FiiO K5 Pro ESS DAC and amplifier - great offer

[@Harry-jz1dn]

I'm really enjoying the k5 Pro ESS. Great value, good power output, some very good and accurate gain settings. I'm enjoying it with my Hifiman he400se. Prefer it over to he Sabaj a10h, which struggles a little bit at powering them even on high gain. My only negative is there is a very slight but audible electrical, buzzing noise from the unit. It doesn't make a big difference when music is playing, but it is there. I've tried it in different rooms and different sockets and it's always there. Edit : really enjoying them with my FIIO FD5, great pairing, best I've heard them yet. Some very good increase in detail and air

[@PortaFi]

thank you for sharing!

[@shiizu0863]

Have you tried getting balanced cables?

[@Harry-jz1dn]

@@shiizu0863 This unit doesn't have balanced output

[@kylevanwagn3r]

Been hoping to see someone review this one, glad to see it's you! Hope you and your loved ones stay safe.

[@PortaFi]

thank you!

[@SergiuTibuleac]

Thank you for review. Be safe and know we pray daily for your nation.

[@PortaFi]

Thank you too

[@jodiac]

Ahhh it’s good to see you still putting out videos! Stay safe!

[@PortaFi]

Always!

[@richarddalton8558]

Thanks for the review. Do attached powered speakers automatically disconnect when headphones are plugged in?

[@PortaFi]

no, outputs are toggled by switch on the front panel

[@kyron42]

How to remember which is the Sundara. Sundara has round ear cups. The sun is also round or so I'm told.

[@PortaFi]

well, interesting mnemonic :)

[@stevenj2380]

K5 Pro ESS is center of a micro system for night table in bedroom. Connecting all to K5,sounds better than direct headphone jacks or tuner direct into the Creative speakers. With DT 770 Pro 250, and cheap HD 199 headphones, Creative PC powered speakers with 2 tiny satellites and subwoofer, a Fiio DAP, the limited produced Sony HD XDR-F1HD tuner ( 7in wide) still to get a quality smallest possible CD transport or player maybe a Pro ject CD box (8 in wide).

[@ajinjoyacdc]

Can I use this with my integrated amp for my speakers. I use a Marantz pm 6006. It has a CS4398 DAC. If I use an external dac, will it be an upgrade?

[@PortaFi]

Well, you can use it as a pure DAC, but I'm not sure if it will make any sense with your Marantz. I haven't heard it, so I can't say anything about sound unfortunately.

[@RakshitNew]

Intersting to see k5 pro getting an ESS update. Are they better / worse than the AKM version? Or is the diff negligible that we really shouldn't be worried about not getting AKM version

[@PortaFi]

you definitely can get ESS version without any worries. or AKM, if it's available. difference isn't really big to my ears, and both offers a really great price to quality ratio

[@RakshitNew]

@@PortaFi Great. Thanks for confirming.. 👍

[@nemanjailic9612]

I only have the older version (non ESS) available to me in the stores. Should I wait for them to resupply with the ESS versions or should I just buy the ones that are in stock currently?

[@PortaFi]

actually, the sound difference isn't huge, so you can go for AKM version too

[@angelOcrisu]

Have you tried it with open back headphones? I'm curious if it reproduces enough bass for this type of headphones. I use sennheiser 660s with ifi zen dac & can and they have a bass button which I always let it on. I want to replace the zen stack with this K5pro to also connect the wiim mini streamer to it's optical input. Thank you and be safe.

[@DatNapk1n47]

Hello! Full disclosure, I am not a professional by any means and what I am about to say is my personal untrained opinion, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I have tried both the ifi zen dac v2 and the K5 pro at a showroom with the 660S and also some planars like the Hifiman Sundara and Edition XS. To my ears at least it sounded a lot more dry and lifeless than the Zen stack. It's definitely not bad and it may be the perfect sound for some people but I am not one of those people. Maybe you could fix this with an EQ but I cannot say since I couldn't test that. The point is that out of the box I prefer the Zen stack, and personally I would try to find some sort of adapter to plug into the zen can instead of buying this. I hope this helps!

[@angelOcrisu]

@@DatNapk1n47 Thanks. It helps a lot your opinion. I have the zen V1 with the can and recently bought the zen one signature wich has the zen v2 dac, I believe. This dac has the optical in wich it serves me but I kind of return it while it's possible. I got a discount for easter of 50eu but still was 300. I don't believe anymore that an extra feature justifies double the price. I'm not into mqa anymore and this zen one like zen v1 has the same intreruptions when connecting to the smartphone with the tidal driver. It has also bt but also it's not relevant for me. I think I will stick with the zen stack. I know that the zens sound warm,pleasant, full bodied. I have the fiio ka3 , a dongle dac/amp that has the same ess dac that k5 pro has and with the 660s sounds as you say, dry and bass lacking. With closed Sony I quite like how it sounds. I

[@PortaFi]

Hello, "open back headphones" is a really big range of models. I did try this DAC with, for example, Meze Empyrean. This DAC is almost neutral, so you'll get the amount of lows that is close to amount that your earphones produce "themselves". For me it's enough, but if you used to a bass boosted/darkened source, it can be lacking for you

[@benegesserit9838]

@@angelOcrisu hi, Have you ever tested the Signature supply (iFi Audio iPower2 5V) on Zen to see if the sound has improved? I have the same headphones as you and I use the balanced output...I am pretty happy with that. but I'm curious to see if you notice any improvement in the sound ...

