DAC Fiio K11 R2R: Review and How To Fix the BIG issue!

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  • Опубликовано: 1 ноя 2024

Комментарии • 100

  • @SumbaListens
    @SumbaListens 2 месяца назад +12

    “I feel synchronized with the reality of time” is such a perfect assessment of that experience. Especially growing up with that sound, I understand!Awesome video 🙌🏾

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад

      Yeah, you captured the feel 🤓

  • @or1on89
    @or1on89 2 месяца назад +12

    Hey mate, nice review! Long pressing the knob (~5 sec) turns the device on/off, there is no dedicated power button but the interface gives full control.
    Double tapping the power knob also gives a quick switch between line output and headphone output.
    My favourite music for testing are: Paranoid Android - Radiohead, Drive - Incubus, Happy Returns - Steven Wilson, Stan - Eminem, Main Theme from Interstellar and the High Res remasters of Dark Side of The Moon and Led Zeppelin IV!

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад

      Thanks a lot! 😉 I didn't know the Steven Wilson, the beginning of his song is very interesting to test the DAC's "micro steps"

  • @Douglas_Blake_579
    @Douglas_Blake_579 29 дней назад +3

    Daymn.... this is what product reviews should be like. Keep up the good work!
    One small niggle... UAC1 and UAC2 .... Some devices like playstation and older computers do not support UAC2 so you have no choice but UAC1. In this case the device might not recognize the DAC if it's set to UAC2.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  26 дней назад +1

      Thanks! And yes, UAC 1 will be more compatible with older devices or even new ones with fewer capabilities.

  • @SorinNicu
    @SorinNicu 2 дня назад

    Try to get a CD player with PCM-61 or PCM-63, and you will hear the R2R the way it supposed to sound.
    Better, if you can find an older player with PCM1704-K, that's amazing sounding. Denon DVD-6000 has two of them and has a digital input to be used as a DAC.

  • @balazsbukovics3569
    @balazsbukovics3569 2 месяца назад +5

    my r2r dac modules sound more magical, deep soundstage,micro details. but the power supplys cost around 1K.(plus the regenerative power)Fiio do the job very very good!!!im just listen 300 hours , and i like it.For that price?OMG!!!

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +3

      For sure, it is. Fiio can change the industry standard for DACs with this K11 R2R.

  • @desitechdude
    @desitechdude 2 месяца назад +5

    Just placed the order and saw your video afterwards :)
    Excellent review! Really appreciate the explanation from an engineer’s perspective 🙏🏻
    Question… will this DAC pair well with OTL tube amps?

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +4

      If you already enjoy the sound of an OTL tube amps, yes, for sure. But I think in NOS mode that combination may give you a sound too warm.

  • @davestevens4193
    @davestevens4193 2 месяца назад +5

    Qudelix 5k has a battery. Nice review. This is the least expensive R2R DAC/amp available. Driving $1100-1500 USD headphones with $160 USD DAC/amp? Not sure. Unless you are under 40 years old or a dog almost no one can hear 16 kh anymore. Also...not to nitpick but the type of DS chip used is only one part of how a DAC will sound. Quality of parts, analog output stage, etc.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +5

      Dave, I mentioned the dog's hearing when recording the video, but I cut it off while editing it because I spent almost two minutes talking about it. 🤣
      I said something like this:
      "People, a dog can hear at almost 45kHz. So if your dog runs away when you listen to music, something is wrong with your gear (at least in the high frequencies)."

    • @LencoTB
      @LencoTB Месяц назад +1

      What made you choose Qudelix over Chord Mojo 2?

    • @davestevens4193
      @davestevens4193 Месяц назад +2

      @@LencoTB wanted something small with EQ. I have an old school Samuels SR-71 Blackbird portable amp for power use.

    • @nusu5331
      @nusu5331 Месяц назад +1

      @@LencoTB not soundquality for sure 🤣

    • @WiiNV
      @WiiNV Месяц назад

      👂🏼🦇

  • @RetsnomXd
    @RetsnomXd 14 часов назад

    Ele é realmente um upgrade ao k5 pro ess ou não vale a pena se já tem o k5?

