FIIO KA15 Portable DAC and Headphone Amplifier (Black)

It functions well with all the Android devices I've owned. You'll get it's all of you use USB Audio Player Pro which is a good app especially if u use Tidal. But it takes over your phone's entire sound so if you lay back and list to music you might miss a call. But I digress, I'm not going to say this is thee best sounding dongle, but it's compact, has a screen and great options, and it easily wins most character as far as design goes. Honestly this could have sounded like tin cans clanging together and I still would have bought it. But don't worry it doesn't. It actually sounds pretty darn good I'm just putting it up against some tough competition. I took some pics for size comparison cuz it is tiny compared to life thought it was going to be which was awesome actually imo. Oh and get the blue one because it comes with the leather black case so you kind of get black and blue for the price of one if you were undecided. It's hard to give a 2 star review to great sounding DAC/Amp dongle. But, I've put so much work into this thing and what's the worst is that it broke my favorite phone of all times (The Nubia Z60 Ultra LE) because the cable connector is as stiff as a board which turns the USB plugs into pry bars and caused the port on my 700+ phone to be unusable. Hence the pictures of it attached to my new and far interior S25+. Not to mention it has a mind of it's own and the volume fluctuates depending when plug it in or in what order I plug it in. To get it to properly run at it's full preferential you need to use it with USB AUDIO PLAYER PRO. Which brings it's own suite of problems vis-à-vis calls and notifications. Because the app completely takes over the audio. But if you do decide to get it I recommend The SHANLING L3 cable or a xiwai 2 in 1 USB-C OTG converter male to male. There was a little space between my phone and the m15i so I use 3M double-sided tape to stick it to a cheap case and that's been my solution. But honestly, is recommend the iFi Go Link Max and to update the firmware on there website via a Windows computer. I messed up and they walked me through everything the man's name was Liam and he couldn't be more helpful. And honestly I think this thing sounds better it's got 130 DB dynamic range. Questyle is vague with their mw output but on all my ANDROID devices the volume has been almost the same IF the M15i is working at peak performance. Also the Onix Alpha Xi1 is supposed to really good too. It has the same components as my Fiio KA15 which definitely wins coolest looking nostalgic dongle but even with the higher rated power it's pretty much running over ear and IEMs at the same volume but doesn't sound quite as good as either of mine. Also I'd recommend getting the Shanling L3 cable to go with it or the xiwai 2 in1 USB-C OTG converter, 3M double-sided tape and a super cheap non frosted clear polyurethane case for your phone if you want to go the semi-permanent route it's pretty convenient. I included a picture with the Questyle M15i with that same setup. Seem like Questyle review though as far as that device goes. Oh and this device does not have a battery it runs off your phone's battery just in case if you didn't know that.

It sounds best without any eq'ing on Non-OS mode, amp AB out of the 4.4 balanced. The 3.5 sounds lean amd the 4.4 sounds a little warm but puts out a good sound, good detailed bass, mids are neutral and highs are clean with no sizzle, ots a fun little dongle and worth $100 unless you are getting the Questyle m12i for $69, thats a better dongle, bit the fiio k15 sounds good and it jas a cute little screen and sounds warm. Overall you cant beat the price for thw sound since it does do what dac is supposed to just sounds a little colored

Excellent sound quality. That's the most important part. Plenty of features to keep your tinkering side happy. The display is appropriately small and useful. How they managed to squeeze in a 4.4mm balanced output I'll never know but I'm pleased it's there. Drives my Sundaras easily. Even comes with a pleather case. Well worth the asking price.

