Verdict
Bigger than might be idealistic , spec that may well be overkill for most of us – but when it fare to making your digital audio Indian file sound their just , the K19 competes with anything at a remotely similar price
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
FiiO has worked its way into the stance it occupies today , as a well - respected manufacturer of consumer electronics in oecumenical and audio equipment in particular , by generally live one of two shipway with its products .
The first way is to offer operation comparable to the class - leaders , but at a more competitive terms . The other is to twin the class - leaders on price , but to mob on the lineament and functionality .
Which way does the K19 tread ? Or is there ( whisper it ) a third fashion ?
Availability
The FiiO K19 desktop headphone amplifier DAC is on sales agreement now , and in the United Kingdom it sell for £ 1249 . In the United States you ’ll have to hand over $ 1299 , while in Australia the going charge per unit is AU$2049 .
You ’ve a fair amount of alternative where headphone amp / DACs at this sort of money are concern – but as will speedily become patent , machine as lavishly intend as the K19 are in shorter provision …
Design
By desktop standard , the FiiO K19 is quite a sizeable gadget – so it ’s probably just as well the packaging include a match of picayune feet ( plus a screwdriver and the screws to attach them ) that allow it to stand upright – at 250 x 225 x 37 mm ( HWD , without feet ) it ’s quite improbable , but at least it does n’t take up too much desktop real acres position this way …
It ’s a very nicely made and finished twist , though – which is as it should be , given the request monetary value . It ’s build from die - cast aluminium , and the unibody construction makes for a pleasantly seamless design . Despite its relative thinness , the construction is usefully shock - resistant – and it ’s very static on its feet too .
Four of the six sides of the chassis lineament rut dissipation arrangement – and it does n’t do any harm to the K19 ’s artistic appeal that its two largest slope have a honeycomb interlocking design that looks moderately swish at the same clock time as allowing for convection heat profligacy .
On the inside , FiiO has arranged for thermally conductive material to be in direct contact with the hardware – so high temperature from chips is transferred to the conductive stuff and then on to the aluminium outer frame . The K19 gets gently quick when it ’s working – but do n’t doubt it would be a lot warmer if FiiO had n’t take aim these measures .
The front of the K19 features push / bit dials covering world power on / off , volume control , input selection and bill of fare pilotage – they ’re both circle by lights ( because this is a FiiO product , after all ) that radiate in one of a motley of color depending on the file cabinet size and typewrite the K19 is dealing with . Below there ( as you front from top to bottom ) there ’s a curt little ( 1.3 - inch ) display – it can rotate if you decide to interchange the way the K19 is orientated . Here ’s when you could select stimulant , examine some equaliser presets , set gain and maximal mass , investigate a figure of filters , select the voice communication , check for update , and plenty more besides .
Navigation can be a bit of a test given how humble the presentation and the font on it is , but there are n’t many aspect of the K19 ’s operation that ca n’t be canvass here . And there ’s always the FiiO Connect app ( free for iOS and Android ) that can take the hurting out of a lot of these operations .
Below here are the K19 ’s three headphone yield . There ’s an XLR4 connection behind a little covering , a 6.3 millimeter unbalanced socket and a 4.4 mm balanced choice . Which should be sufficient in pretty much any naturalistic circumstance .
At the rear is where the majority of connections are – and there are plenty . As far as digital input go , there are digital optical and digital coaxial along with HDMI and USB - C – and there are a pair of stereophony RCA analogue inputs too . Outputs carry to digital ocular and digital coaxial , HDMI , stereo RCA and balanced XLR .
In improver , there ’s an RS232 on a USB - nose candy one-armed bandit , a 12 - volt trigger iteration , and both timpani - lead and DC mains adaptor stimulation along with an AC / DC switch . The K19 also feature Bluetooth wireless connectivity , of trend , with codec compatibility all the way toaptX HDand aptX LL along withLDAC .
Beyond the on - silver screen menus and control app , there are a further two forcible interfaces . The first is an unremarkable distant ascendance French telephone that covers off the major purpose , and the other is a altogether remarkable 31 - ring PEQ .
PEQ stands for parametric EQ , and it allow the auditor to use a RS232 / USB - C connexion to a computer ( it ’s available in the app too ) to get at a passably intimidating 31 - channel interface that can be used to directly adapt PCM signals ( of between 44.1 and 192kHz ) with no need of sampling rate spiritual rebirth .
Unlike a graphic EQ , which simply tolerate a degree of boost or cut to each of its filters , PEQ allows adjustment of the centre of the frequency image , the amount of boost or cut and the sharpness of the encouragement or contract too . And by way of an encore , PEQ presets can be portion out between K19 user .
Features
The Internet , of line , is to all purport and function limitless . And yet I ca n’t help thinking that if I hash out each and every one of the FiiO K19 ’s features at any variety of length , I ’ll be eating into the amount of useable internet quad quite significantly . So it ’s probably good to just touch on them …
The only reason the K19 is able to utilize a 31 - isthmus preciseness lossless PEQ is FiiO ’s use of an ADI ADSP-21565 DSP splintering with SHARC+ essence . It ’s up to of 64 - bit preciseness floating point calculations , and insure audio signals after PEQ are as unclouded and straining - free as they were before .
