Fiio KA17's Review - Pockectable "Desktop"
General/Packaging/Build
Fiio is currently refreshing its line up of products, the KA7 which was announced early last year has come to fruition now, and it has been renamed to the KA17, and it sports quite a powerful specification which I have also listed out below. The build quality is very solid, front sporting an OLED screen which shows the sampling rate, and various other information on it. The side of the dongle itself also sports a type c port for power supply when desktop mode is enabled. The packaging is good and quite premium, and inside the box, you have the dongle itself, a type c to c cable, usb c to A adapter, also the KA17 comes with a leather case, which is nice because you don’t have to purchase it separately. Let’s take a look at the specifications below:
Specifications
Dual ES9069 high-end DAC
XMOS XU316, supporting full MQA decoding and PEQ sound effects with a 192k sampling rate
Supports PCM 768K sampling rate and DSD512
Multistage balanced THX AAA 78+ headphone amp
Push-button: Desktop Mode (desktop amplifier mode, high-power output)
BAL maximum output power of 650mW (Desktop mode on)
0.91-inch dot matrix display screen, showing more status information
Main TYPE-C port (power, data) + side TYPE-C port (power supply, used for desktop amplifier mode)
4.4mm as well as 3.5mm output
Volume button + play button + desktop amplifier switch + display screen
3.5mm interface compatible with SPIDF output
Gears used for this review
Tidal MQA/FLAC -> Macbook Air M2 -> Fiio KA17
foobar 2k -> Macbook Air M2 -> Fiio KA17
Spiriti Torino Twin Pulse IEM
7Hz Legato
Hifiman Sundara (Open Backed)
iPhone 15 -> Fiio KA17
Foreword
My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far
Battery Drain
The KA17, given the power that it outputting, i would not expect it to be very efficient, personally, i find it to be alright, connected to my iPhone 15 at 90%, streaming Tidal Flac and MQA on my mobile network from 10am onwards, dongle’s volume at 43/120 on low gain, at 10.52am, i’m left with 82% of battery, which i personally think it’s alright, given i’ve been streaming on mobile network, on wifi, the drain will probably be lower
Features
Upgradeable firmware whenever there’s new firmware release which will add/fix certain bugs or additional features (Unfortunately, the flash tool doesn’t support Mac and my windows VM can’t detect the KA17,i do hope they will release a Mac version in the near future)
Independent volume control that doesn’t control the OS’s volume but actually controlling the volume of the DAC
Choice of volume steps 60 or 120, i personally go for 120 because i get more control for it
PEQ support, set the EQ directly on the dongle itself, low and high gains, UAC 1 and 2
Sound Impression ( Low Gain and Desktop Mode off unless stated)
The KA17’s tonality is leaning towards slightly warm and neutral, but when desktop mode is turned on, the KA17 becomes very dynamic and depending on the pairing, it can be very exciting to listen to. The overall note weight is alright, not overly thick or thin. Instrument’s timbre sounds quite natural to my ears.
Listening Impression with the following gears
Hifiman Sundara
Bass is punchy and tight, mid bass especially
Sub bass has slightly better extension
Mids are slightly being pushed forward instead of sounding slightly recessed prior to pairing with the KA17
Slightly better separation and imaging
Male vocal has slightly thicker texture and sounds fuller
Female vocal is full sounding as well
Not so much changes in terms of detail retrieval
Desktop mode on, with high gain and volume step at 65, driving the Sundara to its potential is definitely not an issue for the KA17
7Hz Legato (Desktop Mode On)
Legato is a bassy and warm IEM, aimed at delivering analog-ish speaker sound
The mids are slightly recessed, but when paired with KA17, the mids doesn’t sound that recessed anymore and it sounded a little bit more forward, both male and female vocal also have better texture and body to it
Bass on the other hand has better control and slightly tighter, this is when the Desktop mode is switched on, Legato loves power
Not much changes on the detail retrieval as well as soundstage, slightly better imaging i would say
Legato is not hard to drive, but the KA17 does have more than enough power to push it hard as Legato scales really well with more power and source
Spirit Torino Twin Pulse IEM (Desktop Mode On)
For those who are not aware, Spirit Torino is a brand from Italy and they make mostly high end headphones and the Twin Pulse IEM is a trickled down version of the Twin Pulse Headphone, sporting a dual beryllium plated DD in isobaric configuration, they’re not hard to drive but they certainly scale very well with power
The sound signature of the Twin Pulse IEM is very natural, neither overly warm or cool, just very natural in terms of timbre, vocal, as well as the overall note weight
With the KA17, it seems to have good synergy, slightly better dynamics and it gives the Twin Pulse IEM a bit more energy on the top end, yet it doesn’t make the mid sounds thin and also weakens the bass
Comparison (Earmen Colibri)
The Colibri is smoother sounding overall to my ears, not as dynamic as the KA17
The overall note weight is slightly thicker compared to KA17
Treble is smoother sounding compared to KA17, also less extension in my opinion
In terms of features, there are no EQ/PEQ available or app control from Earmen, It is just a plain dongle itself, with a bass boost button
In terms of power output, KA17 definitely is running circles around the Colibri, but Colibri will be able to drive most efficient IEMs and headphones without any issue
Final Thoughts
There are many dongles out there in the market, i have tested quite a few but not all, Fiio is out to disrupt the market in my opinion, packing a lot of punch in this little dongle. The sound is very good overall, not to mention it is also able to output a whopping 650w with the desktop mode on, and connected to external power supply. If you are currently in search of a dongle that has good power output, and also a dynamic sound signature, the KA17 is definitely for you, also coming in at only 149$, with features such as PEQ, Desktop Mode, and also compatible with Fiio Control Apps, it is definitely a steal at such pricing. Highly recommended by me!
*A big thanks to Fiio for sending this over for the purpose of this review. I thank them for their support.
Head over to their official AliExpress Store and official website if you are interested in getting one:
Fiio KA17 - Non affiliated
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