[@angelOcrisu]

@@benegesserit9838 Hi. At the time I had the ipower 1 for the zen and I can't say that I could hear differences with headphones. I bought the power supply just to be safe that the zen dac it could run the 660s but it could also without. But hey! Don't take my worlds for granted. Every audiophile that rewiewed the zen said that it sounded better with the psu.

[@orborbea9844]

I have it for a couple weeks now , I actually prefer it over my ifi nano idsd black label. It feels like a cleaner sound then the warmer ifi , if that makes sense

[@PortaFi]

thank you for sharing!

[@Harry-jz1dn]

Totally agree, it's got an added clarity without going into analytical territory and retains the FIIO musicality of their house sound

[@sultanal-thaqafi559]

Hello, why my K5 pro ess doesn't support 786khz sample rate in my system? What could be the reason? Drivers, fake product, or technical limitations?

[@PortaFi]

Hello, I'm sorry, but I don't have files in such insane resolution, and I don't use Windows, so I don't know what can be a limiting point there. Probably it's better to ask this at K5 Pro thread on Head-Fi, you'll get a much more useful answers there

[@ahmadfawzy5175]

Thx for the review . I have HD 560s with sound blaster x4 is it worth to buy the k5 pro ESS . specially for more power ?

[@PortaFi]

unfortunately I didn't test both 560s and X4. In theory, K5 Pro ESS will be better (or spend extra to get K7 for even bigger win), but it's just hypothetically

[@tkhalid1379]

Hello again good sir! Can this be used with Android phone via otg cableas a DAC/amp to stream Tidal Masters ? My understanding is otg will go into usb cable provided which will go into the amp.. and I will then be able to stream Tidal masters

[@PortaFi]

Hello, as far as I remember, K5 Pro doesn't support MQA, so you'll be able to listen to Tidal MQA, but decoding will be done by the Tidal client. So it won't be a "true" MQA

[@scripted4048]

How this compare to topping dx3 pro plus? I'm gonna buy one of these for my sennheiser hd560s. Thanks for review!!

[@PortaFi]

Unfortunately, I haven't test DX3 Pro Plus

[@lewistaylor7171]

Hey, I’ve got a pair of HD560s and really tempted to get this amp/dac for them. How you finding it? Worth it?

[@kyron42]

How does it compare with other combos at the same price?

[@PortaFi]

Unfortunately, I'm really limited in comparisons now, so I can't say much here

[@kyron42]

@@PortaFi ok

[@goldpieceleo]

How this compare to Khadas tone 2 pro?

[@PortaFi]

more powerful, and if I remember right (didn't do A/B comparison), K5 is more neutral

[@goldpieceleo]

@@PortaFi okay thanks.

[@MohamedAlquraini]

K5 pro or K5 pro ess who is better?

[@PortaFi]

it's present in this video, but in short ESS is tiny bit better

[@MohamedAlquraini]

@@PortaFi Thank you for the tip

[@romantereshchenko6930]

Hi, K5 pro or Mojo 2?

[@PortaFi]

sorry, didn't test Mojo 2

[@kyron42]

Hybrid volume control. Does that mean there is no channel imbalance?

[@PortaFi]

yes, at least no imbalance due to potentiometer :)

[@kyron42]

I'm curious do you have an engineering degree or IT degree?

[@PortaFi]

IT ))) I'm a programmer in my "main life" :)

[@kyron42]

@@PortaFi me too!

[@LyuboA]

too bad the Only K5 Pro ESS review i can find is Not in English

[@PortaFi]

oh, good sarcasm :)

[@hmst5420]

I tried it with akg k612pros and didn't like the result. i don't know what was the reason but the sound felt claustrophobic and narrow against Oppo HA2-SE and also then against ifi zen DAC. Tried to play with different gains and it didn't help. Also i read some reviews about it where people complained about its sound profile for some reason. I know it sounds weird but maybe it's because of incompatibility with some headphones. IDK.

[@PortaFi]

Thank you for sharing. I think it's just a matter of subjective sound preferences. especially when it comes to the staging, as it's the most subjective thing in a whole portable audio :) I've seen a lot of times when people had an opposite opinion about the stage auditioning same gear

[@ottoman556]

It's about crappy 15v supply. In my own builds i always use at least 24 volts for desired high dynamic range. So i advice you to look up for an amp which can be feed by 30 volts.