Purchased a FiiO K7 Full Balanced HiFi DAC Headphone Amplifier for the Mac Studio

[transmaster]

I have been really been enjoying the sound of my FiiO BTR7 plugged directly into my Mac Studio, and using it as a hard wired DAC headphone amp. I decided a desktop DAC/Amp for IEM's, and Headphones was in order. I have owned FiiO for years, since the iPhone 7 dumped the 3.5mm phone plug. I was unsure of what to get. I was told to spend your money on your IEMs and Headphones 1st. FiiO makes very good desk top DAC/Amps. I was looking at the K9 but I remembered the above advice, it costs $899. The K9 has a lot of features I don't need, the XLR I/O's are an example. The K7 has just what I need, plus is has useful optical and coaxial digital inputs I can use. The RCA line outs can be used to feed an external set of amplified speakers. Plus at $199 bucks it does not break the cost the above rule of headphones. I ordered the red version 😃

Desktop DAC and Amplifier K7/K7 BT

The K7/K7 BT has a six-stage audio circuit with truly balanced analog and digital sections – which helps to reduce crosstalk and reproduce music to a great extent, allowing you to better enjoy the purity of your music.

www.fiio.com

 

[Ben J.]

Too many people, I think, is not aware of how good many of these small inexpensive "headphones amps" sound nowadays. I'm an ex home studio, small studio owner, and I've been thru lots of "audio interfaces" over the years. Low end stuff that really sounded crap, and good stuff that were expensive. In recent years, after retiring, I no longer needed the AD portion of the converter since I don't record much anymore.

Someone recommended a small DAC, so I got a cheap Olasonic. It was great. I almost never use headphones, but I have my Dynaudio BM6 studio monitors still, and I can really hear how good these dacs are. I tried some more, and ended up with a Topping E30 II. These small inexpensive DACs can often match the best of the consumer audio interfaces.

 

[transmaster]

Once you have experienced true balance feed in a IEM, or a headphone you will not be able to go back. FiiO rules in this area. look at this block diagram.

 

[transmaster]

You notice the K7 uses the USB "B" input. For this application it is a great choice. The "B" connection is tough and positive you don't have to worry about it falling out if you move the K7 on the desk. I am glad that they included a coaxial digital input it is so much more robust than a Toslink. I can plug it into the Yamaha.

 

[casperghst42]

I have been really been enjoying the sound of my FiiO BTR7 plugged directly into my Mac Studio, and using it as a hard wired DAC headphone amp. I decided a desktop DAC/Amp for IEM's, and Headphones was in order. I have owned FiiO for years, since the iPhone 7 dumped the 3.5mm phone plug. I was unsure of what to get. I was told to spend your money on your IEMs and Headphones 1st. FiiO makes very good desk top DAC/Amps. I was looking at the K9 but I remembered the above advice, it costs $899. The K9 has a lot of features I don't need, the XLR I/O's are an example. The K7 has just what I need, plus is has useful optical and coaxial digital inputs I can use. The RCA line outs can be used to feed an external set of amplified speakers. Plus at $199 bucks it does not break the cost the above rule of headphones. I ordered the red version 😃

Desktop DAC and Amplifier K7/K7 BT

The K7/K7 BT has a six-stage audio circuit with truly balanced analog and digital sections – which helps to reduce crosstalk and reproduce music to a great extent, allowing you to better enjoy the purity of your music.

www.fiio.com

I got an FiiO Pro which works well with my AudioEngine A2's (they are now 12 years old). I feed it with an RPi Zero W running RoPieeee (Airplay), works nothing special. I have been thinking about getting an USB to S/PDIF thing for my computer but have not really seen the need until now.

 

[transmaster]

I am using the K7 with the Mac Studio. Absolutely amazing. One of the big deficiencies that Apple Macs have from the point of view of a person who assembled Gaming PC's is Apple's crappy audio. I used ASUS ROG motherboards who's onboard audio chip sets were 7.1 Dolby everything and would feed a surround digital signal to my AVR to decode. I also had a ASUS Xonar Essence sound card installed because of its world class headphone amp. The FiiO K7 fills in that blank space. My Yamaha can decode the Dolby Atmos Audio Apple uses but it's headphone support sucks. Yes I have a set of AirPod Pro 2's but they don't even come close to the sound I am getting with the Shure SE-535's earphones fed from the K7.