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What about the Fiio DAPs?

Fregly

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I'm interested in the Fiio M11 just released, however it's all just advertising pap and audiophile nonsense without measurements. So I am reluctant to commit without Amir giving it the once over. Anyone have experience with this or the other Fiio DAPs? I am hoping Fiio will send one for assessment.
 

Patrick1958

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I'm interested in the Fiio M11 just released, however it's all just advertising pap and audiophile nonsense without measurements. So I am reluctant to commit without Amir giving it the once over. Anyone have experience with this or the other Fiio DAPs? I am hoping Fiio will send one for assessment.
According to this site the FiiO DAPs measure better than more expensive DAPs.
 

dmac6419

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It's the real deal,you won't be disappointed, you won't find better for $450 or maybe even a $1000,no play store, works with jremote,eos,neutron,foobar and others, sounds good to me.Oh and they have a pro version too.
 

Jorj

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Was all ready to say my little Cayin N3 is just fine (and it is) but the new M11 Pro is going to have THX AAA amplification, apparently. Now I'm all interested, provided I can remote control the DAP from my phone, as I do with the Cayin.

It's so nice to have the IEMs in, the player in my pocket and change songs\volume from the phone, which I'm staring at anyway.
 

dmac6419

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Was all ready to say my little Cayin N3 is just fine (and it is) but the new M11 Pro is going to have THX AAA amplification, apparently. Now I'm all interested, provided I can remote control the DAP from my phone, as I do with the Cayin.

It's so nice to have the IEMs in, the player in my pocket and change songs\volume from the phone, which I'm staring at anyway.
If I knew the pro was coming out I would have got that one, I can still return the m11 ,buts that's not my m.o.,if you get the pro let me know how it sound.
 

Jorj

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Oh, I'm sure it sounds better than my ears can distinguish, and again, I'd be hard-pressed to A\B against my current portable. We're WAY past nervosa at this point, and now we're just buying stuff cause it looks cool and new. IOW, novelty whores. Seriously, when it comes to audio, I don't need to spend a single dollar on anything other than more music for quite some time to come, if ever. It's just fun, like the new, even lighter custom wheels I just mounted on my Chiron. /s

And yes, the Fiio Link app lets you control the M11 remotely, so I'll be watching them. I'm a bit broke after the wheels, so maybe when they go on sale. :D
 
OP
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Fregly

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Oh, with the new amp very tempting indeed.
 

JJB70

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To be honest I find differences between DAPs (and even smartphones) to be so marginal (even where discernible) that the lower end models are all you need. I have a Shanling M3s I bought in a clearance sale and it is a nicely made device with sufficient power and is audibly transparent.
 

Tool

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Ive got two Daps, Fiio 7 Mk2 with amp3 (2.5 ballanced output) and Ibasso Dx80, Using it all the time, and i'm not going to change any of it
till death do us all part:), but seriously its better to spend more and fully receive what you paying for than spand half and miss the half you dont get.
 

Robin L

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I'm a total audio cheapskate, got interested in the Fiio offerings due to their high capacity and low cost after years of dealing with I-Pods. I'm currently using my M3K as my primary source for listening to music, with a first generation X1 as a back-up. The M3K is loaded with just under 500gb of Apple Lossless files, that makes for over 2000 hours of music. A 400gb micro sd card that I loaded up via the M3K works fine in the X1, even though the X1 is only designed to use a maximum of 128 gb. As far as I can tell, the SQ is better than what I have been hearing for years via standard CD players. Seems that by the time 24/192 became an industry standard, the sound quality of digital files improved. I've notice that older digital [early Laurie Anderson, original issue CDs as a source] have better low-level resolution in playback on the Fiio gear then they do on my [older] Sony CD players. I'd guess that the lack of moving parts with their variable current draws makes these small, cheap devices more stable as regards current. In any case I am impressed by how much quality sound can come from these cheap players.
 

