Introduction
I am quickly running out of ways to tell you how active FiiO is in releasing products, so much so that I had only just finished testing a truly innovative network streamer/DAC/headphone amplifier and already a new FiiO source was at my doorstep. In fact, let me allow FiiO to explain more about how it released a whopping 30 new products last year, and this year appears to beat that count handily! One of those releases was the fascinating Q7 DAC/amplifier which uses desktop-class hardware in a somewhat portable form factor. The Q-series from FiiO thus seems to be consisting of more premium portable sources that are on the larger size and employ an integrated battery for those who need more power on the go. Today we examine the latest entry in said lineup in the form of the FiiO Q11!
If you saw the numbers 11 in Q11 and logically assumed this is a bigger, more expensive product compared to the Q7 then you are not alone. FiiO decide to change its product naming scheme late last year to where the Q11 is actually the latest update to the older Q1—the entry in the FiiO Q-series. To be more specific, the Q11 follows up on the popular Q1 Mark II that released four years ago and aims to bring to the sub-$100 market a powerful portable source courtesy a large battery, resulting in longer phone use and potentially cleaner power to the headphone connectors too. It is a wired-only source though, so I am not sure what that marketing photo is trying to convey here! Either way, let’s thank FiiO for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp as we begin our coverage of the Q11 in this quick look article that starts with the product specifications below. Be sure to click the image twice to fully open it and go through all the details.
Packaging and Accessories
The FiiO Q11 would be a natural fit for brick and mortar stores given the more mainstream appeal and thus I was not surprised to see a product box that lends favorably to being displayed, with the hang tag protruding at the top. The box uses a shiny silvery white and blue color scheme that isn’t the easiest to photograph but is also quite different from the usual FiiO giant black boxes, to where it was noteworthy in itself. On the front is the company logo and product name to go with salient features, a render of the device, and the customary Hi-Res Audio logo. We see FiiO’s sister brand Jade Audio make an appearance on the back which further confirms this is a more budget-minded product. Some product specifications and contact info for the company are found here while we also see the use of a double flap at the top to keep the contents in place on their way to you in a separate box.
This inner box is composed of thicker cardboard in a two-piece construction that has the FiiO logo on the lid. Lift off the cover to see the Q11 straight away placed in a foam sheet with a machined cutout to snugly fit and protect the device. There is a smaller cardboard box underneath various accessories, including a rich cable selection allowing you to connect the Q11 with its Type-C port to any device with either USB Type-A, USB Type-C, or Apple Lightning connectors, with the latter two cables being on the shorter side to work with mobile phones. This is also why we get two silicone pads for the Q11 with the larger one meant for desk use and the smaller one to be placed between the phone and the Q11 itself. I would have liked to see a thick rubber band to hold the stack together though, although I suppose you can use the thin one currently on the longer USB cable if you have nothing else. While I am at it, a carry pouch would have been nice too. There’s also paperwork in the form of a multi-language quick start guide (online copy here), as well as a warranty card.
Closer Look and User Experience
At 106 x 60 x 16 mm and weighing ~150 g, the FiiO Q11 is among the largest of the portable DAC/amps on the market and certainly hedges the line between those that are pocketable and those that would be more likely to be exclusively used on a desk. Indeed, while I can still easily hold it in my hands, it reminds me of a smart phone from a few years ago which means a stack of the Q11 plus your actual phone may not be easy to fit in your pockets after all. This is one of the reasons I would suggest looking at a 3rd party soft carry pouch if you plan to take this along with you, and the other is of course the design that comes off premium—far more so in person than the photos make it appear. The FiiO Q11 uses CNC-machined aluminium for its chassis that steps away from the simpler rounded corners design of the Q1 Mark II in favor of a more aggressive and angular design which fits in with FiiO’s newer M-series DAPs and other Q-series entries such as the Q7 we saw before. It is cold to the touch and thankfully there are no sharp points anywhere. On the front is a cutout in the metal to accommodate an acrylic panel that has the new FiiO logo and the Hi-Res Audio logo in gold lettering to better contrast from the black everywhere else. There is also a window in the very middle which provides a sneak peek at the internal hardware in addition to having actual functionality as shall be seen soon. Be sure to peel off the protective plastic wrap over this section!
Jade Audio is mentioned on the back as with the product box itself and we also find out the Q11 is rated to accept a max of 2 A over the 5 VDC rail for power. In addition to the expected certification logos, there’s not much else to see here or on the longer sides that are just there to be easy to grip and hold the Q11 with your fingers. The shorter sides have the I/O in the form of a Type-C port and an indicator LED on the bottom whereas the headphone outputs are seen at the top. FiiO has gone with a 3.5 mm single-ended TRS output in addition to a 4.4 mm balanced TRRS connector. The 3.5 mm output is also special in offering SPDIF out in addition to headphones out, although here you will need a special adapter cable headed to a device that supports SPDIF input for transmitting digital audio signals. Next to these is a tiny gain switch going through low or high gain settings as well as an extending power button/volume control combination knurled knob. There are markings to denote the « Off » and « Max » positions in addition to a white dot on the surface of the knob itself as seen above, which in turn uses an analog potentiometer for volume control. It would have been nice to see line-out for those wanting to just use the DAC portion of the Q11 but I suppose this is one of the feature segmentations done to hit the final price point and not cannibalize sales from the higher end models from FiiO.
