[Click]

Was really hoping for a MQA decoder in the KA5. My HiBy FC4 can decode MQA and it only costed me $60.

Will be waiting for KA7. Hopefully FiiO will add MQA and Line Out to that model, while keeping the 3.5/4.5mm outputs, OLED screen, and volume controls.

 

[FiiO]

Could you please quote power consumption in mW.

Dear friend,

No, different mobile phones may provide different output voltage for KA5 when connecting.

Best regards

 

[marekm]

So you are saying that I will not know how "power hungry" Fiio KA5 is until I connect it to my phone ?

 

[jjxaker]

In fact, no matter how much it consumes in practice, they all do it almost at the same level. with low consumption, the sound quality drops.
It is much more important that the smartphone has a USB 3.0 output, since a higher current will give a significant improvement in sound with any dongle.
for example, it will be worse with any iPhone than with Samsung S21 or OnePlus 7 Pro and newer from the top segment.
it is necessary to release firmware for those who worry about energy saving, let them lose sound quality...

 

[Ultrainferno]

This weekend we take a detailed look at the KA5 on Headfonia, an article by @nanotechnos
We're giving it our Recommended Buy Award!

https://www.headfonia.com/fiio-ka5-review/

 

[FiiO]

So you are saying that I will not know how "power hungry" Fiio KA5 is until I connect it to my phone ?

Dear friend,

If you would like to get the mW value as you mentioned, you could test the output voltage of your mobile phone first.

Best regards

 

[marekm]

If you would like to get the mW value as you mentioned, you could test the output voltage of your mobile phone first.

So Shanling, who quote power consumption of their DC04 Pro dongle are wrong.

 

[earl4]

This account has been deleted.

 

[duff138]

This weekend we take a detailed look at the KA5 on Headfonia, an article by @nanotechnos
We're giving it our Recommended Buy Award!

https://www.headfonia.com/fiio-ka5-review/

Bonus point fo the 3.5mm port that doubles as a SPDIF port (mini-toslink)

Support from Fiio told me it was not Toslink, only coaxial? Did you try it using toslink?

 

[991 Carrera 4S]

As I also replied here, I am really sorry, but I personally find the quality of this headfonia.com review really disappointing:

This weekend we take a detailed look at the KA5 on Headfonia, an article by @nanotechnos
We're giving it our Recommended Buy Award!

https://www.headfonia.com/fiio-ka5-review/

• Not. A. Single. Word. About the supposedly outstanding feature in this price class (changing settings and filters via local OS, independent from the host device and without the need of an app)?

• You even state „I’d have been really curious to try the other gain mode, but as for now, the app seems to be available on Android devices solely.” And you additionally repeat this in the pros-cons-list with „Many software options [but] for android users only”.

What? Did you even use the FiiO KA5 yourself? Or is this so-called review all made up? All settings are supposed to be changeable directly on the device, without any app. And you are omitting/ignoring this the whole review all along?

Additionally:

• Why do you even state that there is no app for iOS, when FiiO, as well as a simple google search, both say that the FiiO Control app is also available for iOS?

• Why do you state that CS43198 in KA5 is higher end than CS43131 in KA3 [edit: KA2], when in reality they are basically the same, except with integrated amp (CS43131) or without (CS43198).

• Why do you quote the output power as stated by FiiO, without mentioning that those values are measured at totally impractical THD+N<1%.

• Why do you not question FiiO's claim to achieve 768 kHz sampling rate, when the official datasheet of CS43198 states that CS43198 is only capable of 384 kHz? Did you test/verify this yourself? And if it really works, how is it achieved? By simply downsampling?

 

[991 Carrera 4S]

At first, I was really hyped for the FiiO KA5 (Dual CS43198 DACs, Dual SGM8261 amps, settings and filters via local OS and display) to be a really hard contender for iBasso DC04 Pro (Dual CS43131 DACs, Dual RT6863 amps, settings and filters only via Android app).

But I am getting more and more suspicious:

1) Why are the output power values claimed by FiiO measured at totally impractical THD+N<1%?

2) While the FiiO Control app is also available for iOS, it was for iOS last updated over two months ago and on iOS does not support KA5 yet?

3) FiiO claiming that KA5 is supporting 768 kHz sampling rate, when the official datasheet of CS43198 states that CS43198 is only capable of 384 kHz. How is this achieved? By simply downsampling the input?

 

[ClieOS]

...

1) Why are the output power values claimed by FiiO measured at totally impractical THD+N<1%?
...

While some third parties website publish measurement in much stringent condition, measurement done under THD+N < 1% is kind of an industrial wide practice. Besides, you can also find more detailed measurement data on FiiO official website as they are one of the first in the audio industry to actual publish measurement.

...
3) FiiO claiming that KA5 is supporting 768 kHz sampling rate, when the official datasheet of CS43198 states that CS43198 is only capable of 384 kHz. How is this achieved? By simply downsampling the input?

I don't know if this is how FiiO has done in KA5, but you can use interleaving to combine the effect of multiple DAC chips to overcome what a single DAC chip can't do. iFi Audio does this on many of their DAC models (where per DAC chip can only do 192kHz, but can scale to 768kHz when interleaving multiple DAC chips).

 

[FiiO]

At first, I was really hyped for the FiiO KA5 (Dual CS43198 DACs, Dual SGM8261 amps, settings and filters via local OS and display) to be a really hard contender for iBasso DC04 Pro (Dual CS43131 DACs, Dual RT6863 amps, settings and filters only via Android app).

But I am getting more and more suspicious:

1) Why are the output power values claimed by FiiO measured at totally impractical THD+N<1%?

2) While the FiiO Control app is also available for iOS, it was for iOS last updated over two months ago and on iOS does not support KA5 yet?

3) FiiO claiming that KA5 is supporting 768 kHz sampling rate, when the official datasheet of CS43198 states that CS43198 is only capable of 384 kHz. How is this achieved? By simply downsampling the input?

Dear friend,

For your second question, the FiiO Control iOS version is not compatible with the KA5. But you could adjust all the menu options in the KA5 itselfs when connecting to iPhone.

The engineers did the special technical processing in KA5 so it could output 768k sampling rate stably.

Best regards

 

[jjxaker]

• Why do you state that CS43198 in KA5 is higher end than CS43131 in KA3, when in reality they are basically the same, except with integrated amp (CS43131) or without (CS43198).

KA3 is set to 9038Q2M not CS43131. and as for the sampling rate of 768 K, there is a crutch for a tick, nothing more. even M11 Plus can't produce 768K (but I tried it only with MQA)
in general, I also did not like the review, at least I do not consider it complete, because if you take up reviews, then you must have all the necessary tools! not to study the functions of the application just because you need an android, it's a shame, the author must also have an android since he is engaged in reviews. And not only android, I didn't even see a usb tester in the review, since a full-fledged review should measure dongle consumption.

 

[Billyak]

I've had the KA5 for 24 hours now. I'm not one to give reviews but from a purely functional point of view, all functions available on the android app are also physically accessable from the hardware itself. It's not even complicated.

It also does 768k.