Upgrade FiiO K3 with ifi Zen Dac

Hello everyone,
I just started heavily investing in audio-fun. I bought HD650s and run them with a FiiO K3 hooked to my Mac. Besides that I bouht a FiiO BTR5 for portable use. Now I am beginning to think that buying the FiiO K3 was a mistake and that a ifi Zen Dac or the Signature Zen Stack would have been the better choice.
Do you think it is worth upgrading?

Ok, here is what I did: I just ordered a ifi Zen Signature Stack. I’ll see how that turns out.

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Well you did a double mistake: https://youtu.be/A0mFTzB1PCE

Basically the signature might be worse for the 650/6XX than the regular Zen Stack, and it’s also twice the price, a waste of money.

Also for your money I’d buy a FiiO K5 Pro, like 6 times more power on that thing than the Zen
Dac, that thing is kinda overrated to be honest and I have one :stuck_out_tongue:

For the what, 500$ you spend on the signature stack you could’ve bought the Schiit Asgard 3, probably by far the best amp for 200$ (at least according to this boy: Get AMPed! WaveTheory's Roundup of (most) <$200 Head Amps), plus a DAC like the Modi, or even the Zen Dac, and even got a hybrid tube amp like Xduoo MT-602 or a full tube like the Little Dot MK2 in there AND bought some tubes for either of them, and these headphones are notoriously amazing on tubes.

That is what happens when you buy on impulse. :laughing: Fortunately I did not pay full price for the set. I got it used at around 300 (two months old). It should be an upgrade over my FiiO K3 while I wait to have more space on my desk available in order to get a proper tube amp somewhere down the road. For now I already spend too much money on hifi gear as it is. A proper drug addiction might have been cheaper. I think I’ll enjoy what I got so far and see where it leads.