The K19 ’s digital and analogue circuits are on separate boards with disjoined power supply – there are alloy shields for the DSP , DAC and earphone elaboration , thanks to a compartmental Al alloy closing off design . The effect is minimum crosstalk , strong isolation , minimised hinderance and optimum signal unity .
In plus , the analogue audio circuit is drive by a multi - stage power supply – so there are individual force ascendence circuits for the DAC , headphone amp and every other audio circuit .
The FiiO use a quad - core FPGA ( domain programmable logic gate array ) to handle all incoming digital signals , admit Bluetooth . Once the digital processing is taken caution of , the signal are passed through duplicate I2S channels to ensure negligible signal loss before they make the DAC leg .
Digital - to - analogue rebirth itself is handle by a couple of ESS ES9039SPRO 8 - channel DAC chips – these boast fourth - gen 32 - scrap HyperStream computer architecture , and allow the K19 to treat PCM files of up to 32 - bit/768kHz and DSD512 resolution . Headphone amplification , meanwhile , is taken care of by a novel THX AAA 788 + 8 - duct design that turn in parallel – 2×2 group make up a balanced 4 - TV channel organization . It ’s driven by a mellow - emf ( 8000mW + 8000mW ) business leader supply that ’s capable of driving pretty much any phone you care to mention .
There ’s more , of course . enough more . FiiO will happily talk , at duration , about its low - jitter global clock management , about its ultra - low-spirited phase disturbance femtosecond crystal oscillator , about its AC / DC dual power supply . It makes a fully grown deal ( as it should ) about its audiophile - grade portion sourced from brand as believable as Panasonic ( capacitors and resistors ) and Neutrik ( gold - plot connectors ) .
It ’s keen for you to empathise the K19 has a number of output options – PO+PRE is volume - adjustable front headphone and rearward audio yield , PO is volume - adjustable front headphone output , PRE OUT is intensity - adjustable turnout from the rearward socket , and LO is fixed - level output from those rearward socket .
But I opine the full point is satisfactorily made by now . The FiiO K19 is a lavishly specified twist , and if there ’s a shortcoming in its componentry or its feature - set it ’ll take a more forensic eye than mine to identify it .
Sound Quality
plain a Cartesian product as well specify as this one can fulfil a few function . The room it ’s configured have in mind it can figure out on your desktop or as a rootage or even a preamplifier in a full - on full - size sound recording system – and one of the thing that ’s so admirable about the K19 is just how committed its performance is in any of these roles . It ’s almost as commendable as its ability to enkindle up , rather than dunk on , gloomy - resolution depicted object .
As part of a background set - up , it can go toe - to - toe with any monetary value - comparable rival . With content ranging from a 320kbps MP3 file of Cherry - Coloured Funk by Cocteau Twins to a 24 - bit/192kHz FLAC single file of This Country by Fever Ray , and with headphones consort from a couple ofGrado SR80Xto some Sennheiser IE900 , it ’s impressive in every single department .
Detail point , for example , are approaching stratospheric . The K19 is able to extract , uncover and expertly contextualise in the finest , most transient details in a recording no matter how marginal or how rich in the mix they might be bury .
It can create a large and persuasive soundstage , with a whole mass of place from allow for to right for even the most complex recordings to lay themselves out coherently . And this detachment and insight is never at the disbursement of togetherness – the FiiO ease a genuine sentiency of carrying out and one that makes recording audio of a whole .
It ’s vaultingly dynamic , able to put significant distance between the still and the most abandoned , intense passage in the same recording . And it ’s just as skillful , and just as convinced , where the minor harmonical and active pas seul in , for example , a solo instrument are refer .
The tonal counterbalance is just so , with the sort of neutrality of approach that let a recording get on with doing its thing rather than feature the DAC overtly pose its oar in . The frequency range is integrate nicely too , with a smooth journeying from the top of the frequency range to the bottom available .
And at each tip of the frequency range , the K19 is incontrovertible and eloquent – it communicates articulately through the midrange , strikes a endearing balance between kernel and attack at the top end , and hits with briskness at the bottom of the frequency range . Bass sounds are deep and emphatic , but they ’re decent controlled – so rhythmical expression is good .
All of the above applies when the K19 is slot into a full - size system via the XLR outputs on its rear . But more so , somehow – when decoding a fat hi - Re filing cabinet and output to a subject power - amp - and - speaker system jazz band , the FiiO ’s game steps on again . It ’s widely - receptive , hugely revealing and open of a compounding of center and momentum that will have you choosing line after line long after you might realistically have terminate and kick the bucket to bed .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
No , it ’s not your only pick at this variety of money – but this is one of the very best around
There are reward to a 31 - channel PEQ interface , most unquestionably – but it could conceivably be well-disposed to get to grips with
Final Thoughts
I ’ve been doing this variety of body of work for more years than I handle to remember – but I do n’t call in ever being quite so apprehensive about a product that should , by rights , be fairly aboveboard to assess .
jubilantly , though , the FiiO K19 turn out to be one of those products that obliterate its high - performing simplicity under a bushel of acronyms and “ front at me ! ” extended functionality . It ’s just a DAC / headphone amp – do n’t let it make you think otherwise – and as such is well deserving consideration .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every desktop amplifier we review thoroughly over an extended period of time . We habituate industry standard tests to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to survey a product .
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FAQs
The K19 features a HDMI ARC port , so you could connect it to a tv set .
