KA11 USB C to 3.5mm Audio Adapter 32bit/384KHz, USB Type C Dongle HiFi DAC Amplifier for Android/iOS/Windows/Mac (Silver, TC)

Fantastic DAC for the Price – Plug-and-Play Audiophile Boost I’ve been using the FiiO KA11 with both my iPhone 15 Pro and a Google Pixel, running it through a USB-C splitter—and it works flawlessly. It was completely plug-and-play, no setup needed. I tested it across multiple apps—Tidal, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, HBO—and it delivers excellent sound consistently. The clarity and depth really shine, especially when paired with my CCZ Melody and Moondrop Chu2 IEMs. The iPhone’s EQ settings (I love the Late Night preset with the Melody) take it even further. It does warm up after about 15 minutes of use, but I didn’t notice any unusual battery drain. I have over 100 hours of use out of mine so far. Build quality is rock solid—it feels heavier and more premium than you’d expect for a $33 dongle. If you’re looking for a compact, high-quality USB-C DAC/amp that just works and sounds fantastic, this one is well worth it.

A budget DAC under $50 that provides a warm/mid-bass forward experience. Not for me though. DAC OWNED BEFORE: Apple USB-C to 3.5mm. WHAT I WANTED TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS PURCHASE: The main goal of me getting a DAC was to match or exceed what the internal jack of my 2020 M1 Apple MacBook Air can already achieve. It’s very clean, transparent, and neutral. It doesn’t add any color whatsoever. The reason the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm Dongle didn’t meet that is because it’s too lean/sterile. It’s not full and feels more like a reference/flat This provided an overall boring listening experience that wasn’t enjoyable. It’s not generally bad in any way, it’s just not for me. Sound is subjective, not objective. So, please take into consideration your priorities/preferences/needs. SOUND/IF IT MET WHAT I WANTED TO ACHIEVE: The sound signature is warm, still clean, and has an emphasis on mid-bass. Buying this, I had no idea what I was getting into. It went against what I actually wanted, and didn’t sound similar to my 2020 M1 Apple MacBook Air like I had hoped. I personally don’t prefer warm sound signatures/tuning. But, it did provide me with more knowledge. It allowed me to actually finalize my preference, and experience what “warm” sounds like, and it was also the way I learned to determine what mid-bass sounded like. BUILD & DESIGN: The build of the KA11 is very premium. It features a cold-to-the-touch metal housing for the USB-C and 3.5mm connector, and uses a non-detachable braided cable. It’s sturdy and durable. The design of the KA11 is simplistic, and it feels nice. I personally went with the black USB-C version which features a simplistic styled housing for the 3.5mm connector, and a simplistic styled housing for the USB-C connector. The 3.5mm connector housing has the FiiO logo printed in white with an LED nearby to show what the sample/bit-rate is. Blue for CD and below, yellow for anything above CD, and green for DSD. Overall, a very simplistic, premium DAC. OVERALL: It’s a well implemented portable DAC that provides a warm, full, mid-bass focused listening experience for anyone who prefers it. It has a premium metal build and an overall simplistic look. In the end I ended up returning it. It’s good, it’s just not for me

I originally bought this to try out on my PC, and while it works great for it (I can play at a much higher sampling rate on top of louder playback), what stunned me was how great it works on my phone. I didn't think it would make much of a difference on my phone as it already has a headphone jack, but I was wrong. Yes, it makes it louder but there's so much more to it than that. It sounds AMAZING at higher levels, with zero distortion even when the volume becomes painfully high. This is such a superb value for what it does. There's a drawback, and that is when I use it on my headphones (but not the PC) it gets pretty hot. In fact, I had to return one because it would stop working when it got too hot. But I've put its replacement through its paces and so far it hasn't had the same issue. It's just something I'd advise people to keep an eye out for. Otherwise this is a stellar product and I highly recommend it.

Got this because I wanted a little more volume and quality than the basic adapter affords, and for that it's great! The sound quality was fantastic and volume was great. Which is about where my praise ends. 3 months after I got my first ones, they stopped working. I assumed it was a fluke since everything else about the product had been fine leading up, and the return window was still open, so I swapped for a new one. 2 months later, broken again and the return window has closed. Decided that since I couldn't return it I'd break it open to see what went wrong...two of the wires were attached with hopes and dreams and had come loose over time. Way too expensive to be this flimsy- if you want a product like this, find an alternative or pray for an infinite return window.

