Fosi K7 Desktop Gaming DAC / Headphone Amplifier - Not just for gamers!
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Wednesday January 15, 2025
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
@Jayarebee671: Hope it’s not a let down
@yc-tai: wot's not 2 like. Lots of buttons and 2 holy molly BIG knobs with yellow accent dots, keeping both your hands busy twiddling whilst immersing in your favourite music......
@frankjerke: Thank you for the nice video. Do you know how the Fosi Audio K7 is, compared to the SMSL DL200 or C200. I have. The Sennheiser HD 490pro for mixing music. Best wishes from Berlin.
@RobertKraig: Man.. I wanted to buy this item. Doesn't look like I can. This is a kickstarter project.
@franciscolood7250: Sir can you consider donating it to me? 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
@A.Omattic: I want something to just plug and play , thanks!
@grabannon: Have you checked out th fosi audio sk02. Same volume location. On sale £82.88 or £90.22 for both colour knobs.
@LittlePlant888: Unboxing music lyrics:
Don't
Don't
Don't-Don't
Don't
Don't
Don't-Don't
Don't
Don't-Don't
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Don't
Don't
Don't-don't
Don't
Don't
Don't-don't
Don't
Don''t-don't
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Don't
Don't
Don't-don't
Don't
Don't
Don't-don't
Don't
Don't-don't
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Yip, yip, yip, yip
@AudioMasterclass replies to @LittlePlant888: Oi! Don’t abuse my copyright.
@allthisuselessbeauty-kr7: Hi I tried to find the K7 on Fosi site and it's not listed. Eventually, I found a kickstarter page....'This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Mon, February 24 2025 2:00 PM UTC +00:00.' It's a bit disappointing we have a review of a not confirmed product?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @allthisuselessbeauty-kr7: Oh dear, so much the better that we don't have a review at all. And better cancel Kickstarter because it doesn't suit you. Yes, let's do less. Doing stuff is bad, bad, bad.
@allthisuselessbeauty-kr7 replies to @allthisuselessbeauty-kr7: @AudioMasterclass Oh such vitriol - number 11 on the Spinal Tap amp! I'm not against Kickstarter projects, or that you have reviewed one, just a bit of disclosure up front would have been nice (particularly given the amount of Kickstarter's that fall by the wayside). Essentially then your review is of a prototype that I can invest in, and may or may not, come to fruition.
@MichaelSaamone: I'm mad that it doesn't have RGB lighting and software that breaks my computer LOL
@burner8959: My 70 year old mother plays video games, mostly puzzle solvers through a provider program called plenty of fish. . My 76 year old father also plays a video game called Solitare. Sure, it's the card game, but he plays it on the computer and it's still a video game. If you like Footy, I play a game called Football Manager. It's literally a spreadsheet with a graphics engine. All you do is click buttons to make management decisions prior, during, and after football matches. There are city builders where you design cities, civilizations, take on other nations, or even the world. There's truck driving simulators, farming simulators, space program simulators, simulators for everything. There's a game called My Summer car, where you are a Finnish teenager in the 1990's trying to get your parents old 70's jalopy, that you were born in, put back together so you can have it to drive. You have to earn money to buy parts to put the car back together. Though while doing so you must eat, drink, and soothe your stress by smoking cigarettes. You may not want to believe it, but there really is a video game out there for you.
You don't know what you won't like until you try it. I give you partial credit for being willing to try this item. Though you lose full points due to unwillingness to go full measure. You came so close to breaking out of your box you built. You can do it, keep going!
@jegermajster: The bass is quite pronunced, since the K7 is designed primarily as gamer's DAC, and boomy bass is what makes all the explosions etc. sound more powerful, which elevates player's enjoyment when playing a video game.
@mixpart7504 replies to @jegermajster: They seem to smother the rest of the spectrum; bass is a good thing, but if it overpowers the highs and mids, it's not great.
@Jayarebee671 replies to @jegermajster: It has knobs for treble and bass
@leatherenthusiast: Evil unboxing music *ick^
@AudioMasterclass replies to @leatherenthusiast: Result!
@PoserGalore: fosi going wild with these releases lately
@chickenpie9698: I wish we had more DACs like this with a mic input although as somebody who actually uses a mic every now and again, I suspect I'm in the minroriy. I have a Modmic which I won in a giveaway around a decade ago now which is still holding up perfectly but I know people who just prefer something a USB mic or maybe an XLR setup instead.
@burner8959 replies to @chickenpie9698: I listen through a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 into a Schiit Hel with a Modmic attached to the side. I also have a couple of other pairs of HiFIman headphones that have the nub-magnet I can switch the mic to. While it doesn't produce the best 3-d image sound-stage, the general audio quality is better than anything else I've tried. I used to run the Schiit Fulla before it died and was almost the same. The best for the 3-d imaging I've experienced was by Steel Series headphones/Dac combinations. Their little usb dongle dac with their software made it so I could tell where shots were coming from to within a foot or so in one mil-sim game I play. I'm sure there's probably some program I can down-load to make me current setup closer to that but it doesn't bother me enough to want to do that. Agreed I'd love to see more things like this for gamers.
@erickjauwerissa401 replies to @chickenpie9698: Thats me with the searching for portable DAC thats good and can support inline 3.5 mic support. rn i still use whizzer DA 1 but later i already on plan to buy FIIO KA 15. tbh i kinda interested in this Fosi K7 but i dont like non portable thing so... i just always seeing any video about it to at least justified things if its good to be buy or not.
@lucasfoo: How does this compares to the Sound Blaster G8?
@oijans: XMOS XU208 + Qualcomm QCC3031 + AKM AK4493 + TPA6120 + OPA1612 A perfect teenager gaming dac they can wish for at Xmas.
@justintonature519: Yes just one thing there are so many games that are not competitive. Really good Story games just put them on easy but i think your really missing out on some good stuff out there. I`m talking about let`s say Last of Us 1 till today one of the best Storys, If you like stuff like the Mad Max movies or The Road or TWD. The first Fallout games are Story driven Round based RPG`s almost as old as you, just kidding, so you don`t need aiming skill or such stuff. And there is much more as Dizzy2020 mentioned in his comment. There is so much more to gaming than just the CS, SC2, or LOL kids. There is one old folk i met in WoW someday 15 Years or so ago. And we met few times in Real life and he is I think somewhere around 70 now still playing and enjoying WoW and he was really never Competitive in any gaming means.
@Simon_Hawkshaw: You look just like a gamer to me as i resemble you in some ways. However thank you for your time and efforts to share this with us ancient gamers that need all the audio assistance we can get. Keep up the good work, and try some gaming again!😂
@mathumphreys: Your annoying unboxing music is becoming less annoying (the one with the claps a few weeks ago was SUPER annoying).
@AudioMasterclass replies to @mathumphreys: Here's a link you might like then - https://davidmellor.bandcamp.com/album/irritating-unboxing-music
@andymouse: Please don't say "Power" like that anymore, it scared me.
@Hitsujiomeguruboken: I love the demonstration of the tone controls from 9:17 min on! This has really a worth. Your videos are so refreshingly different from the usual YouTube Bla Bla Bla Reviews……
@davids4610: David, as much as I try I don't get headphones. Last year I bought Sony's top of the line and they're fine, but as I find with most headphones, there's no soundstage. Every headphone I've tried always has the audio seemingly coming from the top of my head. Is it me? Am I missing something? N.B. both of my ears are fine.
@l00d3r replies to @davids4610: Same with me. I experience sound as if coming from the top of my head, though at an angle that lets me discern left, right, front, back. It is why I listen with speakers now whenever possible.