  • @FabioKasper
    @FabioKasper 2 месяца назад +1

    Tiro o chapéu pra tua dedicação na produção desse vídeo. 👍
    Tô com esse amp há 1 mês e continuo procurando o tal "som R2R". 😂 Me dá uma preguiça danada só de pensar em "volume matching" e fazer um A/B direto com outro DAC. De todo o modo, não posso me queixar -- pois pelo pacote -- é um baita ampzinho de mesa e até agora não presenciei nada de errado nele.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +1

      Obrigado Fabio! A ideia deste canal é ter videos sempre nesse nível.
      Quanto à comparação de DACs, a diferença mais perceptível vai ser nas Sub-baixas e baixas frequências 😉

  • @allenemersonn1227
    @allenemersonn1227 23 часа назад

    Great review format. The video editing, back and forth, cut, cut, was disturbing, however. I have a long attention span, the result of decades of practice. I had to look away.

  • @pabloosvaldopenizzotto1098
    @pabloosvaldopenizzotto1098 Месяц назад +1

    Of course I gave you my like! Very impressive review of this interesting DAC. I was aware of this device a few days ago. Is this a new launching from Fiio this 2024? Another thing I heard about is that cannot do native DSD. Saludos desde Buenos Aires hermano Brasileño!

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +1

      ¡Hola, hermano!
      Yes, it's a recent Fiio launch. And it seems to be selling well because retailers' delivery times are always changing.
      It does play DSD music, but it transforms the DSD information to be played at a frequency much lower than the DSD standard, which needs some MHz to be played directly.

  • @theonlyegg
    @theonlyegg Месяц назад +3

    Got mine a few days ago. It has some kind of remarkable characteristic that's hard to explain? Like music just feels more "real" which sounds ridiculous?

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +4

      Yeah. If we were to draw a parallel with drawing, this DAC is a pencil that can leave a stronger line than a “sigma-delta pencil” 😄

    • @Panslapper
      @Panslapper 26 дней назад +1

      The R2R is not the last word in bass detail, it does lack a little pinpoint definition in the low frequency's BUT the vocals are very natural sounding and the treble is easy on the ears and that's probably the attractive quality of the R2R. I have both of the Fiio dacs, K11 DS and K11 R2R and the R2R vocals are more human, less digital but compare the R2R to the dac in my SMSL AO-300 (Cirrus Logic CS43131) and it cannot match the definition of the low frequency's. I would highly recommend the SMSL AO-300 to anyone looking for a very good all in one unit with exceptional sound quality and power.

    • @theonlyegg
      @theonlyegg 26 дней назад +1

      @@Panslapper How’s the EQ function on the AO-300?

    • @Panslapper
      @Panslapper 26 дней назад +1

      @@theonlyegg ….very flexible! The presets are very well tuned imo. The ‘Tone’ leaves everything up to you so you can’t lose. Better than any tone control on any current £500+ class A/b amp, far better, much more accurate to the actual frequency being tuned rather than the smear that most amps will give you under £1000, could not say what goes on above that price.

  • @nagylevi3827
    @nagylevi3827 Месяц назад +4

    Bought a k11 r2r, paired it with an also recently purchased Hfiman Sundara and I'm quite disappointed. Using Deezer lossless and Flacs for music yet I sense much distortion in the highs and it just sounds so grainy. I've an old KA3 dongle, also from Fiio and even that sounds warmer and cleaner.
    Anyway, my question, should anyone have any experience wit this combo is: have I perhaps received a defective product, be it headphone or DAC, or do they just work this poorly together?

