FIIO Q5S REVIEW

The FiiO Q5s is a revision of the original Q5 portable Bluetooth DAC/Amp using FiiO’s latest interchangeable AM3E amp module. It retails for $349.99

Disclaimer: The FiiO Q5s sent to us is a sample in exchange for our honest opinion. We thank FiiO for this opportunity. 

We reviewed the original FiiO Q5 back in June of last year and were so impressed with it we gave it our Best Portable Amp/DAC award for 2018. Now we are back with a revised edition of the Q5 called the Q5s with FiiO promising some worthy updates to the original.

However, it is not just physical hardware updates but there also seems to be some more integration and features accessible via their Android app, FiiO Player. Before it was just iOS so this really continues the theme by most of the major DAP players such as HiBy of introducing feature-rich software to better connect their ecosystem of devices. Something we welcome here on Headfonics.

The good thing is that the price has not changed, it is still $349.99. Often improvements can come with price increases but this is not the case here and FiiO has to be commended for that. However, is the new feature set worth selling your old Q5 and upgrading? Read on.

Tech Inside

Upgraded DAC

Ok, so there have been quite a number of changes over the older Q5. The first is the upgrade in the dual DAC system with a move to the newer AK4493EQ over the older AK4490EQ. That should mean a slightly smoother upper mids and treble performance over the older harder sounding chipset from the Q5 as well as lower distortion and better SNR numbers.

Smoother USB

Jitter and decoding potential via USB have also been given an upgrade from the XMOS XU208 to the XMOS XUF208 USB decoding chipset. The Q5s can now handle up to 768kHz/32 BIT PCM as well as native DSD decoding (up to DSD256) via USB.

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Author: Marcus ; From: headfonics.com

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