We absolutely love to dive into the delicacies of fine audio. A good number of us come from backgrounds in audio, which makes this job all the better when we are given the opportunity to sit down with something like this. Throughout the office we have so many tools and devices at our beck and call, covering everything from small USB DACs to larger more powerful solutions like McIntosh. All of which aids us in the testing of gear that we receive. However, none of these devices are perfectly mobile in themselves (outside of a few USB DAC solutions of course). This is where FiiO steps in with their M9 Portable Hi-Res Audio Player (DAP).
However, calling it a “player” doesn’t quite give it the right title–depending on your definition of “player” at least. When it comes to being a portable music player, it delivers on this quite efficiently. From here though, it extends to so many other tasks. It might be best to describe the M9 as a universal Hi-Res audio solution for both wired and wireless tasks.
Design
The design of the M9 represents exactly what you would expect in a Hi-Res player. Comparable to similar models by companies like Oppo, Onkyo, and Sony.
It is small in size, measuring around 4.25″x2.5″, and about 0.5″ front to back. So it falls around half the size of a flagship phone (ie, Galaxy S+, iPhone Plus, etc), with some added thickness. It has a good amount of weight to it, but not in a bad kind of way. When you hold it in your hand, the weight installs an impression onto you of quality vs clunky. Something nice sleeps inside this device.
All of your controls are located on the left side of the player. Starting at the top (or left in the image), there is a power button for turning the player on and off, or waking the screen when it is on but idle. Then you have a wheel, gold in color, that acts as your volume. Following that is a small oval-shaped button that is your play/pause button for the active track or application. Then there is a toggle (up and down) button that controls things like track selection/skip/previous.
Below those buttons is a micro SD slot (or TF card) for expanding the memory with. The player natively has 2GB of space inside, with about 500MB (give or take) used by the OS and pre-installed apps. The SD card slot can be used to extend this by up to 2TB, giving you more than enough space for your Hi-Res collection of music.
The bottom side of the player features a 3.5mm output for headphones or line-out and also offers SPDIF digital-out using a provided 3.5mm to digital coaxial adapter (for feeding the digital input of a receiver or amp). We’ll explain that last part in a moment. There is also a 2.5mm balanced output.
To the right of these outputs is a USB-C connection that works in both directions (output of sound as well as charging for the internal battery.
The front surface of the player features an LG IPS multi-touch touchscreen (480×800 resolution) that covers a good 70% of the face and framed by the black body of the player. Below the screen is a FiiO logo that lights up as a status LED and turns color to represent such. When it is not lit, it vanishes into the black of the body.
Right out of the box, it comes with a tough silicone case and a tempered glass screen protector, both of which are already installed. So they want to make sure that it is protected from the very start. They, of course, offer additional accessories you can buy online for it, if the case it comes with doesn’t represent your own personality enough, but you really have everything you need, which is a great extra touch of focus they offer.
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Inside of the player, it features two Japanese AK4490EN DACs by AKM (Asahi Kasei Microdevices). In fact, it seems that overall, all of the chips inside of the player come from Japan, South Korea, and the US, including companies like Samsung and Texas Instruments. Everything beyond that is made and assembled in China. FiiO is a Chinese company that prides itself on delivering high-quality products from China that compete with other familiar brands around the world.
Function/Performance
The touch-screen is quite user-friendly and feels good to the touch. The screen is small, but surprisingly really easy to type with using the virtual keyboard. It is quite accurate to each press despite your finger hitting a group of characters all at the same time (“it’s reading my mind!”).
It comes preloaded with a number of apps, some more familiar than others. There is FiiO’s own FiiO Music app (player), as well as a file manager, image gallery, settings, and technical support. You then have 3rd party streaming apps.
Also See: FiiO M11 Pro Hi-Res Portable Media Player (Review)
They mention that you can install additional apps like Spotify, Deezer, and select others, but we couldn’t find the option. It comes with KKBOX, Tidal, NetEase, and MOOV only. Digging deeper, we learned that you have to visit FiiO’s website to find and download the APK files that you have to download directly to the unit to enable the additional apps. There is a list of approved/whitelisted apps that will work, along with the downloads on their site (here: https://fiio.com/newsinfo/91534.html?templateId=1133604). Then you can install the app and the icon will appear on the home screen.
It makes use of Android for its OS, however, it is a very customized port of Android, which means you won’t find anything you would normally within an Android atmosphere. The install of apps is heavily controlled to that small list of whitelisted apps and the process (as mentioned) is all manual for installing them. There is no store app/icon to download them from.
Getting started is pretty simple. It asks you to choose a language when you first power it on, but then you are right into using it. There is no need to have to log into your Google account for Android or anything. You, of course, need to log into the various streaming services, but that’s it.
