Fiio K19 All-In-One Review - Great For Watching & Playing, Mixed Bag For Listening
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
- Thanks to Fiio for sending the K19 for review!
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Timestamps...
00:00 Intro, Pricing, Disclaimer
01:58 Shameless Self Promotion
02:30 Setup & Takeaways
07:25 Features & Specs
09:44 Unit Tour & Features Analysis - Front Panel
11:53 Menu Navigation & Remote Control
16:22 Unit Tour & Features Analysis - Back panel
22:22 Overall Build Quality & Headphone Stand!
24:43 Feature Set Indicates "Desktop Theater"
25:50 Movie/TV Watching Test Gear
28:36 Sound for Movies/TV/Gaming
31:02 Music Listening Test Gear
33:14 Sound for Music Listening
40:32 Headphone Pairings
41:29 Comparison with SMSL DO300 & Lake People G111mk2 Stack
43:29 The Equalizer
46:48 The Value & Final Thoughts
I'm listening to FiiO K19 with HiFiMan Arya Organic. I really like crystal clear sound, I love THX788 and I've known THX788 for years. My first amplifier on the THX788 was the THX Onyx. The second amplifier was the FiiO K9 Pro ESS. Below I will describe what I like and what I don't like about FiiO K19.
What do I like about FiiO K19?
1) Appearance
2) It does not heat up much like the FiiO K9 Pro ESS, and is more often cold than hot. The FiiO K9 Pro ESS was always hot in operating mode
3) FiiO K19 delivers clean, balanced, beautiful sound with high resolution and detail
4) Compared to the FiiO K9 Pro ESS, the FiiO K19 has started to sound much better
5) You can clearly hear how Fast, Slow, Apodizing, Mini, Mini Slow, Hybrid Fast, Brick Wall filters affect the sound. For games and movies, I choose the Slow filter, and for music, the Apodizing filter. The Slow filter amplifies low frequencies, making sounds in movies and games interesting and voluminous. The Apodizing filter softens the high frequencies, makes the sound more natural and detailed.
6) Unlike the FiiO K9 Pro ESS, the FiiO K19 has a very distinct sound difference between 16, 24 and 32 bits and the sampling rate. When I listen to a movie or a game at 16 and 24 bits, in complex scenes where many actions take place at the same time, the depth of the sound space is not heard and there is no feeling that each sound element is in its place, and at 32 bits the depth is heard, and the higher the sampling frequency, the more clearly the depth of the scene is heard. At a sampling rate of 384,000 Hz, a feeling of a deeper and more realistic perception of sound is created, where each element of the soundtrack (dialogues, music, overtones) has its place in space.
7) Having a GND/LIFT switch is a very useful solution. I'll share my story. I have a problem with the power supply in my apartment building. The house is only 12 years old, and for the last 4 years the light has often been turned off briefly for 10-30 seconds, the backup power is activated in the house, and the light appears. 3 years ago, I purchased a line-interactive CyberPower VP1200ELCD UPS and connected a computer, monitor, peripherals and FiiO K9 Pro ESS to it, but I didn't hear any noise with it, but it's understandable, because the sound resolution of FiiO K19 is higher than that of FiiO K9 Pro, and I had Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO headphones 250 ohms. Now I'm listening to FiiO K19 through HiFiMan Arya Organic, and I'm hearing more sounds, I'm hearing the audio details very clearly. So, after connecting the FiiO K19 to the CyberPower VP1200ELCD UPS, I did not understand for a while what kind of noise I was hearing. I had the GND/LIFT switch in the GND position. This was especially clearly heard in the game Assassins Creed Valhalla, which I am currently playing. The noise is like a very faint rustle of the wind. There should be dead silence in the pauses between the sounds, but instead I heard a faint rustle. I decided to try switching from GND to LIFT, and the noise disappeared. There were no more noises in the Assassins Creed Valhalla game. Being indoors, I didn't hear the wind, the wind was only outside. After reading on the forums, I learned that a linearly interactive UPS affects the sound amplifier and can cause noise, and it is better to take the UPS ONLINE. I bought a POWERMAN ONLINE 1000 UPS with a double conversion, where the output is a pure sine wave. After connecting the FiiO K19 to the POWERMAN ONLINE 1000 UPS, I switched the GND/LIFT switch to the GND position, and I heard a clear sound, the noises disappeared. While playing the Assassins Creed Valhalla game, I no longer heard noises in the rooms, but only wind noises outside. In movies, there is dead silence in the pauses between the sounds, no noise. The sound has become not only cleaner, but also beautiful.
