FiiO K5Pro ESS
The FiiO K5 Pro ESS brings deep, controlled bass, a near-black noise floor and lively musical detail to a compact desktop rig. Headphone Guru found it convincing from sensitive IEMs to demanding headphones, while PortaFi highlights its spacious presentation, versatile inputs and 1.5W drive. Its clean neutrality, dynamics and flexibility make it a standout all-rounder.
WATT RECOMMENDS
Save your favorites. Compare them anytime.
Create a free HiFi Hub account to save products to your Wishlist and compare your favorites side by side.
Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
90/100
Build Quality
87/100
Features Usability
92/100
Value for Money
95/100
Pros
Dead-silent or near-black background with sensitive IEMs, alongside ample power for a broad range of headphones.
Balanced, musical sound with deep impactful bass, strong detail and convincing dynamics.
Versatile desktop connectivity, including USB, optical, coaxial and RCA inputs, plus three gain settings.
Cons
No balanced headphone output.
The most demanding headphones can require high gain and nearly full volume.
Treble extension and layering do not match more expensive DAC/amp designs.
WATT RECOMMENDS
Save your favorites. Compare them anytime.
Create a free HiFi Hub account to save products to your Wishlist and compare your favorites side by side.
What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 90/100
Reviewers find the K5 Pro ESS notably clean, musical and capable, combining a largely neutral balance with strong bass weight and convincing detail. It is reported to remain very quiet with IEMs while delivering satisfying impact and scale with demanding full-size headphones.
Transparency Resolution
89/100
Headphone Guru heard excellent detail and an ethereal, pleasurable presentation, while PortaFi praises properly rendered attacks, decays, overtones, air and small nuances. PortaFi stops short of calling it absolutely transparent, describing it instead as leaning toward transparency and slightly analytical.
Tonal Balance Musicality
90/100
The presentation is described as balanced and linear-neutral, without exaggerated treble or artificial emphasis. Reviewers also repeatedly call it musical, with natural piano tone, substantial bass and a pleasing ability to make an ordinarily bright headphone more enjoyable.
Dynamics
91/100
Reviewers report wonderful dynamics, fast and dynamic piano reproduction, and surprisingly strong impact. PortaFi also found it able to establish a solid, weighty foundation with power-hungry headphones rather than sounding strained.
Noise Floor
91/100
Headphone Guru found the amplifier dead silent in low gain, even without an added ground-control accessory. PortaFi likewise reports very low noise with extremely sensitive in-ear monitors and an almost black background with regular IEMs, with no hum concerns.
Headphone Compatibility
89/100
Three gain settings, low background noise and reported success with sensitive IEMs give the K5 Pro ESS broad everyday usefulness. It is also said to drive power-hungry headphones with good impact and to handle 300-ohm loads, although one demanding DSD listening session required high gain and nearly full volume.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
87/100
The compact chassis uses a seamless rolled-corner aluminum enclosure with inset panels. PortaFi describes the metal construction as solid, with pleasant rounded edges, though the reviews offer little insight into long-term durability or control wear.
Features Usability
92/100
This is an unusually versatile desktop DAC/amp at its size, offering USB, optical, coaxial and RCA analogue inputs, plus line output for preamp or DAC duties. Three gain levels and high-resolution USB decoding up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512 make it adaptable to both sensitive earphones and more demanding headphones.
Value for Money
95/100
At roughly $200 to $210, both reviews portray the K5 Pro ESS as an especially compelling all-in-one desktop option. Headphone Guru says it prompts the question of why one should spend more, while PortaFi praises its price-to-performance ratio, connectivity and power.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
Online Reviews & Mentions
YouTube Reviews
Forum Mentions
No forum mentions found yet
Specifications
Manufacturer's Description — FiiO
Desktop DAC and Amplifier
High-performance DAC ES9038Q2M | XMOS decoding
3 gain levels | Specially-designed audio architecture
Supports 768k/32bit, DSD512| RGB indicator lightsding
1.5W large power | Coaxial/Optical/RCA line inputs
6.35mm/RCA line outputs
Picture is for reference only, Please be subject to the actual products.
Next-generation DAC for unrivalled internals
The K5 Pro ESS employs the flagship portable ESS DAC, the ES9038Q2M with more outstanding performance and richer audio details. Compared to the last gen, the distortion has reduced by 50%, the crosstalk for LO has increased by 6dB with greater channel separation, and the dynamic range has increased by 3dB.
768k and native DSD512 support
The XMOS XUF208 USB decoding chip equipped with the clock matching management system, allows decoding up to a sample rate of 768kHz and native DSD512.
Both coaxial/digital inputs present
No matter what audio equipment you use, digital audio inherently has advantages in integrity and fidelity of signals transmitted. The K5 Pro allows you to take advantage of digital audio with optical and coaxial inputs supporting up to 96kHz inputs, convenient for connecting various music players and digital interfaces.
