The discovery thread!

[Ozboyblu]

FiiO K11 R2R DAC ( RED )

I Unboxed this yesterday.

First Impressions. (My experience so far is great, I’m Very happy with it )

There is something smooth and relaxing about the sonics of this R2R DAC. Very pleasing to my ears. The standout for me was, anything acoustic, vocals , piano , and guitar sounds so natural.

So far I have used the, SHOCK, MP145, Mega5EST and H60. All of these so far Synergise well with the K11 R2R. (Need to try the FAN 3, Project M and SR9 later ) . I’ve only tested with these sources , HiBy R4, iPad Pro, Audirvāna with Mac Mini.

I unexpectedly really enjoyed using my Hidizs MP145 with the K11 R2R , to my surprise . I could not tell that I was listening to a Planar. ( I may look at other planars to try out now ) I was comparing to the ONIX Alpha XI. No hiss either or noise floor using the K11 R2R DAC compared to using the ONIX with Audirvāna and my Mac Mini.

Strengths:

The Looks, I Love the flashing FiiO light to have a mini Disco ( can be switched off) and the RED colour and compact design . The Price to Performance for around $160 USD, it offers really great value for those wanting an entry , to experience an R2R DAC . It really does have that Analog sound. It’s smooth warm buttery signature, is Suttle and on the warmer side using Non Over Sampling Mode (NOS) (I haven’t tried OS mode yet) The R2R is very Natural sounding, transparent and clear. Soundstage is pretty immersive and has good instrument separation. Compared to the ONIX Alpha XI, IMHO the K11 R2R has a more rich sound and smoother texture.

Weaknesses:

Not as resolving as my RME ADI-2fs or iBasso DC-Elite , I mean come on not a fair comparison, this is no surprise. The Menu may take a bit to get used to for some. (Long Press ,short press of the volume knob refer to the Setup Guide) Something to be aware of, is to never change the Gain level while any gear is plugged in. The K11 R2R has No automatic jack or socket connection detection like my RME.


It’s Still only early days, but I like this very much.

FiiO K11 R2R is a keeper.

 

[Ferdinando1968]

Wow. Awesome rundown. Thanks. The distinctions between Tidal and the two Roon apps is especially helpful since I use all three regularly. Though I've found that despite Roon ARC's feature set, it's such a mess of an app in every other way that I use Tidal on my phone almost exclusively.

For my purposes, it sounds like the R4 will be ideal. I primarily got it to replace my Qudelix 5K so that I don't have worry about battery life (of my phone and of the dongle), don't have to deal with bluetooth, and don't have to carry around a cable, a dongle, and a phone everywhere I go. Looking forward to it arriving soon.

Unfortunately I fear you will be disappointed by ROON on R4.
ARC on external DAC is a bit better (with BETA USB driver enabled though).

Sonically I prefer ROON to Tidal, but Tidal's robustness with respect to cellular connectivity is infinitely superior.

And in my opinion its discovery algorithm is also superior.

 

[Hypops]

Unfortunately I fear you will be disappointed by ROON on R4.
ARC on external DAC is a bit better (with BETA USB driver enabled though).

Sonically I prefer ROON to Tidal, but Tidal's robustness with respect to cellular connectivity is infinitely superior.

And in my opinion its discovery algorithm is also superior.

I agree. I've already mostly stopped using Roon and Roon ARC on my phone because I got so tired of connectivity issues, crashes, and other problems. I really only use Roon ARC when I want EQ. When Roon ARC works on a phone, it's great, but working only sometimes may as well not be working at all. I stick mostly to Tidal on my phone, so I imagine the transition to the R4 will be just fine. Only potential hurdle for me is getting used to Android since I've only ever owned Apple phones.

 

[Tamizhan]

My parting comment of the night, as I drift off to sleep....

The Ziigaat Nuo is the BEST $40.00 and under IEM on the market for jazz and all it's sub genres. It's simply stunning in how it presents it's sonicscape and it's performance for such an inexpensive IEM. Been listening to them thru the rig set up of the iBasso DX170 with the Little Bear B4-X with Lunashop Palladium Graphene interconnect. The sound emitted rivals the DC Elite as well as my ZEN Air CAN, and the nuances of jazz are presented with a razor sharp sheen. It makes me feel like I'm coming close to TOTL audio nirvana, and it's beautiful place of being.

I don't understand how come you have not swapped the opamps to the burson or one of the other ones. That ought to close some of the gap.
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/littlebear-b4x-portable-tube-amplifier.25867/
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/LwPfAvfjDRW1D8cQ

 

[Ineras]

I like the bass shelf you unit has!

Yup, I got lucky with my set. I also don't have that 4.5k elevation you got on yours. I targeted that 10k and above area, some instruments were just too intense even at reasonable volume and caused that ear ringing.

 

[theintention]

Well That's sad man. But nevermind you have many other better fitting iems haha. Which one is your favorite single DD?