tential

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I'm a total audio cheapskate, got interested in the Fiio offerings due to their high capacity and low cost after years of dealing with I-Pods. I'm currently using my M3K as my primary source for listening to music, with a first generation X1 as a back-up. The M3K is loaded with just under 500gb of Apple Lossless files, that makes for over 2000 hours of music. A 400gb micro sd card that I loaded up via the M3K works fine in the X1, even though the X1 is only designed to use a maximum of 128 gb. As far as I can tell, the SQ is better than what I have been hearing for years via standard CD players. Seems that by the time 24/192 became an industry standard, the sound quality of digital files improved. I've notice that older digital [early Laurie Anderson, original issue CDs as a source] have better low-level resolution in playback on the Fiio gear then they do on my [older] Sony CD players. I'd guess that the lack of moving parts with their variable current draws makes these small, cheap devices more stable as regards current. In any case I am impressed by how much quality sound can come from these cheap players.
I'll be interested in fiio daps when they decide to fix the android src issue, and to include a serious processor. Until the daps are tested, they all are pretty equivalent to me. Fiio m11 stood alone in this price bracket, but now the hiby r5, Ibasso DX160(terrible processor, not remotely impressed), and Shanling have entered the mix, with the Shanling being more expensive at $500, and with the hiby and Shanling fixing the src issue, these are the 2 daps in this price bracket that are most relevant.

I'd love to buy and send one to amir though. Either the new r5 or the Shanling m6
 

Robin L

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I'll be interested in fiio daps when they decide to fix the android src issue, and to include a serious processor. Until the daps are tested, they all are pretty equivalent to me. Fiio m11 stood alone in this price bracket, but now the hiby r5, Ibasso DX160(terrible processor, not remotely impressed), and Shanling have entered the mix, with the Shanling being more expensive at $500, and with the hiby and Shanling fixing the src issue, these are the 2 daps in this price bracket that are most relevant.

I'd love to buy and send one to amir though. Either the new r5 or the Shanling m6
I'll have to have "android src issue" explained to me. The GUI of the M3K is funky, what's worse is when the unit locks up so one cannot advance far enough to play a file. However, there is a work-around. I've been having mine play continuously rather than powering up and down. However, I did have to send my first M3K back after it locked up and the work-around stopped working. Fortunately, Fiio sent a new one back to me.
 

dmac6419

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I'll be interested in fiio daps when they decide to fix the android src issue, and to include a serious processor. Until the daps are tested, they all are pretty equivalent to me. Fiio m11 stood alone in this price bracket, but now the hiby r5, Ibasso DX160(terrible processor, not remotely impressed), and Shanling have entered the mix, with the Shanling being more expensive at $500, and with the hiby and Shanling fixing the src issue, these are the 2 daps in this price bracket that are most relevant.

I'd love to buy and send one to amir though. Either the new r5 or the Shanling m6
So you don't have any fiio equipment,so what daps do you currently own if i may ask.
 

Berwhale

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I like Fiio (I own a BTR1, BTR3 and K3) and I considered buying a Fiio M9 as it has a balanced output that would be useful for driving my IEMs. However, I couldn't face the prospect of carrying another box around. At the beginning of the Millennium, I carried 2 phones and a Blackberry on my belt and an iPaq and DAP in my pockets - I spent the next ten years trying to converge these devices (mostly successful). So I decided that the funds would be better put towards a smart phone upgrade.

My current portable setup is:

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 8G/512GB + 512GB microSD (contains ~450GB of FLACs) + USB Audio Player Pro (with MQA license) + Radsone EarStudio ES100 + Pinnacle P1 IEMs with Fiio balanced MMCX cable.

I have the the ES100 and P1's on a home made lanyard so I can hang it around my neck, but still clip it to my shirt if it starts to swing while I walk to and from work.

20190903_191645.jpg

I know Amir has mentioned that he has an ES100 and expressed a desire to test it. I'd quite like to see the results.
 

tential

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So you don't have any fiio equipment,so what daps do you currently own if i may ask.
I started with ipods.
Moved to usb attached to smartphone.
I now use the es100 with my phone.

