$200 To Spruce Up Your Audio
TechPowerUp were happily surprised to discover that the FiiO K7 was not a product half way between the K5 Pro ESS and the K9 Pro ESS. Instead it takes the best features from both, the K5 Pro’s price and the K9 Pro’s balanced headphone output, volume control and amplifier sections. The use of USB Type-B and an XMOS XU208 USB controller detracted little from the performance, even if they are not the most effective solutions available.
On the back are a plethora of inputs, two line in RCA inputs to feed output straight to another DAC, RCA outputs for preamp and line out, optical in, coax in and finally USB. On the front are two output options, a 1/4″ headphone output on the right and a 4.4 mm balanced connector. A dedicated knob allows you to switch between PO (headphone out), preamp, and LO (line out) and their is a gain knob as well.
Inside you will find things such as two Asahi Kasei Microdevices AK4493SEQ 32-bit stereo DACs, an XMOS XU208 USB controller, two THX AAA 788+ linear amplifiers and two Nisshinbo Micro Device NJU72315 volume ICs. Check out exactly what TPU thought in the full review.
