Firstly, apologies for my delay in writing this review....on a positive it has given me more time with the RM1.
DISCLAIMER
I was fortunate enough to receive an early remote for review, which was dispatched by Sunny via courier as soon as available, my thanks to Fiio for the opportunity to try out the RM1 remote prior to UK availability. I will give an honest open review based on my experience with this unit in the following paragraphs in return for your kind offer to trial the RM1 remote.
I did pop an interim review on Amazon as soon as the UK site advertised a pre-order for the RM1....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B01EVH47D8/ref=acr_search_hist_5?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=five_star&showViewpoints=0
PACKAGING
If you have previous experience of receiving a Fiio product you will note that the packaging is top-notch and there are often included extras which add even further to the premium feel of the product, the RM1 is no different and comes in a very nicely presented box which protects the remote well. Inside the box you are rewarded with the remote itself and a holder which turns the small remote into a more familiar hand-held format for a remote control....this is nicely engineered and the remote snaps reassuringly into place. As well as the hand held adaptor there is a small round holder with a curved clip that will hold the remote onto your steering wheel (I really liked this addition). There is also a small lanyard and TWO batteries....it only requires one, this is another nice touch and shows how much aftersales thought goes into Fiio's product line.
THE GOOD
Connecting to any item is very quick and easy, I know a few have mentioned about the small size of the power and pairing button - I didn't have any issues with this myself and it was a breeze to connect with my Fiio X7, mobile phone, portable speaker....1 touch and the RM1 instantly appeared visible to any devices I tried, there were no faults I could find with connection. There was no drop-out when connected and the best bit - after you have connected the first time you don't need to access the power button again so no worries if you do find the diminutive pairing button tricky you needn't tackle it again. The buttons are very comfortable to the touch and feel slightly rubber-like which means that they don't slip and have a quality finish - if they had been smooth plastic it would be more difficult to use without looking, as they are it is a very pleasant contact and the amount of pressure required along with the click when registered make this feel like a premium product. Mainly connected to my X7 (every day) I have found that there is no issue with re-pairing - just touch any button on the remote and the RM1 powers back up from sleep. I have not seen any big difference in battery life on my X7 having BT on which was the negative I was expecting as pay-off for the extra practicality of a remote. The RM1 never misses a move - every click does exactly what it should without any pausing or hiccups and actually surprised me with how well it worked.
The RM1 is flexible as it comes with either the hand-held adaptor or the steering wheel clip-on and worked with anything you care to throw at it - I tried with my Sony Xperia phone - no problems and also with my portable Denon speaker...there doesn't appear to be any less functionality with other branded equipment or different types of audio equipment. I didn't expect it to work as well as it does nor did I expect it to work with so many different devices - it seems like witchcraft
There is no doubt that the RM1 looks, feels and performs like a very expensive high-end piece of equipment - the retail price is very low for what you get. I couldn't live without this now and I would highly recommend it to anyone who uses a device in their car via an aux cable as I do. The X7 stepped up the audio in my car no end, however there was a frustration in not being able to pause or skip tracks using the normal steering wheel controls on long journeys...the RM1 fills this void perfectly.
THE BAD
Initially I reported back that it seemed to have turned my X7 back on after I had switched it off....I tried to replicate this a couple of dozen times since unsuccessfully so that was clearly user error and it doesn't do this. The only thing that I have noticed is that every now and again the might be a little stutter or jump on a track whilst playing the X7 without touching any of the buttons on the RM1, this doesn't happen a lot and will only do the odd single jitter every now and again (maybe once or twice in 30 minutes a small hiccup will occur). It is a bit annoying, but definitely not enough for me to lose the ability to skip tracks as I please in the car. I don't know whether this is caused by the RM1 or the X7 - it could possibly be fixed by firmware down the line if the communication slip is down to the X7?
Well there is no ugly to add, on the whole I really like what Fiio has done here and I think that the quality and execution is excellent - much better than I anticipated. The half a star I deducted is due to those irregular skips here and there (my X7 has never done it without the RM1) and this might be something addressed in the future....almost perfect.
If anyone has any questions not covered here then please feel free to inbox me and I'll answer wherever I can (or test further if needs be to get an answer).
