FiiOK5Pro ESS Amplifier Headphone Amps Stereo High Resolution Portable Desktop DAC 768K/32Bit and Native DSD512 for Home Audio/PC 6.35mm Headphone Out/RCA Line-Out/Coaxial/Optical Inputs (Black)

Full disclosure, I ended up returning this unit because I ended up upgrading to the K9 Pro. So if I returned it, why am I still giving it a rave review? Because, for the money, this is a fantastic DAC/Amp. The amp side provides plenty of power to your headphones. The layout of the unit is very straight forward, simple, yet large potentiometer that controls the power and volume. Flip switches for the gain and the source select and then the headphone input. Very easy to use and a lightweight amp that performs very well. I used this amp to drive Audeze LCD-GX and while that is a pretty efficient headphone, this amp provided lots and lots of amplification. I used the amp in low gain and it still got quite loud with headroom to spare.So there are a few reasons I ended up upgrading to the K9 Pro and returning this model. One, I wanted bluetooth capability; being able to stream music from my phone was something I really wanted. Another was I wanted to be able to use balanced cables in my system. Additionally, I was looking for a solution that would help reduce jitter and pops and noise while I was using the optical SPDIF input. My television is notorious for having all of those things, so I tried many, many solutions, in order to mitigate that, including SPDIF filters, digital reclockers, different cables, HDMI extractors, etc, and what I landed on was the Fiio K9 Pro. So this is not a knock on the K5 Pro because this is a $200 DAC/Amp. Rather versus the K9 Pro which is over 3x the price, at $700, this review is a reason for me to explain, if I didn't want/need any or all of those things, the K5 Pro would absolutely still be in my system because sound quality-wise and usability-wise the K5 Pro is a fantastic value. If you are looking for a high quality sounding DAC/Amp at a great value, this Fiio unit really should be one you should try.

So first off I wanted a K7. I have some harder to drive cans but its basically impossible to find anywhere. Amazon pulled it and several other retailers are all listing it as a pre order but not available yet. Anyway... ended up settling on this or so I thought (spoilers, I don't feel like i settled anymore, it does exactly what I wants at this price point and I'm glad I saved the 50$). I don't mean to say the k7 isn't better, I wouldn't know, but I am gonna say that the K5 drastically outperforms my expectations. I'm a primarily audio-gd user, and due to mishandling it I broke the volume potentiometer on my main rig and so I bought this as a standin. I didn't want something to outperform my main rig, and this manages to get right up to it without quite beating it... and that's saying something because it's over 1000$ in amp and dac. This is an absolutely mind blowing eye watering ear melting value.Now on to the sound: It's mostly hifi. There are parts to this device's presentation that is closer to "the hifi version of something not very hifi but people dig anyway". The other products in the line up feature a bass switch for example, and this definitely has some exaggerated bass but only enough and in just the right way that makes it good. It's not gonna make the staunchest audiophiles happy on their main rig, but it will satisfy anybody who knows they're kinda sorta settling for one reason or another. It's really good value hifi while retaining some elements of consumer appeal (think like, beats by dre).Basically this amp/dac combo is the new king of yeah but it's doing it with x. It sounds this good, it's not the best i've heard, but at 150$ It's a huge wtf. It sounds this good, yeah, I've heard better but not from something this SMALL. The pictures make it seem like it's bigger than it actually is, it's like a 4x5inch thing, really small, about the size of a modern cable modem. This rig does a lot of things like that.New to hifi? Buy it. Seriously, nothing's gonna touch this at it's price point. Can you do better while still maintaining the value? Sure, you've got a lot of room to grow without losing good value for your money but this is probably where great sound really starts. If I was starting out, I'd want to start with this device right here. Need another for your work setup or just your shop or something? Buy it. It won't make your face wrinkle up in disgust, and in some cases it'll make you say whoa, without replacing your prized hifi and it's the cheapest thing I could find with a 6.3mm jack and no bs.Only real complaint I have about this amp/dac combo is what the other reviewer pointed out: there's a deadzone at the start of the volume knob, after you click it on to when you start hearing stuff is a surprisingly large amount of the turn, I'd say 15-20% of the knob is deadzone after the on click then you start hearing it and it rapidly climbs in volume at teh beginning presumably to make up for lost time. I wish there was a touch more nuance in the lower volume levels because I listen primarily quietly, although this does get loud and that serves me well on my work setup because i'm way more likely to listen to something loud and brutal while working. BFG division has gotten me through a lot of shifts, but most of the time I listen quiet and this loses some of the super low end volume range...But it is meant to be used with an intelligent transport of some kind (aka a computer so you can make up for this a bit with your player or system volume, and the volume movement is there in the knob it's just really tight starting out and hard to adjust because of it). The gain switch is nice for medium to higher volumes, however... oh and on the subject of stuff it connects to, I'm using this on linux with no issues. I hope that's useful to somebody. Anyway this review is already obnoxious, take care audiophiles!

I got this headphone amp to drive my AKG K701s, which are notorious for being too quiet, and this was the model that was recommended to drive them. Well, as it turns out, with 3 different gain settings and stellar sound, this is the amp I will use in the studio for life. It not only drives the K701s really well but also adds life to my older cans. I love the sound, and the build quality is fantastic.My only grip? Just 1 headphone output. Would have been great to have two, but that said, I can use a Y cable and I am sure that the gain will be sufficient for two pairs.UPDATE!!!!This headphone amplifier has a real ASIO driver, so for writing music, I can use it without latency. I will admit the driver was harder to find than I would have liked, but the install went well and it works extremely well.