I’ve not purchased a new DAC or Amp in several years but with recent deals coming out I’m getting that old itch.
Simple question for anyone who happens to own both.
Is it worth the extra money to get the HiFiman EF 499 or would you say the FIIO K11 R2R sounds as good for less money?
I’m really just interested in the DAC section as they both have preouts and I have lots of amps.
Any info would be of great help to me.
Thank you.
I’d say FiiO. They actually utilize their budget into research… Their products have actual value. Sound is subjective, so won’t comment on that. Strictly speaking about how the two companies operate, FiiO is a major player in the industry now. They have a lot of capital, and have shown major progress through diversification. I’d place my trust in FiiO.
The only thing that comes to my mind is why not HiFiiOman?
Sorry for not being of any help here 
I wouldn’t expect a big difference sound wise main difference would be power output, I had a ef400 and the power it had was super overkill for the headphones I had at the time so depends what you need lol
Most of the ChiFi companies use nuclear substation levels of power as a marketing “feature” for new amps and amp/DAC stacks.
There are probably less than a couple of handfuls of headphones or IEMs in the world – not counting electrostats that often come with a power supply – that need that kind of power, yet FIIO, HiFiMan, SMSL and others keep cranking out units with 4, 6, even 8 WPC at 32 ohms.
Ridiculous.
Thank you for the reply’s everyone. Is there anyone here who actually owns both? Someone who has compared these for sound quality?