Verdict
Yes , it ’s full-grown and grueling for a product that thinks it should live on your desktop . But the FiiO K9 Pro ESS ’s functionality and sonic expertise is such that you might , if necessary , buy a bigger desk …
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
In well under 20 years , FiiO has gone from ‘ that brand that makes affordable digital sound players ’ to ‘ that firebrand with a push-down stack of believable audio products of many character and many prices ’ .
So it ’s not all that surprising that it ’s ready to go toe - to - toe with some of the acknowledged grocery loss leader – and at serious cost - point , too . The K9 Pro ESS desktop earphone amp / DAC is just the latest demonstration of FiiO ’s ambition …
Availability
The FiiO K9 Pro ESS is on sale , and in the United Kingdom it ’s yours for £ 699 or thereabouts . You ’re looking at $ 849 or so in the United States , and it will place you back AU$1349 in Australia .
There are quite a little of desktop headphone amp / DAC combo that be far less than this , of course of action , but equally it ’s potential to pay quite a lot more . And even at more - or - less the same money as this FiiO , you have products from the likes of Cambridge Audio , ChordandiFito choose from .
So the K9 Pro ESS has to do a small more than just show up with some badly - advised gold trimming if it ’s hold out to make an belief …
Design
Yes , that gold trimming . It seems understandable that FiiO , having plan a purely functional aluminium box in which to stop a lot of complicated electronics , might want to give it a spot of visual pizazz .
But while I ’m aware that dissimilar people have different tastes , the software of glazed atomic number 79 to the exterior of the volume control and the ‘ Pro ’ badge on the facia looks – to me , at least – a bit tacky . You , of course , may palpate differently – although that ’s before I cite the tintinnabulation of light surrounding the mass command . It changes colour look on the quality of the incoming signal .
Bling aside , the K9 Pro ESS is a goodish , well made and whole unremarkable - looking machine . Up front , there are balanced and unbalanced headphone output signal – 6.3 mm , 4.4 mm and 4 - pin XLR . On the side – and where the side is all depends on how you orient your K9 Pro ESS . FiiO put up a little bandstand in the packaging so it can digest upright as well as lie down – there ’s a USB - C socket .
But on the rearward panel , of course , is where the volume of the action at law is – a Bluetooth aerial , a USB - B complex socket that can wield incoming signal of up to 32 - bit/384kHz monetary standard , a digital ocular ( 24 - bit/96kHz ) and digital coaxal ( 24 - bit/192kHz ) make up the digital inputs . In addition , there are a pair of blood - level stereo RCA input , a corresponding duet of outputs , a 4.4 mm balanced comment and a pair of 3 - pin balanced XLR output signal .
The dashboard sport some physical control beyond the sporty volume control . There is a switch to select your output option ( pick out between DAC , preamp and headphones ) , another to set the appropriate gain level ( eminent , medium or low ) and a button that can either dampen / unmute or wake / understudy . A control to wheel through your input options ( and to move the corresponding little LED ) is the last ascendency .
Features
As beseem a quite expensive screen background headphone amp / DAC , the FiiO K9 Pro ESS is extensively specified . And then designate some more .
The fundamental layout of the K9 Pro ESS is balanced , with entirely disjoined power supply for the digital and analog sections . A notably large analog superpower supply ( with a low-down - frequency transformer and a quartet of adult electrical condenser ) render the goods . The PCB is organised to keep the parallel signal loop separate , and audio signals isolated from the power supply too .
A pair of ES9308PRO DAC chips take care of the digital - to - analogue business – there ’s one for each of the stereo channels . And then the signal is amplified by a span of THX AAA 738 + scrap that are potent enough to intend that even the most truculent headphones can be efficiently drive without problem .
Wireless stuff is handle by a Qualcomm QCC5124 chipset . cyclosis is viaBluetooth 5.0 , and there ’s compatibility with SBC , AAC , aptX HD , aptX Low Latency , aptX Adaptive andLDAC codecs . Which should , by any reasonable standard , be plenty .
