A quick roundup of my purely subjective comparison between the standard K11 (non R2R) and Mojo 2 bearing in mind level matching was probably imprecise. Using a Sennheiser 58X and HM Sundara, the former both balanced/unbalanced, the latter unbalanced only on the K11 and both unbalanced on the Mojo's single ended outputs. Chord Mojo settings flat. Roon with Quobuz and Tidal HQ streams, BBC Radio. Roon EQ and Xfeed applied to headphones:
Build; The K11 feels very light but solid with it's nicely shaped aluminium casing. The rotary encoder is stepped and feels good to operate. An acceleration sensitive mode would have been nice but I really can't expect that at this price. The LCD is small but very useful and can be dimmed or switched off. The top RGB lighting can be dimmed or switched off. I have it and the front LCD at the lowest setting and it changes colour according to track resolution. Neat.
The Mojo 2 is superbly made and feels solid. I absolutely adore it's idiosyncratic colour changing balls. Kudos to being different. After a short while it becomes very intuitive. The one big black mark is micro USB charging. In this day and age a device should have USB C. Still, first world problems ... .
Features; I wont go into this in any detail, others have done and just google the respective devices for a full run down.
Sound stage; The K11 sounds very transparent in both depth and width and with very precise placement, obviously recording dependant. The equal of the Mojo 2. The Chord perhaps having slightly better height but its difficult to confirm this for certain. Taking this one step further, the K11 may even have better separation as the Chord sounds marginally fuller.
Dynamics, both small and large are largely equal on both at the volume I listen to. If you listen super (!) loud the K11 in balanced mode may have it but the Mojo 2 is far more powerful than any of my headphones require.
Timbre is perhaps a little better on the Mojo 2, with slightly more texture and weight to notes (sounding a little fuller) but the difference is relatively small. Still, I enjoyed listing to single instruments tremendously on the FiiO, they also sound full and life like.
Timing; The Mojo's forte and it's excellent, on point. K11 is surprisingly almost as good. Very engaging. I have used the K11 on its Number 2 filter setting since it arrived and have not changed this.
Bass; Relatively precise on both. Listen to them back to back I was almost tempted to reduce the Mojo's bass a little but I have dialled Roon's EQ in to my headphones quite some time ago and won't change this. What it says about the K11 is simply that bass seems very good. Lean if the recording is like that and full and bouncy if ... .
Mid's; Natural on the K11 with occasionally slightly less texture but on the whole, totally enjoyable and seemingly true to life (spoken word Radio).
Highs; Fairly precise but here is probably where the Chord pulls a tiny bit further ahead with highs that seem to float in air, both sweet and precise with lovely decay if the recording has it. The K11's highs are by no means bad. They are quite precise but can, occasionally lack a little of the full/sweetness of the Mojo 2 and 'air' is a little more constricted. Tail ends of cymbals don't quite "disappear in the ether' as on the Chord. There can be a little more 'grain' on badly recorded stuff. If it's good, it's good. There is no sibilance whatsoever though and the treble never stands out in a distracting way or as a different entity to the rest of the recording (or voice). It's simply that the Chord seems exceptional there to me which is unfortunate for the K11. I am sure that in isolation not many would notice with a reasonably priced/lower end headphone set-up such as mine.
I am not a great reviewer nor do I have the equipment to do level matched tests or measurements (or indeed compare several products with each other) but as I said before, the K11, to me at least, is a remarkable achievement for such little money. At the Mojo's original RRP the FiiO was less than a quarter of the price (less than a third now at Chord's current price reduction).
Yes, the Mojo 2 is better (and offers EQ and battery operation too) but I could happily just live with the K11. Whilst the Chord sounds a little more 'organic' or flowing the K11 is in no way sterile or devoid of musicality. The differences, whilst audible are not night and day (are they ever with modern, well implemented DAC's?). In favour of the Chord is also it's unusual Rob Watts implemented FPGA and that it is made by a true HIgh End company and made in the UK. Bravo to FiiO though for coming relatively close at a fraction of the cost and there is also balanced operation for more power if you need this. I couldn't detect much, if any difference in SQ in balanced mode.
