Fiio's K11 R2R Review - R2R sound that doesn't cost a bomb!
General/Packaging/Build
Fiio is a brand that needs no introduction to fellow audiophiles, they are well established and they have positioned themselves among the top few famous chi-fi brands. I reviewed the K11 early this year and they proved to be highly competitive in terms of price performance ratio. Fast forward today, I have the Fiio K11 R2R with me which Fiio swapped out the CS43198 with R2R DAC resistor array, of course it is not as simple as just swapping out the dac without some redesign on the circuit. I will not go into detail into this as I'm not an electrical engineer myself. The packaging is quite good for the asking price, it contains a power supply unit, USB cable and the K11 R2R itself, well protected from any mishandling during transportation/logistics. The build quality and the overall dimension is similar to the K11, even the inputs and output, the only nitpick that i have is the lack of balanced output
Specifications
You may refer to this link from Fiio’s official website for the detailed specifications
Gears used for this review
Macbook Air M2 -> Foobar/Tidal
Fiio K11 R2R -> Aune S9c Pro
Fiio FT3 32Ohm
NF Audio NE4
Spirit Torino Twin Pulse IEM
Foreword
My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far
Driving Power
While the power output has been reduced from 1.4w to 1.3w for the K11 R2R, i personally don’t have any issues driving the gears that i have, low gain is sufficient for most IEMs, high gains on the FT3 has got very good dynamics, mid gains on the Twin Pulse IEM also exhibits very good dynamics and overall presentation, using it with high seems to leave the Twin Pulse IEM with not much headroom
Features
3 Gain levels, low, mid and high
RGB logo with adjustable lighting effect on the device itself
Upgradeable firmware
Sound Impression (NOS and OS)
The tuning of the K11 R2R is warmish sounding and analog-ish with the dac/amp running on NOS sampling mode based on my listening experience. The mids are quite intimate sounding but at the same time, they are not overly forward. The note weight is quite good and it is certainly not thin sounding. Soundstage is not that big or grand in NOS mode, imaging is acceptable and good enough for the asking price, but of course, do not expect it to have pinpoint accuracy compared to higher priced dac/amp.
OS on the other hand boast a slightly better resolution and technicalities compared to NOS mode, everything sounded a little bit more crisp compared to NOS mode, and it isn’t as laid back.
Listening Impression with the following gears
Fiio FT3 32Ohm
FT3 is very efficient and easy to drive, Low gain on K11 R2R is sufficient to power the FT3 to its best performance,on mid gain the dynamics are slightly better and also the bass control is slightly tighter, high gain is not needed here
Bass is punchy and tight, mid bass especially
Sub bass has slightly better extension, mids are slightly a bit more forward and exhibit slightly thicker note weight which benefited from the NOS mode
Male vocal has slightly thicker texture and sounds fuller
Female vocal is slightly fuller sounding, which is also a benefit from the NOS mode
Not so much changes in terms of detail retrieval
Overall, a very good synergy
NF Audio NE4 (Reference Faceplate)
NE4 with the reference faceplate
The mids are slightly recessed, but when paired with K11 R2r, the mids doesn’t sound that recessed anymore and it sounded a little bit more forward, both male and female vocal have a little bit more “body”
Bass on the other hand sounds a little bit more impactful when paired with K11 R2R, the sub bass rumble is still quite strong but somehow i feel like it has a slightly faster decay, but mid bass is still punchy, a very refreshing experience if you ask me, still very fun sounding,
Not much changes on the detail retrieval as well
Soundstage is more or less similar
NE4 is not hard to drive, and K11 R2R definitely have more than enough power to push it to its maximum potential
Spirit Torino Twin Pulse IEM
Twin Pulse IEM is a dual DD in isobaric config from the italian brand Spirit Torino
The sound signature is leaning towards neutral with a slight hint of warmth on the default nozzle, pairing it with the K11 R2R, it does made the overall experience more musical and emotional but at the expense of sacrificing a bit of resolution as well as imaging on NOS mode
The OS mode on the other hand does have slightly better resolution as well as imaging, setting the gain to mid does exhibit quite good dynamics and slightly cleaner sounding experience, i personally prefer the OS mode for the Twin Pulse as the NOS is a bit too laid back
Line Out Sound Impression ( RCA Out to Aune S9c Pro )
The R2R DAC on K11 R2R has good potential in my opinion, i’m not saying the the amping section of the K11 R2R is bad, i think that we can squeeze out a little bit more from the DAC by pairing it with a better amp
The S9c Pro is not a pure amp, but the amping section is quite good and it is able to squeeze out a bit more details from the R2R dac, and to my ears, slightly better resolution while retaining the warmth and analog factor from the NOS mode
Dynamics does improve a little bit as well, quite a good pairing i would say
On the lineout mode, i do noticed a very minor pop sound as reported by several other reviewers which one of them is also my friend
Comparison (Fiio’s K11)
In terms of sound, The K11’s sound signature is leaning towards the clean sounding kind of tonality, less warmth and slightly thinner note weight compared to K11 R2R
Power output figure is slightly higher compared to K11 R2R, but i would say the difference is minimal unless you have a lot of hard to drive gears, else there isn’t much difference in your listening experience as well as day to day usage
Depending on your preference in terms of sound signature, the K11 a more clean/technical sounding overall, whereas K11 R2R has warm and analog sound signature from the NOS mode, i wouldn't say the K11 R2R is a replacement or upgrade over the K11, but rather, a different device targeted at different group of users
Final Thoughts
Having tested the K11 R2R for several weeks now, it’s safe to say K11 has a very high price performance ratio, i believe i have not seen any R2R Desktop DAC/Amp at such pricing, and despite being the first R2R dac/amp from Fiio, they actually nailed it, and i personally think that this model is paving way for their mid or higher end models, which if it does happen, i am definitely anticipating it. In terms of sound, It sounds musical and analog-ish as I have mentioned, and I personally like how it sounds whereby you’re able to connect with the song emotionally. K11 R2R ticks many of the boxes in terms of features as well as sonic performance. K11 R2R is definitely one of the good products that is easily recommendable and won’t break the bank. Definitely a 4.5/5 product! Not to mention this is R2R DAC rather than the usual Delta Sigma DAC
*A big thanks to Fiio for sending this over for the purpose of this review. I thank them for their support and opportunity
Head over to their official store if you are interested in getting one:
Fiio K11 R2R Official Store Link - Non affiliated
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