[SOLVED] Fiio K5 Pro vs onboard audio

[johnupham8]

hi
I need some opinion to see is it worth upgrade my onboard audio to Fiio K5 pro to gain more audio quality?

my onboard audio is this https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X470-AORUS-GAMING-7-WIFI-rev-11#kf

how my onboard audio compared with Fiio K5 Pro?, or my onboard will perform the same as Fiio?

 

[hang-the-9]

No way to know if you will like how it sounds without you trying it with your ears and your headphones.

All we can say is that "in general" the higher quality USB DAC/AMP devices "should" be better than "most" onboard audio, but if you can tell the difference no-one can say but you. If the audio section in your motherboard is properly shielded and uses a decent quality DAC you may not see any difference, as long as your headphones don't need extra power to sound good.

 

[gondo]

That motherboard has a good audio with a good dac. I doubt you would notice a difference. You would need some serious headphones to maybe notice a difference, and you would need some serious ears to notice a difference as well.

I say waste of money and it's mostly placebo effect. The onboard sound would actually be better because you'll have the software from the Gigabyte for EQ and gaming, surround sound, etc.... With a seperate DAC you get zero software so your audio is flat. You need separate plugins for EQ and virtual surround sound, headspace, etc....

If you had a plain motherboard with no good DAC then definitely the Fiio would offer nice clean hiss free sound with more volume due to the headphone amp. But since you have the high end motherboard I say save your money and stick to it.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

The K5 Pro is a solid amp with an iffy DAC.

Review and Measurements of Fiio K5 Pro

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fiio K5 Pro DAC and headphone amplifier. It was kindly sent to me by the company. The K5 Pro is a budget product, costing US $150 on Amazon with free shipping. The Fiio K5 looks decent and sports a nice, large volume knob which I appreciated...

www.audiosciencereview.com

The motherboard has an ESS Sabre DAC but DACs are more about how they're implemented than the actual DAC chips themselves. I don't see any mention of a built in amp.

What headphones?