Given the Q11 only supports wired inputs via the USB Type-C connector, setup is as simple as using the cable of your choice with the client of your choice. In this case I’ve paired the Q11 with my phone—the Samsung Galaxy S22—so you can get a better idea of the size of the thing. It’s at this point where we see a max of three different LEDs light up on the Q11. By default the indicator LED above the Type-C input turns on to show you the current status of the device and battery. FiiO calls this the « power ambient light » and it remains a static blue when powered on / in standby mode / in use. The LED will flash blue when the integrated 2600 mAh battery is running low (10-15% based on my testing), a static red when charging with the Q11 turned off, and purple when charging while the device is on before turning back to a static blue when fully charged. Charging the battery fully takes ~2.5 hours on the recommended 5 V/2 A USB power supply, with battery life on the order of 13 hours off either output. Then there are two other LEDs placed in the middle that fire inwards to be accent lighting for a teaser of the hardware inside. While cool to look at, these are also playback status indicator lights which go from blue (PCM 48 kHz), and green (DSD).
You might have noticed there is noticed there is no MQA-specific LED color here and that’s because the FiiO Q11 does not support any MQA rendering on the device. This is due to the use of a single Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC here which, while excellent for anything I personally care about, does not go the MQA route. I see this as a bonus given the cost savings from skipping MQA licensing on what is clearly a more budget-minded device. The DAC is paired with an SGMicro SGM8262-2 dual op-amp for an amplification route from the battery providing power to the two outputs—this means the battery is always in use here! FiiO also mentions the use of a low-noise USB power supply inside to charge the battery itself as well as high-precision crystals used on the USB DAC clock inside.
Using the FiiO Q11 with a Windows 10 or 11 PC doesn’t require any additional drivers, with Windows recognizing the device automatically. We see that the default firmware provides PCM playback options up to 32-bit, 384 kHz in addition to DSD256. The USB decoder comes in handy here, and all your favorite players will recognize the device in WASAPI (Windows Audio Session API) mode accordingly. There should be equivalent drivers pre-configured in newer macOS builds too, but I am not familiar enough to speak on this front.
If you have a device that doesn’t accept UAC 2.0, or even if you simply want to try other options, then the FiiO USB audio device drivers will be of interest to you. You can find the installer on this page and the latest version at the time of testing was v5.50.0 which is currently only available for the Q11. I will mention that the installer was refusing to download for me and I had to find this forum post with the zip file attached to go ahead. FiiO is aware of this and are looking into the issue if you are also affected. Installation is trivial as seen above, and these drivers now allow you to make the most of the FiiO Q11 within the Windows operating system.
What it then does is create a new output device in Windows as well as provide access to the FiiO USB Audio Control Panel. Just be sure to set the format to your desired level and choose the ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) buffer size that suits your latency requirements. With that done, go to your media player of choice. I demonstrated above with JRiver again and set the audio player to the same output. At this point, you can implement further tweaks, but those are player dependent. These drivers also provide 24-bit playback support for those who find it useful.
The FiiO Q11 is also supported by the FiiO Control mobile app available for both Android and iOS. I’ve used it in conjunction with the FiiO Music app on my phone for a good user experience, or you can do the same with the novel FiiO R7 as we saw before. Adding the Q11 is simple enough given the app detects it immediately and then you get further controls over turning on/off the SPDIF output, choosing whether or not to have the playback status indicator LEDs on or off, opt for your preference of four low-pass filters, as read the product guide on the app itself to make the most of the device.
Between the CS43198 DAC, the dual op-amp amplification stage, the battery to provide more power than over native USB connection alone, and FiiO’s other engineering tweaks done, the Q11 is a beast for the form factor and asking price. I’ve found it to work exceptionally well not only for sensitive IEMs such as the FiiO FH7S, picture above, but also more demanding higher impedance dynamic driver headphones too, including the 150 Ω iBasso SR3 and the 300 Ω Sennheiser HD 6XX. More current-hungry planar magnetic headphones are contingent on how sensitive they are, with the likes of the HIFIMAN Ananda and HE1000se being easy enough to get plenty loud here whereas the MOONDROP Venus and HIFIMAN Susvara are a different story entirely—not that most people will really pair expensive headphones with the Q11 anyway! This is because the Q11 is able to put out as much as 310/640 mW at 12 Ω off the 3.5 / 4.4 mm, respectively, which scales well enough to 165/650 mW at 32 Ω and 19/75 mW at 300 Ω off the same outputs. This makes the FiiO Q11 easily the most powerful of the portable DAC/amps I have tested which does not go the crazy route as with the FiiO Q7 which is effectively a desktop-class portable source that costs far more.
