Preface
The mobile phone has basically cut off the 3.5mm interface. How to make the phone use the 3.5mm interface and the sound quality of the headphones better? And can you get HiFi without carrying a bulky lossless player? Recently, major HiFi manufacturers have given the perfect answer, launching various Type-C to 3.5mm portable decoding headphone amplifiers equipped with Black Technology technology, among which Fei'ao KA1 is one of them and one of the author's review today.
KA1 Hardware Configuration Explanation
Fio KA1 supports high-definition sound quality resolution and has won the Hi-Res small gold standard certification.
KA1 has built-in low-power, high-performance ESS company ES9281AC Pro decoding chip, supports 32bit/384kHz PCM decoding, supports up to DoP128 and Native DSD256 native hard solution, almost 0 noise floor ≥114dB (32Ω A weighted) quality, as well as 0.0005%@32Ω ultra-low distortion, and supports MQA Renderer technology.
In terms of hardware configuration, the author thinks that the price of Fio Ao KA1 is basically in the range of 800 to 1000, and the portable decoding headphone amplifiers with almost the same configuration are around 1K. However, Fei Ao gives a price that is completely for making friends, and it only costs 299, which directly achieves the ultimate price-performance ratio. Sometimes it is 269 during the big promotion, which is too much for making friends!
KA1 supports streaming media MQA sound quality decoding
KA1 supports MQA Core signals and completes the final full rendering and expansion of the MQA file, allowing users to experience the charm of MQA sound quality.
KA1 supports songs with different formats. The lighting effects of different colors
KA1 also has an interesting function. Different song specifications and sampling rates display different colors of lights, which is very cool. You can also intuitively know what formats and sampling rates are currently listening to songs with sample rates. The author has tested songs with sample rates in several different formats. KA1 can really distinguish the lighting colors in this regard, which is very interesting.
Packaging, accessories, workmanship evaluation
Fei'ao KA1 packaging is large and uses solid materials, reflecting the style of a large manufacturer. The front uses laser effect product sketches, full of technology. As for the accessories of
, like other small tail manufacturers, an additional USB to Type-C to 3.5mm accessory can be used as an external USB sound card for the computer. In terms of workmanship, KA1 uses 6-series magnesium aluminum alloy material, with a surface of 180 sandblasting, which is very exquisite, with an industrial hard-core style design appearance. KA1 uses multi-layer board shielding to optimize external interference signals, reducing interference between mobile phone 5G/WiFi signal, and will not affect the sound quality and cause noise floor.
Wire evaluation
KA1 Wire material is used with 4 strands of single crystal copper silver-plated wire base. The wire leather is soft, delicate and comfortable to touch. The silver-plated material greatly improves the sound quality of DEW1.
Thrust test
KA1 output power is 46mW (32Ω, THD+N<1%).>
headset thrust test
The author did not leave a high resistance and low sensitivity headset, leaving only a Panasonic HD7 with a higher impedance as the KA1 thrust tester.
KA1 can easily drive the HD7 and play a good job of quality and strength. There are no problems such as weakness caused by insufficient thrust, loose imaging, weak voice, muffled low frequency, dull high frequency, and dull high frequency. KA1 brings a sound field space with almost 0 noise floor to HD7, making the instrument and vocal positioning accurately, the imaging outline is clearer, and the sound source background is clear, and the headset has a large sound field, black background, three-band high resolution, mellow voice, thick low frequency and deep diving, and the space stereo sense is obvious.
Warm reminder: The effect will be much stronger when starting the exclusive one than when directly inserted.
direct sound quality test
direct sound test, paired with Fei'ao's own sub-flagship headset FD5. The combination of the two is a perfect match, and the combination sound effect is very good.
FD5 is a plug with very distinctive features. It uses a balanced, atmospheric, loose and natural, high resolution, and high reduction. The sound is real and pleasant.With the cooperation of KA1, the sound of FD5 is cleaner and unblemished, but the sound density is not reduced. The image still has a clear and outstanding outline. The sound field of has also been expanded to a certain extent, making the sound line wider. The imaging positioning of various instruments between the three frequencies is also more accurate, the vocal lip shape is more natural, the pursuit of the most realistic ultimate sound restoration, and it is also particularly pleasant and infectious.
exclusive USB to 3.5mm output sound quality test
exclusive test environment , paired with Fei'ao's own sub-flagship headset FD5
KA1 startup exclusive to fully utilize the strength of the chip ES9281AC Pro. The resolution between the three frequencies is more full, and the bubble sounds of exhaling and swallowing the mouth of the people, and every small detail reproduces the original sound. However, the sacrificial density is still not used to increase the resolution. The sound density of the three-band and the vocals is still controlled at a very comfortable density. The singer's essential voice characteristics are restored very accurately, the low frequency is also heavier, and the high frequency is more gorgeous and full of rosin. At this time, the author feels like he is not listening to the mobile phone, but listening to the Fio professional lossless player M11 Plus. It can be seen that KA1 improves the sound quality level of the mobile phone by leaps and bounds.
computer sound card USB to 3.5mm test
KA1 also supports use as an external USB sound card. In the Windows11 system mode, you can also choose performance options such as decoding channel, number of bits, Hz, etc., and support selecting a code rate of up to 32bits/384kHz, which is also very obvious for improving the sound quality of the computer. KA1 is further improved in combination with the computer's thrust capability. When using headphones like HD7, it can fully utilize the true strength of headphones like HD7. The image of
HD7 is not as light as it tastes light. The cohesion between the instrument and the vocals will become stronger, making the sound full of delicate flavor, and the sound field will be completely opened and become a wide depth, because KA1 eliminates almost all the noise floor, and the low frequency can hear deeper dives and rich residual details, and enjoying the music begins to become a pleasure.
Test summary
In general, KA1 is a product that I am very amazed at, with a affordable price but a thousand elements. It seems that the phone in my hand is turned into a professional mid-to-high-end lossless music player. In exclusive mode, KA1 completely eliminates the noise floor. Good thrust can also enable various headphones to realize their potential. KA1 also has the sound of Fiora's pursuit of balance, reality and nature, and is very cost-effective and worth buying.
In the future, someone asked me about the portable ear amplifier at 1K price, and the author recommended KA1 first! Especially KA1 and FD5 listening to music is a real pleasure.
