I received my KA3 a couple of days ago together with a balanced 4.4mm cable for my Sennheiser HD 58X and everyhing worked fine out of the box, both on my LG V30+ (Neutron Music Player) and my laptop (Foobar, although it wouldn´t play DSD 512 in native mode, it showed the sample rate but that was it, it did play 256, 128 and 64 no problem and when set to Wasapi push, DSD 512 played fine although the KA3´s green light would not turn on, this must be a Foobar problem since DSD 512 played perfectly on my phone). My first impression was that the KA3 sounded slightly brighter than I liked, that went away with further listening which revealed a clear and punchy sound that to me was engaging and what I was looking for. Strangely, my Jcally JM20 sounded louder out of my phone than the KA3 through its 3.5mm output, louder and also worse, since the Jcally was thinner sounding and more grainy, the KA3 being more "analog" for lack of a better word and just better sounding in comparison. When I put the balanced cable on the HD 58X and listened through the 4.4mm output it was as if the headphone had been given a vitality injection, yes it sounded louder but more alive at the same time and the bass gained a lovely impact that wasn´t there out of the 3.5mm socket. It really feels like I have also bought a new better sounding headphone from the improvement the 58X gets with more power, or at least fed by the balanced out of the Fiio. I´m really happy with the KA3 and would recommend it to anyone looking for this type of product.
