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You can buy a dongle to use wired earbuds or headphones with your computer or smartphone, but why not use an inline DAC and amplifier instead? That's the logic behind the amazing - and amazingly tiny - Fiio JadeAudio KA1 Compact Portable DAC & Amplifier. Smaller than a stick of gum, you can get either a lightning or USB-C version and dramatically improve your audio experience. Audio enthusiast and tech expert Dave Taylor checks out the new Fiio KA1 DAC & Amp and finds it's a great and surprisingly affordable upgrade to any mobile audio setup.
Check it out at: https://amzn.to/3U4hfjV
Then visit Dave's Q&A Web site at: https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/
#fiio #dac #headphoneamp #headphonedac #fiioaudio #audiophile #askdavetaylor
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This tiny device will change your listening experience
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Let's check it out. Dave Taylor here, and I'm checking out this
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This tiny little gizmo is the FiiO Jade Audio KA1 compact portable DAC and amp
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And it's a really simple idea. You plug this into your music source
0:25
You plug headphones into the 3.5 millimeter jack on the other end, and it improves the music
0:33
How easy is that, right? It's actually built around what's known as the ES9281AC, which is a pro DAC chip
0:42
And it gives it a lot of capabilities. It can work with up to 32-bit 384 kilohertz
0:49
lossless reproduction. It's certified MQA rendering, which is master quality assured, which is super fancy stuff, which
0:58
just means that you have a huge amount of information from the original music source
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So you're getting the best possible reproduction. And it also supports DSD 512
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So super easy. You plug it in, and you go. So I have a Google Pixel 6 Pro, which
1:15
has a USB-C connection on it. So I'll plug it in. It does not have a 3.5 millimeter connection
1:21
So if I want to listen to wired headphones, and I do get tired of Bluetooth, if I
1:27
want to listen to wired headphones, I have to plug in some sort of adapter
1:31
Why not have an adapter that does more for me, right? These, by the way, are the Beyerdynamic Tiger 300R
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Very nice headphones. So I'm going to plug it in. And then I'm going to go ahead and play
1:43
I have some Q-Buzz music queued up. And I'm going to play some Simon & Garfunkel
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Just put these on. And that sounds very nice. Let's see what else I can find here
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And so now we're listening to Fleet Foxes. And notice what's happened is the little light on here
2:05
has turned yellow. That means it's getting a higher quality audio source
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As I pause, it's gone blue again. But if I play the music, then see how it's yellow
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So that shows you the RGB is actually a status light indicator
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And that's really handy, because if you think you're getting really quality music from, say
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Tidal or Q-Buzz or something, then you can look at this and you can say, hmm, why is it still blue
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That's puzzling. Or hopefully you look at it and you say, ah, it's what my ears are telling me
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I'm getting a better quality audio signal. And that's what you want
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Now, one of the things that's really cool is, let me go ahead and stop this, is that it actually also
2:49
has an app. So FiiO has put an app out there. So let me just go ahead and get the screen recording started
2:57
And there we go. And now I can go to the app
3:02
And I'll show you. It's going to say, do you really want it to connect? Then I'll say yes
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And now it gives me some control. Now, the device itself is really simple
3:12
Let me show you a couple of close-ups real quick. Because there's nothing here
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There's no switches. There's no dials. There's no volume adjustments. There's no on or off or enable or disable. Nothing
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It's literally a plug and play piece of hardware. So the way that you control it for the tiny little bit
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of controls that it has is through the app. You can ignore the app completely, and you'll be fine
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But notice it lets me turn on and off the inline microphone support if I just want to turn it off
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I can turn on or off the indicator lights if I'm in the dark and I just don't
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want that little blue or yellow or purple light going on. And I can also switch whether it's using USB 1 or 2
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USB 2 is better, but it might not work. So if you try that and suddenly you're not hearing any audio
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switch back to the first one. You can also tap on audio on the bottom
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and then it gives you access to these low-pass filters. I'm going to guess you'll never, ever touch this
4:12
but if you're a hardcore audiophile, this might be something that you'll want to play with
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And that's totally cool. You can also reset the whole thing. I just, whoops, let me just tap on the gear on the top right
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Restore to default settings. So I can do that if I've been playing with it
4:30
and I'm not sure I want to leave those settings. And then let me go ahead and turn off the recording
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And that's really everything. It's really a simple, straightforward device. In fact, in the box, when you open up the packaging
4:44
you'll find that the box falls. That's okay. We don't need it again
4:49
It has instructions, and it has a very small USB-C to USB-A adapter
4:57
Now, I have it plugged into a USB-C device, and I have also experimented with it
5:03
plugged into my MacBook Pro, which is also USB-C. But if you have a different device, no worries
5:11
You can do this for USB-A, and then they sell a completely different version of it
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that has lightning on the end, a lightning connector, instead of the USB-C
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So there's four variants on this. There are lightning versus USB-C, and then there's this black version
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versus there's a really cool dark green that they have too. Now, dimensions wise
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it's 43 millimeters by 15 millimeters by eight millimeters, and it's 10 grams
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It's so light that if you're wearing any jewelry, I bet your jewelry's heavier than this device
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And yet, it does so much for your audio. In fact, I really love these things
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It takes every sort of device that you plug in and brings it to the next level
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If you have mediocre headphones, they're gonna sound pretty good. If you have pretty darn good headphones
6:03
they're gonna sound really good. And if you're at the top end with audiophile gear
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you're gonna plug these in and you're gonna say, yep, this is why you use a DAC and amp
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because it just makes it better. You get a bigger sound stage, a more precise reproduction
6:17
It's a warmer sound. It's just a lovely, lovely sound. And I've listened to a lot of different music with this
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from Simon and Garfunkel to ACDC, really all over the map. And man, it all just sounds so good
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Even with these Beyerdynamics, these are not top of the line Beyerdynamics
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And boy, they sure sound good with this little device in line
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So there's really not much else I can tell you about this, other than the price
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But before we get to the price, I'm gonna ask if you could subscribe to my channel
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Click or a tap on that subscribe button, then turn on notifications so you know about my new reviews
6:54
We're connected. Awesome. Now, this is the FiiO Jade Audio KA1 compact portable DAC and amp
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This is the USB-C version in black, and it is $49.99 at amazon.com
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If you switch to Lightning, the Lightning versions are $5 more. But either way, if you're poised to spend some money
7:19
on an adapter so you can plug a 3.5 millimeter device into a unit like this that doesn't have 3.5 millimeter
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why not upgrade and actually have it do something for you and improve your audio
7:33
These are just, it's just a great setup. So in fact, I'm gonna go ahead and plug it back in
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and go right back to that AC-DC, because I mean, honestly, who doesn't like AC-DC, right
7:46
So let's get here. And all right, well, we're rocking again. So I'll catch you, I hope, in my next video
7:56
All right, bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye
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