634 634 634 634 EARS

 

[hlb96]

Can anyone identify what these ear tips are? They came with my Tiandirenhe TD08pro and I’m quite impressed with them. Very sturdy silicone and the orange sleeve doesn’t go all the way to the end. I’d like to find more lol

sidenote... I switched to the red nozzle tips and realized it does help smooth over the treble a bit and they sound even better now! This is what I wanted from the Rosefinch mod, but that still wasn't enough to being up the vocal region. The TD08 pro are truly outstanding ultra-bassy IEMs with so much treble clarity, they provide two filter tip mods to tone it down!

Have you tried asking them on AliExpress?

 

[Ferdinando1968]

FiiO K11 R2R DAC ( RED )



I Unboxed this yesterday.



First Impressions. (My experience so far is great, I’m Very happy with it )



There is something smooth and relaxing about the sonics of this R2R DAC. Very pleasing to my ears. The standout for me was, anything acoustic, vocals , piano , and guitar sounds so natural.





So far I have used the, SHOCK, MP145, Mega5EST and H60. All of these so far Synergise well with the K11 R2R. (Need to try the FAN 3, Project M and SR9 later ) . I’ve only tested with these sources , HiBy R4, iPad Pro, Audirvāna with Mac Mini.



I unexpectedly really enjoyed using my Hidizs MP145 with the K11 R2R , to my surprise . I could not tell that I was listening to a Planar. ( I may look at other planars to try out now ) I was comparing to the ONIX Alpha XI. No hiss either or noise floor using the K11 R2R DAC compared to using the ONIX with Audirvāna and my Mac Mini.





Strengths:

The Looks, I Love the flashing FiiO light to have a mini Disco ( can be switched off) and the RED colour and compact design . The Price to Performance for around $160 USD, it offers really great value for those wanting an entry , to experience an R2R DAC . It really does have that Analog sound. It’s smooth warm buttery signature, is Suttle and on the warmer side using Non Over Sampling Mode (NOS) (I haven’t tried OS mode yet) The R2R is very Natural sounding, transparent and clear. Soundstage is pretty immersive and has good instrument separation. Compared to the ONIX Alpha XI, IMHO the K11 R2R has a more rich sound and smoother texture.





Weaknesses:

Not as resolving as my RME ADI-2fs or iBasso DC-Elite , I mean come on not a fair comparison, this is no surprise. The Menu may take a bit to get used to for some. (Long Press ,short press of the volume knob refer to the Setup Guide) Something to be aware of, is to never change the Gain level while any gear is plugged in. The K11 R2R has No automatic jack or socket connection detection like my RME.


It’s Still only early days, but I like this very much.

FiiO K11 R2R is a keeper.

The machine is great for the price, and the sound too.
But in NOS I can't listen to it.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I find the dongle or DAP question interesting. A smartphone and dongle offers more in terms of utility/versatility, but at the upper end DAPs are still better specced. A personal factor for me is that I don't really like having cables running from my primary smartphone, so I've previously connected a dongle to a second phone, at which point you have almost constructed a DAP, although not quite, lol. What is most attractive other than a DAP right now is a portable DAC-amp, essentially a maxi-dongle, something like an ifi Gryphon or Quloos MUB1 that could be used over BT on the go or wired when sedentary.

Probably you just have to evaluate individual devices/combinations on their merits.

I don't have this problem at all, as I use my phone for music listening maybe 5%? My phone remains untethered, and I'm not a slave to all these paid streaming services, so I use a dap for what it is. Listening to local files. Now I don't knock those who use the streaming services, and it's a great way to find new music, but jhc, when I tried reading the review above, 90% of the text was MQA, Tidal, and ROON, with BT connectivity a distant afterthought. How does the DAP sound?! Is it a great dap for listening to MUSIC, with quality playback? If that's your end goal, you might as well just buy a second hand unlocked smartphone (like I have!!), since it'll have all those features you are wanting to access, plus it's gonna be smaller and more portable than the R4 EV.

OR, that's what the Hiby M300 is for!! It's for folks obsessed with these streaming services, or at least that's what the marketing lingo focuses on!!

There should be a therapy group available : DAPS for LOCAL FILES group.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Firstly I’d watch you both talk about IEM’s all day on YouTube. This Video is awesome.

You should think about doing this type of content again. I wish you guys had a YouTube channel.

I have been watching this with my H60 connected to the FiiO K11 R2R DAC. At the 20:26 sec time index mark , it’s like your voices go from monotone to spatial surround sound. ( Its repeatable with different gear ) Is this YouTube or the DJI microphones kicking in maybe?

This question ?? The one that you heard that was Hyped up.? ( at 24:25 time index. ). Let’s just say I’m as Shocked as you were.

Thanks for posting this. It’s great insight to the big name IEM’s. That STORM must be something else.



Honestly I felt like a Kid at a Candy Store. Very grateful for the audio store being accessible , for auditioning gear. I got my IE600 from there mid last year and most of my Focal Headphones.

Thanks . Fer2rari RED is very nice. Will post my first impressions soon.



