Fiio K13 R2R - Owners Thread

[antcollinet]

Do not buy this POS! has shut-off function whenever your music is too loud happens at about 0.8W per channel no where near 2.4W

What headphones are you using, and what gain do you have set, balanced or unbalanced connections? The amp can only output 2.4W into 32ohm 'phones with balanced connections.

And then only on high gain.

 

[Raider]

What headphones are you using, and what gain do. you have set, balanced or unbalanced connectons. The amp can only output 2.4W into 32ohm 'phones with balanced connections.

And then only on high gain.

Hifimans Edition XV it was on medium/high doesn't matter gain unbalanced connector

lets implement shut off function to everything ! your tv`s too loud ? shut off, you maxing your cars speed ? shut off the engine... how stupid is it ?

 

[RandomEar]

Hifimans Edition XV it was on medium/high doesn't matter gain unbalanced connector

Well, the unbalanced is only 1.22 W per channel according to the specs. How did you measure the power into the headphone?

 

[antcollinet]

Hifimans Edition XV it was on medium/high doesn't matter gain unbalanced connector

So your headphones are 12ohm. Just like an amp driving low impedance speakers, the amp is not going to be able to drive 12 ohm 'phones to anywhere near the same power as 32ohm 'phones. The phones will need 63% more current to deliver the same power as a 32 ohm

If you are getting over temperature or overload warnings - this is why. Your 'phones are too low impedance for the K13. They are overloading it at the volume you want to listen at.

Edited to add - they are also unbalanced. The K13 can put out 1.2W into 32 ohm unbalanced phones. Lets assume that is at or close to the maximum current.

Then into your phones with only 12ohm, that current will only be 450mW (0.45W)

There is nothing wrong with the amp, if you are getting 0.8W

 

[Raider]

Well, the unbalanced is only 1.22 W per channel according to the specs. How did you measure the power into the headphone?

1.22W on high, on medium gain is about 0.8

 

[Raider]

So your headphones are 12ohm. Just like an amp driving low impedance speakers, the amp is not going to be able to drive 12 ohm 'phones to anywhere near the same power as 32ohm 'phones. The phones will need 63% more current to deliver the same power as a 32 ohm

If you are getting over temperature or overload warnings - this is why. Your 'phones are too low impedance for the K13. They are overloading it at the volume you want to listen at.

so dont buy it for any low impedance what so ever ? thats good marketing decision we have great amp just dont buy it

ordered Topping DX5 II wonder if that shuts off

 

[oleg87]

It is not a reasonable expectation that any given headphone amp can drive arbitrary loads to arbitrary power levels. That it goes into protection rather than letting out magic smoke is a good thing. Do your research.

 

[RandomEar]

1.22W on high, on medium gain is about 0.8

So the amp delivers the full power as listed in the spec sheet but that power is just not loud enough for you?

 

[Raider]

So the amp delivers the full power as listed in the spec sheet but that power is just not loud enough for you?

the power of it is fine... when its working its loud and clean not even a tiny hint of distortions - its miles away of that

 

[Raider]

It is not a reasonable expectation that any given headphone amp can drive arbitrary loads to arbitrary power levels. That it goes into protection rather than letting out magic smoke is a good thing. Do your research.

thats not true im right now overpowering my older ZEN DAC 3 to cosmic levels it distorts and shit - never shuts off no smoke coming

 

[RandomEar]

the power of it is fine... when its working its loud and clean not even a tiny hint of distortions - its miles away of that

So your criticism is that the device works as specified by the manufacturer? It does not distort, plays insanely loud and even goes into protection gracefully, recovering with a simple on/off cycle. What is the problem? Why would it be a "POS" if everything works as intended?

 

[Raider]

its a bad design decision it shouldn't go into protection with a proper playback but with actual short-circuit u wouldn't want your car to shut off because of speeding
you dying its ambulance on the way - oh no it shut off

 

[RandomEar]

its a bad design decision it shouldn't go into protection with a proper playback but with actual short-circuit

This isn't a bad design. It protects your headphones and the amp itself by doing so. Clipping is bad for both of them. If you overdrive the amp, you can destroy it - allowing that would be an actual bad design decision.

You could argue that maybe it would be cooler if the protection reset automatically after 5 seconds or so, but that's about it.

u wouldn't want your car to shut off because of speeding
you dying its ambulance on the way - oh no it shut off

Pretty absurd comparison. You don't die if the headphone amp shuts of to actually protect your gear.

 

[Raider]

This isn't a bad design. It protects your headphones and the amp itself by doing so. Clipping is bad for both of them. If you overdrive the amp, you can destroy it - allowing that would be an actual bad design decision.

You could argue that maybe it would be cooler if the protection reset automatically after 5 seconds or so, but that's about it.


Pretty absurd comparison. You don't die if the headphone amp shuts of to actually protect your gear.

it doesn't protect headphones - they can take it - its FALSE
it does not CLIP beforehand
as i said im overdriving my zen dac 3 for a week now its fine the voltages are too low to make a dent
it could flash the message and be gone with it some amps do that

comparison is fine you wouldn't want your Life support machine to shut off because it was working too hard all day long

look from my perspective its a ****** Chinese tek not tested as always Chinese never test what they release beforehand because it cost them moneys, for comparison we get ifi zen dac made by British company doesn't shut down

 

[antcollinet]

it doesn't protect headphones - they can take it - its FALSE
it does not CLIP beforehand
as i said im overdriving my zen dac 3 for a week now its fine the voltages are too low to make a dent
it could flash the message and be gone with it some amps do that

comparison is fine you wouldn't want your Life support machine to shut off because it was working too hard all day long

look from my perspective its a ****** Chinese tek not tested as always Chinese never test what they release beforehand because it cost them moneys, for comparison we get ifi zen dac made by British company doesn't shut down

Look - it's easy - you've bought a headphone amp that doesn't work for your use case.

Return it, get something else that does work for you - and move on.

 

[Raider]

Look - it's easy - you've bought a headphone amp that doesn't work for your use case.

Return it, get something else that does work for you - and move on.

thats what im doing
at least i know whats R2R now how it sounds etc

 

[bugis]

The DX5 II’s 4.4mm balanced and 4-pin XLR balanced outputs can kill headphones. Good luck.

 

[Raider]

Does it sound any different to anything else?

i heard on speakers (elac debut 3.0 ) it did a bit more on the low end bass and a tiny bit better on the high frequency so that i had to tweak equalizer settings on the WIIM AMP accordingly: lower the bass boost i had... bump up 16khz its so good to hear it so clean, other than that i think its better in between-channel stability i don`t like when there are differences in volume left to right it did better than zen dac 3... headphones i have are too fresh for me to judge but instant power boost was nice

 

[Raider]

The DX5 II’s 4.4mm balanced and 4-pin XLR balanced outputs can kill headphones. Good luck.

oh i want those functions very much

 

[emulle]

Hifimans Edition XV it was on medium/high doesn't matter gain unbalanced connector

lets implement shut off function to everything ! your tv`s too loud ? shut off, you maxing your cars speed ? shut off the engine... how stupid is it ?

I also have the Edition XVs, and I've driven them up to 95% volume on medium gain without issues. Can you give me instructions on how you got that OVERERR message so I can try it out on my unit?

Thanks.