[FIIO DM13] HiFi Balanced Output Portable Stereo CD Player DM13 Is Officially Released!

[DILLIGAF84]

Using non-BT DM13 for some time - of course I'm experiencing lack of gapless playback but I can live with it. When the newest firmware will be published I'll be more than happy to try it and remove all FW mistakes to make my piece better than before.
Of course I had one episode when volume buttons didn't work and player haven't emitted any sound while headphones were plugged in but this problem was fixed by factory reset (thank God for this functionality). All in all I think this player brings a breeze of fresh air to my setup - I dare to say that the difference between CD and other lossless formats are more than noticable. In pair with FiiO FT5 I'm getting to know my music again: the soundstage, separation, details... It truly is a game changer for me.
BUT.
@FiiO Willson Did You received any reports from users about low sounding hum after turning non-BT model on while in desktop mode? It was not present at the beginning but after a few days of using it I noticed that during first 5 minutes of playing music (for example guitar or piano solos) this sound is present in the background and can be easily picked by headphones like FT5 which I'm currently using. What's more interesting, the hum can be reduced by placing a hand on the player's lid like it was caused by the electric field. And no, it's not drive vibration - the sound is transmitted directly by the drivers.
I don't know if I bought a faulty unit or is it common for this type of device - I tried different chargers but the problem was present with all of them. Any advice in this matter? Thanks.

 

[MacMan31]

I wonder if this would be good enough to replace my full size CD player (Marantz CD6006).

 

[FiiO Willson]

Using non-BT DM13 for some time - of course I'm experiencing lack of gapless playback but I can live with it. When the newest firmware will be published I'll be more than happy to try it and remove all FW mistakes to make my piece better than before.
Of course I had one episode when volume buttons didn't work and player haven't emitted any sound while headphones were plugged in but this problem was fixed by factory reset (thank God for this functionality). All in all I think this player brings a breeze of fresh air to my setup - I dare to say that the difference between CD and other lossless formats are more than noticable. In pair with FiiO FT5 I'm getting to know my music again: the soundstage, separation, details... It truly is a game changer for me.
BUT.
@FiiO Willson Did You received any reports from users about low sounding hum after turning non-BT model on while in desktop mode? It was not present at the beginning but after a few days of using it I noticed that during first 5 minutes of playing music (for example guitar or piano solos) this sound is present in the background and can be easily picked by headphones like FT5 which I'm currently using. What's more interesting, the hum can be reduced by placing a hand on the player's lid like it was caused by the electric field. And no, it's not drive vibration - the sound is transmitted directly by the drivers.
I don't know if I bought a faulty unit or is it common for this type of device - I tried different chargers but the problem was present with all of them. Any advice in this matter? Thanks.

Thank you for your support!

1, if DM13 is no output, and the button does not respond, then you may have mistakenly touched the output mode selection button, and entered the wrong output mode (perhaps you entered the SPDIF output, i.e., optical/coaxial mode).

At this time, short press the power button, switch back to PRE OUT output, you can have sound.

2, in desktop mode, if the power supply noise is relatively large, the headset will be heard (because the DM13 amplification is larger, so it is more obvious), you can choose a small noise power supply, or try to use a slightly lower sensitivity headphones. This problem is found on many HiFi products that use switching power supplies, there is no good solution unless the power adapter is replaced.

 

[FiiO Willson]

I wonder if this would be good enough to replace my full size CD player (Marantz CD6006).

I don't think this is a class of product that

The DM13 is a product that can be moved around indoors at will, favoring headphone use; whereas your Marantz is a desktop, totally different usage scenario.

And price-wise, there's a big difference too.

So it's up to you whether to replace it or not

 

[inPhase]

Hello Friend, For your question:
1,From the number of our DM13 sales, the ones with Bluetooth are significantly more popular. We will discontinue the non-Bluetooth version later
2, The material is the "window" portion of "transparent" model is "tempered glass" as the picture i showed in last question, the color of the nontransparent portion part of the case is "White", It is an expensive electrophoresis process for aluminum alloy surfaces.
3，No，And the white non-bluetooth version will be discontinued, in the future (maybe 2 months later) the white one will only be available as a Skylight Version, and the other colors will only be available in bluetooth as well

Thank you very much for your answers. As for question 1 - I am interested to know if there are any advantages to the NON bluetooth version?? Clearly there is a cost advantage ... but I am also curious to know if there are any other advantages such as less noise (due to simpler circuitry) etc ...