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +3

      Hi, you also need to test this DAC with this headphone using an external amplifier. The problem may lie in the combination of the K11's integrated amplifier and this headphone.
      I don't have a magnetic planar headphone to compare it with. As soon as I do, I'll make a video about it.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +3

      Another try is to use a balanced cable to get more power from the K11 R2R. Here is an option if you haven't a balanced cable yet: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dl4YjnN

    • @Panslapper
      @Panslapper 26 дней назад +1

      Always best to wait for the excitement to die down. I have the R2R and personally I would not rate it as high as 90% of you tube and online reviewers have. My SMSL AO-300 is far more capable of recovering low end detail for a start but I have to say I do like the vocal reproduction of the K11 R2R.

    • @nagylevi3827
      @nagylevi3827 26 дней назад +1

      @@Panslapper Vocal reproduction was indeed decent for the price but it was heavily counterbalanced, with the Sundaras, by a noticeable lack of bass and the aforementioned distortion issue on higher frequencies. I've since tested the headphones on a proper integrated amp with a decent headphone out socket and they sound very well with pretty impressive bass for an open headset, so I know that the issue was indeed the K11,
      I managed to return it for a full refund and just ordered a Hifiman EF500 instead. Since I can't realistically test the products before buying them, basic dummy science suggests that a higher class device from the same company as my headphones might pair better. Just waiting on delivery now...

  • @JudgeFredd
    @JudgeFredd 22 дня назад

    Great content

  • @LencoTB
    @LencoTB Месяц назад +1

    I would love if you could review the Chord Mojo 2 and compare it against Fiio K11 R2R.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +2

      I will try to get the Chord Mojo soon 😉

    • @tomroberts5805
      @tomroberts5805 Месяц назад +3

      I’m actually selling my mojo 2 to purchase this unit. I don’t use the headphone out, I use it as a line out to external headphone amplifier. I just find it a little too clean. It’s a great sound, don’t get me wrong but after owning it for about a year now I just find it too clinical. Still, it’s noticeably better sounding than any delta sigma dac I’ve heard thus far.

  • @gaborszeles6387
    @gaborszeles6387 2 месяца назад

    Hi! Thx for video. I got the K11 and i know everybody has different hearing and liking. Can you suggest me what is the best filter for using it?
    1) Minimum phase fast roll-off filter
    2) Fast roll-off, Phase-compensated filter
    3) Minimum phase slow roll-off filter
    4) Slow roll-off, Phase-compensated filter
    5) Wideband flatness filter
    6) Non over-sampling filter

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +2

      Option 3 is the most “natural” filter and will be the best option for most types of music. Option 1 or 2 may be the best transient response for electronic music and some new Pop music because those genres contain many “digital” sounds.

  • @kiinybas
    @kiinybas 17 дней назад

    Lovely sound ..but had received a defective product from seller Headphone Zone India. Seller turned up unethical and never replaced it. Apparently this kept disconnecting my FIIO m11s repeatedly.

  • @AshtonCoolman
    @AshtonCoolman Месяц назад

    Can you review the SMSL M300SE next? I really enjoyed your technical analysis of this DAC AMP and want to see more.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +2

      I can tell you about that item after checking the specs: it has an “OK”sigma-delta chip DAC (not so good, not too bad), but the problem is the amplifier: less than 150mW for 32Ohms is too weak for a Headphone Amplifier. The Fiio K11 version (without R2R) would be a better investment.

  • @kiinybas
    @kiinybas 28 дней назад

    I returned it ! When fiio m11s is connected and invariably gets disconnected when connected to this DAC. Weird issue.

  • @proffessasvids
    @proffessasvids 29 дней назад

    Great review dude. I have a fiio ka17 dongle which has a separate isolated usb C in for power only. This allows you to run a clean usb supply. The ka17 is surprisingly powerful. Check it out. It might make a good review vid for you xx

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  26 дней назад

      Thank you for the suggestion. I will try to get one KA17 to review it 😉

  • @stevetech5150
    @stevetech5150 Месяц назад +3

    i belong to the "un-pure" audiophile group as i run everything into an eq. no apologies but every piece of recorded music is engineered and mixed differently so your sound system will always reproduce this. i prefer the sound that my ears say sounds good and that typically requires an eq. just how i do it.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +1

      I think the best definition of "audiophile" is: a person who invests time and knowledge in modifying music to get the best possible sound experience from it. And in that case you would be a purist audiophile 😄

  • @johnreeves4526
    @johnreeves4526 2 месяца назад +3

    I did not catch the BIG issue . . . a desire to achieve tape hiss?