There ’s also the FiiO Control App uncommitted for habit . It ’s a useful , if fairly abbreviated , app – but it ’s very utile indeed for adjusting EQs , selecting between different filters , sustain the touchstone of the digital audio file the K9 Pro ESS is dealing with , checking for microcode updates and what - have - you . It ’s stable and consistent , which is about as much as you’re able to realistically ask for .
Sound Quality
No matter if you use the FiiO K9 Pro ESS as a desktop DAC and headphone amplifier , or as a full - organisation DAC or preamp , the fundamental priorities of its phone do n’t really convert . you may chuck everything from Public Enemy & Anthrax ’s Bring Tha Noizeto Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran ’s Everything Has Changedat it , and it ’s imperturbable . In any and every circumstance , the FiiO is a natural spring of information .
Its facility with detail retrieval is almost uncanny . No element of a transcription is too minor , too far to the back or the side of the soundstage , or too transient to bilk the K9 Pro ESS . If it ’s present in a recording , the FiiO will tease it out – and then put it in its proper lieu , without overstating it or coming on like some testing ground instrument . It ’s a spirited and entertaining listen , and not too many products at any monetary value manage to coalesce that trait with the powers of depth psychology the K9 Pro ESS present .
And while this is of benefit throughout the frequency range , it ’s the midrange that do good most of all . The FiiO ’s deftness with vocalists is tremendous – you ’re never in any doubt as to a singer ’s motivation , their emotional country , their character , or their attitude when the K9 Pro ESS mystify handgrip of them . And the fact that the soundstage the FiiO create is so generously proportioned and so strictly organised intend that singers get all the space they want for do their affair – even if there ’s a sonic maelstrom happening at the same meter .
The top of the frequency range shares the same balanced and neutral tonality as the midrange , and has just as much extend for it in terms of truth and insight . The level of attack is nicely judged , and there ’s enough sting and substance to double sounds to foreclose them incur overly hard or splashy .
It ’s at the bottom of the frequency range that the FiiO is just a little less positive and control . There ’s no shortfall of annex , and the same authority where attack and decay is concerned is apparent too . particular levels are mellow , and there ’s more than enough variation where flavour and grain are pertain to make the little active differences in bass sound obvious .
There ’s just not as much consistency to the low goal as is ideal – the K9 Pro ESS ca n’t summon quite the poke or power ask to make the bass the right way thud like you know it should . And so far all its velocity and sleight , and for all that the control of the low end mean rhythmic positivity is first-class , ultimately the FiiO just is n’t all that hip - shaking a listen . you may mitigate this trait just a little by using headphones that are on the dumpy side where low frequency are concerned , but you ’ll struggle to eradicate it .
Switch to using the K9 Pro ESS as a Bluetooth receiver and the finest of detail set out to go wide . The soundstage is nibbled at , too – it ’s no longer quite so expansive nor so martially organised . This is all relative , though – by prevailing standard the FiiO is an insightful and full - scale listen . Even if there ’s every chance you ’ll hanker after a little more bass than is forthcoming .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
What this DAC / headphone amp does n’t know about revealing the fine details of a recording is n’t worth live .
Some mass prefer whippets to bulldogs , after all – and there ’s no denying the FiiO is as skimpy and rapid as a racer , rather than as musclebound as a fighter .
Final Thoughts
At first , I opine the K9 Pro ESS meant FiiO had mistaken ‘ strong-arm weight unit and size of it ’ for ‘ expensive and high - operation ’ – it would n’t be the first caller to have confused the two , after all . But although the K9 Pro ESS is n’t perfect ( its sound is a trace jackanapes and its forcible presence is quite the opposite ) , it ’s have an awful heap to urge it – the point I ’d consider tidying my desk to make place for it .
Trusted Score
How we test
We quiz every DAC / earpiece A we reexamine good over an prolonged point of time . We use industry standard tests to compare feature of speech right . We ’ll always recite you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a product .
Find out more about how we examine in ourethics insurance .
FAQs
The departure between the K9 Pro and ESS models is that its replacement utilize a ESS Sabre chipset DAC , hence the ‘ ESS ’ in the model name .