I've kept tracked the dap industry and the hiby r6 was the first dap to fix all of the issues I have with daps. Now I've just waited for a version that fit my needs. That's the r5 for me. So waiting for it to come out and hoping there isn't some weird issue. That looks to be my first dap outside of ipods, or older jriver /rca.

But many people are happy with neutron or whatever.

I track my data, and keep my own metrics rather than letting Spotify, Netflix, etc. (I believe if you don't want to be tracked... And want to track your own data, set up your own home server to do so), and use my own home server to do so. I currently use iTunes for music backend, since I don't know of any docker I can use to hook into my server that allows music Metadata sync. Maybe plex? Emby? I'll learn more about that but iTunes has worked, and I'll move to mediamonkey and use my built up flac files once I'm ready to deal with such a large database change.
Without something that can bypass android src, well when I asked amir to test it with the LG g7 he said it did matter for snr test for bypass android src vs not.

This is why I want to coordinate with amir testing of the hiby r5, but I still am waiting on the es100, and he owns that one. It feels like he's not as interested in portables given he's had that on hand for a long time which makes me think I'll have to wait a long while before I see some legit tests from amir on dap performance.

I will be buying the hidzis ap120 dap. Only to use for pc ldac transmission as crazily, there aren't ldac transmitters for pc easily available. I had to find this obscure way after looking for days online. The fiio daps have latency lag. Don't know how fiio can't get that right yet, but they say an update is supposed to fix it. We'll see. Better than having to be wired to the home theater pc for TV if I want to use headphones.

I'm very happy I waited too, the hiby r8 is a 4g enabled dap. Just announced. Looks very beefy. Too bad we don't see them tested. Can't wait to hear more
 

GentleEars

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First time poster here. I'm trying to upgrade my stereo setup from an old Marantz NR1403 (AV amplifier model, bought in Japan) driving a pair of B&W 685 S1 speakers, to a pure music listening system. My source is mainly Spotify, and I currently use Amazon Echo's audio out, connected to the RCA in of my NR1403. I'm thinking of starting by getting a better streamer. My candidates are:

1) Allo Katana (maybe with Shanti PSU), connected to amplifier (seems to be best bang for the back), or
1) Allo DigiOne Signature, connected to Toppings D50s, connected to amplifier (seems like a more flexible system, consisting of three parts), or
2) Fiio M11's LINE-out connected to amplifier (seems like a simplest solution, recommended by my brother)

My question is, how does the sound quality of Fiio M11's LINE-out compare to Allo Katana, or Allo Digione Signature through Topping D50s?

For amplifier, I'm thinking of either Cambridge Audio CXA80, or Roksan K3 Integrated. I'll keep the speakers for now.
 

tential

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First time poster here. I'm trying to upgrade my stereo setup from an old Marantz NR1403 (AV amplifier model, bought in Japan) driving a pair of B&W 685 S1 speakers, to a pure music listening system. My source is mainly Spotify, and I currently use Amazon Echo's audio out, connected to the RCA in of my NR1403. I'm thinking of starting by getting a better streamer. My candidates are:

1) Allo Katana (maybe with Shanti PSU), connected to amplifier (seems to be best bang for the back), or
1) Allo DigiOne Signature, connected to Toppings D50s, connected to amplifier (seems like a more flexible system, consisting of three parts), or
2) Fiio M11's LINE-out connected to amplifier (seems like a simplest solution, recommended by my brother)

My question is, how does the sound quality of Fiio M11's LINE-out compare to Allo Katana, or Allo Digione Signature through Topping D50s?

For amplifier, I'm thinking of either Cambridge Audio CXA80, or Roksan K3 Integrated. I'll keep the speakers for now.
We'll find out when amir reviews more of them. The vast majority of knowledge out there is subjective. I haven't seen tests, which makes it very hard for me to part with my money.

Since you're using Spotify, I'd probably just to with an LG. V whatever, used for super cheap and use it like that. I doubt there will be an audible ab test dfference.
 
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