What do I dislike about FiiO K19?
1) There is no dust filter for the side openings. If we put FiiO K19 vertically, then dust can easily penetrate inside, and after a year there will be a lot of dust inside FiiO K19. I designed and printed heat-dissipation covers on a 3D printer that block access for dust to enter inside.
2) There is no software for Windows with flexible settings. I would like FiiO to finally implement good software for Windows with flexible settings, like Creative, SteelSeries, Audeze Maxwell, where I could choose filters, configure profiles for movies, games, music, select bit rate, frequency, adjust the equalizer and remove this inconvenient 31PEQ equalizer, and do so so that you can put a dot anywhere on the equalizer and move left and right, and you can hear how the sound changes, it's much more convenient than moving the slider up and down at each frequency, and you can also draw a curved line at Creative, and after that, the settings are applied. Add virtual Dolby Atmos-type sound for headphones, have access to all FiiO K19 settings and redesign the FiiO Control mobile application and make it like the Cambridge Audio Evo 150. You may ask, why do I need Dolby Atmos for headphones in FiiO K19 when there is Dolby Atmos software for headphones? Yes, there is, but it greatly distorts the sound of the FiiO K19, just as it greatly distorts the sound of the Aqua Equalizer APO, and the sound through the DSP PEQ is clean and cool. If the FiiO K19 has a built-in Dolby Atmos, then the sound will be clear and voluminous and much better than the software Dolby Atmos for headphones.
3) Filters have been removed in the FiiO Control application. The FiiO K9 Pro ESS had filters, and I used them a lot.
4) When switching to standby mode, the RGB backlight of the buttons does not turn off.
5) There is no full shutdown function automatically if you do not use it for more than 6-24 hours.
6) There is no headphone software switching function, for example, I connected both headphones at 6.35 and 4.4 mm, and in order for me to listen to both headphones, I have to insert the plugs into the connectors and take out the other connector, which is very inconvenient and it wears out the connectors.
7) In DSP PEQ you cannot rename your settings and you cannot give them meaningful names.
hi, in the past I had the q7 but the sound wasn't to my taste, it had an unnaturally fast sound for me, like when you put a song on youtube at 1.2x some like it but it's not my preference. Does it have this effect with the apodizing filter?
BluesMan90 - I don't quite understand what you're asking, and I may have understood you correctly. The Apodizing filter affects the frequency response of sound, not the speed of sound, and this filter may not be suitable for every earphone. If the headphones have a more balanced frequency response, then the Apodizing filter will work well for such headphones. The Apodizing filter is aimed at correcting the amplitude-frequency response of the sound, making it smoother and more uniform across the entire spectrum, hence you can hear a smooth sound. The Fast and Hybrid Fast filters affect the speed, dynamism, with bright high frequencies and enhanced bass. If you need a less vivid sound, but with increased bass, but with good detail, then this is the Slow filter.
@@dragonsbreath8653 thank you for the quick reply, I have the nx4 e topping and the mojo 2 and I tried the aune s9c and the dx9 topping. Each of them obviously has a different sound, some warmer and fuller, some more neutral, but it had never happened to me like in the case of the Fiio Q7 to have a faster sound than normal, it was really a strange thing, it was as if on UA-cam you speed up a video to 1.2x. however apparently this is not the case in this case. I'm asking you to avoid buying it and possibly returning it for the same reason as the Q7.
