FiiO 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.

Before I start this review, I would like to say that I'm a fairly new and young audiophile getting into the hobby. I’ve only owned one other DAC before this that is similarly sized, therefore being less experienced. But I am knowledgeable to understand my preferences, and how to achieve them. The only DAC I've had before was the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm dongle. First, 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(which can be boring, in my case it is). 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. Second, Sound & How/If it achieves what I want it to: The sound signature is warm, still clean, and has an emphasis on mid-bass/an emphasis on it. 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 wanted it to. I personally don’t like/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, what it is. Next, build: 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. Finally, Design: 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, very simplistic. Overall, it’s a well implemented portable DAC that provides a warm, full, mid-bass focused listening experience. In the end I ended up returning it. It’s good, it’s just not for me. I didn't provide images, because I returned it before I could get any (or even write this review).

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.

I bought this and the FT1 headphones because I wanted to try them out on my ps5, which is where I find I'm spending the most time listening to music. The default UAC2.0 setting does not work with the ps5 so I went ahead and got the app to change the settings to UAC1.0 (because yes you need the app to change the settings, there's no button). Anyway changing the settings to UAC1.0 made it so my phone can no longer detect the KA11, meaning I cannot listen to music on my phone through the KA11, worse I also can't change the settings back to UAC2.0. I decided to try and use my PC to change the settings, but my PC also could not detect the Ka11 on the UAC1.0 setting. While the ps5 can detect the Ka11 once it was changed to UAC1.0, the audio is coming through mostly the left ear piece on the FT1 headphones and I'm getting maybe 1% the volume of the left ear piece on my right ear piece. Meaning the volume on my left ear piece is normal while my right ear piece volume is incredibly quiet. I spent about 4 hours searching for ways to fix these issues and have come up with nothing. Im disappointed and I'm probably just going to return everything. As I have no need for a 32 dollar paper weight or half a set of headphones.

The FiiO KA11 Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Adapter impressed me way more than I expected something this small could. I plugged it into my phone the day it arrived, put on my usual headphones, and actually did a little double take because the sound was noticeably cleaner and clearer. It felt like someone had quietly upgraded my whole library behind my back. One moment that convinced me it was worth the purchase happened while I was listening to a live acoustic track I know really well. I caught extra detail in the guitar strings that I swear I never noticed before. It was subtle, but enough to make me pause and replay the same section twice just to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. The build quality is solid and feels more premium than the size suggests. It runs cool even during long listening sessions, and the Lightning connector feels snug and stable. The KA11 is lightweight, pocket friendly, and easy to throw into a bag without worry. I tested it on my laptop too, and it worked flawlessly there as well. My only small complaint is that the cable is on the shorter side. It works fine, but a little extra length would make using it on the go feel less cramped. Still, the performance more than makes up for it. Overall, this little DAC delivers impressive audio clarity, strong amplification, and great compatibility, especially for the price. A very solid four star upgrade for anyone who still loves their wired headphones.

Needed for some higher end headphones. Works perfectly! Noise level is another level than what im used to, which is what this device allows. Connected right into the mobo easy peasy. It fit right in the hole? Material quality? I guess good? Its typical tiny tech.

This adapter is great. I've tried two others that didn't have a DAC chip and they never produced enough volume with my Samsung S22 phone. This one works perfectly on the phone and my PC and has great sound quality for voice.

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.