ЦАПы — FiiO K15

The FiiO K15 is a desktop streamer, DAC, preamplifier and headphone amplifier that sits below the K17 in the Chinese maker's K-series range and shares its 244.6 x 213 x 66.8 mm chassis, although at roughly 2.1 kg it is lighter. In Europe it costs EUR 499.17 including 20 percent VAT, with a black or silver finish.

Key specs that matter

Conversion runs through two AKM AK4497S chips in a dual-mono layout, fed by an XMOS XU316 USB controller. Over USB the K15 decodes PCM to 768 kHz at 32 bit and native DSD512, with full MQA decoding. Coaxial accepts 192 kHz at 24 bit plus DSD64, optical tops out at 96 kHz at 24 bit, and network streams or files from local USB storage reach 384 kHz at 32 bit with DSD256. The balanced 4.4 mm and XLR4 sockets deliver at least 3000 mW per channel into 32 ohm and 700 mW into 300 ohm in ultra high gain, while the 6.35 mm socket gives 1400 mW into 32 ohm. FiiO quotes THD+N below 0.00054 percent and SNR of 122 dB or better on the single-ended output. Line level is 2.4 Vrms from RCA and 4.8 Vrms from XLR3.

Engineering and use context

An X2000 multi-core processor runs the streaming side and an ESP32-S3 microcontroller handles control, with a QCC5125 chip providing Bluetooth 5.1 with LDAC, aptX Adaptive and aptX HD. The headphone stage is a Class AB transistor current-boosting design built around ON Semiconductor MJE243G and MJE253G pairs. Power, digital and analog circuits sit on physically separate boards, and a built-in 30 W supply accepts 85 to 305 V AC, while a 12 V DC inlet rated at 2.5 A allows an external linear unit. Separate AS318-L crystals at 45.1584 MHz and 49.152 MHz, both with ultra-low phase noise, provide the master clocks. The unit is Roon Ready and supports AirPlay with a wired Gigabit port and a Wi-Fi radio covering 2.4 and 5 GHz. A 10-band PEQ is available in every mode except the analog line and balanced inputs, and control comes from the 3.93 inch touchscreen, two knobs, an IR remote or the FiiO Control app across eight operating modes.

Pairing

FiiO lists single-ended loads from 8 to 150 ohm and balanced loads from 8 to 350 ohm, and five gain steps from low to ultra high cover in-ear monitors through demanding full-size headphones. Output impedance stays under 1 ohm single-ended and 1.5 ohm balanced. The RCA and balanced analog inputs accept an external source, and the XLR3 and RCA outputs can feed active monitors or a power amplifier.

Alternatives

The FiiO K17 moves up to AK4191 and dual AK4499EX conversion with a 31-band PEQ and 4000 mW balanced output.