Fiio K11 R2R DAC/HPAMP measurements

[Peterinvan]

When reviewing this DAC/amp, please state whether it is in NOS or OS mode. It’s like two completely different DACs.

 

[BGMeek]

FWIW, I had the Fiio K11 R2R and felt that it sucked in both NOS and OS modes... albeit in slightly different ways :-/.

To 'sample or oversample' is a question that i as a user would rather not be bothered with. It's like the design engineers couldn't decide which is better??? So they punted and put in a switch to choose between 'sucks' and 'sucks less'. Sorry, but this DAC just seemed like a weird filter to me. I prefer the original analogue sound over this DAC's R2R output.

 

[gentlejax]

Anyone using this r2r with the Wiim Pro Ultra ?

 

[Alter.Nate.37]

Output impedance is around 3.1 Ohm for the unbalanced so 6.2 Ohms for the balanced output (calculation below). That may be an appreciable area of improvement with low impedance headphones.

So, very bad for 16 Ohm headphones?

 

[JIW]

So, very bad for 16 Ohm headphones?

Depends on the impedance variability of the headphones. 3 Ohms may still be okay, 6 Ohms is less certain.

 

[Alter.Nate.37]

Depends on the impedance variability of the headphones. 3 Ohms may still be okay, 6 Ohms is less certain.

well it's a planar, the Arya Organic, so it shouldn't have much variability but I don't want to play with uncertainty, I want to feel sure that I'm getting the best that these cans can give.
It's a pity because it has a nice format and very nice price and if it's better than the K11 R2R which I'm finding ok, and on top of that afaik it doesn't need extra PSU, it would have been nice.

What do you think?

 

[JIW]

well it's a planar, the Arya Organic, so it shouldn't have much variability but I don't want to play with uncertainty, I want to feel sure that I'm getting the best that these cans can give.
It's a pity because it has a nice format and very nice price and if it's better than the K11 R2R which I'm finding ok, and on top of that afaik it doesn't need extra PSU, it would have been nice.

What do you think?

Do you mean the Fosi SK02? Planar magnetics should be fine in terms of frequency response being unaffected but electrical damping is still compromised.

 

[Alter.Nate.37]

Do you mean the Fosi SK02? Planar magnetics should be fine in terms of frequency response being unaffected but electrical damping is still compromised.

Could you explain in easy terms what's this electrical damping and how it would affect the sound?
Anyway it seems like I have to let go of this one.
What a shame though. I've never seen any other portable DAC/Amp with more than 1Ohm of output impedance.

 

[Peterinvan]

Anyway it seems like I have to let go of this one.

Shame to let the K11R2R go before trying a different amp...