Long time since my last post,
I've bought a JA11 dongle from the official aliexpress store linked on the fiio website, and I'm having some issues with it that are rendering it unusable for the time being.
ATM I can't use my dedicated headphone output on a vanilla SB Z because it's too hot for cheap sensible IEMs, at just 2-4% windows volume it becomes too loud for long use. For this reason I've aquired a JA11 so I can also cap its output to be able to have a wider range of windows volume adjustment.
Even on this dongle when the output is unrestricted (60/60) in Fiio Control app, it's still too loud for my usage (less than 8% windows volume usable), so I must cap its maximum output. But regardless if I plug it to an Android phone or PC, run it in UAC 1.0 or UAC 2.0 in different usb controllers, use windows drivers of Fiio's provided drivers, use FW 2.0, or try an older one like 1.7 I always come across the same issue:
After having its volume limited on the Fiio Control app (Android), I'll always get a faint fuzz distortion sound while music is playing. No problem with volume at default 60 (max), but the moment I lower it to be able to use sensible IEMs (Truthear Gate, MDR-EX110, Zero 2, atm) to 40/60 or 30/60 in the Fiio app this distorted fuzz becomes very noticeable when there's only a single instrument playing against the background. I've also noticed that similar noise can be heard just by moving the windows volume slider while music is playing (something I never experienced with internal soundcards).
On android while music is playing, if under the Fiio Control App I reduce the max volume slider to less than max 60 and try different steps, it's noticeable that this fuzz will always remain at a similar volume while the volume music is playing effectively changes.
Posting this here, as I'm unsure if I have a defective unit, or if it's a firmware problem less noticed, given that most will keep this dongle at max output (60).
Thanks