you know of any other Android apps that implement their own USB driver and can play Spotify and YouTube?
Thanks for all your help!

uapp has a function where it allows other apps to use its audiopipeline instead of android. i use this, though i dont know if it really works at all. maybe would be worth a try, since its free

 

[xxxstarmanxxx]

uapp has a function where it allows other apps to use its audiopipeline instead of android. i use this, though i dont know if it really works at all. maybe would be worth a try, since its free

I have the same issue with amazon music too - nothing will invoke the dac regarding youtube/spotify/amazon without first routing through android usb audio.

On a plus side the amazon music hd files (if downloaded and available 192khz) do at least feed through to the dac as 24bit/192.

I haven't had any success with any of the atmos encoded amazon tracks though (I didn't expect it tbh) - they are simply fed through as 16bit/44.1khz

 

[nycheadphones]

It means that buttons don’t respond at all - you can’t adjust volume nor change any settings. This “bricking” issue is on your forum under firmware updates as well as on Reddit - seems common when using the Control website.

See here:

https://forum.fiio.com/note/showNoteContent.do?id=202403121546197194373&tid=77

Edit: if you want to quickly replicate the issue you can try to adjust the sound curve in the Control website below the peq table as opposed to typing in numbers - the device becomes completely unresponsive although music does play at a low level.

Edit 2: I don’t think support can do much here as it’s apparently not just my device - seems fairly common so it is either a batch of defective units (I think unlikely) or new software needs to be issued to get the devices working properly.

Edit 3: I just saw that I got my first Fiio device more than 10 years ago (you can check my content history here) - confident this will get fixed; can you report back what you find out from your team?

Any update @FiiO?

 

[BrianMcGee]

For those who wonder i tried the ibasso dc-elite against my fiio ka-17 and sent the ibasso back after 1 hour with big dissapointment. The ka17 blows the ibasso dc-elite away it in all area's imo which costs 3times the price. I'm using a hifiman he1000se headphones which pairs like heaven with the fiio ka17, the stage feels huge and spacious, bass is powerfull and extended, mids are silky smooth and open, treble is sparkly smooth with lot of detail.

Overall imaging of guitars and drums feeled bigger on ka17 compared to the ibasso dc-elite which surprised my bcause I was expecting the opposite.

Interesting, thanks for sharing!

 

[Marrogwar]

Hello. How can i enter into this menu where i can put sensitivity/impedance and learn how loud am i listening to music? At least somewhat accurate. Or is it only for BTR series? 1st screenshot is from web, 2nd made by me with ka17 connected

 

[Hubert481]

I try to connect FIIO KA17 with iOS iPhone 15 pro max using FiiO control app via CABLE USB-C----USB-C
https://apps.apple.com/at/app/fiio-control/id1485988916

Latest app version
Latest iOS-version
Latest KA17-version

App cannot find KA17

Does it work for anybody using KA17 and iPhone connected with USBc-Cable?
Do I need any trick?

I would like to do some EQ settings