I admit it: Even though my job means I’m supposed to be laser-focused on sound quality, usability, value for money, and durability, every now and then, I see an audio product that I want to own simply because it looks awesome. That was my reaction at CES 2025 when I laid eyes on Fiio’s KA15 — a tiny mobile headphone DAC/amp that sells for $110 (though as of today’s date, it’s down to $90 on Amazon).
Specs-wise, this little all-aluminum, baby blue and silver gadget — which also comes in a much more serious Midnight Black color — covers everything you could want in a headphone DAC: support for PCM decoding up to 32-bit/768kHz, plus native DSD decoding up to DSD256, dual Cirrus Logic CS43198 DACs, a companion app and web interface that gives you access to a 10-band parametric equalizer, 4.4mm balanced and 3.5mm unbalanced headphone jacks, an ultra-low THD of 0.0004%, and up to 560 milliwatts of power per channel (when in desktop mode). Perfect for getting the most out of your lossless and hi-res audio sources via wired headphones or IEMs.
It’s even UAC 1.0 compatible for plug-and-play use with game consoles like the Nintendo Switch, and that 3.5mm headphone jack doubles as an S/PDIF output, should you want to pass along decoding duties from your PC to a third-party DAC.
Fiio packages it with a USB-C to USB-C cable and a handy protective case. And yet, despite all of these great attributes, the real reason I want one is the whimsical spinning audio tape animation that runs on the built-in 0.96-inch color LCD display.
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Yes, the display can deliver valuable info like sampling rates, mode, and volume level. And I don’t care. I just want to look down and feel that surge of silly joy as those virtual cassette reels respond to the movement of millions of ones and zeroes.
Laugh (or scoff) if you will, but Fiio (which is pronounced fee-oh, by the way) is clearly onto something with its nostalgia-inspired design. And the company isn’t stopping at digital verisimilitudes; it recently launched a legit retro portable cassette player and portable CD player to cash in on fulfill a generational need to use physical audio formats.
