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FiiO has released the USBDAC JA11, with an initial price of only $9 (69RMB) and support for PEQ DSD128 PCM384

I just got a JM12 and flashed it to the JA11. I can use the fioconnect web app, but it seems I have just 1 "user" preset I can activate and edit. The others (vocal, classic, and bass) just have a spinning arrow whenever I select them. Can it be set to "flat" and still keep "user1"? Is it just the one preset I can have?
 
Just playing around with that polarity rumble test clip on JM12 with JA11 firmware to see if adding a high pass filter at 10-20Hz would make a difference with the clicking. Starting at 10Hz, no difference. up to 20Hz, again no difference. Jump to 100Hz, a little better. 200Hz, better still but definitely still clicking when I turn it up. It's not until high-passing at 300Hz that the clicking really goes away.

Not going to bother testing the TinHifi firmware because it doesn't support 44.1kHz sampling rates, and bit-perfect playback in UAPP is literally the only reason I have this dongle for on-board PEQ.
 
Just playing around with that polarity rumble test clip on JM12 with JA11 firmware to see if adding a high pass filter at 10-20Hz would make a difference with the clicking. Starting at 10Hz, no difference. up to 20Hz, again no difference. Jump to 100Hz, a little better. 200Hz, better still but definitely still clicking when I turn it up. It's not until high-passing at 300Hz that the clicking really goes away.

Not going to bother testing the TinHifi firmware because it doesn't support 44.1kHz sampling rates, and bit-perfect playback in UAPP is literally the only reason I have this dongle for on-board PEQ.
Reiterating what made the most audible difference for me: reducing the "Global Gain" parameter from +12 to 0 in the FiiO Control WebApp, then getting some of the volume headroom back by changing the PGA gain from whatever was the default (forgot what it was, -3dB?) to +3dB in the KTmicro tool. It seems these two parameters are not the same.
But nobody else has confirmed it as a fix, so it may be my imagination! ;)
 
Just playing around with that polarity rumble test clip on JM12 with JA11 firmware to see if adding a high pass filter at 10-20Hz would make a difference with the clicking. Starting at 10Hz, no difference. up to 20Hz, again no difference. Jump to 100Hz, a little better. 200Hz, better still but definitely still clicking when I turn it up. It's not until high-passing at 300Hz that the clicking really goes away.

Not going to bother testing the TinHifi firmware because it doesn't support 44.1kHz sampling rates, and bit-perfect playback in UAPP is literally the only reason I have this dongle for on-board PEQ.

Yeah but obviously that destroys the sound so it's a no go, I hoped just removing sub 20Hz frequencies would fix it, as I saw that sub 10Hz frequencies in online tone generator cause a lot of clicking and crackling, but unfortunately the issue remains.
 
Reiterating what made the most audible difference for me: reducing the "Global Gain" parameter from +12 to 0 in the FiiO Control WebApp, then getting some of the volume headroom back by changing the PGA gain from whatever was the default (forgot what it was, -3dB?) to +3dB in the KTmicro tool. It seems these two parameters are not the same.
But nobody else has confirmed it as a fix, so it may be my imagination! ;)
So if I use the Fiio app to enable EQ, but leave everything flat with Master gain at 0 and use the KT tool to set the "DAC_L&R" to +3dB, it still clicks audibly even at fairly low levels with the polarity rumble test clip. Even if I set "DAC_L&R" to -12dB it still clicks even though I can barely hear the actual rumble test.

Yeah but obviously that destroys the sound so it's a no go, I hoped just removing sub 20Hz frequencies would fix it, as I saw that sub 10Hz frequencies in online tone generator cause a lot of clicking and crackling, but unfortunately the issue remains.
Yes, I was hoping that a simple high pass filter at 10 or 20Hz would alleviate the obvious clicking issue. I just tested higher than that just to see/hear what would happen.

At this point, I don't even know why I care about it so much... I already have an IEM whose stock tonality suits me perfectly well (it's just unvented, and therefore could be more comfortable).
 
Interesting development -- JF12 and I've had the same clicking with JA11 2.1 firmware but not with TinHifi firmware when listening through my iPhone. I went back to the JA11 2.1 for grins and just replicated insane clicking as before. Plug back into Windows desktop, play around activating a few of the EQ profiles and then ... I hit "EQ Reset" and "Save". The clicking is now gone when I put it back on the iphone on the JA11 firmware.

I then put a big boost at 100 Hz that I know I'll hear and a 5k one for grins too. Yup, it puts the PEQ in (tested on both phone and Windows) and still, no clicking.

So, if you're getting the clicking after flashing the JA11 2.1 firmware, try hitting EQ Reset, Save, and then see if you do any better.
 
@HissingFree Darn - did you try clicking a few EQ profiles in there (voice, etc) and then hit the EQ Reset? Not sure if that dance was needed or not. Clicking was constant - a few times a second before that.
 
Ok that was a red herring. Whenever it resets (disconnect or that Reser EQ) it seems to have a chance to miss the sampling frequency. I’ll get the clicking and a pitch shift or it’s just fine. Unplug and replug - repeat as needed.
 
View attachment 379039
after updating to 1.7 my computer no longer recognizes the JA11 as an audio device. I have earphones plugged in. The volume controls on the earphones work but I cannot get audio to the JA11 from my pc. Works fine on android.

edit: after completely uninstalling the Fiio control panel it is now detected and working. Although I suspect I will have to reinstall the tool for any future firmware updates. Seems very clunky, constantly installing and uninstalling this app whenever an update becomes available...
I've just got a JM12 and flashed it with the JA11 2.1 firmware last night.