Thanks
Build; The K11 feels very light but solid with it's nicely shaped aluminium casing. The rotary encoder is stepped and feels good to operate. An acceleration sensitive mode would have been nice but I really can't expect that at this price. The LCD is small but very useful and can be dimmed or switched off. The top RGB lighting can be dimmed or switched off. I have it and the front LCD at the lowest setting and it changes colour according to track resolution. Neat.
The Mojo 2 is superbly made and feels solid. I absolutely adore it's idiosyncratic colour changing balls. Kudos to being different. After a short while it becomes very intuitive. The one big black mark is micro USB charging. In this day and age a device should have USB C. Still, first world problems ... .
Features; I wont go into this in any detail, others have done and just google the respective devices for a full run down.
Sound stage; The K11 sounds very transparent in both depth and width and with very precise placement, obviously recording dependant. The equal of the Mojo 2. The Chord perhaps having slightly better height but its difficult to confirm this for certain. Taking this one step further, the K11 may even have better separation as the Chord sounds marginally fuller.
Dynamics, both small and large are largely equal on both at the volume I listen to. If you listen super (!) loud the K11 in balanced mode may have it but the Mojo 2 is far more powerful than any of my headphones require.
Timbre is perhaps a little better on the Mojo 2, with slightly more texture and weight to notes (sounding a little fuller) but the difference is relatively small. Still, I enjoyed listing to single instruments tremendously on the FiiO, they also sound full and life like.
Timing; The Mojo's forte and it's excellent, on point. K11 is surprisingly almost as good. Very engaging. I have used the K11 on its Number 2 filter setting since it arrived and have not changed this.
Bass; Relatively precise on both. Listen to them back to back I was almost tempted to reduce the Mojo's bass a little but I have dialled Roon's EQ in to my headphones quite some time ago and won't change this. What it says about the K11 is simply that bass seems very good. Lean if the recording is like that and full and bouncy if ... .
Mid's; Natural on the K11 with occasionally slightly less texture but on the whole, totally enjoyable and seemingly true to life (spoken word Radio).
Highs; Fairly precise but here is probably where the Chord pulls a tiny bit further ahead with highs that seem to float in air, both sweet and precise with lovely decay if the recording has it. The K11's highs are by no means bad. They are quite precise but can, occasionally lack a little of the full/sweetness of the Mojo 2 and 'air' is a little more constricted. Tail ends of cymbals don't quite "disappear in the ether' as on the Chord. There can be a little more 'grain' on badly recorded stuff. If it's good, it's good. There is no sibilance whatsoever though and the treble never stands out in a distracting way or as a different entity to the rest of the recording (or voice). It's simply that the Chord seems exceptional there to me which is unfortunate for the K11. I am sure that in isolation not many would notice with a reasonably priced/lower end headphone set-up such as mine.
I am not a great reviewer nor do I have the equipment to do level matched tests or measurements (or indeed compare several products with each other) but as I said before, the K11, to me at least, is a remarkable achievement for such little money. At the Mojo's original RRP the FiiO was less than a quarter of the price (less than a third now at Chord's current price reduction).
Yes, the Mojo 2 is better (and offers EQ and battery operation too) but I could happily just live with the K11. Whilst the Chord sounds a little more 'organic' or flowing the K11 is in no way sterile or devoid of musicality. The differences, whilst audible are not night and day (are they ever with modern, well implemented DAC's?). In favour of the Chord is also it's unusual Rob Watts implemented FPGA and that it is made by a true HIgh End company and made in the UK. Bravo to FiiO though for coming relatively close at a fraction of the cost and there is also balanced operation for more power if you need this. I couldn't detect much, if any difference in SQ in balanced mode.
Thanks
