FiiO A1 Silver Portable Headphone Amp A1

I will start to say that how much the amp can improve the sound quality is really depending on your headphones and the playback device, I don’t think this amp is going to wow you or change the sound quality significantly if you’re connecting to a MacBook or even an iPhone with a pair of headphone that’s easy to drive.For my specific use case it’s amazing and the improvement is worth every penny. I have a Roland FP30 digital piano that I use to practice, I always use it with my headphone, however the sound quality from the audio output literally ruins the experience. The sound is muddy and the maximum volume output is really low, it can’t even drive the Apple earplugs to moderate volume! Tried different headphones but no luck. I tried connecting it to my MacBook as a MIDI keyboard but was tired of setting up many cables every time I want to play the piano. Later I tried using Bluetooth MIDI from iPad but the lag is really losing the dynamics of the playing. I almost decided to sell my FP30 just for the reason that the sound is such a crap.Not too long ago I got a Desktop amp for my HIFI headphones so I realized I could give it a try. With an amp, the sound from FP30 becomes so clear and bright, I can never image the sound quality was this great! However I still have problems, that I need to carry my desk amp and power cord close to the piano every time, and the desk amp is just a bit too powerful for FP30 as the noise floor becomes more noticeable (such a crappy output jack of FP30 again!). So in a search of a portable amp I found Fiio A1.Fiio doesn’t disappoint me in the task, A1 does exactly what I want. It’s so tiny and light that I can easily mount the device near my piano audio jack. I can just remove the device from the clip and charge it once in a while without problems. The sound - for my FP30 is just the right match, it drives my headphone (HIFIMAN Ananda) to a sweet spot that the piano tone becomes much brighter and louder. I really enjoy the sound coming out of A1 and love that it’s so tiny that I can discreetly mounted on my piano without all the messy cables/power adapters. I’m in love with my FP30 again :D

Many years ago, I found a product from a company called NuForce, called their Audio Pump, and later called a Mobile Music Pump, and it was my first foray into headphone amps/small audio amplifiers and it was the best product ever. Was about the same price point as this, and just a very little bit larger, but, wow, the sound it produced was incredible.Seeing how audio products come and go, I loved the first one so much I bought another, to have one for home, for my Sennheiser headphones and home PC audio system, and one for the office, to drive my laptop audio set up for when it was just me, after hours, and wanted to really blast some tunes while I work. The difference it made was remarkable. Huge, stunning sound.I should have bought a third because, eventually, I wanted one in my car and, as I feared, NuForce stopped making it, for whatever reason (such a great product, and what a loss they quit making it!). My audio system in my car is okay, but does not bump as well when playing from my little MP3 player. I have an older system, so it does not recognize USB drive content so well, which is why I resorted to using a simple MP3 player, which can hold up to 128 gigs of music. I mostly listen to trance, so it is organized by folder and files in sub-folders, and my older system gets confused and won't play everything as stored, while the MP3 player will.So, long story short, I wanted an amp between the MP3 player and the car speakers, so I took my Audio Pump from home. Well, I got tired of carrying it between the car and house, so I wanted another amp, but, as I say, NuForce stopped making the stellar Audio Pump.I tried a FiiO, some years ago, the E12 Special Edition, and I was honestly somewhat disappointed. Despite being a much larger and more expensive amp than the tiny NuForce, it did not sound half as good. But, looking here and elsewhere online, it seemed FiiO is certainly one of the more established brands, and I was reluctant to try any of the many generic sounding "off" brands, which seemed to have very mixed reviews. Truthfully, probably many of them have all the same innards, from China, I don't know, and perhaps one or more of them even has some knock off version of what the NuForce had, but I thought I'd start with another FiiO, and this one seemed closest to what I had, a simple and straight forward amplifier in a very small package.I ordered this metal version, because the other A1 is apparently plastic, so this model seemed more robust.It arrived with a power/charging cable (standard USB to Micro USB), two male to male 3.5mm audio cables and a plastic piece that mounts on top, near the controls (as show in their advertising photos) and a similar piece that fits in the same spot but has a somewhat fragile feeling plastic clip (plus an extra one of those -- seems they recognize that the clip could break at some point, thus providing a spare). Not sure why you'd choose the non-clip piece, other than to decorate the recessed top portion? As for the piece with the clip, while it does seem like it could easily break, it did come in handy for my need and has held up, thus far.The first time I charged it, the A1 died within a few hours, so I was worried at first, but charged it again, and now it seems to be delivering the promised 12 hour or so period of use, consistently.I set it up, in my car, to be able to keep my other NuForce exclusively for home use, and, honestly, versus the NuForce, it is definitely doing the job, and I prefer the smaller footprint and longer battery life over what the NuForce provided. It's