[tim0chan]

Android is obviously a jungle for peripheral support!

eBay link for those who needs a proper USB C to Micro OTG which does not draw current:
If the link does not work, key in keywords "Micro USB to Type C OTG Oppo HA2SE".

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/292052970340

Hamster

Btw I have already mailed it to u, will pm u the tracking number soon

 

[Tysun]

Btw I have already mailed it to u, will pm u the tracking number soon

Holy crap mate this is so cool! Awaits your PM.

 

[Brooko]

AM5 is much much better to my ears, better definition, better clarity, better control, louder, wider soundstage, more instrument separation, much much more dynamic.

(I only tested AM5 with really hard to drive headphones like Amiron or LCD-4 so far. Amiron swallows 80% of its volume , LCD-4 swallows less, but both reach the full AM03A maximum volume, so AMP5 is needed for them)

I will also test with IEMs soon, I did not do that

One thing I can tell you from the start is the top end... MAN that top end has all the extension and sparkle you need. I sold the E12A I bought a few years ago because the top end was too smooth for me, so it lacked sparkle and wasn't engaging enough. Welp, AMP5 for Q5 is sparkly and neutral, an amazing AMP

BTW, I wouldn't say AMP5 is too warm or has any inclination for the sound, just better overall clarity and especially dynamics than AM03A, AM03A already being quite excellent in my book. An excellent adition to an already excellent product

AM5 is not overly warm, but it is slightly warmer than AM1, AM3 and AM3A.

As far as power goes - single ended the AM5 has the highest output, and also highest current output, but AM3A definitely bests it in balanced if you have a headphone that needs more overall power, and relatively high impedance.

AM5 SE - 55 mW into 300 ohm, with max current output 250 mA and 11 Vp-p
AM3A balanced - 70 mW into 300 ohm, with max current output 160 mA and 11 Vp-p

So it depends what you're driving. The HD800S (balanced) subjectively sounds better to me via the AM3A balanced than the AM5.

I'll add this too - the Q5 is a game changer for me. Only had it a few days, and its pretty amazing. More after I've spent more time with it.

George - how did you volume match when you were comparing AM3A and AM5? Just curious.

 

[emptymt]

AM5 is much much better to my ears, better definition, better clarity, better control, louder, wider soundstage, more instrument separation, much much more dynamic.

(I only tested AM5 with really hard to drive headphones like Amiron or LCD-4 so far. Amiron swallows 80% of its volume , LCD-4 swallows less, but both reach the full AM03A maximum volume, so AMP5 is needed for them)

I will also test with IEMs soon, I did not do that

One thing I can tell you from the start is the top end... MAN that top end has all the extension and sparkle you need. I sold the E12A I bought a few years ago because the top end was too smooth for me, so it lacked sparkle and wasn't engaging enough. Welp, AMP5 for Q5 is sparkly and neutral, an amazing AMP

BTW, I wouldn't say AMP5 is too warm or has any inclination for the sound, just better overall clarity and especially dynamics than AM03A, AM03A already being quite excellent in my book. An excellent adition to an already excellent product

Hey George, are you making the comparison of AM3A balanced mode vs AM5 SE mode?
I'm using the meze 99 classic as my portable, been thinking to get the balanced cable to upgrade the performance a little bit, based on your comments, I'm wondering if that cable money is better to be invested somewhere namely the AM5.

for at home use this wouldn't affect anything since I'll be using my desktop amp anyway.
btw is the AM5 silent for most IEMs?

 

[Dobrescu George]

Hey George, are you making the comparison of AM3A balanced mode vs AM5 SE mode?
I'm using the meze 99 classic as my portable, been thinking to get the balanced cable to upgrade the performance a little bit, based on your comments, I'm wondering if that cable money is better to be invested somewhere namely the AM5.

for at home use this wouldn't affect anything since I'll be using my desktop amp anyway.
btw is the AM5 silent for most IEMs?

Still haven't tried AM5 with IEMs...

As for SE vs Bal, I'm using both on SE

 

[Dobrescu George]

AM5 is not overly warm, but it is slightly warmer than AM1, AM3 and AM3A.

As far as power goes - single ended the AM5 has the highest output, and also highest current output, but AM3A definitely bests it in balanced if you have a headphone that needs more overall power, and relatively high impedance.

AM5 SE - 55 mW into 300 ohm, with max current output 250 mA and 11 Vp-p
AM3A balanced - 70 mW into 300 ohm, with max current output 160 mA and 11 Vp-p

So it depends what you're driving. The HD800S (balanced) subjectively sounds better to me via the AM3A balanced than the AM5.

I'll add this too - the Q5 is a game changer for me. Only had it a few days, and its pretty amazing. More after I've spent more time with it.

George - how did you volume match when you were comparing AM3A and AM5? Just curious.

I don't have the cables to try anything in balanced, so only tested both in SE (LCD-4MX and Amiron)

The only thing I could compare in Balanced is MEZE 99C and Beyerdynamic Amiron, since they both can fit Meze cables, but I'm still waiting on Meze silver balanced cables.

As for volume matching, trying my best to get volume matching using a SPL app, Mi Max 2, closed back headphones, then checking as well if they are audibly similar. Using noise or very dynamically compressed loud metal music, I should get within 1-3 dB of volume matching, especially if using the same part of the song.

