Bought the
Fiio KA15 dongle from Aliexpress, and it has finally made the long pilgrimage from China!
So this packs a dual CS43198 DAC + dual SGM8262 op amp. Similar DAC and amp to the Onix Alpha, which was incidentally hyped to Jupiter and even Pluto. Anyway, yes be patient my dongle-bators friends, I will put some comparisons against the Onix Alpha down at the bottom.
Accessories wise, the KA15 comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable plus a leatherette case.
The KA15 is fashioned from CNC machined metal. Very sturdy, and it has a cool retro cassette player look. Weighs a mere 21 g, very pocketable. Comes in a black or silver finish. Some modern day dongles do not even have a screen, but the KA15 utilizes a 0.96 inch LCD screen which has colour, which is something different from the dull black and white screens nowadays. When music plays, the rollers on the cassette tape even spin LOL.
So the screen shows the bit rate, DAC filter, UAC mode and volume level. There is an option to even toggle real time voltage and current monitoring, so you know how much battery drain is happening. (Another spec to please the measurebators!) In the settings menu, one can set a timer so that the KA15 can potentially enter a low power sleep mode after a set time, which may save battery. Even without that, the KA15 is touted in marketing materials to drain less battery even on standby mode, compared to its predecessors.
The KA15 has independent volume controls (some pricier dongles like the Questyle M15 do not have this cough cough), and you can opt for 60 or 120 fine tuned steps in the settings menu. The KA15 also has a mic support function there, in addition to UAC 1.0 mode for PS5 and switch games. There are other goodies to play with in the settings menu, such as screen brightness, background themes, configuring the buttons, channel balancing and accessing EQ setups and DAC filters.
Speaking of EQ, the KA15 is compatible with a web based Fiio EQ site -
https://fiiocontrol.fiio.com/ - where you can get 7 preset and 3 custom EQ profiles via a 10 band PEQ. I think the EQ tab can also be programmed on the Fiio control app for Android, but is not available for Apple devices. The web based app requires WebUSB API, which only Chrome, Edge and Opera support (don't think Firefox or Safari can access this).
We have a few buttons along the side of the chassis, including volume controls, menu button (short pressing functions as a pause button), and the desktop mode, which unleashes more power.
This dongle has 3.5 mm (single-ended) and 4.4 mm (balanced) ports, with the 3.5 mm one doubling up as an SDIF output. The 4.4 mm port on desktop mode can hit 560 mW output at 32 ohm (THD+N < 1%), which is quite impressive for a small dongle. I tested some tough customers with high impedance/low sensitivity, like the Sennheiser HD650, Final Audio E500 and Yinman 600 ohm (the latter has 600 ohm impedance and 87 mW sensitivity!); the KA15 handled all with aplomb on 4.4 mm desktop mode, with good dynamics and bass texturing on display. And nicely, it doesn't get hot during extended usage.
In stock form, the KA15 is neutralish, but of course the PEQ above unlocks whatever tonality you wish for, which increases versatility. Desktop mode seems to provide better separation, imaging and soundstage compared to non desktop mode (even after volume matching), but this comes with more battery drain as a trade off.
I don't hear any hiss even with high sensitivity IEMs, though there is a disappointing pop on inserting or removing transducers from the 3.5 mm port. The 4.4 mm port is better implemented and remains silent when connecting gear. The KA15 has <0.8Ω output impedance (OI) on 3.5 mm, and <1.2Ω OI on the 4.4 mm port, so it synergizes well with fussy low impedance IEMs.
So some quick comparisons that I'm sure everyone is itching to hear:
1) versus Onix Alpha
- Onix Alpha also has independent volume steps (not as finely spaced as KA15)
- Onix Alpha has filters and gain options, but no PEQ
- tonality of the Onix Alpha is warmer and thicker, more analoguish
- Onix Alpha has weaker micro-details and imaging, but has better soundstage
- bass is untextured and one-noted on the Onix Alpha with an upper mids glare (big deal breakers for me)
2) versus Fiio KA13
- The KA13 has marginally less power at 550 mW at 32 ohm
- KA13 has no screen
- KA13 is a tinge brighter in tonality, and is slightly thinner sounding
- KA13 has weaker imaging and stage
- no PEQ available for KA13
3) versus Fiio KA17
- KA17 also has a desktop mode and more power at 650 mW at 32 ohm, so it can potentially drive a few more demanding stuff
- However KA17 heats up and drains battery more as a compromise
- KA17 is warmer in stock tuning with a thicker note weight, but it also has PEQ to unlock various tonalities
- surprisingly, when using desktop mode on both, in technicalities, the KA17 is a hair weaker in soundstage and imaging
- the KA15 does not have a 2nd USB port for power (unlike the KA17), so potentially it may drain the connected smartphone's battery substantially (or perhaps some weaklings with power caps like the older Apple phones can't provide enough power), but you can potentially get past this via a dual port USB cable with a power bank on the other end.
So far, have been testing the KA15 for the past 4 hours and it is quite a nice overall package, one of the better buys this year in terms of dongles. Would recommend it as quite an all-rounded device, with PEQ the cherry on the cake. Will do more testing and report back. I am actually gonna sell my Onix Alpha off soon, as the flabby untextured bass is a deal-breaker for me.
---> ORIGINAL X2 (so they say, $5)...GOA-Trance purposes...Excellent--->numero 5! 
