FiiO M11S assessment: One-minute assessment
The M11S moveable music participant by FiiO is comparatively small and reasonably priced in comparison with its rivals, reminiscent of Astell & Kern which provide massive and costly options. When you think about the M11S’s specs, its quite a few connectivity choices and the standard of its construct and end, it’s laborious to not shake the concept that the M11S would possibly virtually be a cut price.
In virtually each sonic respect, the FiiO M11S makes a really persuasive case for itself. Its presentation is massive however detailed, punchy however managed, and upfront with out being raucous. It’s an entertaining and informative pay attention and is admirably unfussy about the usual of the audio information you’re taking part in. By the requirements of in the present day’s music gamers, it’s not choosy in regards to the form of headphones you pair it with both (though ‘higher’ is all the time higher, in fact).
The FiiO M11S is certainly constructed to compete with the opposite moveable music gamers in our finest MP3 gamers information, irrespective of how high-quality your information are. It is solely when treble copy is anxious that the M11S overplays its hand. We’re all for ‘energetic’, in fact, however the line needs to be drawn someplace – and within the case of this FiiO moveable music participant, that line is just a bit earlier than the place the treble assault turns into an excessive amount of.
FiiO M11S assessment: Value and launch date
- Launched in January, 2023
- Prices $499 / £489 / round AU$799
The FiiO M11S was launched in January 2023 and prices $499 / £489 / round AU$799.
That is some huge cash for a product that does not do way more than your smartphone. However then it’s equally truthful to say that moveable music gamers usually value an ideal deal greater than this, whether or not they’re made by FiiO or a competing model.
When the Fiio M11 launched again in 2019 it got here with an analogous price ticket, costing £449 / $459 / AU$699. However as of late one of the best audio gamers, just like the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP2000T, will set you again an eye-watering $2,399 / £1,999 / AU$3,599. It is in all probability finest to check the FiiO M11S with the model’s costly but extra reasonably priced Astell & Kern A&norma SR25 MKII mannequin, which is $749 / £699 / AU$1,099.
FiiO M11S assessment: Design
- Premium appear and feel
- 720 x 1280 HD touchscreen
- Weighs 271g
By smartphone requirements, the M11S is chunky; by moveable music gamers, the M11S is notably compact and handy. It measures 125 x 74 x 19mm / 4.9 x 2.9 x 0.7 inches and weighs 271g / 9.6 oz. Though these should not inconsiderable numbers, they represent brevity on the planet of media gamers.
The standard of the M11S’s construct and end is equally notable. It makes use of machined aluminium for its body, with simply sufficient non-parallel sides to make it (barely) attention-grabbing. The rear is of pretty prosaic plastic, whereas the entrance (which is sort of fully touchscreen) is glass and is factory-fitted with a tempered glass display screen protector. Every part matches seamlessly, there are not any uncovered bolt-heads or something distasteful like that, and the general normal of supplies and development offers the FiiO the air of a premium product.
FiiO M11S assessment: Options
- Android 10 working system
- 32bit/384kbps twin DACs
- Touchscreen is easy and responsive
The M11S is designed to get the job achieved and completely. Which means twin ESS ES9038Q2M DACs (one for the left channel, one for the best) able to coping with digital audio information of as much as 32bit/384kHz and DSD256 decision, with MQA decoding accessible too. It additionally means a three-stage Texas Devices op/amp amplification association, with every stage individually powered to maintain the noise ground to a class-leading 1.8uV. And it means 32GB of inside reminiscence, with a microSD card slot accessible once you inevitably require extra.
There are three headphone sockets on the underside of the participant: your common-or-garden 3.5mm unbalanced output, and a pair of.5mm and 4.4mm balanced options – the three.5mm socket doubles as a digital coaxial output (maxing out at 32bit/384kHz and DSD128) in case you wish to join your M11S to an exterior DAC.
There’s additionally a USB-C socket down right here. This socket is used for charging the battery (you need to anticipate no fewer than 10 and not more than 14 hours of playback from a single cost, relying on the way you’re listening and to what), and it’s additionally how you utilize the FiiO as among the finest moveable DACs. As an illustration, connect it to your laptop computer over USB, and immediately your pc turns into a sound supply of high-quality audio. This configuration can take care of information of as much as 32bit/768kbps and DSD512.
In the event you want wi-fi to wired headphones, the M11S makes use of Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity, with help for SBC, AAC, aptX-HD and LDAC codecs. In addition to transmitting, it might probably additionally function a Bluetooth receiver, wirelessly taking up board digital audio data from one other supply (though it does lose its aptX-HD talents when working on this course). It’s additionally packing Wi-Fi connectivity.
The 720 x 1280 five-inch touch-screen is easy and responsive, because of the identical Snapdragon 660 controller unit (with eight Kyro cores) as FiiO deploys in its flagship M17 media participant. It’s on no account essentially the most up-to-the-minute controller round, nevertheless it does the enterprise in effective model.