Q5 is so bloody amazing I'm starting to consider it a while new level of revolution, this thing connects to my PC, X7mkii, my Samsung Tablet, providing quite an excellent sound. If both Q5 and X7mkii have the same AMP module installed, I can't really tell them apart sound-wise.

 

[emptymt]

Still haven't tried AM5 with IEMs...

As for SE vs Bal, I'm using both on SE

Apparently the balanced out in AM3A is superior to the SE mode one, I tried both with my utopia, both using adapters.
1/4 stock cable -> 3.5mm adapter SE out
Norne Arcance XLR -> 2.5mm adapter Balanced mode.

The balanced mode sounds better to me with better separation, soundstage and what seems to me a more natural sound.
But the cable set up as you can tell has some difference in it, and volume matching is difficult, so I'm not very confident on my comments here.
But from what I experience, the balance out on AM3A is better than the SE one, enough to make me consider a balance cable for my portable.

 

[emptymt]

BTW, the Q5 has a different DAC than the X7 II, and it is also a dual DAC as opposed to a single one in the X7 II.

I don't have a full understanding of "True Balance" topology, does this mean the dual dac in the Q5 enables this set up/has this feature?

Like 1 DAC chip per channel into balance in to the amp to balance out onto the headphone.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Apparently the balanced out in AM3A is superior to the SE mode one, I tried both with my utopia, both using adapters.
1/4 stock cable -> 3.5mm adapter SE out
Norne Arcance XLR -> 2.5mm adapter Balanced mode.

The balanced mode sounds better to me with better separation, soundstage and what seems to me a more natural sound.
But the cable set up as you can tell has some difference in it, and volume matching is difficult, so I'm not very confident on my comments here.
But from what I experience, the balance out on AM3A is better than the SE one, enough to make me consider a balance cable for my portable.

Focal Utopia might eat more power than a IEM, and this might be why it might sound better on Balanced than SE, given that BAL and SE should be really really similar on AM03A, as far as design and components go.

Again, I think I liked the BAL better before as well, but I can't test it with headphones yet, so no volume matching, no cable matching, many things to consider to make a clear statement

BTW, the Q5 has a different DAC than the X7 II, and it is also a dual DAC as opposed to a single one in the X7 II.

I don't have a full understanding of "True Balance" topology, does this mean the dual dac in the Q5 enables this set up/has this feature?

Like 1 DAC chip per channel into balance in to the amp to balance out onto the headphone.

I mention it in my reviews, but really the implementation makes all the difference. It could be 16 DACs and be badly implemented, or 1 but excellently implemented.

The DAC should be similar most of times, I mean, I can't pick the differences between Q5 and X7mkii yet, if they are both running AM03A and volume matched. And this is with RE2000 / ie800 / LCD-4MX, so really good transducers, I simlpy need more time to say if I can hear a difference and what that would be. DACs aren't as different as their implementation usually, and you have to take DAC filtering into account as well, making the discussion complex to say the least

I trust fiiO to do amazing DAC implementations though, and that means that regardless what they put in there, I trust it'll be a great implementation of that DAC

 

[Ynot1]

BTW, the Q5 has a different DAC than the X7 II, and it is also a dual DAC as opposed to a single one in the X7 II.

I don't have a full understanding of "True Balance" topology, does this mean the dual dac in the Q5 enables this set up/has this feature?

Like 1 DAC chip per channel into balance in to the amp to balance out onto the headphone.

My guess is the Q5 uses the extra dac to avoid switching inputs and incurring loss through the switch, but unlikely. The X7 II does not have many inputs so a single dac can suffice. As for balance being true, you can always have it inside the dac. But it maybe trade secrets as to how it is done.

Another guess is one dac for analog inputs and one for digital inputs, but unlikely. The Q5 has line in, optical, coaxial, usb, and bluetooth input. The line in prolly uses an ADC. The bluetooth prolly uses CSR chip. The spdif prolly uses another chip. Like wise usb uses another chip. But then again the system on chip implementation may consolidate as much as possible to do the things that are easier to do well. I have a feeling the delay at each of these chips may have also influenced the design.

Another guess is the soc does the ADC and USB, while all the other decoder chips use a different dac. The X7 and Q5 may share the soc part. So it could have been a convenience reuse factor.

Depending on what the CSR makes available to the system integrator, Fiio has the domain access to implement something interesting. Fiio has their own app so they can build an encoder for really complicated audio formats. And Fiio can get the digital stream from the CSR to do the decoding. The CSR should not care what is being sent as long as the byte or message format is standard.
Since typically audio formats are not of live streaming, one can think like a squirrel and take as long as necessary to figure out how to get the nut so to speak.

 

[jpfrog]

@FiiO is there a case kit for the iPhone X in the works? The current case kit won’t work with it.

 

[koven]

None of the reviews have comparison to Mojo yet..

 

[Dobrescu George]

None of the reviews have comparison to Mojo yet..

It has the sound of X7mkii as far as I can tell. Compare X7mkii to Mojo, and it would be more or less the same thing

 

[tim0chan]

None of the reviews have comparison to Mojo yet..

Well, I found it to have the same level of technical performance as the x7 while offering a slightly warmer sound. As for the mojo comparison, the mojo is the cleaner source and is definitely more powerful without an amp swap. I found the mojo to be more energetic too

 

[bahamot]

@Dobrescu George , have you tried Q5 with iBasso IT01? I’m thinking of getting Q5 but still not sure.