so tiny that it fits totally out of the way. My MP3 player is the very small Sansa Clip Plus (sadly also discontinued!) so the entire little system is very unobtrusive. I used a simple lanyard, attached to the FiiO's clip, and it seems sturdy, and I have the other part of the lanyard attached to my cell phone holster that is clipped next to the gear shift in a handy slot BMW has built there. A bit primitive, perhaps, and I'm sure someday I'll upgrade my audio to a system that accomplishes my needs in a single package, but, for now, this was a much more affordable option versus a $1200 system upgrade and I can load many, many hours of music for the daily commute and road trips and only periodically need to charge the Sansa and the FiiO.So, in practical terms, it's smaller, more easily kept out of the way, and has a longer battery.The sound definitely upgrades the MP3 player's output, making much better use of the BMW Professional sound system, although it is somewhat different from the NuForce. The FiiO has four settings, and, as others have noted in reviews here, they don't all seem to be of much use. I found the first "Bass" Setting to be the best, and really only option. The Flat one sounds awful, and the other two Bass settings equally fail to impress. The first Bass Setting, however, punches up both overall volume and adds more bass than the Nuforce did, which works well for trance style music, famous for when the beat drops. So, not an overall amplification as impressive as the NuForce, which made the full range of sounds richer (bass, mids and treble) with greater volume than the FiiO, but with better Bass response, so I actually am happy with that, although I don't know quite what FiiO was thinking with the other settings, that truly don't achieve much at all, to my ears.I like the power button on and off, and the fact that it tells you what mode of the equalizer you are in, although your ears do a good job of that, since the modes are quite distinctive. It does have a volume control, but that, for me, stays at max (as does the volume setting on my MP3 player), and I regulate volume on the car sound system.I don't like that it dies with no warning. It is supposed to blink red, apparently, with low battery, but it just quits, and powers off. When you power it back on, then it blinks red, but by then it won't play anymore. So, I just charge it after two charges on the MP3 player, which has about 7 hours of life, so I figure, when it's time for a second charge of that device, go ahead and charge the FiiO as well.It will play while charging, so I can charge it in the car, on the go, but I usually just bring it inside to the home or office and give it a full charge while I'm busy with other stuff in life. Doesn't take that long to charge it up and the power button will show green, when fully charged.In terms of being a decent amp if I ever play music from my HTC10 phone, the HTC10 already has pretty stellar audio, and sounds better with no amp, if using it in my car, but I rarely use my phone for music anyway. I have not tested it with headphones.So, as an amp for my MP3 player to my car audio, via the Aux in, to the car sound system, it is an effective amp that creates superior volume without any distortion and an appreciable gain in good sounding bass. Doesn't turn it into a high end audio system, but the upgrade in sound is definitely noticeable and appreciable. It has long battery life, effective controls, and I like that I can use any USB to Micro USB to charge it. It seems solid and well built and the very small size makes it ultra convenient to improve audio without bulky equipment needed.I don't have a lot of experience with amps of this sort, so I'm not so helpful in comparison, other than to say it provides better sound than the much more expensive and much larger FiiO E12 Special Edition and, versus the NuForce Audio Pump, produces less overall volume but greater bass.Why only four stars? Well, I'm disappointed that, with four audio settings, only one is of any use. The other three are truly awful, amplifying not much of anything at all. So, I don't know if those settings are meant as a gimmick, to make it seem that it has greater functionality, but, truly, I only found the one setting to be acceptable. Thankfully it sounds good on that setting, but, even so, the other settings are dismal. Also, it's a bit frustrating that the power indicator does not give any warning of an impending low battery situation, as I mentioned. And, although the clip feature is working well thus far, it does seem a very fragile piece of plastic that is subject to snap off, with any serious tension applied. The NuForce came with a lanyard clip built in, of metal, which was much more effective. It also came with dual audio out jacks, but, given that I only need this for one output, that was not a loss for me.The ports also were quite stiff at first, which concerned me, in terms of build quality. The power charge port and both in and out audio ports did not accept their cables easily for the first week or so, although it all seems fine now. I hope they stand up over time.All in all, for an amp in a very minuscule package, I'd say this is tough to beat, although, as I say, there are many options from which to choose. Frustratingly, for someone who doesn't have the time to really get into audio knowledge, the options, really, are far too many, and I honestly went with this because FiiO seems to be heavy into the audio amp world, versus a brand I've never heard of, that has very few reviews. So, could there be something better out there? Maybe so, but, for me, I'm happy enough with this to end my search and be pleased with what the A1 provides.Hope this has helped! Thanks for reading.