The Fiio KA11 Is pretty damn good. You will be able to hear your content on your smartphone or USB audio provided laptop. Just remember that Android sets it audio to 48 khz + Windows 11 will select its own preferred level, but it can do like it said. 384 khz at 32-bit audio. Also, your headphones might also tell the dongo what its capabilities are in the audio chain. And yes you can use the fiio control app to change the settings of the filters and other information and if you have older technology that uses UAC one, you can switch it from UAC 2 to comply Or to use the audio in the classic way that Windows allows you to? I haven't done it with Android yet. But if you do switch and then switch back. Just remember you have to delete the profile of the dongle in the app and then reconnect + restart your Android phone so it gets a fresh connection of the dongle when you switch between UAC one and two. This headphone dongle also provides you with better sound quality than a lot of cheap dongles, especially if you're still rocking the old pixel dongle from several years ago. Basically it's like connecting your head headphones or iems to a amplifier because you Can get a high volume of audio without needing to jack up the percentage to maximum. I find that on the pixel 9 that 80% is a sweet spot with the ka11. Also if you have good headphones these can power easy the drive headphones as well as hard to drive headphones. The sound quality is Is a little bit warm. Warm but not overpowering the bass frequencies which is good for a heavy dialogue content like traditional television programming. The ka11 can accept modern programming audio as well as audio from standard stereo and mono audio as long as it's from a digital source that it can process into analog. Sometimes if you're watching YouTube, you noticed a lot of semblance but that's because of the way the video was recorded, not because of the dongle. Also it is power hungry so it might drain your battery a little bit. The compatibility is with USBC devices. The connection quality is pretty good. This dongle is small enough to fit into a pocket. This is an audio product so there is no picture quality issues. UPDATE my ka11 dongle died basically 4 months later. I heard a pop sound and then my pixel 9 stop sending the dongle power because light wasn't even on. I troubleshooted like restarting the phone, putting it in safe mode, turning on and off the USB C Audio routing nothing. At least on my Asus a16. It did send power to the dongle but it had trouble with the handshake + flickering of the LED + for a moment it connected but it had trouble changing the audio quality. It struggled to change from cyon to yellow. Of your own free will be aware that the ka11 has multiple users across many use cases has seen this audio dongle fail on them. And no, this wasn't a upgrade issue because this was already with the newest upgrade directly out of the package. Most likely a capacitor or some other a component failed because the dongle probably got too hot too many times. I used my fiio ka11 nearly daily too. When it did work it worked pretty good with the good sound quality For my edifier W800BT plus headphones. Remember this is a lower budget dongle. Update 2 just wait several hours because the dongle either is doing a protected mode AKA overheating or had moisture in the device, especially if you were outdoors or it might be stressed out from an overload. But usually waiting several hours or overnight usually solves the issue of the dongle blinking and not behaving correctly and connecting so I raised my score back up to four stars. Most people that think it's cheap or defective might have thrown away. A perfectly useful device once it dried out or cooled off.

This little dongle is a drastic improvement over whatever is in your current laptop. If you're not familiar with audiophile jargon, imagine the sound OPEN UP when you use this dongle instead of your laptop's 3.5mm headphone jack. You'll be able to hear details more clearly and whatever pair of earbuds or headphones that you are using will just sound BETTER. If you normally use whatever 3.5mm jack that came with your computer, you are far better off spending thirty bucks on this than to upgrade your headphones. Now, for the audiophile crowd: the KA11 is outstanding for its price point, but you do need to keep things in perspective. For example, in comparison with my Dragonfly Cobalt USB DAC (which cost 10x more), the soundstage rendering of the KA11 is more collapsed and center-forward. There is still reasonable separation between layered instruments and tracks, but if you typically spend more than $300 on your earbuds or headphones, then you should invest equally in a higher-end DAC + Amp. I highly recommend the Dragonfly Cobalt, but I heard they stopped making them which is sad. Fiio makes higher end stuff too, though.

The FiiO KA11 worked well at first with my IEMs and had plenty of power. Volume was very loud, even at lower settings, so it had no trouble driving headphones or IEMs. Unfortunately, durability became an issue after a while. Mine started cutting out whenever the cable was moved, and eventually stopped working entirely. Sound quality was good while it lasted, but based on my experience, long-term reliability is questionable.

Highly recommend this DAC. When the CD changer in my 2008 Honda Accord quit reading CDs I wanted to be able to listen to something other than just the radio. I have Spotify premium and an iPhone 15, and this is how I listen to music 99% of the time. Only problem, the car stereo was made just before Bluetooth became standard, so I couldn't stream to the stereo that way. The solution? Simply use the Aux jack, but OF COURSE the headphone jack had been retired a long time ago by Apple. The solution? A DAC that could convert the digital signal from the phone's USB C port the analogue signal to be sent to the Aux jack (or you could use your favorite wired headphones if you want to do that.) This worked GREAT...as a church cantor, sometimes I'll listen to a recording of the music I'm going to be singing that week in the car, and the choir vocals are clear, the pipe organ rich and full. Keep in mind this is simply being sent to the OEM stereo of a 2008 Honda. I can imagine how awesome it would sound if I actually had a quality aftermarket stereo in that car. It also reveals that car manufacturers often cheap out on the DAC portion of their sound system. Anytime you stream Bluetooth, play a CD or plug your phone in using USB to your car's sound system, that sound system has to do the conversion from digital to analogue requiring a DAC inside the unit to perform that job. If that DAC is poor quality, you the sound will be lot thinner, not as detailed and less balanced. However, you can skip the car's DAC if you do that conversion from your phone into a device such as this and then plug an aux cable into the aux jack of your CAR. This means you're only making use of the CARS analogue amplification, but you fed that system a much higher quality sound to begin with. Sure, you can get the one of the el cheapo DACs that sell for $5 but you'll get what you paid for. Bass will be weak, sound far less detailed. Your car's DAC may even be better in this scenario (assuming you can plug your phone into a USB port in your car, an option that is not available in the 2008 Accord.) Get this device and find out what you've been missing in your recordings. Oh yeah...I also recommend this Aux cable if using in your car: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BFRFJQJ?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1