The personalized model of Android 10 that FiiO is utilizing as an interface can be acquainted to anybody who’s ever used a non-iOS smartphone, and it’s simple to put in any and all related apps. And you are able to do so with out worrying about affecting audio efficiency – one of many M11S’s working modes is known as ‘pure music’, which successfully frees the participant from the noise and interference that a number of open apps could cause.
Along with the touchscreen, a couple of bodily controls cowl the fundamentals. That is useful if you wish to put your hand in your pocket to function the FiiO reasonably than fish it out. On the best are three buttons dealing with ‘skip forwards’, ‘skip backwards’ and ‘play/pause’; on the left, there’s ‘energy on/off’ and a ‘customized’ button, the operate of which may be specified within the participant’s set-up menus. A carbon-fiber impact ‘slider’ offers with ‘quantity up/down’. The dearer FiiO M11 Plus lets you swipe to regulate quantity, nevertheless it works as a rocker right here.
FiiO M11S assessment: Audio efficiency
- Punchy, managed and detailed sound
- Dynamic heft to spare
- Just a little latent treble bother
There are some decent-sounding smartphones round, that’s for certain. However what’s additionally true is {that a} devoted moveable music participant – even one as comparatively reasonably priced because the FiiO M11S – leaves even essentially the most achieved smartphone within the mud in relation to sound high quality.
You don’t need to pay attention lengthy, laborious, or by particularly achieved headphones to grasp the M11S is the actual deal. In each significant music-making respect, it has abilities – and in some areas, it’s a real professional.
To determine precisely what the FiiO is able to, I examined it with Sennheiser IE900 earbuds utilizing a 4.4mm balanced termination and Technics EAH-AZ60 true wi-fi earbuds through Bluetooth. Digital audio content material varies from poverty-spec MP3 information to massive 24bit/192kHz information, and DSD64 tracks. And irrespective of the specifics, the general outcomes stay constant: the FiiO is a energetic, informative and convincing pay attention, often too enthusiastic for its personal good.
So far as the nuts and bolts of music-making are involved, the M11S is well-judged throughout the board. Tonally, it’s impartial throughout all the frequency vary within the Goldilocks model: not too heat or chilly, however excellent. It shapes low frequencies effectively, offers them actual weight and substance however retains them straight-edged and immediate on the similar time, so rhythmic expression is nice, and momentum is plain. Element ranges are as excessive right here as they’re all through the frequency vary – though the quantity of knowledge the FiiO can unearth and ship by the midrange is tough to compete with.
The M11S is insightful sufficient to make minor or transient info obvious, and it might probably describe essentially the most nuanced dynamic variations in a solo instrument with ease. It has greater than sufficient headroom to dispatch the massive dynamic shifts with no problem, and it might probably additionally describe a giant, extensive and correctly outlined soundstage.
It’s actually solely the highest of the frequency vary that could possibly be described as ‘problematic’. Treble sounds are simply as detailed, simply as strong and simply as loaded with variation as every little thing that occurs beneath them, and the mixing between the midrange and the highest finish is so easy as to be imperceptible. However irrespective of the way you would possibly search to govern the FiiO’s quite a few EQ settings, achieve controls, playback modes and numerous different strategies of finessing the general character of the sound, treble sounds are by no means lower than enthusiastic and may, within the mistaken circumstances or when given an unsympathetic recording to take care of, edge in direction of the relentless.
Nobody needs their music participant to roll off the highest of the frequency vary, in fact, however the M11S goes just a bit too far within the different course. In the event you’re listening utilizing equally balanced headphones, the brightness of the participant’s treble response might conceivably get a bit a lot.
- Audio efficiency rating: 4.5/5
FiiO M11S assessment: Worth
- Cheaper than A&Okay’s nearest rival
- Filled with versatile options
- Not a game-changing package deal, although
The Fiio M11S does a superb job of gently undercutting the actual rival elephant within the room, which is the Astell & Kern a&norma SR25 Mk II. You’ve got acquired so many nice choices, such nice sound, and such high-spec components that it is very simple to take a look at the saving and resolve it is value placing into a pleasant high-capacity microSD card as a substitute of the higher-priced music participant.
However it’s nonetheless a premium product general, and quite a bit to spend past the telephone you already personal. It is not going to rock the music participant trade, nevertheless it delivers worth that others are going to need to step as much as match.
Ought to I purchase the FiiO M11S?
Part | Notes | Rating |
---|---|---|
Design | Premium appear and feel with an 720 x 1280 HD touch-screen. | 4/5 |
Options | Heaps to like when it comes to specs, operating on Android 10 working system with a touchscreen that is easy and responsive. | 4.5/5 |
Audio efficiency | Just a little treble bother, however general a punchy, managed and detailed sound. | 4.5/5 |
Worth | Undercuts the competitors very properly, however nonetheless a premium worth for premium options. | 4/5 |