FiiO KA11 Portable DAC/Amp Review

[stefanovesa]

Here in Italy this little device costs near 120 Eur.
Absurd.

 

[delta76]

Everything says USB-C but that picture is clearly a USB-A connection. What am I missing?

there are 2 version of USB-C and Lightning. I would say go with USB-C

Here in Italy this little device costs near 120 Eur.
Absurd.

buy from Aliexpress. currently you can get it for ~ 30EUR after coupon

 

[AudioSceptic]

about 9x more power at 300Ohm and 5x more power at 33Ohm, (SINAD is 20dB higher, but that's less important) so it's worth it

True, if you need the power. I find the Apple adapter plays as loud as I ever need with the Truthear Gates.

 

[theBoomer]

I have one and I like it, but I can't get it to work with my Samsung S24 phone. Works without problems with UAPP on two different Android tablets.

 

[oleg87]

So is this afflicted with the much-discussed issues with Cirrus Logic DACs? A bit surprising to see the issue go unacknowledged in Amir’s review as his standard test protocol was missing an audible problem…

 

[solawind]

you can get a lot of such tiny dongles WITH PEQ for a similar price. But some of them have the "cirrus hump" problem

 

[Curupira]

Good little dongle, cheers for the testing Amir.

Pics, not very clear unfortunately;

View attachment 503579

View attachment 503580

View attachment 503582

View attachment 503583

Looks like another CS43131 based dongle.


JSmith

CS43131 + SGM 8262 op amp, which is why it can offer almost 200mW Single Ended on the CS43131, with the caveat of running quite hot and draining the battery much quicker.

The JCally JM 20 Max is cheaper with slightly better performance.

They have basically the same ICs inside. Choice will be defined by the cheapest and most available option. FiiO usually has a bigger stock outside of Asia.

Looks like Fiio are about to address the Wi-fi part-

FiiO’s latest portable music player resembles an iPod Nano and doubles as a USB DAC

The Disc joins the Echo Mini and Nano to bolster the Snowsky range

www.whathifi.com

I'd be wary of the USB DAC functionality of FiiOs cheapest DAPs. The JM21, which is a superb offering both performance and price wise, has significant latency issues when used as Desktop DAC/AMP.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

I love the CS43131 dongles. I have, uh, several that I bought as result of reading reviews here. The idea of getting anything that reproduces audio with inaudible degradation of the signal for under $50 is mind boggling. I use them with my phone and tablet for headphones and in the car. When I got interested in audio in the mid '60s you could not buy any audio component with that kind of performance for any price.

 

[tccalvin]

Looks like it (compare with fourth chart in your link)

View attachment 503594

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe those two charts are not the same test.

Apparently FiiO has been really good at updating their product line to try and resolve the weird distortion issues of the Cirrus chips, but if you care about performance I recommend you guys check out some of those bespoke Cirrus measurements for the specific product you're considering. Those CS chips introduce distortion in their default settings and will not behave as hoped unless special care has been given to the implementation.

 

[delta76]

I love the CS43131 dongles. I have, uh, several that I bought as result of reading reviews here. The idea of getting anything that reproduces audio with inaudible degradation of the signal for under $50 is mind boggling. I use them with my phone and tablet for headphones and in the car. When I got interested in audio in the mid '60s you could not buy any audio component with that kind of performance for any price.

we have Amir to thank for. Now companies are paying more and more attention to actual performance, not just the buzzword BS that plagued the audio industry for long.
with that said, plenty of vintage devices had good performance - but they can't approach these nowadays because the limitation in tech. For example making a chip this capable is simply impossible with the tech 20 years ago, let alone 60.

 

[jcarys]

Echoing DSJR, I use the very similar JCally JM20 Max. It has improved either slightly or somewhat the sound from every device I've paired it with, including the highly reviewed LG V30, a Sony DAP, and (it blows away) an Android tablet. I always run EQ on the souce device, so that's not an issue and I also rarely use it for more than an hour or two when exercising, maybe 4 hours on a flight every now and then. For $30 it's the best money I've spent on an audio device in the last year.

 

[PjV]

@amirm (and others), in the first image, it shows input is balanced and 200kOhm. Why?
Isn't it single ended? And why 200k, isn't that an unrealistic load?

 

[CedarX]

Those CS chips introduce distortion in their default settings and will not behave as hoped unless special care has been given to the implementation.

True... but the fact it has remained largely unnoticed for... years (only a few experts eluded to the "CS cheat" to manipulate test results) tells me that it's mostly inaudible. Unless you know what to hear for and seek some particular or specifically crafted tracks.

but they can't approach these nowadays because the limitation in tech. For example making a chip this capable is simply impossible with the tech 20 years ago, let alone 60.

The interesting part is that when you deactivate DRE, the CS431xx used on these dongles are awfully close to the old CS4398 introduced 25 years ago (~1998 I believe).
I know we are always striving for best performances & measurements but realistically, DAC chips is a problem that has been solved long ago.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

The interesting part is that when you deactivate DRE, the CS431xx used on these dongles are awfully close to the old CS4398 introduced 25 years ago (~1998 I believe).

If I was more cynical, I'd say that a new DAC was produced which measured no better than a 25 year old DAC. So a "fiddle" was added to make the measurements appear closer to an ESS or AKM. Unfortunately the "fiddle" affects quiet music with extended bass. With DRE disabled, the DAC measures less well, but its flaws are inaudible. I would much rather have the less-well measuring DAC...

 

[delta76]

True... but the fact it has remained largely unnoticed for... years (only a few experts eluded to the "CS cheat" to manipulate test results) tells me that it's mostly inaudible. Unless you know what to hear for and seek some particular or specifically crafted tracks.


The interesting part is that when you deactivate DRE, the CS431xx used on these dongles are awfully close to the old CS4398 introduced 25 years ago (~1998 I believe).
I know we are always striving for best performances & measurements but realistically, DAC chips is a problem that has been solved long ago.

Performance is there, but did you look at the size of CS4398. How does that fit into a dongle and run on mobile battery ? When i said technology i really meant it. We get smaller more powerful, more energy efficient chip and bigger capacity battery that allows these dongles to exist

 

[amirm]

@amirm (and others), in the first image, it shows input is balanced and 200kOhm. Why?
Isn't it single ended? And why 200k, isn't that an unrealistic load?
View attachment 503656

That's a fake number. I use a loadbox that presents a balanced 200k interface to the analyzer regardless of test impedance.

 

[MCH]

I believe some companies are now releasing firmwares that allow to disable DRE, but i not sure if this is one of them.

@amirm it would be interesting that you have a look at @jkim thread linked above, there is definitely something going on with these CS431xx DACs

 

[Blake Klondike]

Thank you for this! I appreciate so much the work that you and others do to bring us this information and make it comprehensible. What is the story with the DAC filter? I don't understand that. Is it audible? Thanks!

 

[Bacchusoo7]

Amir took the picture with an adapter attached. Below is a stock picture of the dongle itself.

Thanks, now that I look at Amir’s picture closer I do see that it’s an adapter. That wasn’t obvious to me at first. But I figured I was missing something. Thanks for clearing it up.

 

[phoenixsong]

Great device! However, I wonder how its SINAD will be affected if it is tested at 2Vrms like previous devices instead of 2.6Vrms as displayed