Today we are taking a look at the brand new FiiO KA17 Portable USB DAC and headphone amplifier.
Disclaimer: I would like to thank FiiO for sending me the KA17 for the purpose of this review. As always the review is unbiased and all thoughts and expressions in this review are my own.
🛒 Buy FiiO KA17 on Amazon
🛒 Buy FiiO KA17 on Aliexpress
🛒 Buy FiiO E-Stick power bank on Aliexpress
In the box:
- FiiO KA17 DAC/AMP
- USB-C to USB-C cable
- USB-C to USB-A adapter
- A faux leather case
- Warranty card
- And a quick-start guide
As an older iPhone model user I personally miss the Lightning to USB-C cable, but as Lightning slowly becomes obsolete I understand this decision.
Design & build
The body of FiiO KA17 is made from aluminum and it feels very solid. Plus its matte finish not only looks good but also resists fingerprints. KA17 comes in two colors – blue and black. The sample in my review is black.
The dimensions are 64×27.7×12.7mm and the unit weighs 33 grams. The metal case gives KA17 the sturdiness and the ability to shield the device from external electromagnetic interference. If you want to take additional steps to protect your device – the faux leather case is included in the package. Well done FiiO.
On the front side of the unit there is a 0.91 inch display that gives you a clear idea on what is happening inside the device including USB mode, sample rate, gain level and volume level.
On the top of the unit there is a USB-C socket. Second independent power socket that is supplying additional juice for the desktop mode is located on the side of the dongle and is red.
On the bottom of the dongle there is a 4.4mm balanced and 3.5mm single ended outputs.
On another side of the unit we have volume buttons, a menu button and desktop mode switch.
The build quality of FiiO KA17 is great, with the attention to every detail, the parts fit together perfectly, the buttons and switches feel great, nothing is loose and all the connectors are sturdy. The unit feels solid and I’m very pleased with the build, product design, and choice of materials.
Technical specifications
For the full list of technical specs you can refer to the official FiiO website. But I will discuss the important technical aspects that separate KA17 from the variety of other dongle DACs on the market today.
The KA17 is based on two flagship ESS ES9069Q chips and I was surprised to see it in a dongle DAC, especially at this price point.
KA17 has a second independent power socket that you can use to provide additional juice to the device, maximizing the dongle output capabilities. Equipped with THX AAA 78+ amplifiers KA17 is capable of providing 140mW at 32 Ohms for the single-ended output and 650mW of power at 32 Ohms for the balanced output. And these figures are absolutely mind blowing leaving the competition behind.
Another important aspect is that the device does have a 10 band Parametric Equalizer making it a game changer for users that always want to find tune their IEMs and headphones.
In addition FiiO decided to use separate digital and analog boards for KA17 to reduce unnecessary crosstalk. Add here multistage audio circuit, 16-core XMOS XU316 processor and 3-stage power supply and it becomes clear there is a lot of engineering behind this device and I appreciate it!
Functionality
FiiO KA17 can also decode PCM 768khz at 32 bits, DSD512 and MQA.
I tested it my old and trusty Samsung Galaxy S10 that runs on Android 12, iPhone 12 Pro Max running iOS 18 and also with my iBasso DX170 DAP and my PC.
I used FLAC and DSD files and for lossless streaming I was using Apple Music and Tidal.
The menu system is really intuitive. To access the menu you need to long press the menu button and adjust the settings using the volume buttons.
In the menu you can scroll thru 1. Gain Selection: High or low gain selection
- Filter selection: 8 digital filters
- Volume steps: you can choose between 60 and 120 steps
- S/PDIF: you can enable or disable digital output
- ADV-L/R: To adjust channel balance
- Dimmer: Display brightness
- EQ: 7 preset EQ + 3 Custom profiles
- Max Volume: You can limit the volume
- Rotate Display: Display can be rotated 180 degress
- OFF Display: display auto off after inactivity
- U-audio: USB mode selection
- Language selection
- Version: Firmware check
- Recovery: which is indeed a Factory Reset
With my Android phone, iBasso DAP and PC i was able to use Desktop mode without connecting a second power source. This means if your device can provide sufficient power, you don’t need additional power supply, but keep in mind that desktop mode will drain your source battery faster.