    • @johnreeves4526
      @johnreeves4526 2 месяца назад

      some music: check out Ghost Dubs for bass range; Jack Cooper & Jeff Tobias Tributaries for mid range and detail

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +1

      I just used that song with "Hiss noise" because the Hiss is at a volume level below most parts of the music. That Hiss is over the whole frequency range. Because of that, some Sigma Delta DAC Chips will try to filter the song, but the filtering will not remove only the hiss. A DAC that filters our music is not what we want. That was the reason for the test.

    • @garymalone547
      @garymalone547 2 месяца назад

      Love the Walkman picture behind you.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +1

      I had one exactly like that. It worked well for just two years, and I never got around to fixing it. But it was the first amazing noise cancelling MP3 player I heard.

  • @Markusousa
    @Markusousa 2 месяца назад

    Obrigado pelo video e pela explicacao. E possivel usar o mesmo como DAC para computador tambem ligado a colunas activas?

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад

      Sim, se houver entrada desbalanceada nas colunas. Como por exemplo há nas iLoud Micro da IK Multimedia

    • @Markusousa
      @Markusousa 2 месяца назад

      @@tapedac as colunas em questão que tenho são as Edifier R1280

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад

      Boa. Funciona então na mesma 😉

  • @gtye0h
    @gtye0h 2 месяца назад +1

    Dongle DAC are weaker not because of the usb noise. It is limited because they could only use MLCC, not electrolytic caps.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +2

      The best capacitors for audio signals are film capacitors. There are SMD versions, but they are too expensive to use in the Dongle DACs. If you want to filter the noise in the USB supply voltage, you need to add more components beyond electrolytic capacitors. Because that, it's cheaper to add an external power supply input.

    • @LencoTB
      @LencoTB Месяц назад +1

      @@tapedacI would love to hear your explanation on how Chord Mojo 2 works as I understand from Rob Watts it is totally different. I listened to a few podcasts but didn’t understand it.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +2

      As soon as I get one, I'll take it apart to understand how they did it. And I'll make a video explaining the details. 🤓

    • @gtye0h
      @gtye0h Месяц назад

      @@LencoTB I got a mojo1. It's not meant to be a desktop DAC. If you do that it will overheat and kill the battery. Charge it or use it not both at the same time. The DAC part is great, the DC part and charging was an afterthought and mojo weak point.

  • @thachtonle4509
    @thachtonle4509 27 дней назад

    This fiio r2r dac has an RCA output port and a headphone output port. I want to listen to music, connect the jack wire to the RCA port down to the amplifiers, sing karaoke at the headphone output port, connect the jack wire to the mixer then connect it down to the amplifiers, is this setup ok?

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  26 дней назад

      You need to choose just one of the outputs. If I understood your setup correctly, the RCA output would be better.

    • @thachtonle4509
      @thachtonle4509 26 дней назад

      @@tapedac It's true that the RCA output is correct, but I want to ask if it's possible to set up two output ports to listen to music and sing karaoke.

    • @thachtonle4509
      @thachtonle4509 26 дней назад

      I want the RCA output port to connect to the amplifier to listen to music, and the 3 coxial output ports and output 6.5 or 3.5 to connect to the mixer down to the amplifier to sing karaoke.

  • @thinkIndependent2024
    @thinkIndependent2024 2 месяца назад

    Franca Lingua = Technology Knowledge
    I build my own Power Supplies for DACs like that Ultra low noise

  • @JoUtan01
    @JoUtan01 День назад

    My tip to you...Fix your Microphone, Mister electrical engineer !!