BluesMan90 - I've heard and understand what you're writing about, but I've never heard an amplifier affect the speed of sound, and I won't deny it. In my understanding, the sound amplifier should not speed up the sound, it should produce a clear sound either with color or neutral. You may be experiencing the illusion of increased speed due to improved sound quality
@@dragonsbreath8653 Since it doesn't have that kind of effect I'll try it, thank you for your help!
Checking ASR as we speak.
edit: so far no one got caught, will update as necessary.
Please review one of the RME ADI devices!
11:12 They were not jokes. He told us so on Discord.
You are interfering with the over/under calculation! 😜🤣
I use a RME ADI-2 DAC FS for gaming (headphones and speakers). You can connect via optical cable to the tv and voilà, you can use all gaming/movie devices with it. It does sound very good as well.
I'm interested in the RME as a gamer and music lover and have a few questions if you don't mind. Can it adjust left and right channel balance from within the unit? Does it have independent volume adjustment for the different outputs? I.E having headphones adjustment independent of the preamp output to monitors so I don't blow out my ear drums or monitors when I switch between them?
@@j1nftw1n RME has a lot of options and a thick manual. Chose it due to it's versatility as I often reduce bass level (for speakers) depending on mood, or time of the day. Yes you can change the channel balance, it has also dedicated buttons for this specific function on its remote. And yes, it saves the volume level when you change source or turn off. For example, I often swap headphones output to line-out output for my speakers (RME is preamp connected to separate power amp) and it saves the volume level of each source. If you are interested in many quality of life settings, have a look around reviews. It's a very good device and use it daily since I bought it many years ago and honestly, do not fancy to replace it anytime soon.
Thanks for another great review Wave Theory! The Eversolo DMP-A6 may be an interesting all-in-one for music listening: streamer (including NATIVE support for Apple Music!!) + SSD-based music server + full digital parametric EQ + DAC + preamp, though no headphone amp. Any chance of a review?
11:11
Thank GOD you clarified that, by rotating the unit, it doesn't actually orient the soundstange, otherwise I would have believed it. ;)
Thank you for your in-depth review of the K-19. I especially appreciated your more detailed review of the various feature controls. The available info from FiiO is totally inadequate for someone--like me-- who really doesn't understand what a lot of the settings do. [Yes it's a toy, so you have to play with it and I will...] Having just unpacked mine, your review was a lifesaver.
[FYI: I use it to listen to my music CDs.]
Just out of the box, it wasn't all that for me; but with some of the menu tweaks you mentioned, I was suitably impressed.
One thing that I heard from some other reviewers is that it takes about 3 - 4 days of burn in to get to the real nature of the beast. Any thoughts on that?
I am looking forward to several days from now to see if it does in fact get better. I'll let y'all know.
Do a review of the Fiio R9.
How do you compare it to hifiman Serenade ?
37:37 can i ask what you mean when you say "sweet" sounding? Does "sweet" mean that it has high resolution?
Thanks for the review! Was there any burning time? Sandu from Soundnews said that after 4 days of burn-in it became more energetic/dynamic.
Warm-up is required for FiiO K19. Of course, not 4 days, but less. I have after 6 hours began to sound beautiful. When first turned on, the sound was flat, there was no bass, no energy. It was as if a flower hadn't bloomed yet, and after 6 hours of listening, the sound was different, more powerful, more energetic, as if a flower had bloomed.
@@dragonsbreath8653Do you have to warm it up again after it’s been off for a few days for it to sound good or do you just do it once when you first use it and never have to warm it up again?
MertLDN - If you have completely turned off the FiiO K19 even for 8 hours, then after turning it on, you need to warm it up a little. My sound gets better after 30-60 minutes. It is still beautiful, but you can hear that there is not enough energy, power, bass, and all this appears after 30-60 minutes.
Oh, what DAC gives you the satisfaction in sound?
Albeit a slight bit more expensive, you’d be far better served by an Aune S17 Pro and a Schiit Bifrost 2/64. This pairing is exquisite.