I am writing a review for the FiiO M9 Review tour. I received the FiiO M9 on Christmas Eve as a early Christmas present. I was sad when I had to send it to the next reviewer.
I am new to the reviewing game, but have been an audiophile for almost 30 years. I really enjoy vinyl, class A amplifiers, and good tower speakers with full range sound. But I am also practical and enjoy the convenience of portability and access to virtually limitless streaming source material. The FiiO M9 definitely fills the later bill. It is a nice small package with excellent sound, battery life, and access to all sorts of source material. It’s single ended output, balanced output, and excellent Bluetooth allow for use on many different types of headphones. It can also do duty as a USB DAC/amp, Airplay receiver, and Bluetooth receiver. Overall, the FiiO M9 covers all the bases for an excellent portable setup. If I had to go on an extended trip where I could only take one audio player, I would choose an M9.
Build and Feel
The M9 has a solid feel with its aluminum frame, IPS screen, and very nice volume control and playback buttons. There is also a microSD card slot. I had no problem using a Sandisk 200GB card that was prewritten on my PC with all kinds of music including MP3, AAC, FLAC, ALAC, and DSD. It has three connectors on the bottom, one multi-use single ended headphone/line-out/coaxial SPDIF, one balanced output, and one USB C input/output. The headphone single-ended output supports in-line controls on headphones, and I had not problems using either IOS or Android compatible remotes.
Hand feel is very nice and works very well holding it in my left hand to use my thumb for controlling the volume, buttons, and screen. The buttons are very easy to accidentally press, which can be a problem as I accidentally stopped or changed tracks more than I would have liked. It would be nice if there were some sort of button lock switch.
I also ran into an issue with the M9, when held in my hand, whenever I would touch the headphone connector, which is easy when holding in my palm, the volume would rapidly change, mostly up, sometime down. [Edit: after corresponding with FiiO, they believe this to be an isolated problem with the review unit.] This is very annoying and would sometime cause the volume to exceed to ear damaging levels. I eventually had to turn off the in-line control feature in menus to alleviate the problem. Not a big deal since most of the time I use the device within hands reach anyway, but still, an annoyance and inconvenience if I want to put the device in my pocket while walking around.
The software is very good, running a customized version of Android, and it appears to be stable. The built-in media player does an admirable job of playback; however, I did occasionally notice audible gaps when playing back some gapless material. It was inconsistent, and most likely due to not having enough a read ahead buffer, as I found it hard to reproduce, but it was occasionally noticeable. Otherwise, I think the built-in player is fine, although it is not the easiest to navigate large music collections. I didn’t see any obvious way to quickly scroll to the artist or album I wanted to listen to. But once I was there, it was pretty easy to select and play what I wanted.
Usability
I had no problem playing back any type of audio file. As previously mentioned, I had everything from 256K and 320K MP3s, both VBR and fixed, 256K AAC, Lossless ALAC, FLAC up to 24bit/96Khz, and 256 DSD. I also used the Tidal app with Lossless and Master Quality Audio through the USB DAC interface.
The most interesting use I found for the M9 as a USB DAC for PC/MAC/IOS. For the PC, I had to load the FiiO driver on my SurfaceBook 2 to get it to work. Once I did, I was able to playback with MusicBee, the Tidal desktop app in MQA, and Google Desktop Music Player. All worked with no problem. From the Mac I used Apple Music and no driver was required. And with the Apple Camera Connection Kit, I was able to connect my iPhone and iPod to the M9. Interestingly, I was only able to use the USB 2.0 CCK, the USB 3.0 CCK did not recognize the M9. Also, I was unable to get the M9 to connect to the iPhone or iPad with AirPlay (it didn’t show up in the output list), but I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to get it to work.
Sound
The M9 sounds great. I had no problem driving IEMs or full-size cans. I tested the M9 mostly with FiiO F5 IEMs using the balanced cable. The balanced output of the M9 is powerful and has a really nice open sound with the F5s. The F5s still sounded good with the remote single ended cable, but I definitely like the sound of the balanced output better. It was more controlled, impactful, open, and had very good definition.