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  День назад

      😂 Each record session is a fight, man. But soon, I will upgrade my microphone to fix that issue. Thank you for sharing your appointments.

  • @balazsbukovics3569
    @balazsbukovics3569 2 месяца назад +1

    im high end audio engineer, and i know R2R . Analog and digital stages must be perfect isolated, and noise regulated.i do this job today, and the sound just...........no words

    • @LencoTB
      @LencoTB Месяц назад +2

      I am not sure what you meant with this?

  • @JedWay
    @JedWay 2 месяца назад +1

    great review, do you need to upgrade the regular k11 to r2r?

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +5

      No, no. There are two different DACs from Fiio with the same chassis and similar names: "K11" (Sigma Delta chip) and this one in the video "K11 R2R" (that uses a lot of discrete components instead a integrated chip). Thanks a lot ;)

    • @Panslapper
      @Panslapper 26 дней назад

      It is not an upgrade, it is a subjective choice of sound quality.

  • @j0my77
    @j0my77 2 месяца назад +1

    Thank you for the review and the explanation on R2R as I had not heard it explained. I have been looking at getting the original K11 for IEM use (IE600) for my desktop and had read that the R2R version was coming out. In your opinion would there be any difference between the 2 and which would you say would be ideal. I do not know too much about audio gear so it is all a bit confusing.

    • @or1on89
      @or1on89 2 месяца назад +2

      As a K11 owner I tried the R2R version at London CanJam last July. And for music listening the K11 R2R is on par with £500/£600 sigma-delta DACs in terms of dynamics and quality.
      The regular K11 is too cold and analytic and misses a lot of quality around bass frequency reproduction and mid-bass dynamics (which is typical of the Cirrus Logic chip that uses).
      I would suggest you to try the K11 R2R unless your main focus is gaming, where the sound might feel congested with the R2R.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +1

      I think @or1on89 (🙃) already responded to you. So, if you equalize the K11 R2R as I described in the video, you can get a sound more balanced than the sound of any Sigma-Delta Chip. Regarding IEM phones, I need to make a video about them because there is a "small universe" of specific technologies and physics related to them.

  • @zexalex
    @zexalex 2 месяца назад

    Gostei, obrigado.

  • @meaninthemirror
    @meaninthemirror 28 дней назад +3

    Never use NOS mode unless upsampling the source (e.g: 44.1kHz to 384kHz) in order to test different resampler qualities and types. Otherwise it defies the logic of the sound reproduction.

    • @belotan4218
      @belotan4218 27 дней назад

      This is true, but this video suggest otherwise!

    • @heatnup
      @heatnup 18 дней назад

      “defies the logic of the sound reproduction” means what exactly?

    • @meaninthemirror
      @meaninthemirror 17 дней назад

      @@heatnup NOS means you don't use any digital filter... without this filter you can't reconstruct the actual audio signal and you feed your audio gear with high frequency noise... this concept defies the logic of the sound reproduction.

    • @heatnup
      @heatnup 17 дней назад

      @@meaninthemirror It works just fine. Idk what you mean.

    • @heatnup
      @heatnup 17 дней назад

      @@meaninthemirror What is "the logic of the sound reproduction"

  • @cosmoshfa88savant66
    @cosmoshfa88savant66 Месяц назад

    Subbed,, Hi from Ireland,,,

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  Месяц назад +1

      Thanks a million! 🙌

  • @brano5006
    @brano5006 2 месяца назад

    0:40 What is your first RUclips channel about audio?

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад +1

      The channel is in Portuguese only: @emenery
      The content, in significant part, is related to recording and editing audio.

  • @Elegiac7
    @Elegiac7 2 месяца назад +1

    I can see that you have two cameras.

    • @tapedac
      @tapedac  2 месяца назад

      Or three if you count the B-Roll scenes 🙃

  • @balazsbukovics3569
    @balazsbukovics3569 2 месяца назад +1

    bye bye blackbird Patricia barber -Regenerative power - r core transformers- 4x lt3045 special edition-Sound just more magical, all better!!!