FiiO K11 R2R Desktop DAC/Headphone Amplifier

[VSG]

If you were curious about R2R DACs and wanted a taste without breaking the wallet, then the FiiO K11 R2R should be of interest to you. It builds upon the highly impressive K11 DAC/amp, including customizable LED indicators, a menu screen, plenty of power for most headphones and IEMs, and uses an in-house developed R2R DAC for a slight price increase.

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[Onasi]

The regular K11 is honestly superior to this. It effectively is such a good VFM that it genuinely kills off a lot of things above it. If you want something simple and no-fuss that would run pretty much whatever cans you might want - this is it. It also already went on sale a couple of times. It’s essentially a new go-to recommendation for any non-audiophile-pilled person.
This thing, though… I dunno. R2R is… not a gimmick, necessarily, but I feel like in this you compromise too much for it in comparison with a dead simple and universal base K11, you pay more and you get… arguably less? (I am also not sold on the idea of R2R being an objective improvement over standard DACs, but that’s another topic).

 

[Knight47]

Such a shame that the Coaxial is In/Out and the Optical is In only.

 

[evernessince]

The regular K11 is honestly superior to this. It effectively is such a good VFM that it genuinely kills off a lot of things above it. If you want something simple and no-fuss that would run pretty much whatever cans you might want - this is it. It also already went on sale a couple of times. It’s essentially a new go-to recommendation for any non-audiophile-pilled person.
This thing, though… I dunno. R2R is… not a gimmick, necessarily, but I feel like in this you compromise too much for it in comparison with a dead simple and universal base K11, you pay more and you get… arguably less? (I am also not sold on the idea of R2R being an objective improvement over standard DACs, but that’s another topic).

That's more or less what I'm hearing about the Fiio FT1 as well. Apparently they've been hitting it out of the park recently.

 

[ViperXZ]

These reviews are really good.

 

[VSG]

That's more or less what I'm hearing about the Fiio FT1 as well. Apparently they've been hitting it out of the park recently.

Blame UPS for not delivering it yet, but yeah I'll do a review of the FT1 eventually.

 

[stimpy88]

Nice review! It's great to see the low-end getting some love from manufacturers. Just because an amp is $1000, doesn't mean it has more than $80 of electronics in it!

 

[Chomiq]

I don't even know what an R2R DAC is.

 

[ViperXZ]

I don't even know what an R2R DAC is.

I guess R2R is just an architecture name, DAC means digital audio converter afair.

 

[izy]

Such a shame that the Coaxial is In/Out and the Optical is In only.

What would be the point of an optical out?

 

[Knight47]

What would be the point of an optical out?

My speakers have optical in port and since less and less motherboards have optical out, it would be nice to use it since Realtek audio sucks.

 

[stimpy88]

I don't even know what an R2R DAC is.

A resistor ladder is an electrical circuit made from repeating units of resistors, in specific configurations.
An R–2R ladder configuration is a simple and inexpensive way to perform digital-to-analogue conversion (DAC), using repetitive arrangements of precise resistor networks in a ladder-like configuration.

TLDR is that it sounds more analogue.