FiiO K7BT Balanced HiFi DAC Bluetooth Headphone Amplifier AK4493S*2, XMOS XU208 PCM384kHz DSD256,USB/Optical/Coaxial/RCA Inputs, 6.35mm/4.4mm Output(US Plug)

I want you to know where I’m coming from.I spend a lot of my time on my PC. 75% of that is on games. The other 25% is split between music and movies. I spend half my time using my Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s speakers, and the other half with my Sennheiser HD 58x "Jubilee" headphones.I am not an audiophile. I am not chasing the pinnacle of music quality. I do not need to hear every frequency known to science. What I do need is audio that's functional and reliable.Previously, I had this weird setup where my headphones were connected into my Realtek onboard audio and my speakers were connected to the audio jack, which was getting sound from my RTX 4090. Weird? Yes, but it let me switch seamlessly between my headphones and speakers. The downside was that every once in a while, something janky happened. Maybe Realtek audio suite would crash. Maybe Windows 11 gets confused. Maybe the sound from Discord would drop completely. It was neither functional nor reliable.I bought this dac/amp because:1. I can route both my speakers and headphones to the K7 directly, and tell Windows/Realtek to output all audio to a single source. Windows is stupid but it's smart enough to handle one audio source.2. I can swap between speaker/headphone with a physical switch without the need to switch settings or unplug anything.3. I hope the audio quality of a $200+ external dac/amp is better than the $2 Realtek solution on my motherboard.4. The color and the RGB ring matched the rest of my setup.Did this dac/amp meet these goals? Yes.The unit is plug and play. Windows drivers are 100% functional. Fiio drivers were sketch. They were on the Fiio Chinese forums and linked to a Google drives page. They did not improve the audio, but did cause a conflict with the microphone in jack on my motherboard. I deleted the drivers within an hour.Does the Bluetooth work well? I don’t know, I’ve never used it. Frankly, the only reason I purchased the BT unit is because it received some hardware revisions over the non-BT unit, including a lag-free volume wheel. If you don’t care about that, you can save $50 by getting the non-BT K7.I was not an English major in college. I can say, using 10th grade vocabulary, that the audio from my headphones sound “better”. There are some elements to my music – primarily EDM – that sound punchier. My Kipsch speakers also had more bass. I don't have any fancy audio equipment at home, so I cannot confirm how much is this is objective and how much of this is just placebo effect.In games, I can localize audio better. Previously, I can pinpoint if a sound is coming from the left or right, but that's about it. Now, I can also tell if it's in front of or behind me. Does this make me better at shooters? No. That would actually require practice and dedication. But it IS a noticeable improvement from onboard sound.This thing is well built. Heavy and solid. Adds a strong presence to the rest of my gaming setup. I take great enjoyment from the volume knob and the physical switches in the front. Is this worth the money? Depends on your current setup and financial status.If you’re on a budget and/or have a mid-range PC, I wouldn’t even think about dropping money on this -or any- external dac/amp combo. There are way better things to upgrade that will make a meaningful impact to your gaming experience. A faster GPU. A higher refresh rate monitor. A second monitor. More storage space. A better keyboard/mouse. Maybe even a better gaming chair.If you're completely satisfied with your PC but you still have disposable income to make marginal upgrades on the audio side - because make no mistake, that's what this is - then this is about as good as you can get within the $200-250 price bracket. I am happy with this unit and it has met all my goals.

There are a lot of desktop DAC/amps -- some of them really lovely -- available at and around this price point, but the nondescript K7 is very hard to beat. Most importantly, it's a Swiss army knife of an audio device, offering a hi-volume USB 2 input using a printer-style cable, Toslink optical in, Coax in, and both RCA input and output. Two headphone outputs provided: a single-ended 1/4" and a 4.4mm balanced. But it also sounds great.The K7 can serve as a driver-free stereo DAC/amp for basically any device and any but the most specialized earphone. (I don't use Apple products, but I presume it's compatible there, too.) It can also act as a DAC/pre-amp. It decodes up to PCM 384kHz-32bit/DSD256 (but does not unfold MQA). I did a good deal of reading before buying, and I'm not aware of another device at this price point that does all that while delivering anything close to the power available to the K7. As anybody shopping in this price range is unlikely to require XLR connectors, the only thing I could wish for is a USB3 connection.Sound quality is excellent; if any of this next part sounds confusing, just rest assured that the K7 will sound great to you. It's an undeniably warm-sounding DAC/amp, but it is in no way veiled, and certainly isn't particularly bassy. The very high-end AKG DAC section is considered warmer than the Sabre ESS DACs that seem ubiquitous among all parts of the chi-fi market. But I think it's probably the THX amplification section that really provides the warmth. The overall impression I get is a flat EQ response with nice vocal presentation and never-sibilant highs. Detail retrieval is very good. The setup definitely gives up some sparkle to the highest-end Sabre DACs with non-THX op-amps and such devices may be preferred for female vocals.It offers 2W per channel at 32ohms via the balanced connection and 1.2W @ 32 ohms from the 1/4" connection. At 300 ohms, it's 560mW and 140mW, which will still drive most headphones. S/N is over 120 dB for all headphone outputs with all inputs, output impedance is <1 ohm, so it shouldn't have problems with any IEM.The volume knob handles feels lovely to handle, but it's oddly scaled. Even with some IEMs, I find I have to go past 50% to find my listening level. Honestly, the Bluetooth functionality on the K7BT isn't worthwhile. Even "HD" BT codecs are a *little* lossy. That's perfectly fine for portable gear, but this device is meant to stay plugged in via a USB connection that provides all lossless music and to be used with wired headphones, so Bluetooth doesn't make a ton of sense. You do get access to a fiddly Android app that lets you apply equalization, but I just apply my equalization in software. I wish I'd bought the $200 K7 instead.

I use this AMP DAC for my HD6XX and Hifiman Edition XS and has more than enough juice left over even after that. Neutral sound with a bit of bass is just what I needed for my headphones. Build quality and design are great. Clarity in music is also better than anything I experienced. Price could be a bit cheaper tho, I think this should be around $220 or even $200. But I don't regret my purchase

This is easily the best Bluetooth DAC/Amp combo you can get in the price range. It seamlessly connects to my phone with no loss in sound quality and also connects to my computer without any issues. The sound quality these help produce is phenomenal for the price points and have no issues powering my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD660S2s or my 32 ohm Arya Stealths. I highly recommend this for any beginning audiophiles just looking to purchase a budget DAC/Amp that will last you for years to come and power all but the hardest to drive headphones.

Item had clearly been opened and used. Box wasn’t sealed and had scratches on it, cords just thrown in box tied up.

I was blow away with how good and detailed music can make out of this. If you expect a good sound for a great price I recommend this or the K7 with no Bluetooth

I didnt like the feel of the switches on the front. They were loose and did not feel good for a $250 amp. Cheap craftsmanship imo. The unit itself feels ok and solid. Ill add more when we test it out.

Very powerful amp, volume knob is excellent for iems.