Aarghh… I’ve now done the research I should have done before I impulse-bought the Pioneer - never having been an Android user, I was blissfully unaware of the automatic sample rate conversion that occurs. It appears that, without a third party app like UAPP, every bit of the audio is messed-with by the OS. CD quality music transferred to the player is resampled from 44.1 to 48 on playback, and the Qobuz and Tidal apps appear to output to the system audio to the detriment of the sound (I heard strange artifacts on Qobuz HiRes in particular). It also did not appear that Tidal streaming was outputting in MQA where available. I might have muddled along using UAPP, but it appears to not be able to download Qobuz and Tidal offline.
The good news … I am sending it back for a refund and have ordered an iBasso DX220 from Headphones.com (with the AMP9 as an add-on).
Oooh! Amp9 dat nutube is noice! I’ve only heard it on the Cayin N8, I’m very curious on how it sounds on theses! Please keep us informed on your thoughts!
I believe if you use the Stock player, it will not resample, but other players you install from the Play Store will resample without some system-level modifications. As of today, I was the only one to actually root and mod that model, but I no longer have it anymore.
I wasn’t sure - didn’t detect any sound changes when playing redbook content, but the player itself said “FLAC 44.1 MHz / PCM 48MHz” on the playing screen, so I just assumed.
I read your review on the iBasso models - thanks for that.
Makes sense. I have not tried any of the othe Fiio DAP’s, so I have no idea whether or not they are of a lesser quality. The M11 has a great UI, long battery life and a great sound; for the price I think it is a bargin and to top it I would guess you need an iBasso 220. But that is +$300 so the M11 is in a sweet spot re price vs quality.
Mine is not a Pro, but I have never experienced noise with my IEM’s, so I am happy!
$500 is for me an acceptable price and I don’t see the value in paying $800 for the minimal increase in quality, so I hope to see more DAP’s at that price point.
Yea the M11 is really fast and good battery. That was my favorite part of it, and it looks really nice with a vibrant screen. The M11’s upper midrange and treble was really good. Made things sound very clean, airy and detailed and yes, the jump to the next bracket would be $1000ish and its smaller gains, just like most things in this hobby.
That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. I guess the good thing about the release of the M15 is that it might drive the cost of other models down. And who knows, Fiio might release an M17 before the end of the year, or at least an M15 Pro.
Oh I agree. Whilst I think that the lower priced products have a place in the market and are good value I would be a little uneasy to invest in this without a thorough research. But on the other hand their other higher end stuff have been well received. It’s just they are straying into the big boys market. I would like the them to succeed though as competition is great for everyone.
Agreed. I’m sure the M15 will be well-received. It would be nice if it would rival some of A&K’s higher end offerings. I’m always amazed at the prices that A&K and some other companies ask for some of their DAPs. The flagship Sony DAP (which I feel the M15 slightly resembles) retails at over $3000. If Fiio can rival the performance of these summit-fi DAPs at 1/2 or 1/3 the cost of others while offering more features I’d be thrilled. They’ve done a good job in the past offering well-performing devices at competitive prices. Maybe it will be time for me to retire my old Onkyo DP-X1 and move on to something new and shiny. I only wish it would come with dual micro-SD card slots. With 1TB micro-SD cards now available the thought of having my entire music library on a DAP would be great.
I got the M11, 9 months ago and both the M11 Pro and now the M15 have been launched/announced. Neither are needed as they don’t bring anything really new to the market. It is better to upgrade the headphone than to upgrade from M11.
Fiio is doing this all wrong and they are more aliniating their customer base than maintaining them. And the price of $1300 is hilarious; $499 for the M11 was perfect, but spending $800 more (and in Europe even more with taxes) for the M15 is as intelligent, as throwing a brick in the air and stating that what it is doing is called “flying”. I for one is not going to buy it - it is a waste of money.
it is rather sexy… I ended up getting the stainless steel one, mainly because I could get it before i was leaving on a trip. The build quality on that thing was impressive, though it’s got some weight to it.
I would say that Fiio going over a kilobuck seems a bit risky to me. That said, the M15 looks nice and fancy. But a kilobuck for a company that makes products that are or should be under $500 is a big jump.
I hope I am wrong of course. Nice to see Fiio stepping up their game.