@Douglas_Blake replies to @davids4610: Headphones are an unnatural listening experience. If your hearing is perfectly balanced (kinda rare) the lead singer will sound like she's right inside your head. It's not how we experience the world and it certainly isn't how we experience a concert or speech.
Stereo gets pretty close. The speaker positions mimic the stage side sound reinforcement, room noises and echos mimic audience noises, and the sense of direction is supplied by the mix in the recording courtesy of pan pots.
So don't worry, you aren't the only one.... I hate the things.
@shadowside8433: I'm only competitive when I become half decent at something.... If I know I'm rubbish then I can live with the losess, until I cross the line where I think, "I'm getting better at this". Then It's competitive!
@AudioMasterclass replies to @shadowside8433: I’ve heard this before and it is definitely a thing. My hypothesis is that win-win activities are good. Zero-sum not so much.
@shadowside8433 replies to @shadowside8433: @@AudioMasterclass My example is when I started playing pool at my local pub. I was terrible - walking over me was a doddle, and I accepted it, but I knew I was getting better. So, after 3/4 months I got the hang of it and started beating the resident pool 'jock', and boy was he annoyed.
Six months later, I would be a grimly determined bastard on a pool table!
Oh, I play chess to a decent level, thats the ultimate competitive activity.
@Synthematix: Gamers = fat teenagers with the future of a snowman
@verdedoodleduck: Thank you. I've yet to hear music from you that I don't enjoy. I assume they are all yours? Thanks for the great and humorous unboxings. Humorous to me, anyway. If I recall, you expressed some disdain for them in another video a while back. I like the light sarcasm either way. :)
@AudioMasterclass replies to @verdedoodleduck: All my musical meanderings. I don’t remember disparaging Fosi in any way but if I did I’d counter that I use their V3 and V3 mono daily.
@yl9154 replies to @verdedoodleduck: @@AudioMasterclass I think he meant you expressed disdain for unboxings, not for Fosi.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @verdedoodleduck: Ah yes, but I became converted.
@MrSlipstreem: I love the forced subtitles. Nothing beats a little self-deprecation for helping to keep a person grounded in reality.
Signed, a self-confessed plum who actually enjoys being wrong sometimes. 😉
@AudioMasterclass replies to @MrSlipstreem: The older I get, the closer reality looms.
@Douglas_Blake: UAC refers to the USB Audio Class ....
UAC1 runs on older windows and most game boxes, it will run up to 96ksps 24 bits in stereo or 48ksps in 5.1 audio.
UAC2 is for windows 10 later than version 1702, Windows 11 and most Linux and Mac systems... it will run up to 384ksps and 32bits or 192ksps in multi-channel sound.
Many DACs are not fully UAC2 compliant and will shut down the windows onscreen volume controls and the volume controls on multimedia keyboards. This makes them useless for home theatre use where you're running the show from screen with a wireless keyboard. So people are advised to check this out before buying.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @Douglas_Blake: There we go, exactly the kind of comment I was hoping for. Gamer comments dive in too.
@Douglas_Blake replies to @Douglas_Blake: @@AudioMasterclass
Now that you know what it is, maybe you can check it in future reviews.
Buyers will thank you 😉
@shadowside8433 replies to @Douglas_Blake: I got a DAC as a christmas present. It was a Fiio BTR7 - and that has the alternative USB options, Option 1 works with my Switch, Option 2 works with my PC! The BTR7 is very good, I have to say... but I'm not an audiophile!
@Douglas_Blake replies to @Douglas_Blake: @@shadowside8433
Okay ... but when you plug it into your PC does the on-screen volume slider still work?
(And yes, I am making a list)
@daellis130 replies to @Douglas_Blake: UAC1 specifically needed for PS5, and limits the available DACs rust can be used with it (frustratingly). Being able to switch is a game changer for anyone with a pc and PS5 in the same location. Only other DAC I've found to work (and proved myself) is IFI Zen Dac2.