Other IEMs I used with the M9 were Shure SE215, 1More Triple Driver, and MEE A161p – all single ended. The M9 made the Shures shine with really nice impact and smooth treble. I was not a fan of the Triple Driver sound, but it did have a powerful punch but the treble was too laid back for me (that’s not the M9’s fault though, I just didn’t like the 1Mores in general). The A161s were very balanced sounding, having a good sparkle and midrange.
I also used the M9 with my Beyer DT880s and Sennheiser HD518s. Both sounded excellent, while I had to crank the gain up to high on the DT880s to drive their 250 Ohm impedance. I didn’t notice any distortion with the high gain, and the DT880’s sounded excellent. There was plenty of sub bass and the midrange and treble were outstanding, maybe a little on the bright side (but not sibilant). There was no coloration I could discern from the M9 and the DT880s presentation was nothing short of excellent. The HD518s were also good with a fuller bass and less treble than the DT808s, but that is what you would expect. I enjoyed to listening to both sets with the M9.
Another option I tried was Bluetooth with my Bower & Wilkens PX. The PX immediately connected with AptX HD and the sound was sublime. The PX is my absolute favorite set of cans to listen to, I love the bass presentation and the midrange and treble are just right, very present, but not overly bright. With AptX HD everything sounded as good as it did on the DT880s and HD518s. I think with AptX HD on the M9 and PX, I could finally go completely wireless.
Conclusion
Overall, I really liked the M9 and hate to send it to the next reviewer. I was really considering buying one, then I saw the M6, which I think might be a better fit me, being smaller and less expensive. Don’t get me wrong, the M9 is an excellent player but with a few quirks. I would like to see the volume control issue fixed. The sound is amazing, and the build is great, software is good. I think FiiO has a winner here, and if they can improve the software just a bit, it would be one of the best players on the market.
Thanks FiiO for letting me have the opportunity to review your excellent player. I would love a chance to listen to the M6 and the FA7s.
More beauty shots
I am new to the reviewing game, but have been an audiophile for almost 30 years. I really enjoy vinyl, class A amplifiers, and good tower speakers with full range sound. But I am also practical and enjoy the convenience of portability and access to virtually limitless streaming source material. The FiiO M9 definitely fills the later bill. It is a nice small package with excellent sound, battery life, and access to all sorts of source material. It’s single ended output, balanced output, and excellent Bluetooth allow for use on many different types of headphones. It can also do duty as a USB DAC/amp, Airplay receiver, and Bluetooth receiver. Overall, the FiiO M9 covers all the bases for an excellent portable setup. If I had to go on an extended trip where I could only take one audio player, I would choose an M9.
Build and Feel
The M9 has a solid feel with its aluminum frame, IPS screen, and very nice volume control and playback buttons. There is also a microSD card slot. I had no problem using a Sandisk 200GB card that was prewritten on my PC with all kinds of music including MP3, AAC, FLAC, ALAC, and DSD. It has three connectors on the bottom, one multi-use single ended headphone/line-out/coaxial SPDIF, one balanced output, and one USB C input/output. The headphone single-ended output supports in-line controls on headphones, and I had not problems using either IOS or Android compatible remotes.
Hand feel is very nice and works very well holding it in my left hand to use my thumb for controlling the volume, buttons, and screen. The buttons are very easy to accidentally press, which can be a problem as I accidentally stopped or changed tracks more than I would have liked. It would be nice if there were some sort of button lock switch.
I also ran into an issue with the M9, when held in my hand, whenever I would touch the headphone connector, which is easy when holding in my palm, the volume would rapidly change, mostly up, sometime down. [Edit: after corresponding with FiiO, they believe this to be an isolated problem with the review unit.] This is very annoying and would sometime cause the volume to exceed to ear damaging levels. I eventually had to turn off the in-line control feature in menus to alleviate the problem. Not a big deal since most of the time I use the device within hands reach anyway, but still, an annoyance and inconvenience if I want to put the device in my pocket while walking around.
