FiiO KA5 DAC for Audiophile Grade Music on Smartphone

After reading some of the recent articles on audiophile-grade gadgets, our reader Peter from Sweden has asked our opinion on the DAC for Samsung S23 Ultra. Essentially we are a technology blog related to IT and our knowledge of the audiophile world is limited. That means we know only a few models of earphones/IEMS, headphones, and DAC which can deliver you an “audiophile-grade experience”. We deliberately tell you about the cheaper things since choosing a costlier option requires experience in that field. You’ll probably get more help on the forums intended for the audiophiles. Audiophiles know a lot of things and some of them are audio engineers.

We are grateful that all of you enjoyed our articles such as Basics About Digital Audio Files for Audiophiles, but please remember that we are mostly informative. You should ask the real audiophiles before purchasing any costlier things.

FiiO KA5 DAC is a great DAC for smartphones since it costs around $150 and offers a balanced port. Astell & Kern HC3 does a similar basic job at $200. A comparison comes to mind. Astell & Kern HC3 supports the MQA format while FiiO KA5 does not. Although support MQA is of no use in real world. Astell & Kern HC3 is a basic DAC with a balanced output. The users voted FiiO KA5 higher (4.5 to 5 out of 5) than Astell & Kern HC3 (3 out of 5).

What is Special About FiiO KA5 DAC?

It has a dual DAC chip for balanced output, an amp chip, it has an app to control and a display. The total hardware setup is a definite upgrade over the default hardware of S23 Ultra. Overall it delivers a balanced sound. A digital media player with similar specs would cost around $1000. You are paying 1/10th price because it is just a minimal PCB with connectors.

But this advantage has a bottleneck. The stress is exerted on the smartphone’s battery.

FiiO Q3 MQA is a larger DAC with a battery. It uses the AKM AK4452 chipset, while FiiO KA5 uses the CS43198 chipset from Cirrus Logic. Marantz, Apple uses Cirrus Logic. You will get that kind of sound. AK has a different sound. None of these chipsets are inferior. FiiO Q3 MQA is older, bulkier, requires charging and because it has a battery, it will require servicing after a period.

It is hoped that FiiO KA5 will require less servicing and attention. It is a budget-saving option.

What Earphones/IEMS Are Suitable For FiiO KA5 DAC?

HiFiMan RE-400 Waterline is an affordable earphone with 3.5mm jack, this is not a balanced earphone. It is good with Samsung’s USB C to 3.5mm converter cum DAC. It is fully compatible with FiiO KA5 but you’ll not perceive the quality of FiiO KA5.

You can think of Tin P1. This costs around $150 and sounds better than many of the costlier IEMs. It is driven by planner magnetic technology. Planner magnetic headphones are quite costly and require a good amp to drive.

Do not forget to try Final Audio e tips or Spinfit tips. They are better than the tips supplied with the IEMs.

Can you use Sennheiser HD 600 or HiFiman Sundara with FiiO KA5? Of course you can but that will be whipping your smartphone’s battery. Itself FiiO KA5 will suck your smartphone’s resources. A larger headphone will drain it faster. These are better with a desktop DAC/amp with an external power supply.

What Smartphones Are Suitable For FiiO KA5 DAC?

Smartphones which can deliver unprocessed music over USB type C are suitable. Usually, they are midrange to flagship models.