FiiO’s tiny new KA15 DAC polishes your tunes with an old-school flavour
The FiiO KA15 is almost small enough to swallow, but it promises to make your songs sound massive
Cassettes aren’t exactly known for their stellar sound quality, but that hasn’t stopped FiiO from designing its new KA15 DAC to look like a tiny tape recorder.
Designed to be plugged into your phone, tablet or laptop using the USB-C port at one end, the 0.96in screen displays a graphic of spinning reels, along with real-time power consumption and file info, but what’s actually inside is a THX AAA-78 amplifier and a pair of Cirrus Logic CS43198 chips that support 32-bit/768kHz PCM, DSD256 and MQA hi-res audio.
At the other end you’ll find two headphone sockets: a standard 3.5mm and a balanced 4.4mm. Tipping the scales at just 50g, the FiiO KA15 won’t tug too much on the cable when you plug in a pair of cans to enjoy its dulcet tones, and the USB stick-like dimensions mean it won’t take up too much extra space in your pocket either.
It’ll work with both Windows and MacOS, with a Desktop Mode that draws more power because it doesn’t have to take your phone’s battery into account. There’s a web-based interface that allows you to tweak the 10-band EQ, which is also available via FiiO’s control app if you’re on Android. Apple fans will have to make do with the sound as it comes out of the KA15.
Like a real tape player the all-metal chassis also has a set of buttons on top, allowing you to skip tracks, adjust the volume and switch between modes. It also supports the use of the in-line controls and microphone on your favourite pair of headphones as well.
Your old Walkman certainly never sounded this good, but for £100/$109 your phone, tablet or laptop definitely can. The FiiO KA15 is available to pre-order now, with orders expected to start shipping on 20 October.
Tom Wiggins
Contributor 
