[Sonic Defender]

@FiiO, next time you REALLY, REALLY, need to include Bluetooth. It is almost a necessity these days. There should be the flexibility to be wireless. The Creative E5 is one such great little amp and DAC that included Bluetooth connectivity and man was that very convenient. Bluetooth Apt X sounds stunningly good and including the chip isn't too expensive and it will not in any way sonically degrade the performance of the A5 (it can be defeated anyway if a user wants). The days of not having Bluetooth for devices such as the A5 are pretty much done. Hopefully in the near future FiiO can release something like the A5 with BT. I would love to buy the A5, but I'm sick of wires, I have my main rig for cables, but a nice little compact device like the A5 should be free of USB cables to phones as they fail and are just in general a real pain in the ass. Anyway, that aside man does this look like an amazing device!

 

[Koolpep]

  @FiiO, next time you REALLY, REALLY, need to include Bluetooth. It is almost a necessity these days. There should be the flexibility to be wireless. The Creative E5 is one such great little amp and DAC that included Bluetooth connectivity and man was that very convenient. Bluetooth Apt X sounds stunningly good and including the chip isn't too expensive and it will not in any way sonically degrade the performance of the A5 (it can be defeated anyway if a user wants). The days of not having Bluetooth for devices such as the A5 are pretty much done. Hopefully in the near future FiiO can release something like the A5 with BT. I would love to buy the A5, but I'm sick of wires, I have my main rig for cables, but a nice little compact device like the A5 should be free of USB cables to phones as they fail and are just in general a real pain in the ass. Anyway, that aside man does this look like an amazing device!

 
The A5 is free of USB cables to phones since it has no DAC and its only input is the analog 3.5mm input - the USB port is for charing the battery only.
 
But in general - I agree - it's something that is missing in the Fiio line up but the A5 is a portable amp only - not a DAC/Amp - that would be the E18 and there the addition of BT makes sense. A pure analog amp like the A5 - is exactly what it is...analog cable from a DAC in - amplified sound out.
 
Cheers.

 

[FiiO]

  @FiiO, next time you REALLY, REALLY, need to include Bluetooth. It is almost a necessity these days. There should be the flexibility to be wireless. The Creative E5 is one such great little amp and DAC that included Bluetooth connectivity and man was that very convenient. Bluetooth Apt X sounds stunningly good and including the chip isn't too expensive and it will not in any way sonically degrade the performance of the A5 (it can be defeated anyway if a user wants). The days of not having Bluetooth for devices such as the A5 are pretty much done. Hopefully in the near future FiiO can release something like the A5 with BT. I would love to buy the A5, but I'm sick of wires, I have my main rig for cables, but a nice little compact device like the A5 should be free of USB cables to phones as they fail and are just in general a real pain in the ass. Anyway, that aside man does this look like an amazing device!

Hi, Sonic Defender
Thank you for your kind suggestion. We will report to our engineers about that. And it seems that our later product Q5 may meet your need: http://www.head-fi.org/t/772186/fiio-q5-flagship-dac-amp-an-dual-dac-usb-optical-coaxial-line-in-share-the-same-amp-module-with-x7/660

 

[Gordhifi]

   
I need an amp that brightens and makes the volume easier to hear! 
 
BTW, since you said that you never go over 11, on E12A, to get really high listening volume, you sometimes needed to go only as far as 9-10, I wonder how A5 works with sensitive IEMs, like Senn ie80

I'll get back to you on the sensitivity on iems. 

 

[ballog]

The A5 is free of USB cables to phones since it has no DAC and its only input is the analog 3.5mm input - the USB port is for charing the battery only.

But in general - I agree - it's something that is missing in the Fiio line up but the A5 is a portable amp only - not a DAC/Amp - that would be the E18 and there the addition of BT makes sense. A pure analog amp like the A5 - is exactly what it is...analog cable from a DAC in - amplified sound out.

Cheers.

I very very strongly agree! Fiio should get out of their comfort zone and make something that might rival the Astell&Kern XB10 (way way overpriced) or just a simple aptx bluetooth receiver with quality amp.

 

[Lohb]

  c5 has better bass than a5.
c5 is more natural.
a5 wins for the staging.
a5 is more transparent.
tonality: c5
lows: c5
mids: c5
highs: a5
soundstage: a5
details: a5
sub bass of c5 vs mid bass of a5.
both r good

Surprised A5 beats out C5 on sound-stage, as the Cayin was pretty great for that so A5 must be excellent !

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
The A5 is free of USB cables to phones since it has no DAC and its only input is the analog 3.5mm input - the USB port is for charing the battery only.
 
But in general - I agree - it's something that is missing in the Fiio line up but the A5 is a portable amp only - not a DAC/Amp - that would be the E18 and there the addition of BT makes sense. A pure analog amp like the A5 - is exactly what it is...analog cable from a DAC in - amplified sound out.
 
Cheers.

Yes, my bad for not seeing that. Although, I'm trying to imagine why you would need a DAC as the BT chip handles incoming digital. I am not sure about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but in theory, could an amp not simply take the digital out from Bluetooth and amplify it? This isn't an area where I know as much as I feel I should so there could be a glaringly obvious reason why a DAC section would still be required with a portable amp to implement Bluetooth.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Hi, Sonic Defender
Thank you for your kind suggestion. We will report to our engineers about that. And it seems that our later product Q5 may meet your need: http://www.head-fi.org/t/772186/fiio-q5-flagship-dac-amp-an-dual-dac-usb-optical-coaxial-line-in-share-the-same-amp-module-with-x7/660

Good to know! I will indeed be quite interested in this.

 

[Headphone4Life]

I've been without a portable amp for about a year after giving it to my niece so I ordered the A5 today. I had a chance to use my buddies E12 and was wondering if the A5 sounds as good or better seeing as its just an upgrade E12.

After reading through the thread I didn't see anyone saying they use the A5 with the Focal Elear, so if anyone has I'd like to know what you think. There's plenty of power obviously so I just want to know how they sound together, I'll be using the Elear along with my Nighthawk from time to time.

 

[Lohb]

I've been without a portable amp for about a year after giving it to my niece so I ordered the A5 today. I had a chance to use my buddies E12 and was wondering if the A5 sounds as good or better seeing as its just an upgrade E12.

From impressions, it seems to be a more refined version hybrid of E12A's sound and E12's power output.
 
I've already recommended it to a friend for his planars. Killer price positioning for what you are getting.

 

[Vaanres]

i have a bose soundtrue ultra in-ear, should i buy a fiio a5 to improve the sound ? i mostly use with iphone 6s 

 

[FiiO]

 
@ Fiio
 
Will you please explain or graph the bass boost response.
 
Is it modeled the same as one of your other amps?
 
The graph would be of interest to more than a few of us
 
Thank you

Test condition：Gain=High

 

[PapaThrust]

Woowee thats a lot of boost - Thank you, Fiio, for posting!

 

[shyamelge]

Can anyone inform me whether A5 can easily drive Fostex T50RP Mark3?

 

[HotIce]

The E12, which has the same power specs, can easily drive my T40RP MK3.
And for easily, I mean at 11:00 volume position (high gain) it gets pretty loud already.
Go here and input 50 Ohm and 92dB/mW:
 
http://www.digizoid.com/power.php
 
With 200mW you already get 115dB SPL, which is pretty damn loud.