The software is very good, running a customized version of Android, and it appears to be stable. The built-in media player does an admirable job of playback; however, I did occasionally notice audible gaps when playing back some gapless material. It was inconsistent, and most likely due to not having enough a read ahead buffer, as I found it hard to reproduce, but it was occasionally noticeable. Otherwise, I think the built-in player is fine, although it is not the easiest to navigate large music collections. I didn’t see any obvious way to quickly scroll to the artist or album I wanted to listen to. But once I was there, it was pretty easy to select and play what I wanted.
Usability
I had no problem playing back any type of audio file. As previously mentioned, I had everything from 256K and 320K MP3s, both VBR and fixed, 256K AAC, Lossless ALAC, FLAC up to 24bit/96Khz, and 256 DSD. I also used the Tidal app with Lossless and Master Quality Audio through the USB DAC interface.
The most interesting use I found for the M9 as a USB DAC for PC/MAC/IOS. For the PC, I had to load the FiiO driver on my SurfaceBook 2 to get it to work. Once I did, I was able to playback with MusicBee, the Tidal desktop app in MQA, and Google Desktop Music Player. All worked with no problem. From the Mac I used Apple Music and no driver was required. And with the Apple Camera Connection Kit, I was able to connect my iPhone and iPod to the M9. Interestingly, I was only able to use the USB 2.0 CCK, the USB 3.0 CCK did not recognize the M9. Also, I was unable to get the M9 to connect to the iPhone or iPad with AirPlay (it didn’t show up in the output list), but I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to get it to work.
Sound
The M9 sounds great. I had no problem driving IEMs or full-size cans. I tested the M9 mostly with FiiO F5 IEMs using the balanced cable. The balanced output of the M9 is powerful and has a really nice open sound with the F5s. The F5s still sounded good with the remote single ended cable, but I definitely like the sound of the balanced output better. It was more controlled, impactful, open, and had very good definition.
Other IEMs I used with the M9 were Shure SE215, 1More Triple Driver, and MEE A161p – all single ended. The M9 made the Shures shine with really nice impact and smooth treble. I was not a fan of the Triple Driver sound, but it did have a powerful punch but the treble was too laid back for me (that’s not the M9’s fault though, I just didn’t like the 1Mores in general). The A161s were very balanced sounding, having a good sparkle and midrange.
I also used the M9 with my Beyer DT880s and Sennheiser HD518s. Both sounded excellent, while I had to crank the gain up to high on the DT880s to drive their 250 Ohm impedance. I didn’t notice any distortion with the high gain, and the DT880’s sounded excellent. There was plenty of sub bass and the midrange and treble were outstanding, maybe a little on the bright side (but not sibilant). There was no coloration I could discern from the M9 and the DT880s presentation was nothing short of excellent. The HD518s were also good with a fuller bass and less treble than the DT808s, but that is what you would expect. I enjoyed to listening to both sets with the M9.
Another option I tried was Bluetooth with my Bower & Wilkens PX. The PX immediately connected with AptX HD and the sound was sublime. The PX is my absolute favorite set of cans to listen to, I love the bass presentation and the midrange and treble are just right, very present, but not overly bright. With AptX HD everything sounded as good as it did on the DT880s and HD518s. I think with AptX HD on the M9 and PX, I could finally go completely wireless.
Conclusion
Overall, I really liked the M9 and hate to send it to the next reviewer. I was really considering buying one, then I saw the M6, which I think might be a better fit me, being smaller and less expensive. Don’t get me wrong, the M9 is an excellent player but with a few quirks. I would like to see the volume control issue fixed. The sound is amazing, and the build is great, software is good. I think FiiO has a winner here, and if they can improve the software just a bit, it would be one of the best players on the market.
Thanks FiiO for letting me have the opportunity to review your excellent player. I would love a chance to listen to the M6 and the FA7s.
More beauty shots