DISCLAIMER
I was fortunate enough to receive an early remote for review, which was dispatched by Sunny via courier as soon as available, my thanks to Fiio for the opportunity to try out the RM1 remote prior to UK availability. I will give an honest open review based on my experience with this unit in the following paragraphs in return for your kind offer to trial the RM1 remote.
I did pop an interim review on Amazon as soon as the UK site advertised a pre-order for the RM1....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B01EVH47D8/ref=acr_search_hist_5?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=five_star&showViewpoints=0
PACKAGING
If you have previous experience of receiving a Fiio product you will note that the packaging is top-notch and there are often included extras which add even further to the premium feel of the product, the RM1 is no different and comes in a very nicely presented box which protects the remote well. Inside the box you are rewarded with the remote itself and a holder which turns the small remote into a more familiar hand-held format for a remote control....this is nicely engineered and the remote snaps reassuringly into place. As well as the hand held adaptor there is a small round holder with a curved clip that will hold the remote onto your steering wheel (I really liked this addition). There is also a small lanyard and TWO batteries....it only requires one, this is another nice touch and shows how much aftersales thought goes into Fiio's product line.
THE GOOD
Connecting to any item is very quick and easy, I know a few have mentioned about the small size of the power and pairing button - I didn't have any issues with this myself and it was a breeze to connect with my Fiio X7, mobile phone, portable speaker....1 touch and the RM1 instantly appeared visible to any devices I tried, there were no faults I could find with connection. There was no drop-out when connected and the best bit - after you have connected the first time you don't need to access the power button again so no worries if you do find the diminutive pairing button tricky you needn't tackle it again. The buttons are very comfortable to the touch and feel slightly rubber-like which means that they don't slip and have a quality finish - if they had been smooth plastic it would be more difficult to use without looking, as they are it is a very pleasant contact and the amount of pressure required along with the click when registered make this feel like a premium product. Mainly connected to my X7 (every day) I have found that there is no issue with re-pairing - just touch any button on the remote and the RM1 powers back up from sleep. I have not seen any big difference in battery life on my X7 having BT on which was the negative I was expecting as pay-off for the extra practicality of a remote. The RM1 never misses a move - every click does exactly what it should without any pausing or hiccups and actually surprised me with how well it worked.
The RM1 is flexible as it comes with either the hand-held adaptor or the steering wheel clip-on and worked with anything you care to throw at it - I tried with my Sony Xperia phone - no problems and also with my portable Denon speaker...there doesn't appear to be any less functionality with other branded equipment or different types of audio equipment. I didn't expect it to work as well as it does nor did I expect it to work with so many different devices - it seems like witchcraft
There is no doubt that the RM1 looks, feels and performs like a very expensive high-end piece of equipment - the retail price is very low for what you get. I couldn't live without this now and I would highly recommend it to anyone who uses a device in their car via an aux cable as I do. The X7 stepped up the audio in my car no end, however there was a frustration in not being able to pause or skip tracks using the normal steering wheel controls on long journeys...the RM1 fills this void perfectly.
THE BAD
Initially I reported back that it seemed to have turned my X7 back on after I had switched it off....I tried to replicate this a couple of dozen times since unsuccessfully so that was clearly user error and it doesn't do this. The only thing that I have noticed is that every now and again the might be a little stutter or jump on a track whilst playing the X7 without touching any of the buttons on the RM1, this doesn't happen a lot and will only do the odd single jitter every now and again (maybe once or twice in 30 minutes a small hiccup will occur). It is a bit annoying, but definitely not enough for me to lose the ability to skip tracks as I please in the car. I don't know whether this is caused by the RM1 or the X7 - it could possibly be fixed by firmware down the line if the communication slip is down to the X7?
Well there is no ugly to add, on the whole I really like what Fiio has done here and I think that the quality and execution is excellent - much better than I anticipated. The half a star I deducted is due to those irregular skips here and there (my X7 has never done it without the RM1) and this might be something addressed in the future....almost perfect.
If anyone has any questions not covered here then please feel free to inbox me and I'll answer wherever I can (or test further if needs be to get an answer).
