Both are dongles, $99 against $22. This page puts them side by side on the only three things a maker can be held to — power, output impedance and noise — and then asks the question that actually matters: which headphones do they treat differently?
The FiiO KA5 reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here, the FiiO SnowSky Tiny A on 550.
| Specification | FiiO KA5 | FiiO SnowSky Tiny A |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 122 mW | 34 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 26 mW | 7.3 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 14 mW | 3.6 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 6.8 mW | 1.8 mW |
| Output impedance | 0.3 Ω | 0.5 Ω |
| Output noise | 1.6 µV | not published |
| Price | $99 | $22 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 565 | 550 |
A figure marked not published is missing from the maker’s own material, which is not the same as being good or bad. Where one of these two publishes a number and the other does not, the comparison on that axis cannot be made at all — and saying so is more useful than guessing.
15 headphones reach 100 dB on the FiiO KA5 but not on the FiiO SnowSky Tiny A — Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), Beyerdynamic DT 990 Edition (600Ω), HiFiMAN HE-6se V2, 12 more.
1 headphone is left alone by the FiiO KA5 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the FiiO SnowSky Tiny A (Symphonium Titan).
550 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both. That is a power count and nothing more; whether either source suits a given headphone also depends on the two lines above.
Each has a page of its own with every power figure traced to what the maker published and a full headphone list: FiiO KA5 and FiiO SnowSky Tiny A. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.