With my iPhone 12 Pro Max on the other hand, the desktop doesn’t turn on until you connect a second power supply. In addition, without a second power supply, on iPhone I was unable to go beyond 46 out of 60 volume level. Connecting KA17 via Camera adapter also didn’t solve the issue. But this is related to the power limitation of the iPhone and iOS and has nothing to do with KA17. So in my case with iPhone 12 Pro Max a power bank was absolutely necessary when I wanted to push the dongle to it’s limits.
And by the way FiiO also has released a tiny power bank for KA17 called FiiO ESTICK which has a capacity of 1100 mAh. It comes at $15 and for the price it’s a no-brainer, especially if you are an iPhone user.
Now lets talk about FiiO KA17 pairings & my sound impressions
First of all I also need to mention that I don’t believe that DACs can have a significant impact on the sound. However, the amplifier section of the DAC/AMP or dongle can still introduce some changes to the sound. To me the KA17 sounds neutral, refined, very resolving and punchy.
According to the specs, the maximum output power is 140mW @ 32Ω at 3.5mm output and up to 650mW @ 32Ω for the balanced output in desktop mode. With all IEMs in my tests, I have run the unit in the low-gain mode and I rarely increased the volume past 35 out 60. So I will say that KA17 can easily drive all of the IEMs on the market today.
I tested it with many IEMs ranging from 12 to 60 Ohm of impedance and the results have been great. I also decided to test it with I/O Volare which has a very low impedance – only 4.7 Ohms. And I was pleased with the results as I didn’t even need to engage a high gain mode and reached my comfortable levels of volume in a low gain mode. This test was also interesting because the technical specifications of KA17 say that preferred headphone impedance ranges from 8 to 300 Ohms, so it was good to see it handles low impedance IEM with great authority.
In my tests I also didn’t notice any audible distortion or noise with sensitive IEMs which was good. The KA17 has a solid black ackground and this is exactly what you should expect from a quality DAC/AMP.
Next I switched to full-size headphones. First I tried it with full-size headphones that are rated below 64 Ohm of impedance and I had no problems driving all of them.
So to make the tests a bit more challenging I tested KA17 with 300 Ohm Sennheiser HD 6XX and SIVGA SV023, demanding AKG K612 PRO rated at 120 Ohms and HIFIMAN Ananda Nano, which has relatively low impedance but needs a good voltage to open up and shine.
KA17 has driven HD 6XX, SV023 and Ananda Nano in high gain mode with authority via single-ended output. With all three headphones I reached my preferred levels of volume and I still had some headroom left so I neither needed to engage the desktop mode nor use a balanced cables.
With a single-ended K612 PRO in high gain mode and quiet recordings I had almost no headroom left. But additional juice from the desktop mode was exactly what I missed and this helped the K612 open up and shine. This is a type of headphone, that I never expected to use with a dongle but here we are and KA17 surprised me in this regard.
All-in-all the dongle has shown great results in my tests and has driven all my full-size headphones with an authority. In addition, it paired especially well with warm and neutral warm sounding IEMs and headphones.
I also didn’t bother using the balanced cables, as the 3.5mm output in high-gain mode (and high-gain desktop mode) had enough power and headroom to drive all headphones and IEMs in my tests. However, if I need even more power and headroom, I can always use a 4.4mm balanced connection with headphones that support it.
I spent almost three weeks with KA17 as my only source and I was pleasantly surprised.
Pros:
- An excellent design, build and choice of materials
- A desktop level performance in your pocket
- Very good and tactile controls
- Dual flagship ESS ES9069Q DAC chips
- THX AAA 78+ dual amplifiers
- A second power socket
- Built-in display
- S/PDIF output
- There is enough power to drive many demanding full-size headphones, let alone the IEMs
- Great resolution, fast transients, impressive staging and dynamics
- Parametric EQ
- And a fantastic value for the money
Cons:
Well, I don’t think KA17 has any real cons. But I personally would like to see a compatible iOS app in the future and a more user-friendly application for Android. But that’s a mere nothing.
In my opinion, the KA17 is an ideal companion for the headphones and IEMs up to 300 Ohms. To me, it strikes the perfect balance between price, performance, and output power and it definitely raised the bar on the market. With all the features and flexibility it brings to the table, I think it’s an amazing portable DAC/AMP that you can also use in a desktop scenario anytime and I can easily recommend it.
And that concludes my review for today. If you want to see more content like this, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel for future updates. Thank you for joining me, and until next time, goodbye!
🛒 Buy FiiO KA17 on Amazon
🛒 Buy FiiO KA17 on Aliexpress
🛒 Buy FiiO E-Stick power bank on Aliexpress
