[cleg]

My video about K11. Great offer for this price

 

[drp]

I needed an alternate way to feed digital coax into my RA Opus 21 so just connected a K11. It's the only DAC/HP amp (along with the K3) I could find that offers digital coax out. Was ready to spend more; glad I didn't have to.

Switching from HP amp to digital coax out (with USB source selected only) works perfectly with a double click. I didn't realize feed out was active with output to front, until my suddenly huge souundstage was because my speakers were still active. This seems a good pre-amp or powered speaker feature I'll certainly take advantage of. Very versatile little piece of kit.

Using Grado Hemps on low gain setting, 50% is a comfortable listening volume with plenty of headroom. I'd moved primarily to near-field monitors ages ago but kept a few portable solutions, intended to just use my JH13 (freq phase modded) custom IEMs, but made the mistake of reading a few articles and reviews, hence the brand new easy-to drive-grados. Get's worse/better (for wallet/me), RS1x arriving tomorrow.

 

[Ichos]

Dear friends here is FiiO K11 Review - Unbeatable value.

 

[Fancellu]

How does it compare to the K7? I ask as I can get one for a very similar price to the K11.

I like all the new tech on the K11, just wondering if K7 will sound much better/different

(I currently have the old K3, which is still a great DAC, but its Christmas time, sooooo...)

Thanks

 

[ekbalco]

I’ve owned the K7 and now own the K11. There’s not a lot in it. The K11 matches well with the HD600 in particular but doesn’t bring out the best with the HD660s2 connected. Compared to the K7 that is. The K11 seems more ‘neutral’ to my ears compared to the K7. The K7 ‘added’ some character and flavour in a way that the K11 doesn’t. But as I say I really enjoy the K11 with the HD600. Hard to describe really and I’m not doing a great job here!

If push comes to shove I’d opt for the K11 but it’s very close. I also prefer the form factor of the K11 and the USB C connection to my MacBook Pro.

 

[Fancellu]

I’ve owned the K7 and now own the K11. There’s not a lot in it. The K11 matches well with the HD600 in particular but doesn’t bring out the best with the HD660s2 connected. Compared to the K7 that is. The K11 seems more ‘neutral’ to my ears compared to the K7. The K7 ‘added’ some character and flavour in a way that the K11 doesn’t. But as I say I really enjoy the K11 with the HD600. Hard to describe really and I’m not doing a great job here!

If push comes to shove I’d opt for the K11 but it’s very close. I also prefer the form factor of the K11 and the USB C connection to my MacBook Pro.

I suspected as much, I'm leaning towards the K11 too. Also I suspect if I got the K7, I'd have regret that they weren't the next gen, the K13

 

[Fancellu]

Anyone compare them to the K3? (I assume they are better to the K3, just wondering how)

 

[llysender]

How does it compare to the K7? I ask as I can get one for a very similar price to the K11.

I like all the new tech on the K11, just wondering if K7 will sound much better/different

(I currently have the old K3, which is still a great DAC, but its Christmas time, sooooo...)

Thanks

K11 is smooth lots of power and bouncy. Able to drive just about anything as long as you arent looking for detail.
K7 is lighter, not as dynamic but is highly detailed. Also warmer.

I think most people will perfer K11 unless you are a detail head. But then K7 has the potential to be much better than K11 assuming you get a better external dac since that is what is limiting it and is almost as good as the K9 if you only compare the amp side. So yeah it really depends on if you just want a fun and bouncy sound or you want something detailed with the potential to upgrade down the line later.

Honestly K3(I only have the old AKM version) has more control over K11 but has significantly less power. I would say its worth keeping both. K3 for iems and K11 for hard to drive headphones.

 

[Fancellu]

I went for the K11. I don't want a stack. just a good all in one. My youngest son will get the K3, we've already got a nice balanced 2.5mm cable for his headphones.
I got the K3 in 2019, 4 years ago, for £35! It has served me well.

 

[jeromeoflaherty]

I do think the K11 is an excellent fully featured headphone amplifier and I reviewed it here:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-k11.26828/reviews#review-32185

Given this is their new base model I can't wait to see what they do in the next year when the K5 and K7 will probably get upgrades into the K15 and K17.

 

[MariusAB]

Dear friends here is FiiO K11 Review - Unbeatable value.

Really look like wonderful entry DAC amp, thank you for your review. Fiio rocks with new sources lately. I know you heard many fiio amps and dacs and have experience.
At the moment looking to get new amp dac as i want one piece device compared to my old and trusty topping D50/A50 stack. Not deciding which fiio amp to get looking to all variants. When i heard k9pro ess i really want something similar level sounding but price is a little too big for pro.
So looking at cheaper devices - fiio k11, k7, K9. How this small new k11 is compared to bigebrother. K7 i understand has warmer, more colored sound so this profile perhaps not for me. I like controlled, revealing and detailed sound sources. So is it worth paing x2 x3 time over m11 when my main headphone is xs now, perhaps nano later.

 

[Ichos]

Really look like wonderful entry DAC amp, thank you for your review. Fiio rocks with new sources lately. I know you heard many fiio amps and dacs and have experience.
At the moment looking to get new amp dac as i want one piece device compared to my old and trusty topping D50/A50 stack. Not deciding which fiio amp to get looking to all variants. When i heard k9pro ess i really want something similar level sounding but price is a little too big for pro.
So looking at cheaper devices - fiio k11, k7, K9. How this small new k11 is compared to bigebrother. K7 i understand has warmer, more colored sound so this profile perhaps not for me. I like controlled, revealing and detailed sound sources. So is it worth paing x2 x3 time over m11 when my main headphone is xs now, perhaps nano later.

If you can save some money, I would strongly recommend the FiiO K9. Flagship performance made affordable.

Otherwise, the FiiO K11 is the best bang for the buck in the planet.

 

[MariusAB]

If you can save some money, I would strongly recommend the FiiO K9. Flagship performance made affordable.

Otherwise, the FiiO K11 is the best bang for the buck in the planet.

Thanks, straight to the point. I really agree - these two are dynamite duo - each at their price and above are leaders. So now will choose from these, not decided yet how much i want to spent. M11 with their price tag really tempting. Will see. Thank you

 

[Fancellu]

I got the K11. Had problems getting my windows 11 box to see it. It would see it for a second, then say it was disconnected. Fixed by rebooting windows

I upgraded the fw from 1.05 to 1.14, had to rename the folder to take out chinese characters, else it simply exited when I loaded fw hex file.

It sounds much better than the K3, to me, more detail, more everything, tracks that sounded really good on K3+HD599 sound even better on the K11.

 

[Fancellu]

I can't seem to get the coax to emit sound (i.e. the in/out port), not the line out ports. They are fine, I just want to use the coax for convenience. But I have no idea how to select it. Out offer LO and PO, but nothing else.

I could probably find normal cables, but the K3 handled it just fine.

Meh, found 2 rca cables, all good now.