FiiO JadeAudio KA1 Headphone Amps Amplifier Tiny USB DAC High Resolution 3.5mm Lossless for Smartphones/PC/Laptops/Players(Type C, Black)

Product Information

Conclusion​ It’s very tempting to say that the Jade Audio KA1 is a ‘solution looking for a problem’. My thinking being that if you’re an Audiophile wanting to get the best possible sound quality into your expensive in-ear monitors then you would surely use a dedicated MP3 player which already has the potential to offer better sound quality thanks to its more dedicated hardware and improved chipsets but that’s not what this device is really aimed at. The inexpensive device is simply designed to offer you clear and obvious improvements to the sound quality of your mobile phone whilst allowing you to continue to use your favourite IEM’s. I don’t think the KA1 is the best choice when using full-sized headphones but, again, I don’t think that’s what this device was designed for. Add to that a weight of 10 grams and the numbers alone should be a good indicator of how portable this dongle is. All in all, a very solid piece of work that inspires confidence and really gives a good impression. My main peeve with this style is that if the wire breaks or becomes intermittent you have to trash the dongle. It seems the stronger wire in this comparison belongs to the Rhodium, although perhaps also the thinnest which is somewhat ironic. Performance

It's not been a long time since the FiiO KA3, a balanced DAC/amp dongle with great performance, as you can read here and now they have released it's younger brother, the FiiO KA1.FiiO KA1 supports full 16x MQA rendering. MQA(Master Quality Authenticated) brings studio-quality performance to us. With the FiiO KA1 enjoy studio-quality master recording quality straight with your smartphones. Multi-Color RGB Indicator:-

Sound Quality​ The first headphones I tried with the KA1 was the Sennheiser HD 598SE and I felt that the amp seemed to struggle to drive them to super high levels - but they did sound good. I then tried it out with the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10's. This appears to be a match made in heaven. The KA1 easily drives them to very high levels without any distortion at all. The character of the sound appears to be very neutral, impactful and detailed. Atom2 have a more open and holographic rendering, fuller bass-mids-treble that are more balanced and cohesive too. Transparency seem a bit less focus than KA1, but dynamic have notably more notes weight and overall presence of instruments and vocal are more lively in amplitude, with presence that feel less static as the KA1. One distinguished detail in this comparison that stands out more than the others of the Bolt in this comparison is the included storage bag that Helm Audio throws in the box but the rest of the accessories amongst the others are identical. Performance

AMPING​

KA1 features an RGB indicator that glows in different colors. The color depends on the active signal decoding bitrate. It's present at the front of the device under the FIiO logo. Sleek & Elegant:-