FiiO New K3 Desktop DAC/Amp + FD3 In-Ear Monitors Review

The FiiO K3 is new to me, and the New K3 uses the same design as the older K3. Confused? Complain to FiiO. Look, the thing to note is that the New K3 happened because of a serious shortage of the AKM AK4452 audio DAC used before, so FiiO decided to make a revision by switching to the ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M instead. Nothing else has changed, including the smaller form factor of 70×58×22 mm and weight of ~80 g. Not bad for what is a wired solution marketed for desktops since it's still easily portable enough. The casing is black anodized aluminium that is CNC-machined and sandblasted for a smooth finish. The FiiO logo is on the front at the bottom, and the Hi-Res Audio sticker makes a comeback on the top. On the back, we see more certification information in addition to finding out that USB 2.0 is sufficient to power and drive the K3. The body is also rounded like a flask of fine whiskey, though it soothes you through fine audio instead. We see the back house the input, and you have the expected Type-C connector you will use to connect to your PC. There are less typical use cases for outputs on the back, but between line out and coaxial out, there is the feasible option to drive less demanding speakers as well. Note the toggle switch to switch between USB Audio Class 1 and 2; if you are not familiar with these, Cambridge Audio has a decent primer here. In a nutshell, it defines the upper limit of audio playback from the source when it comes to bitrates, and you may want to switch to USB Class 1 if your system does not support it.

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Author: VSG; From: techpowerup.com

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