FiiO M11S

I have an A&K SR25 MK1 and whilst I loved the sound, the UI was laggy, the screen small and the overall experience of browsing sub par. Daps are probably seen as surplus to requirements these days, but I like having something that is for just one thing, listening to music. Having the full Android experience, it means you can use any of your preferred streaming options, or load it with your own tunes via the MicroSD Slot. I wanted something portable that I could use around the house with headphones to listen to Roon, or on the go via Roon Arc, both of which it works perfectly with. It also works with Apple Music, You Tube Music, Qobuz and Tidal, all tested, all working and more importantly, snappy to boot. The only drawback with Roon, and its a software issue not the device, is that it uses Android audio and doesn't bypass it which means it gets downsampled (you'd have to have golden ears to tell the difference). If this bothers you, you can also use it as a USB DAC, or add your own DAC for bit perfect playback, or a bluetooth transmitter or receiver. It supports LHDC too, so pairs nicely with Fiio UTWS5. Battery life is good and charges via USB C. Includes 3.5 Single ended, 2.5 balanced and 4.4 balanced outputs. Plenty of power, I can't have it on max volume with any headphone combination I own (sadly(?), more than I care to mention). Size wise, its quite a big boi, but reassuringly so, I probably wouldn't go running with it. A versatile, performant DAP and exactly what I was looking for, actually much much better than I thought it would be.

I've had this for around 9 months now and can safely say i've thrown everything musically at this and can't find a single fault,i noticed a few people say that it didn't have enough bass well being someone who is a drum and bass head i find it throws more than enough bass into my earholes,sometimes too much,i guess it all depends on the IEM'S or OEM'S that you use as i've thrown at least a dozen sets of IEM'S at it and it's pushed them all to the limit and the OEM'S i've used have been pushed to the limit,the only ones that really struggled were my Bowers And Wilkins PX8s which couldn't handle the bass. Someone suggested there phone sounded better,seriously,i've got a samsung galaxy s23 with poweramp installed and it doesn't come close and that's over £500 plus more than the Fiio so i'm going to respectfully disagree that a decent phone sounds better,i've got a number of daps including the Astell and Kern norma and the AK70 and they dont sound as good as this which i have to admit surprises me to this day. All in all a very very good Dap with no faults that i can find,the os is smooth as silk and the sound quality is better than some of the more expensive Daps out there,if your looking for a mid range priced Dap that sound closer to a high end product then look no further. Lastly i wouldn't bother paying out extra on the M11 Plus as a friend of mine has one and you honestly can't tell the difference between the M11s and the M11 Plus.

First off, as a product, this device is superb for the most. The android system works well and is responsive, the Fiio music app that is preinstalled works well and the all important sound is very clear The bad point is that is am struggling to get any real bass from it. I have played with all the settings including the EQ settings in the audio apps to try and increase the bass, and it just isnt happening. The headphones I have tried with it all have good bass presence on my old Pioneer XD100 hi res player and any other devices I use them on, and therefore I conclude that the Fiio, whilst nice and clear, just has no bass. The headphones in question are Shure Aeonic 3, Onkyo E700m, beyer dynamic dt770 (80ohm) cans and lastly my Cambridge Audio melomania buds. Yet no bass. And this really does affect certain types of music as I am just left missing the full presence that many songs should have. If I pair it with an old Fiio headphone amp I have, I can get a good amount of bass. So not all is lost. But for a £500 dap, I shouldn't need to rely on an additional amp to get the required bass levels. But the levels of bass really are the only draw back to this device. Everything else is very good. EDIT: I have moved my score from 3 stars to 4 due to a change of headphones. So word to the wise - if you purchase this and are underwhelmed by either the sound of the bass - it may be the headphones you have paired it with. I have just bought a pair of B&W PX7 S2's and both sound quality and bass have improved over my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pros and also my Shure Aeonic 3 in ears. Despite these both being 5 star headphones in their own right. Clearly some headphones just suit the Fiio better than others.

I have owned a number of DAPS over the last eight or so years including models from A&K, Sony and Shanling. The Fiio M11S is, by some considerable distance, better than any of them. It scores on every dimension: sound quality, functionality, easy of use, UI.

I dithered over buying a FiiO for 2 years before splashing out on this. Yes, it's a boy's toy. Yes, it's expensive (but not as expensive as some similar kit). Yes, it does nothing a premium phone doesn't. But with good wired headphones it delivers music to a quality that phones on bluetooth can't match. Now I can't imagine how I ever managed without it. UPDATE Less tha 3 years on and elation has turned to woe. FiiO has not updated the Androis OS which remains V10; v16 is the current version. Updated Apps now won't work. Th M11S is heading for obselescence already. If this is how FiiO treats its customers then they have seen the last of me

Got it yesterday, added apple music and tidal, and a 1Tb microsd card, and using my Moondrop KATO earphones the sound is superb. I was worried it wouldn't have enough power to drive the headphones to a decent volume, but I've not gone over 70 on the output yet, and I listen to it loud. Edit: using open backed over ear headphones (Beyer Dynamic T1 3rd gen) obviously needs more driving, but I’ve still not put the volume over 85 :-) Rich, detailed and a lovely warmth; for me much more preferable to A&K. And as it’s Android it supports logging into hotel Wi-Fi (I.e. it shows the room popup), whereas the A&K doesn’t. Came with a very usable plastic case. Excellent player, highly recommended.

I wanted a DAP that had a balanced headphone out and could run Qobuz and play from a network share as well as internal memory. This basically does everything. The internal headphone amplifier seems well able to drive my Sennheiser HD600s with a balanced cable. WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity are also excellent. It plays Hi Res and DSD files without any problem.

Upgraded to this from the Fiio M7, which was a great player but was too small. This one is better in every way, except that it's too big and heavy. I feel like Goldilocks. Sound-wise, this is a clear improvement over the M7 - much more detail, better clarity across the frequency range, reaches deeper in the sub-bass... just a clear upgrade in every way. And that applies whether your earphones are wired or bluetooth. Performance-wise, it's a massive upgrade: quicker in every way - especially in scanning the library, which takes a fraction of the time the M7 takes; bigger, better screen, quicker to come to life from standby, and better battery life. Of course, that increase in performance comes at a price, but for me it's totally worth it. Pretty much all the annoyances and niggles that I grew to hate about the M7 are done away with here. The only thing that bothers me about this device is that it's big and heavy - so much so that if you put it in a coat pocket, you'll feel it weighing that side of your coat down; and when I put it in my jeans pocket and walked a couple of miles with it, I ended up with a red mark on my thigh from where it dug in and rubbed. 6 months later and that mark is still there! As a desktop device, or something to put in a bag or rucksack, I can't fault it. As a portable device, to stick in a pocket, it's not so great. But it does sound incredible.