This is a fairly unique product, in that it has a decently small form factor, various options, and controls. One of the more valuable properties is that it has PEQ controls. Unfortunately, there seems to be some easily fixable bugs. It seems like the user is allowed to store only 3 custom EQs. They have very weird names, like FFH, FH3, I don't even remember. I wish these were named better CU1 CU2 CU3 would have been better, but I don't know what FFF is supposed to mean? Then, there is a the web based UI, and it doesn't show the same preset names. I can even rename them on the web gui, but the names do not seem to save to the dongle itself. Another natural question is, why does it have 100 custom presets no one who buys such a device will actually ever use? Do you know any "audio equipment" fans that uses some pre-made Rock preset? Really? Make it three, Bass, Treble and V-shape, make the rest user customizable. Anyway, for the price and ability to do any custom PEQ at all, while there are almost no alternatives, I think it's a 4/5.

This is a GREAT dac. Sound is super smooth and rich. I used the 4.4mm connectors. All sound is really nice with no distortion or crackle. Controls are easy to use. I really like the desktop switch that boosts the power and takes advantage of that in situations where more power is available to the device. Volume control is very detailed as well with 100 steps. There is a display with connection details.

This is the best-sounding DAC/AMP I've found so far, but it has a deal-breaking issue. Whenever sound starts, it won't instantly play. For example, when a friend would join a call in Discord, I couldn't hear the join sound because the sound was too quick for the DAC to start playing the sound. The quality is great, but I just can't use it for anything that isn't listening to music. I ended up returning it because of this issue.

Paired with the CrinEar Daybreak, listening to music is a revelation! Button mapping is a bit to get used to, and the case is sliding when the headphones are to tightly fastened.

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Tout d’abord, ce DAC a un look d’enfer. Avec ce look de mini cassette à l’ancienne, ça m’a tout de suite parlé. Après avoir vérifié l’avis de plusieurs influenceurs, je me suis laissé tenter. GROSSE ERREUR ! J’ai testé ce DAC avec un casque Beyerdynamic 770 Pro 80 Ohms. Je l’ai testé sur smartphone Android et sur iPad avec des fichiers Apple music et Spotify en mode lossless. Il s’agit de la configuration que j’utilise quotidiennement donc autant rester simple. Après des heures d’écoute et de test, je ne peux malheureusement pas recommander ce KA15. Je l’ai simplement comparé avec la fiche USB > 3.5 Jack de la même marque que mon téléphone qui coute une dizaine d'euro et honnêtement, j'ai beaucoup de mal à trouver une différence. J'ai beau épluché la configuration, j'ai cherché les meilleurs morceaux pour tester à éplucher les détails, les respirations mais sans succès. Je ne trouve pas de plus-value dans le son avec le DAC Fiio KA15. Après, niveau look, il est magnifique. Si vous avez besoin de puissance pour un casque 250 ou 300 Ohm, il y a peut-être une plus grande utilité. De même si vous êtes chez Apple et que vous avez besoin d’un équaliseur. A ce prix-là, j’en espérait plus. Je suis déçu. Attention également si vous souhaiter retourner l'article comme moi. Chez ce vendeur, vous devez organiser le retour vous-même avec des frais partiellements remboursés (jusqu’à 10€). Le vendeur est très cordial, mais sachez que vous devrez vous débrouiller et que cela rajoute une couche à l’expérience décevante. Pour ma part, j’ai renoncé après avoir découvert les prix exorbitants chez Bpost et le service en point relais DPD. Bref, j’ai gardé le produit car je perdais patience. J'espère que mon avis qui n'engage que moi et ma perception guidera les autres. En tout cas, il est different de beaucoup d'influenceur.

Perfeito! Discreto, temperatura boa, sistema customizável, prático e com som potente.

This DAC is tiny, but it really delivers! When in 'desktop mode' it powers my medium impedance Sennheiser HD560s without any issues and has plenty of volume left in the tank for more demanding headphones. The sound is excellent - and the addition of PEQ makes tweaking the sound possible, although I usually do EQ in the Neutron music player that I use. This little DAC is packed with features - multiple filters, including a No Oversampling mode. It has Left/Right balance and a choice of Amp modes. So much packed into a tiny device. And it's an absolute steal at the price.