Product Review

FiiO A5 Portable Headphone Amplifier (Black) FiiO A5 achieves nearly the same powerful output of the original E12 Mont Blanc unit but with improved channel balance and a lower noise floor that's ideal for driving highly sensitive in-ear headphones on the 'Low Gain' setting. The A5 topology is a robust 'analog-only' [ i.e., no digital DAC connectivity] portable headphone amp design capable of delivering a whopping +/- 11 Volts of clean power, so the A5 can also easily drive even very power-hungry full size headphones on its 'High Gain' mode, including many recent high-end planar magnetic audiophile models. The battery run time of the FiiO A5 unit rates somewhere around 12-13 hours, so you'll be able to keep the music flowing without worries when you're listening on the go all day or during those long cross continental flights. In addition to the High/Low gain switch, the A5 unit also has a bass boost button, so it does allows for some audio customization for your particular headphones and listening tastes. A high-quality smooth operation ALPS potentiometer graces the front panel along with the gain switch, plus 3.5mm line input and headphone outputs placed side by side. The super-slim A5 amp housing contains the bass boost switch on the side panel next to the USB charging connector. The top case shows off two mini LED lights, a deep blue LED light indicating on/off and a red light showing the battery charging status. The A5 amp case itself is an extremely slim-profile, sandblasted grey aluminum chassis and it measures approximately 2 1/2" inches wide by 4 1/2" inches long and only a 1/4" thick - so no doubt, it's a really small little box! The FiiO A5's slick and sturdy aluminum build quality joined with its miniaturized but super-potent headphone amp circuit delivers a massive audio statement in sound quality performance and muscular output power from a tiny palm-sized device.