FiiO K7 Desktop DAC and Amplifier

A really great DAC with good sound quality and power output. It was able to easily power my DT 770 Pros (80 Ohms) and my DT 1990 Pros. Just be aware that if your headphones don't support balanced output, you will have to use the PO output, which only has a fraction of the power output of balanced. However, it was still more than enough for my headphones.The DAC is fairly large, it is similar in size to a Nintendo Switch dock, so make sure you have the desk space for it. It also requires wall power.I would recommend this DAC as it gives you high quality audio with good power delivery for the price.

This is incredible value for money it transformed my desktop audio listening experience.So I recently went through an audio revamp. New pairs of cans, new amps, new library of CDs ect.I wanted a new desktop amp dac to replace the slightly aging e10k Olympus, also from fiio. That is also still a great dac amp, not quite desktop station worthy though.As most reviewers point out fiio has undeniably some of the best desktop units for the price.If you were like me you'd be tied between the fiio k5 pro and the k7. In my opinion both are extremely valid and good choices. For £50 extra the k7 is negotiable, newer hardware, lower SE output but higher through Bal, non ESS amps.Should be good to note that the k7 gets seperated dual mono while the k5 and recently released k11 does not. This makes stage on large open backs much more positional.To me both are valid and if you want the most power then you can't go wrong with the k5pro.All in all the amp dac is incredible, clear powerful sound with adequate power for 90% of cans. I can imagine £1000 800ohms might not have enough juice but if you were spending that much then you wouldn't look at this.In terms of competition I have no qualms giving some options if your price point is different.Ifi zen DAC air + can air combo. I have the can air it is an incredible amp for the price and even gives the k7 a run for its money balanced. It's a good choice if you use tidals mqa for your listening.Loxjie p20 hybridAn alternative from housebrand SMSL. A hybrid tube amp so you have tubes if you want that warmer tone. Also has balanced xlr if that's what you want. Far less power but at nearly half the price.In my opinion if you can afford it, it will shine for a while. If you can't afford it then there a couple other options but I think you should save it and grab this instead.

So let's start at the beginning, I have a K5 and use it as a DAC/desktop amp to my headphones/powered speakers and have always loved it.The new K7 came out and I thought it would be a step up, and I have some gadget money left in the pot, so let's give it a go.Is the K7 better, yes in almost every respect. Sounds better, has more connections and a genuine line-out level as opposed to most products that think putting a couple of outputs on the back and calling them a line out ( I imagine they would say they just meant it is a way of getting sound out) makes it one.Has a balanced-out jack option, and two gain levels (the K5 has 3 but that always seemed unnecessary to me) push button inputs selection and toggle outputs.So why did I return it, well for my use case the non-line out, line out, was slightly better in terms of control.An actual line out is loud and can't be controlled by the output device, whereas the K5 not being a line out level signal meant I had more control over the output and yes I know you can use it as a pre-out for much the same effect, however, the pre level wasn't quite up to the job in terms of volume control. I don't want to ever have to touch the speakers once they are set, I only want to have to use the one-volume nob. Picky I know but that's the particular use case for me.So, if I was using it just for headphones would I recommend it, good god, yes, for this price, no question.If it is connected to an amp and was being used as a pre-amp, absolutely, lots of inputs and again, a great sound for the price and you can use it as a headphone amp when it's connected if you have an amp without one!As I said, for my very specific use case ( speakers are quite high up on desk stands if that makes it any better?) I will stick to the K5 on the desk, if it wasn't for that I would take this in a heartbeat as it is an improvement on the K5 by every other measure.In fact, I may get one for the actual stereo a little further down the line when I change to a digital amp as they don't usually have headphone connections, just need to build the gadget pot up a bit.