Thank you again for your addressing these questions

 

[FiiO Willson]

Thank you very much for your answers. As for question 1 - I am interested to know if there are any advantages to the NON bluetooth version?? Clearly there is a cost advantage ... but I am also curious to know if there are any other advantages such as less noise (due to simpler circuitry) etc ...

Thank you again for your addressing these questions

I'm sorry it doesn't,
maybe the aluminum housing would be more complete? Because there isn't that bluetooth antenna cover

 

[ziplock]

Please wait few days, We will be releasing the latest firmware for non-Bluetooth versions soon!

Greetings,

Any updates for the non-BT firmware release? I believe 10 days qualifies for a few.

Thanks!

 

[pacmanbr]

A charger like this, with 3A, can be used?

 

[ermwhat]

I've been monitoring this thread on and off for a while, and finally decided to buy the transparent model w/ Bluetooth after seeing reports of progress being made on the bugs in the firmware. It arrived a couple of days ago and I thought I'd share my own findings with potential buyers (as well as hopefully give some helpful feedback to the folks at FiiO). So here goes...

First, the good:

• I was surprised by how solid the DM13 felt when I removed it from the packaging, because I was not expecting so much metal in a portable CD player. I think it should be more prominently advertised that this isn't a big chunk of plastic. It looks and feels very nice!
• On the latest published firmware (v25), I'm able to play standard Red Book audio CDs from start to finish without gapless playback interruptions. Even discs that contain near their full 80-minute capacity of audio play from start to finish with no unintentional gaps in the transition between two tracks. This includes pressed CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs.
• ESP seems to work well, most of the time (more on this below). I can move the player around my desk or place it beside me on my bed without any skips. I picked it up and shook it for a few seconds once to see if I could cause the audio to drop out, but it was fine.
• For all the bugs and issues I'm about to describe below, some of which are genuinely frustrating, I think this is the best readily-available portable CD player money can buy right now (if having Bluetooth is as important for you as it is for me). If nothing else, it's my favorite. I've bought and tested quite a few cheaper portable CD players from less reputable brands in recent years, and the DM13 surpasses them all. I hope FiiO will continue to correct the remaining issues through software updates so I finally have a new player I can recommend to friends and family without a ton of caveats.

Now...onto the not so good.

Bugs:

• mp3 CD playback has intermittent playback issues when ESP is switched on. The player starts playing normally, buffers data, and stops spinning the disc. After some time, the disc begins spinning again, but the playback buffer runs out and the remainder of the file will either not play, or a portion of the file is missed. I have tested with both CBR and VBR mp3 files (both encoded with recent versions of the LAME encoder), as well as FLAC files. I have not yet had this problem with ESP switched off, so my current workaround is to flip the ESP mode switch on the back of the player before playing a data disc.
• Gapless playback does not work at all with data CDs. The player does not appear to buffer any of the next track as the currently playing track is ending, so there are long gaps while the player spins up the disc and loads the next song. Tested with both mp3 and FLAC.
• In Bluetooth mode, audio output stops working under certain conditions. If I take too much time to open the lid/change to a new disc, the Bluetooth connection remains active, but I can't hear any audio until I disconnect and reconnect the device to the player. The same thing can happen if I play a disc to the end, let it stop completely, wait a few seconds, then press play again; no audio until I disconnect/reconnect my Bluetooth headphones or speaker. So far, I have tested with Sony WH-CH720N headphones and a JBL Clip 4 speaker, and this behavior has been identical.
• I have noticed a few times while listening to Red Book Audio CDs with ESP turned on when very short sections (<1 second) of audio were repeated or (more frequently) missed, as if there was a problem with reading data into/out of the buffer, but it was not a regular or repeatable problem. I don't know how to test for this one, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Other Issues:

