u/Perverteshwar

I have been using the fiio ka11 for around 2 years, it finally died last month. I decided to buy the ka15 thinking it would be a worthy upgrade, i received it today and its worse than ka11. I love the clean detailed sound of ka11, the vocals presentation and the instruments separation is amazing in ka11, i loved hearing the singers breathe but the ka15 is the opposite, everything feels bland in ka15 if you are coming from a ka11. Fiddled with the eq presets and settings it helped a bit but still not as good as ka11 for me. Using the balanced output btw.

I remembered my ka11 still worked if the cable was flexed at certain angle so i dug up the ka11 from its grave and connected it to my mac along with ka15 and played the same song on both. The difference is noticeable, ka15 vocals are bland and the instruments are annoyingly boosted. What is this device?

I have decided to return the fiio ka15.
Good people of reddit kindly suggest a portable dac with same signature as the ka11 which also has detachable usb, which showcases the vocal details in audio.