FiiO A5 Review: More Power!

Wow, this election cycle has been quite stressful! No matter what side you were on, I’m sure you understand what I mean to a certain degree. Don’t worry though, I’ve got just the thing to take your mind off of it! FiiO recently announced and released a new portable amplifier, the A5. It boasts 800mW of output power, and is good to drive transducers from 16–300 ohms. Not only that, it is built entirely from metal, giving it a durable feel and a premium look. Read on for a more detailed analysis of the A5.
The A5 can be found on Penon Audio here for $125.
Disclaimer: This review is based upon a sample unit provided to me by a manufacturer or distributor in exchange for my honest opinion and un-edited words. I do not profit in any way from the writing of the review. I would like to thank FiiO for sending me this review unit.
Preference and Bias: Before reading a review, it is worth mentioning that there is no way for a reviewer to objectively pass judgment on the enjoy-ability of a product: such a thing is inherently subjective. Therefore, I find it necessary for you to read and understand what I take a natural liking to and how that might affect my rating of a product.
My ideal sound signature would be an extended sub-bass with a leveled, but textured, bass. The mids should be slightly less pronounced than the treble, but still ahead of the bass. I prefer a more bright upper range.

Tech Specs

1. Weight: 168g (incl. battery)

2. Dimensions: 124 mm×65.5 mm×14.5 mm

3. Bass Boost: +4dB (BASS ON)

4. Drive Ability: 16~300 Ω (recommend)

5. Battery Capacity: 880 mAh

6. Battery Life: ≥13 h

7. Output Power: ＞800 mW (32 Ω/THD＜1%)

8.  ≥ 150mW（300Ω/THD＜1%）

9. THD+N : ＜0.002％ (1 kHz)

10. Output Impedance: ＜0.3 Ω

11. SNR: ≥115dB (A-weighted)

12. Crosstalk: ≥ 75 dB

13. Channel Imbalance: ＜0.3 dB

14. Gain: 13 dB (GAIN=H), 0 dB (GAIN=L)

15. Peak Output Voltage: 14.96 Vp-p

16. MAX Output Current: 250 mA（For reference）

These specs were taken from the main FiiO A5 thread on Head-Fi.

Build

The A5 is built from a generous amount of metal. Everything from the hard aluminum shell to the tactile bass-boost button is made from the stuff, and truly exemplifies skilled workmanship. On the bottom of the unit you can find two Philips-head screws; a rarity in today’s market. After-sales repair should be fairly easy for any DIY-experts out there.

 

On the left face of the chamfered aluminum body you’ll see the micro-USB charging port and the bass-boost switch.

 

 
On the top you can find the 3.5mm in, 3.5mm out, gain switch, and volume knob. The knob is textured on the sides and has a white line painted on top to allow you to easily discern the current volume of the amp. I would, however, like to make some alterations to the gain switch. This is for purely cosmetic reasons, as I have had no trouble with the gain switch and don’t anticipate any in the future. Currently, the switch is mounted on a swivel joint. That means that it sticks out of the body of the A5 at an angle, something I feel is a bit off-putting. A standard flat switch would be better in my humble opinion.

Sound Signature

The A5 sounds clean, neutral, and fast. This is exactly what I look for in an amp, as I generally prefer to color my sound through my source. The noise floor is very, very low on both gain settings, regardless of what transducer I was powering. Not quite black on some sensitive IEMs, but very close to the point where I don’t quite care.

Performance

I acquired several finicky transducers specifically to test them on the A5. I really wanted to test the limits of the device to see if it really lives up to FiiO’s rather impressive distortion claims. Present for testing are:

1. Macaw GT100s (Sensitivity: 100dB@1kHz, Impedance: 16Ω)

2. ZMF Omni ( Sensitivity: 92dB @1kHz, Impedance: 50Ω)

3. Shozy Zero (Sensitivity: 94db@1Khz, Impedance: 32Ω)

For general A/B testing purposes, I also used:

1. Meze 99 Classics

2. Advanced Sound Model 3

3. Chord & Major 01'16

I had high expectations going into this review, as the A5 makes use of a MUSESO2 + LME49600 combo. That’s some serious hardware. Fortunately, it did not disappoint. The GT100s, an IEM that is very difficult to drive at high volumes due to its low sensitivity and low impedance, performed very well on the A5. The clean output of the device really allowed the IEM to open up its treble and bass, something I’d not yet experienced on my other hardware.
The Omni performed well. If I really wanted to listen to something LOUDLY, I needed to switch to high gain. Startlingly, however, I could not hear any distortion, roll off, or clipping in high-gain.
I chose the Shozy Zero, not because it is hard to drive, but because it is very picky about what source it is powered off of. Turns out it really does get along well with the A5, more so than when powered straight out of my AP100.
The A5 lasted almost 13 hours on my trial (on low gain at medium volumes), which is almost exactly the length quoted by FiiO.

Accessories

In the box you will find:

1. 4x Rubber stacking straps

2. 2x Rubber spacers

3. 1x Cloth carrying pouch

4. 1x 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable

 

All in all, I’m very satisfied with the accessories that came with the A5. Given it is only an amp, I’m not sure what else they could have reasonably included, and all the things that came inside the box feel high quality and work well.
 

  

Summary

The A5 is a very good amp for the price. FiiO combined impeccable style, a durable build, and impressive internals, all for what is a reasonable price given the A5’s competition. While some users may have wanted to trade the A5’s high output levels for longer battery life, I find that my DAPs generally die before the A5 does. Thusly, I recommend it to anyone looking to step up their mobile amperage game. Good job FiiO.