I bought a new phone with no headphone jack (S22 ultra) and I’m looking for something I can use to connect my IEM’s. I’m leaning towards these 3, the Fiio KA3, the Hidizs S9 pro, or the Fiio BTR5.
Which is better? or are there some others I should be looking at?
I got the Hydizs S9, and it is ok, it can move even the Argons with a powerful bass and still with headroom… However, I bought it to play the Clairvoyance (they have 2,5mm balanced and 3,5mm se) and other headphones. But the fact that it is simply a dongle makes it lack some options.
Good: power, size (very small), connections, simplicity (connect with cable an go), clean sound
Not that good: Lack some extras (fundamentally EQ), it can consume a considerable amount of phone battery, because it have a lot of power, but doesn’t have a battery. Clean sound might sound somewhat boring (though this shouldn’t be an amp problem, more a headphone problem, IMO)…
Alternatives: ifi Go Blu, and Qdelix 5k. This last one is very well appreciated by their customers, mainly because it has a very good EQ app.
Having bluethoot and battery makes them larger, you add something more to charge, it’s not fully wireless, so I don’t know (I don’t have one) how many convenience it adds…
I’ve heard good things about the Qudelix 5k too, especially it’s accompanying app. However, it seems to be unavailable last I checked.
Yeah I’ll have to take a look at the Qudelix as well. Do any of these device sound better than the other or is it mainly just features that differentiates them?
I’m pretty new to the portable game (usually desk/table top.) Keep in mind 2 categories…
those which draw power from your source and those with their own rechargeable battery.
I defer to others here with much more experience for the particulars, lol. And yes, there are some considerable differences according to them.
I ended up finding a pretty good price on Ali for the KA3 $83 Canadian ($65 USD) after coins, discounts and codes. Hopefully, it doesn’t take too long!!
Just be aware and worth looking into, Android system outputs audio at 16/48, so high res stuff can get downsampled. Players like Usb audio player pro work around this but I couldn’t find a solution for streaming like Apple Music.
I looked into this and found the Hiby music app. It seems like it will play high res for android and iOS, for free.