FIIO FiiO JadeAudio KA1 Headphone Amps Tiny Amplifier USB DAC High Resolution Lossless for Smartphones/PC/Laptop/Players(Lightning, Black)

I have a vintage hi-fi that I want to use with Spotify, and I have a PC with a cheap sound card that I want to use with headphones. In both cases, it's child's play.I plugged the headphones into the KA1 and then plugged the KA1 into the PC. Linux recognised it immediately. KDE's sound widget offered it to me as a new audio device. I clicked on it and Spotify played through it straight away. It could hardly be easier.Downstairs in the lounge, I plugged the hi-fi into the KA1 via a phono-to-3.5mm cable, plugged the KA1 into an old Android phone, and ran Spotify, which played through the KA1 immediately.So what's the sound quality like? Even with Spotify, which uses lossy compression, the KA1 is a striking improvement over the PC's sound card or the phone's built-in DAC. I had no idea these old Bose QuietComfort 25s could sound so good. I hear musical details I'd never noticed before. Extended bass is effortless and yet well controlled. Treble is clear but never harsh. Now I want to buy some better cans to do the KA1 justice. :-) Through the hi-fi, the sound is detailed, open and spacious.The KA1 runs slightly warm -- a little below blood temperature. It won't be a problem on a laptop, but it might eat up battery power on a phone. If possible, you might want to think about a powered USB hub.

Product is small and very portable. It's a bit fragile but for 40£ I'm not complaining. For first time HiFi users it will be a huge step up from integrated DAC of computer or mobile.

The sound I get from the DAC is fine and I use it to play music from my iMac. A couple of minor glitches though. Firstly if you are just starting to play music it takes about 5 seconds to recognise sound coming out so you get some dead time. Also there are the occasional pop and click which I wouldn't expect (and have seen in other reviews). Overall not bad, but not perfect for sure.

Small and easy to use , improves sound and volume well worth the money

Bought this to replace my old FIIO E5 thinking it would be an upgrade. Sadly wrong. Amplifies well but ruins the quality in the process. Thin, tinny sound that is painful to listen to. Was back to the old E5 and it's warm expansive soundstage after 10mins.

The sound quality is really good compared to the Amazon basic ones, it's subtle but I can hear things that little bit clearer with the same headphones.My reasons for knocking off a few stars is because I hate how the wire between the USB-C connector and the actual DAC is awful. I hate how flimsy it is, and if I were to accidentally drop my phone using this, it could break first go. Really, just put it all into one neat little stick even though I know they won't because it's likely how they make money.The other reason is because every morning when I put it in my phone, it makes a crackling sound and takes a few unplug then replugs to get it working again. The picture attached is the Fiio DAC next to a cheap USB C DAC. The cheap one is wiggly, but it's a fabric style of wire and feel more sturdier than the Fiio wire made of 4 thin wires twisted around in an attempt to make it look better even though this will be the weak link first. Just give me a USB-C DAC where its just the stick and no awful wire that can break!

I bought this because my expensive XPS laptop I bought for mostly music production has awful software which ruins the headphone port sound (thanks Dell)... But am I glad they screwed it up... This Dac is tiny and has superb sound .. Asio Drivers worked first time with no fuss. It's as good as my Focusrite audio interface phones output. Great value for money.

Really impressed - I use it on an iphone 14 Pro Max and the quality of both Apple Hi-Res and Tidal MQA files is excellent. Full bodied, involving, and with a good pair of headphones the sound is light years ahead of music without a DAC. I’m clearly not an audiophile expert, the only difference between this and my (none portable) iFi DAC is the amplification, the KA1 needs to be played at almost full volume for me, but only *almost* full volume, so that makes it fine with me!Fits easily in my headphone case, and for the price, it’s a bargain.

Lo use para uso en el auto,me sorprendió lo bien que se escucha

As a musician, I often need to play recorded material into the mix. The easiest way to do that is by plugging the phone into one of the stereo channels on my mixer. Sadly, phones don't have 3.5mm audio jacks anymore, so like most people, I was using a cheap USB dongle. It worked. More, I cannot say.I finally got sick of the crappy sound and decided to find something that would be better. In the world of the audiofile, spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars is typical for a good audio interface. I wasn't prepared to do that for this application.Enter Fiio. I have used Fiio products in the past and they've always delivered great bang for the buck. The KA1 is no exception! The high end is far more distinct than the cheap dongles, and the sound stage is noticeably larger. Finally, the bass is very natural and well-defined without being boomy.The build quality seems very good. The cable looks to use good materials and the casing on the body is aluminum, not cheap plastic. While this device basically sits on my desk, it is very small and portable if you have a pair of wired headphones you want to use on the go. This will sound much better than what's built into your phone.

Sensacional

The description says "3.5mm single-ended and a 4.4mm balanced, 2 headphone outputs", which isn't true. It's a single 3.5mm output only, which is exactly what I wanted in my case. This means the unit is small - tiny, in fact. The materials feel nice in the hand - no plasticy garbage here - and the boost in volume is impressive. Sounds quality is much improved, with more detail at much lower volume settingsWorth the money (and more)

If you want to get a high-sound quality out of the 80-ohm DT770 Pro, you can get this tiny amp. It works really great if you have a USB-C (Lightning) port on your PC motherboard. I like how it works on almost all the smartphones that support USB-C. It's good for the price and it comes with a USB-C to USB-A adapter, which means you can connect it to the motherboard even without having a USB-C port! But for the best performance, it's better to connect it to the USB-C port directly. This will do a good job for the 80-ohm DT770 compared to an expensive amp.