So with all of this talk about streaming services, you can already see what I meant about it being more than just a simple player. However, this still isn’t the reason. Most modern digital music players have stream functions for online services. This one, however, functions beyond a player. You can connect this to a computer via USB and use it as an external USB DAC for that computer.
Yet, this still doesn’t cover everything it can accomplish. It also features bi-directional Bluetooth. You can connect wireless headphones to it, but it can also be used with a computer as a Bluetooth transmitter, giving the ability to use wireless headphones with your computer. On top of this, it also acts as a Bluetooth receiver, which means you can connect the player to a stereo and transmit Bluetooth music to it from a mobile device (this is where that coaxial connect comes into play).
So you have Hi-Res digital music player, Wi-Fi streaming with apps, external USB DAC for computers, Bluetooth receiver and transmitter for computers and stereos, and you can connect Bluetooth headphones directly to it. So, not just a portable “player”. It is a jack of all trades, that happens to support all of your favorite Hi-Res formats.
Bluetooth functionality is enhanced thanks to support for multiple Hi-Res and lossless Bluetooth codecs, including aptX/aptX HD, LDAC, HWA, and SBC. This way, wireless music sounds nearly as enhanced as your wired headphones.
This player sure has a lot going for it, which really helps to sell the $299 price tag. So what does it sound like? It sounds fantastic.
Of course, it won’t compete against something like Astell & Kern (not completely at least), but it does compete quite well with some of the brands we mentioned earlier (ie, Oppo, Onkyo, Sony, etc), all of which fall within similar price ranges or higher typically.
It pairs well with their FH5 Quad Driver in-ears, and we got similar to an even better experience in ways from other models, including Creative’s Aurvana Trio triple driver in-ears, leading to a deep bass with a great range to it, as well as other models coming from B&W and more. Honestly, it also comes down to what your ears are looking for at any given time.
It functions just as well as a USB DAC for your computer, no matter what you plug into it, instantly enhancing the audio of any system. With one small exception at least. When used as a USB DAC for a computer, it is best to only be used for music listening (for now). This is because there seems to be a significant delay of a number of seconds if you try to watch video, causing what you hear and what your eyes see to be 2-3 seconds or more out of sync depending on what your sample-rate is set to in your settings for the output device (OS). Compared to any other USB DAC we have tested, this is the first time we ran into that, and it does render watching video impossible for now. Beyond that, the sound you get in this mode is fantastic and far beyond your on-board solution/output.
It even drives Beyerdynamic’s DT 880 Premium 600 Ohm headphones wonderfully, although not as powerful as a wall-powered amp would of course. The fact that it powers them far better than your typical mobile device shows that it performs nicely as an amplifier even when portable behind battery power.
There is support for all of your favorite music formats. Of course, you have MP3 support, and a lot of retailers who sell the M9 refer to “MP3 Player” in the product title. However, if you are an audiophile using a Hi-Res player such as this, you probably will find yourself venturing toward better formats. This player supports most if not all of the files in your collection, including FLAC, WAV, DSD, AIF/AIFF, Apple Lossless, and even APE. Then, of course, you have MP3, OGG, WMA, AAC, etc.
With those larger lossless formats, you can really get this player to sing with some of the best headphones or in-ears connected to it. Even MP3 sounds pretty good, as it should with any decent DAC.
You get up to 10 hours of playback with many more in standby. We have spent a lot of time passing it around and listening to it over the course of a week and have only recharged it once. So battery life shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, you might find that battery life is better than most of the modern energy-hungry smartphones since there is nothing else going on in the OS to drag the battery down along with your listening activities. So it will definitely get you through a long day, and possibly then some.
It’s not 100% when it comes to 3rd party apps and streaming. For example, the search screen doesn’t work within Spotify. It just sits loading until you give up and switch back to the home screen or one of the other menu options. So although the app has been whitelisted, it doesn’t seem to be fit for the player just yet. Beyond that though, there isn’t much to pick at.
Our Conclusion
In all, this player has a long list of impressing things going for it when it comes to function and performance. To act as a high-resolution player, Wi-Fi streaming support, a USB DAC for your computer, Bluetooth to headphones, Bluetooth transmitter for your computer, and Bluetooth receiver for your stereo (or other devices), this thing feels like 4 devices shoved into one. It supports all of your favorite lossy and lossless formats and can power up to 600-ohm impedance headphones. It sounds really good, has a super friendly touchscreen, and feels really good in your hands. It also looks great. FiiO did very well with this one.
| Buy from Amazon | Buy from Newegg | Buy from B&H Photo | |
Our Rating | Average Price* $299.99 |
*Average price is based on the time this article was published
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Specifications can be found here.
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