The sound is very transparent, almost to the point of being dry, so I suggest using them with some cans that have a little warmth to them. I like that they have given me multiple balanced options, as I can switch between my full-size cans and IEMs without using a dongle, and the power it produces is immense. It uses the powerful Snapdragon 660 chipset with Android 10 that Fiio’s engineers have tuned, and it’s very smooth and stable. It has one of the best battery lives on test, and that’s even with the size being manageable by actually being pocketable. The Fiio M11S is a beast of a digital audio player (DAP) for its price and gives many of the features of the more expensive models without cutting out the important stuff. Codec support will help as this has 16x MQA and DSD512 baked in.īattery life is also really good if using a 3.5mm jack, I got 13 hours of playback and 10 when using balanced, which, when you consider the size and power ratio, is very good. Sound quality is second to none when paired up with capable headphones it produces a vibrant, detailed, and true-to-source material sound. That means it’s one of the most stable and smooth user experiences I have had on one of these devices. Quad DACs and dual amps drive this bad-boys sound portion, while the hardware is driven by the outstanding snapdragon 665, which is even a step up from the more expensive HD music players on this list. The original was so good it was my go-to DAP, and just recently, I replaced my iBasso DX240 with the ultra and have been loving the performance in the small and familiar package. Shanling has been working away on refining the M6 line for years now, its the company’s mid-range MP3 player, and it just keeps getting better and better. The Fiio M17 is an exercise in lunacy, a way to see how far we can push the hobby, and Fiio has certainly pushed this one, as for every bit, it’s crazy, but it’s equally brilliant. I found 6 hours was more realistic in my testing, so you must ensure you have the patience to charge it, as it takes over four hours from dead to full. The battery life is bad, especially when used in balanced setups. While the componentry is good, it’s not as portable as the DX320. Now, the issue here is this a DAP, well, yes, of course, but if I had one, I would see myself using it more as a transportable solution, taking advantage of its power system. The ES9038PRO DAC is found on full-size desktops and Hifi components, but the house (in collab with THX) amp also packs a punch.Ĭodec support is all there, including MQA 8 and DSD 512, which we like to see as many audiophiles will pair integrate this player into their full HiFi system. What impresses me most about the M17 is how Fiio managed to cram so much desktop componentry into such a small package. In a practical sense, both are elite and, in my opinion, the two best DAP’s you can buy in 2024. Everything else comes down to personal preference I have always been an iBasso user, so I stick with them. For me, the sound quality is so good on both. While the company claims 10 hours, I got between 7-8 in real-world use.Īlthough I use the iBasso DX320 daily as my mp3 player of choice, if I were to switch to another, it would be the Fiio M17. IBasso through the kitchen sink at this DAP and understandably, the draw on the battery is immense. There has to be one drawback, but of course, it’s the battery life. Ram is a healthy 6 gigabytes, and internal storage is an admittedly small 128 GB. I have never had it crash or lag on me the Snapdragon 660 chipset, while not the flagship, is ridiculously overpowered for such a device even when sifting through a microSD card filled with 500GB of music, it’s rock solid. I also love the big screen and smoothness of the Android operating system. I am less reliant on carrying external adapters because it includes three jack connectors (2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced and standard 3.5mm). Speaking of reviewing and testing, that means I switch headphones a lot. Whatever IEM or headphones I throw at it, the DX320 never seems to lack power, and that is very important to me as someone who reviews a wide variety of hard-to-drive gear. This unit sounds ridiculously good and delivers on both the power and transparency fronts, which are important when pairing it with capable HiFi equipment and headphones. It strikes a nice balance of features and price, especially when compared to more pricey options from Astell & Kern that don’t necessarily sound much better. As I mentioned above, the Ibasso DX320 is my high res music player of choice these days, and it replaced my already excellent DX300.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |