Chapter 1 K9 | K9 Pro AKM | K9 Pro ESS Summary

Although I have introduced the K9 Pro ESS version, I would like to give more details since some users may feel confused about the K9 series.
The K9 and K9 Pro are two products with different positioning, but according to our naming convention, you can guess that the appearances and functions of the K9 and K9 Pro are basically the same.
By the way, the K9 using dual ES9068AS DAC chips will have a more competitive price. Budget users can consider pulling a trigger.
While the K9 Pro AKM and ESS versions were accidents. It was because of the AKM fire, we only had 2000 pieces of AK4499 chips available. As a consequence, we made 3 decisions.
1. Since the sales of the music player should be greater, the M17 originally planned to use the AK4499 gave concessions to using the ES9038PRO.
2. Due to the small quantity of the DAC chip, if each K9 Pro used 2 DACs as the original plan, there would be fewer final products. That is why we decided to equip the K9 Pro with just a single chip.
3. The K9 Pro will be evolved into two sub-models, namely the K9 Pro AKM with 1 AK4499 DAC, and the K9 Pro ESS with 2 ES9038Pro DACs.
Therefore, in our product series, the K9 and K9 Pro are positioned differently. Of course, the K9 Pro is much stronger, while the K9 Pro AKM and ESS versions are of the same level. The core difference is actually the model of the DAC as well as its quantity equipped in the device.
So which one of the two versions of the K9 Pro is stronger and better? To be honest, although there are some differences in the audio parameters between the two versions, the K9 Pro ESS would be a notch above the K9 Pro AKM due to the use of dual DACs. But in terms of sound performance, the main difference comes from the sound style differences between AKM and ESS companies. AKM's is more musical, while ESS's has higher quality. The two can be said to be rivals, so it would be hard to say who’s the winner.
If we put aside the sound differences of the two versions, I personally think the K9 Pro AKM4499 version is a better choice (the appearance difference is to distinguish them, where the volume knob is PVD processed, but not made of genuine gold).
The first reason is that the K9 Pro AKM is cheaper. In fact, since the AK4499 is already an out of print chip, it is reasonable for us to price the AKM version the same as that of the ESS version. However, we think it is not so friendly to our users in this way.
The second reason is that the AK4499 chip has been discontinued. So the AKM version of the K9 Pro is limited. There are only about 500 units available in China. When a thing is rare, it becomes precious. Therefore, the value of the K9 Pro AKM version will be longer maintained compared to the ESS version.
So, which version of the K9 Pro do you prefer?