I'm getting this exact same issue you show in the screenshot. I've tried all the firmware versions from 1.9 - 2.1, all with the same issue.

The funny thing is that I did eventually get it working last night by some combination of rebooting and uninstalling/reinstalling the Fiio Control Panel.

But today I always get the same "No Valid Sample Rate" message there in the Fiio Control Panel. It does show as a Jade Audio JA11 (2.0) in Device Manager. I switched it to UAC1.0 using the phone and then it showed up as a Jade Audio JA11 (1.0) in Device Manager, but had the same "No valid sample rate" message.

I actually tested it on a different laptop and it had the same problem.

It works perfectly on my phone however (and actually sounds great), so I do think the dongle is functioning "properly".

Anyone got any ideas on how to force it to work on Windows 11?

I'm running out of ideas. I've been uninstalling, rebooting and installing for the last few hours with no luck.
 
I've FINALLY worked it out. :D

The headphones that I was using are Sony MH1C that I use with my phone that have an inline mic.

On Windows when the ASIO driver is not installed, they work on the JA11, even having a mic input.

But I get that "No valid sample rate" error when the ASIO driver is installed. It works with other headphones that have no mic though.

I discovered that I can use the Fiio Control panel on my phone to disable the mic, and then it works on the PC as well!!

What an ordeal!! Would have been nice to have some kind of documentation... :mad:

Anyway after all that, I can wholeheartedly recommend the dongle.

It fits everything that I wanted. Small, good latency with ASIO driver when I'm using a DAW, and can do simultaneous output from Windows audio at the same time as using the ASIO driver.

I also tested the dongle with my Beyer DT880 Pro (250 Ohm) and it definitely could drive them way too loud for my liking, so power wise that's pretty impressive for a tiny dongle.

So yeah, really great value, especially because I got my JM12 for $3 US...

But I will probably buy a Fiio JA11 later on to support them. I wanted to test if it'll work for me before laying down the big $$$, lol.
 
Did anyone figure out the JM12 + JA11 firmware issue? After flashing the tinhifi bin, the DSD playback stopped working, which goes to show just how much in dacs is firmware dependent. I don't mind the hissing as much, but DSD playback on the cheap was the only reason i bought this dac. Someone maybe knows a way to customize the tinhifi setup to keep playing DSD? I don't know chinese but i might try translating all those options in the program with one of those lens apps.
 
Did anyone figure out the JM12 + JA11 firmware issue? After flashing the tinhifi bin, the DSD playback stopped working, which goes to show just how much in dacs is firmware dependent. I don't mind the hissing as much, but DSD playback on the cheap was the only reason i bought this dac. Someone maybe knows a way to customize the tinhifi setup to keep playing DSD? I don't know chinese but i might try translating all those options in the program with one of those lens apps.
Flashing Fiio JA11 firmware or using the stock firmware will be the only way. Theres no way to revert to stock JM12 FW AFAIK.
 
Flashing Fiio JA11 firmware or using the stock firmware will be the only way. Theres no way to revert to stock JM12 FW AFAIK.
I can't remember if the stock firmware had sound issues as well. Was it good? Maybe someone could contact Jcally and get them to upload the firmware.
 
I can't remember if the stock firmware had sound issues as well. Was it good? Maybe someone could contact Jcally and get them to upload the firmware.
I didn't have any issues with the JCally FW. I'm ordering another JM12 and intend to keep the stock FW.
 
I didn't have any issues with the JCally FW. I'm ordering another JM12 and intend to keep the stock FW.
Didn’t noted any issue either…
Maybe someone could contact Jcally and get them to upload the firmware.
The difficulty is, I’m not sure what/who JCally is… a distribution brand? They list a website on their packaging that is not working or has never been set online.
 
Didn’t noted any issue either…

The difficulty is, I’m not sure what/who JCally is… a distribution brand? They list a website on their packaging that is not working or has never been set online.
I've just contacted the seller from aliexpress. Maybe if enough people ask they might get the to the brand or find some way to help us. Btw about the Odo? Does anyone know if that one has a firmware that could be downloaded to try on the JM12? One thing i don't get it, if the JadeAudio firmware has been known to have issues for some time now, why do i still see so many people recommending it? Are we just unlucky or is it a case of a speaker + dac incompatibility?
 
I've just contacted the seller from aliexpress. Maybe if enough people ask they might get the to the brand or find some way to help us. Btw about the Odo? Does anyone know if that one has a firmware that could be downloaded to try on the JM12? One thing i don't get it, if the JadeAudio firmware has been known to have issues for some time now, why do i still see so many people recommending it? Are we just unlucky or is it a case of a speaker + dac incompatibility?
I don't have the ODO, but apparently its stock firmware is similar to the TinHifi KT firmware in that it does not support 44.1kHz sampling rates. As for why JA11 gets recommended... a JM12 with JA11 firmware is cheap and the EQ is certainly a neat thing to have. But it's got to be the noisiest dongle (CS-test clip, polarity rumble test) I've tried and I certainly wouldn't recommend without mentioning the issue. I didn't have the JM12 long before flashing it with JA11 firmware; so perhaps a stock JM12 firmware used with the KT Mirco tool (for EQ settings) would be better?
 
KTmicro tool hasn't been used to successfully extract/backup a firmware from a dongle? I just want to double check.
 
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