Took a bit of a risk with there being very few reviews of this new FiiO amp and bought it to power my recently aquired Sennheiser HD598's. Initial impressions are very good. It's very compact (see photo for scale) and feels extremely well built. The volume wheel has a nice smooth action and it was recognised immediately by Windows 10 and drivers installed. It has no problem driving my Sennhesier's to a decent volume and the sound quality is excellent too. A noticeable improvement over my motherboards own output with no background noise, and just a really nice clean natural sound.
Now for the small downside. When I next rebooted my PC, the DAC was not recognised. Strange I thought - unplug and replug - all back to normal. Then it happened again.... and again. It turns out that there is a bug in the firmware which means that you cannot just leave it turned on and connected to your PC (with Windows 10). You need to turn it off and then on once windows has booted. Not a major issue but certainly something to be aware of. Another user is reporting the same issue on the FiiO support forums, so it's not just me. Incidentally I tried it on my Windows 7 laptop and it worked perfectly there, so the issue seems to be confined to Windows 10.
Hopefully FiiO address the bug with a firmware update because otherwise this is a great piece of kit for the money! I'll update this review should a fix get released.
*UPDATE*
Having been in contact with FiiO support they suggested using an alternative USB port. It turns out that the issue I described above only occurs on my USB 2.0 ports. Plug it into a USB 3.0 and all is well. Still would be nice to get a firmware fix though as Windows 7 doesn't have the same problem.
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 January 2019
Now for the small downside. When I next rebooted my PC, the DAC was not recognised. Strange I thought - unplug and replug - all back to normal. Then it happened again.... and again. It turns out that there is a bug in the firmware which means that you cannot just leave it turned on and connected to your PC (with Windows 10). You need to turn it off and then on once windows has booted. Not a major issue but certainly something to be aware of. Another user is reporting the same issue on the FiiO support forums, so it's not just me. Incidentally I tried it on my Windows 7 laptop and it worked perfectly there, so the issue seems to be confined to Windows 10.
Hopefully FiiO address the bug with a firmware update because otherwise this is a great piece of kit for the money! I'll update this review should a fix get released.
*UPDATE*
Having been in contact with FiiO support they suggested using an alternative USB port. It turns out that the issue I described above only occurs on my USB 2.0 ports. Plug it into a USB 3.0 and all is well. Still would be nice to get a firmware fix though as Windows 7 doesn't have the same problem.
Size Name: K3Colour Name: K3 BlackVerified Purchase
Great little DAC/Amp but with a Windows 10 issue
By JimmyAK on 2 January 2019
Took a bit of a risk with there being very few reviews of this new FiiO amp and bought it to power my recently aquired Sennheiser HD598's. Initial impressions are very good. It's very compact (see photo for scale) and feels extremely well built. The volume wheel has a nice smooth action and it was recognised immediately by Windows 10 and drivers installed. It has no problem driving my Sennhesier's to a decent volume and the sound quality is excellent too. A noticeable improvement over my motherboards own output with no background noise, and just a really nice clean natural sound.By JimmyAK on 2 January 2019
Now for the small downside. When I next rebooted my PC, the DAC was not recognised. Strange I thought - unplug and replug - all back to normal. Then it happened again.... and again. It turns out that there is a bug in the firmware which means that you cannot just leave it turned on and connected to your PC (with Windows 10). You need to turn it off and then on once windows has booted. Not a major issue but certainly something to be aware of. Another user is reporting the same issue on the FiiO support forums, so it's not just me. Incidentally I tried it on my Windows 7 laptop and it worked perfectly there, so the issue seems to be confined to Windows 10.
Hopefully FiiO address the bug with a firmware update because otherwise this is a great piece of kit for the money! I'll update this review should a fix get released.
*UPDATE*
Having been in contact with FiiO support they suggested using an alternative USB port. It turns out that the issue I described above only occurs on my USB 2.0 ports. Plug it into a USB 3.0 and all is well. Still would be nice to get a firmware fix though as Windows 7 doesn't have the same problem.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 May 2019
Size Name: K3Colour Name: K3 BlackVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 April 2019
Size Name: K3Colour Name: K3 BlackVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 April 2019
Slight Con: It does get a little bit hot after 2 hours of music. 45°C ish
update:
The HD600 300ohm worked fine for me even with the 3.5mm connector using high gain. I do listen only up to ~80dB or even lower while working. volume knob is kept constant at 5 o'clock with computer volume adjusted to 50-80.
Size Name: K3Colour Name: K3 BlackVerified Purchase
Easy to use excellent audio quality
By exshana on 13 April 2019
Very compact and easy to use with my laptop in the office. Used it with HD58X, HD600 ,HD599 and HD569. All have a good increase of audio quality compared to on-board audio. However, anyone trying to power 250ohm + headphones should be using the 2.5mm trrs connect instead. You can get a cable for around 30 pounds.By exshana on 13 April 2019
Slight Con: It does get a little bit hot after 2 hours of music. 45°C ish
update:
The HD600 300ohm worked fine for me even with the 3.5mm connector using high gain. I do listen only up to ~80dB or even lower while working. volume knob is kept constant at 5 o'clock with computer volume adjusted to 50-80.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 October 2019
Size Name: K3Colour Name: K3 BlackVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 January 2019
The bass boost on this is so smooth. It's just enough. Just a bit of this warm fuzzy vibration down my spine that wasn't there before. Also a bit more open. Soundstage is the word for it? Just a bit.
I'm listening to Solar Fields - Sol and Introduction from the Mirror's Edge soundtrack and Battersea by Hooverphonic. It's weird not to have the drums drowned out in that song.
I can get used to this 😁
Size Name: K3Colour Name: K3 BlackVerified Purchase
Take with salt as this is my first DAC
By Pat on 22 January 2019
Testing right now with Soundmagic P55 closed back, playing off a Samsung S9.By Pat on 22 January 2019
The bass boost on this is so smooth. It's just enough. Just a bit of this warm fuzzy vibration down my spine that wasn't there before. Also a bit more open. Soundstage is the word for it? Just a bit.
I'm listening to Solar Fields - Sol and Introduction from the Mirror's Edge soundtrack and Battersea by Hooverphonic. It's weird not to have the drums drowned out in that song.
I can get used to this 😁
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