Specially-designed audio architectureor true high-fidelity sound
When it comes to amplification, the K5 Pro ESS is no slouch. The K5 Pro ESS has generous space to fit and package the necessary components for exceptionalanalog amplification,and packs a four-level audio circuit capable of providing extraordinary audio fidelity in its class: second-order LPF + analog volume adjustment + voltage amplification + current drive. Each part of the amplification circuit works perfectly together in harmony for excellent dynamic range and high resolution of sound.
Safe, secure, and robust external power supply
The K5 Pro ESS uses a DC 15V power supply designed to specifically minimize noise. The incoming DC power is filtered with a secondary power supply, which then independently supplies power to the amplification part of the audio circuit and the rest of the circuit. This effectively suppresses power supply ripple and minimizes power supply crosstalk between the two major sections of the circuit, for a more stable and less noisy power that is crucial for outstanding sound for such a precisely-designed high performance audio architecture.
Accurate volume adjustment, impeccable detail cares
Through reconstruction of the ADC curve, the K5 Pro ESS’s volume control allows you to smoothly adjust volume at extremely fine increments without any undesirable noise nor with any channel imbalances. With the K5 Pro ESS, you can comfortably use various headphones with all kinds of sensitivities.
3 gain levels for unlimited possibilities
Both the input selection and gain are controlled by tactile toggle switches, which are clearly labelled allowing you to easily control your music. Low, medium, and high gain levels are available allowing you to use the K5 Pro ESS with almost any headphone at comfortable volume levels. A purely hardware gain circuit is used at low gain, with unaffected and uncompromised dynamic range and overall music fidelity.
Minimalist yet full of personality
The one-piece all-metal oversized volume knob is seamlessly integrated within the aluminum front panel, allowing you to easily and comfortably control volume. The RGB light indicator that surrounds the volume knob lights up with different colors according to the current sample rate, giving a lively splash of color that perfectly complements the minimalism of the rest of the K5 Pro ESS.
48kHz and below ——Blue light
48kHz and above ——Yellow light
DSD——Green light
Getting precise with toggle switches
Both the input selection and gain are controlled by tactile toggle switches, which are clearly labelled allowing you to easily control your music.
Highly useful beyond imagination， Wide variety of inputs and outputs
1. Desktop DAC and amplifier like a USB sound card + full-sized headphones 2. DAC for external sources like a USB sound card +active speakers
3. Powerful amplifier for mobile devices Connect your phone via USB OTG，or connect your player via coaxial
Extremely powerful headphone amplification
The carefully-tuned feedforward amplifier circuit design increases the power output of the TPA6120 op-amp by more than 60%, for a total power output of up to 1.5 W under a 32Ω load, and up to 20Vpp at 300Ω. The K5 Pro ESS easily handles any low or high impedance headphone.
RCA line-out for high quality output to other sources
Besides the wide variety of digital inputs, the K5 Pro also features a traditional analog RCA line-in. RCA line-in is not only more robust and less prone to breakage than 3.5mm line-in, it also has better resolution. The RCA line-out line signal is adjustable up to a maximum of 2Vrms, so the K5 Pro ESS can be used with a variety of active speakers and external amplifiers.
*When using the line out, please disconnect your headphones
K5 Pro ESS*1
USB data cable *1
Power adapter*1
Power cable*1
Rubber feet*4
Quick start guide*1
Warranty card*1
Headphone jack adapter*1
Specifications
DAC chip：ES9038Q2M
USB decoding chip：XMOS XUF208
Output power ：≥1.5W （32Ω）
Output impedance: 1.2Ω（PO)
THD+N：＜0.0009%（UAC IN/SPDIF IN）
Noise floor：＜8uV
SNR：≥118dB
Channel Separation：＞80dB （USB DAC/OPT/COX）
outputs：RCA/6.35mm
Inputs：USB-B/OPT/COAX/RCA
DSD ：64/128/256/512 ,Native DSD decoding
Weight：about 480g
Dimensions：120mm*146.5mm*55mm
Verified Dealers
Online Dealers
All Dealers
Zoom out the map to see more dealers
Authorized dealers for FiiO K5Pro ESS
- 110Hz — online and in-store — Kielce, Województwo świętokrzyskie, Poland (website)
- Acoustic Technologies — online and in-store — Montréal, Québec, Canada (website)
- Addicted to Audio — online and in-store — Epping, Victoria, Australia (website)
- Advanced MP3 Players — online and in-store — Musselburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom (website)
- All Elite Audio — online and in-store — Perry Hall, Maryland, United States (website)
- Alpha Audio Pte — online and in-store — Singapore, Singapore (website)
- Apos Audio — online and in-store — Oakland, California, United States (website)
- Audeos — online and in-store — Żywiec, Województwo śląskie (website)
- Audio 46 — online and in-store — New York, New York, United States (website)
- Audio Affair — online and in-store — Deritend, England, United Kingdom (website)
and 59 more verified dealers