Wired earphones might not be as popular as they once were, but almost all those who value audio quality tend to swear by them. The problem, however, is that with the 3.5 mm audio jack slowly becoming history, attaching your pair of trusty wired earphones to a phone or a tablet has become very difficult. Yes, there are dongles that help you in this regard, but they generally come from dubious brands, are either very basic in terms of functionality and often butcher the audio quality, or are very expensive. In fact, even if you are just dipping your toes daintily in audiophile waters, there is a fair chance that you will have to shell out a fair amount of cash to get a digital-to-analogue converter (or DAC in audiospeak) to get the most out of your wired earphones if you mainly listen to music on your smartphone (most of us do, ever since Apple made iPods history). This is exactly what makes the Fiio X Jade Audio JA11 very special indeed. It is a proper DAC, comes from a well-known brand in the audio business (Fiio) and most amazing of all, is priced at just Rs 999 (at Headphonezone India). Looks simple, but is made of premium materials In terms of appearance, the Fiio X Jade Audio JA11 (henceforth referred to as JA11 for the sake of simplicity) looks rather simple but is made of premium materials. It basically comprises a Type-C port on one side (to be plugged into the device and a 3.5 mm audio jack on the other for your wired earphones, with a connecting cable in between. But there are premium touches here - the body of the DAC is made of aluminium-magnesium alloy and even the cable is a high-quality palladium-plated copper cable which can minimise interference and ensure a ‘clean audio signal. Our unit is super light at barely 5 grams (as light as a TWS bud) and is actually small enough to be misplaced or lost, so we recommend keeping it attached to your wired earphones, although you can easily slip it into any wallet too. There are no buttons on it. There is some decent audio muscle inside that tiny frame. The JA11 comes with support for microphone input so it can actually be used for phone calls and recording audio, provided the device they are connected to supports them. Speaking of devices, the JA11 can not only be connected to any smartphone and tablet (iPhone, iPad and Android are supported) but also to any Windows or Mac computer. Do not go by the simple plastic package that it comes in, this is a DAC for all devices. Plug and play some very good audio - from any device! The JA11 comes with a manual that you do not need to consult at all because the DAC is as simple to use as plug-and-play. We used the JA11 with an iPhone 15 (review), the Pixel 8 Pro, the Nothing Phone 2 and a MacBook Air M1 and it worked very well with each of them. Not only did it enable us to use our wired earphones with these devices (most of which did not have 3.5 mm audio jacks), but it delivered impressively high-quality audio as well. In fact, we would say that we got better audio quality on it than most DAC dongles below Rs 1500 other than Apple’s own Type-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter, but that one does not work smoothly with non-Apple devices. While it works best with IEMs and wired earphones, we were pleasantly surprised to see it being able to work smoothly with our Sennheiser HD599 open-back headphones, and even deliver decent volumes - we did not expect a DAC with this price to be able to handle them. It even worked well with the legendary ATH-M50X, although the volume levels were a bit on the lower side. If we had to make a very rough rule of thumb, we would say that this DAC can handle most IEMs and entry-level audiophile headphones. That’s quite impressive for a DAC priced at Rs 999. Just be careful not to push it beyond its limits (about 32 Ohms impedance) - there are other, more pricey DACs for that. The JA11 has a very neutral sound signature (which will please audiophiles and those who like their audio as untouched as possible) and decodes up to 32-bit/ 384 Khz audio (quite high quality for the price), but if you want to tweak it, you can do so by downloading the rather comprehensive FiiO Control app, which lets you fiddle with EQ curves and a whole lot more. We did not really get too deep into the app, as we were more than content with the performance of the DAC out of the box. It even handled calls well, although some of the people we were speaking to said that our voice sounded a little on the faint side. All in all, the Fiio X Jade Audio - JA11 is a tiny budget audio powerhouse. It is easily the best option for those who want to enjoy high-quality music or just want to be able to use their wired headphones with their 3.5 mm jack-less smartphones without compromising on audio performance. We would say that it is pretty much a must-buy for anyone who wants great audio but is on a very tight budget. The perfect budget accessory for audiophiles? Definitely. It fits your pocket in every sense of the word. Just be careful enough to not lose it. It is a powerhouse, and it is sturdily built, yet remains very compact and light.