• Gain staging in Bluetooth output mode. Volume controls on the player and the playback device (headphones/speakers) operate independently of each other, which raises a few concerns. The signal path diagram on the product page shows audio from the CD being sent to the Bluetooth transmitter separately from the DACs for the analog outputs—as it should, since this would be a purely digital signal path. Does that mean the volume should be set to the maximum level (V99) in Bluetooth mode to avoid attenuating the signal before the Bluetooth encoder? or is it possible for internal clipping to occur at this level? Where should the volume be set to ensure that the digital audio passes un-altered from the CD to the Bluetooth encoder?
• Volume level is not remembered separately for each output mode. What this means in practice is: if you switch from Bluetooth mode (where you just cranked the volume to 99) to the headphone output mode, hopefully you notice before you press play, because the volume is still gonna be set to 99. This is dangerous for both your headphones and your ears! Pay careful attention until/unless this is addressed in a firmware update!
• The secondary button functions need a complete overhaul. The combination of short-presses, long-presses, and two-button combinations to access functionality is unintuitive, and makes me second guess myself every time I do anything. Worse, some buttons have overlapping/conflicting functions; for example, try seeking while in Bluetooth mode (you can't, since a long press on the Rewind button activates pairing, and long-pressing the Fast Forward button clears all paired devices).
  • As it stands, the Function Selection button is extremely under-utilized, and should probably be the entry point for a proper menu system to access functions like Bluetooth pairing, output switching, playback mode (repeat/random), display settings, etc. that don't have a dedicated button. It would be much easier to open a menu with the Function button, then cycle through options and make changes with the other buttons, rather than trying to memorize a bunch of key combos and accidentally triggering things you didn't want.

Sorry for the long first post. I figured it would be better to document everything over several days and collect it in one place rather than making multiple posts. Let me know if you'd like me to test or clarify anything in here.

Adding to this: I've also had the issue where Bluetooth goes silent, but I had it after I walked out of range for a minute or so and back again. The headphones (Airpods Pro) instantly reconnected, but there was no sound even after pausing/resuming. I had to disconnect the headphones using the player by switching output, then reconnect them and it worked again.

 

[FiiO Willson]

Greetings,

Any updates for the non-BT firmware release? I believe 10 days qualifies for a few.

Thanks!

Please check the new Non-BT firmware.
Sorry for I forgot to notify of the update to the official website

https://forum.fiio.com/note/showNoteContent.do?id=202501231626198548493&tid=17

 

[FiiO Willson]

A charger like this, with 3A, can be used?

Sure
No problem

 

[jandrews0407]

New Skipping Issues with V25?

Hey all I have the BT black version and I recently updated V24 and then V25. I was pleased to find it brought in gapless playback. This week however I've noticed while listening that it seems to have introduced a problem with random freezing a interruptions of audio. Its happened with multiple CDs that are in good shape, even with ESP on. When it happens the time marker is frozen and and the audio pauses, often it will jump back in after a few seconds. Anyone else noticing this besides me?

 

[Nightankh]

Hey jandrews0407,
I have the same issue with the V25 firmware. My player version is the "white skylight BT". However, I notice this problem much more frequently—several times while listening to a single disc. This happens with all my CDs, even though they are all in perfect condition.

I've also noticed that this firmware introduced a disc buffering feature, which lasts about 5 seconds when "anti-shock" is off. When I press pause, the disc stops after a while, and when I resume playback, it starts instantly, but the disc begins spinning after about 5 seconds. Could this buffer cause inaccuracies in playback? With anti-shock on, the disc starts spinning after about a minute.

 

[FiiO Willson]

@Nightankh
@jandrews0407
The ability of a CD player to read discs is a warp that needs to be taken into account for many kinds of discs and then go through software modifications.

If you feel that the previous firmware is good enough, you can upgrade back to the previous firmware. It may be that the previous firmware is better suited to your CDs

 

[FiiO Willson]

Hey jandrews0407,
I have the same issue with the V25 firmware. My player version is the "white skylight BT". However, I notice this problem much more frequently—several times while listening to a single disc. This happens with all my CDs, even though they are all in perfect condition.

I've also noticed that this firmware introduced a disc buffering feature, which lasts about 5 seconds when "anti-shock" is off. When I press pause, the disc stops after a while, and when I resume playback, it starts instantly, but the disc begins spinning after about 5 seconds. Could this buffer cause inaccuracies in playback? With anti-shock on, the disc starts spinning after about a minute.

I've just had a look and the situation，I think it is a little different to what you've described, please confirm if this is the case:
1, the previous firmware, the disc reading time is a bit longer than V25
2, you said pause, then press play need for 5 seconds, under normal circumstances, pause and then directly press play will play immediately ( stop and then press play, only 5 seconds to start playing, which is normal)
3，If you let ESP ON and then Press Pause, about 60 seconds later,the CD just started spinning. it is the ESP work.

Note，The stop and pause buttons of the DM13 are defined like this：
The Second button: play-pause button
Press First and last buttons at the same time: stop button