Congratulations on your FAN 3 with the Space cable. Nice review, Great Stuff. . Glad you’re a Fan.

HAHA! I was wondering when you'd post about their glowing impressions of the Shock! LOL As soon as they started talking about the Shock, I thought of you!

And I agree, this video of @MakeItWain and @EnigmaFotos was stellar, thoroughly informative and enjoyable as an aftershow rap, and the chemistry between the two of you is apparent, and it got me so pumped up for SoCal Canjam 2025, I started looking for tickets to CanJam Dallas, but unfortunately, it's the week before my comic con appearance, so a big no-can-do. Just try and keep these videos coming, and enlightening us all about the Canjam experience and the up and coming gears, because this was a long azz video that I watched from beginning to end, or can we say from Alpha to Omega? Alpha Omega Omega? lol

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Nice impressions
Mine is stuck in China, been at the airport for a week now...

About what DAP is good for, having one single device. No annoying dongle or stacking of devices with cables, this is so important for me and the reason why I preffer to have DAPs. Second reason is not being connected to the phone all the time, to many distractions on the phone (or the PC). When I use the DAP its just me and the music.

HALLELUJAH!! SAY IT AGAIN!! AMEN!!

 

[Nealz]

I don't have this problem at all, as I use my phone for music listening maybe 5%? My phone remains untethered, and I'm not a slave to all these paid streaming services, so I use a dap for what it is. Listening to local files. Now I don't knock those who use the streaming services, and it's a great way to find new music, but jhc, when I tried reading the review above, 90% of the text was MQA, Tidal, and ROON, with BT connectivity a distant afterthought. If that's your end goal, you might as well just buy a second hand unlocked smartphone (like I have!!), since it'll have all those features you are wanting to access, plus it's gonna be smaller and more portable than the R4 EV.

OR, that's what the Hiby M300 is for!! It's for folks obsessed with these streaming services, or at least that's what the marketing lingo focuses on!!

There should be a therapy group available : DAPS for LOCAL FILES group.

In my experience with mid-range DAP's (owned 5-6), they mostly use crap Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, I have never owned a DAP yet which does not have buggy Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. If streaming is a big priority then I suggest getting a cheap secondary phone, and use a dongle dac with it. Those dongle dac pouches are quite easily accessible these days, so one can avoid any unnecessary dangling. People who don't want to be disturbed while listening to music can simply put the phone on airplane mode while having Wi-Fi active for streaming purposes.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

It's going to be a leap for me to get used to the R4: Firstly, I have not used an Android device in forever [Apple fan!] and secondly, carrying a second device when I want to enjoy music on the go. I'll keep my faves on my phone, but I'll delete most of my collection to save space on my phone, which I don't plan on upgrading for hopefully a while yet! [I use my iphones until they NEED to be upgraded haha... and my 13 pro is still going STRONG! I MIGHT upgrade when there's a truly revolutionary camera upgrade...]

A major benefit of the r4 will be not having to use a dongle to enjoy my wired IEMs!

Like you, I have an iphone 12 Pro, and the camera sucks BOILS, as you can see from my photographs, but like you, I'm gonna keep it until the wheels fall off. At some point in the next few years, I'll upgrade, but for now, I'm riding this to the ground. I have all my daps so I can source roll, which @ToneDeafMonk stated is very important in a recent video, and I couldn't agree more. As a connoisseur of IEMs, source rolling is as important as tip rolling, and more so than cable rolling, and daps keep the audio nirvana flow.

 

[BX700]

Can anyone identify what these ear tips are? They came with my Tiandirenhe TD08pro and I’m quite impressed with them. Very sturdy silicone and the orange sleeve doesn’t go all the way to the end. I’d like to find more lol

sidenote... I switched to the red nozzle tips and realized it does help smooth over the treble a bit and they sound even better now! This is what I wanted from the Rosefinch mod, but that still wasn't enough to being up the vocal region. The TD08 pro are truly outstanding ultra-bassy IEMs with so much treble clarity, they provide two filter tip mods to tone it down!

Are they Acoustune maybe, or a knockoff?

 

[bithalver]

Yesterdays (re)discovery in music: Vangelis. I was a fan as long as I can remember, BUT: listening to Mask (my 2nd fav from him after El Greco) and Mythodea on I/O Volare (stock cable, Shanling Onix Xi 1, Spinfit W1) was a trip: the bass and subbass was OMG, the treble included a lot of "oh, I did not hear that before" part and the rest was "just" "simply" lovely !

I will replace the cable to Penon Pyramid 4w and try again; later I give a ride for Penon ASOS, too.

I just did the 1st half of the test on I/O Volare: replaced the original cable with OPENHEART 8 Core Silver Plated Copper cable (2.5mm with an adapter to 4.4mm) (this is a ~18USD cable from aliex): sounded good; bass was elevated. After that I tried the Penon Pyramid 4w: bass was again elevated and all other was at least as good (like the original).

Looks like the original cable is a bit bright (at least for my tastes). I will experiment with Penon ASOS later; hopefully I will have another toy in the coming week .