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

[Mattfrie64]

I've spent quite a bit more time with this player since my last post, so here are a few more observations I have noticed.

Ultimately, gapless playback has only been a problem for me on Enhanced CDs as I mentioned previously. I've played numerous live albums on non-Enhanced discs without any issue of pauses between the tracks, although the player seems to have adopted the issue with audio being silent for the 1st second when starting an album randomly. I've been using the 3.5mm jack on the front of the unit with my Sennheiser HD599SEs for reference.

As for the mysterious buffer that we have all been talking about, here is what I have noticed. With ESP off and D.Mode either on or off, the buffer appears to be reading from the disc for roughly 13-15 seconds. After this, the laser appears to switch off and the disc begins to spin down as the player reads exclusively from the buffer for around 10 seconds or so. Once the buffer has been depleted, the disc spins up again to repeat the cycle. If you are playing a longer CD on the device (over 60 minutes), one can observe the laser operation switching on and off as it gets to the end of the disc. Pausing a disc will also cause the disc to stop spinning once the buffer has been filled. Once the buffer has been depleted after un-pausing, the disc will spin back up as normal.

One has to wonder if the constant switching on and off of the disc motor might lead to more wear and tear down the road as well. To follow on from @2leftears post, I have to wonder if other recently manufactured portable players like the MoonDrop DiscDream 2 exhibit this same behavior, especially since that player doesn't appear to read non-redbook discs.

I'm hoping that the next firmware upgrade does something about the Enhanced CD issue (perhaps covered under the "improve the ability of read some discs" that @FiiO Willson was talking about?) plus this buffer issue. A pipe-dream addition down the road would be the addition of CD-TEXT, although I believe that has already been shot down by FIIO for this unit.

 

[gwompki]

I received the Shanling H5 and was able to successfully use it with the DM13. Definitely eliminates the noise issues I was having. It sounds infinitely better than the onboard dać/amp, although I'm not crazy about the overall sound signature of the H5. I would love to have an all in one solution without the need for external DAC. I ordered the Moondrop Disc Dream Ultra 2 to compare. I don't have high hopes since the architecture is so similar.

I'm very interested in the Shanling and Dunu portable units being released soon.

The DM13 really is a cool feature packed device that is truly small and portable. I just wish the designers had spent more time on the sound instead of all the other features. Just my humble opinion.

 

[FiiO Willson]

DM13 has a completely different style than the others

They depended on spending a huge amount of money on the casing. We on the other hand are more of a more functional

The sound part, there is actually very little that can be done, probably more of a difference in design style.

We'll do more sound styles on top of the DM15 for people to choose from, but the DM15 will be more expensive and will be positioned a bit higher than the DM13

 

[aceedburn]

DM13 has a completely different style than the others

They depended on spending a huge amount of money on the casing. We on the other hand are more of a more functional

The sound part, there is actually very little that can be done, probably more of a difference in design style.

We'll do more sound styles on top of the DM15 for people to choose from, but the DM15 will be more expensive and will be positioned a bit higher than the DM13

Thanks for the reply and nice to hear of a higher end DM15 in the works. But as history would prove, often companies neglect older devices when newer ones are released so I hope the DM13 continues to get regular firmware updates and refinements and bug fixes that are quite crucial at this point. Thanks.

 

[gwompki]

DM13 has a completely different style than the others

They depended on spending a huge amount of money on the casing. We on the other hand are more of a more functional

The sound part, there is actually very little that can be done, probably more of a difference in design style.

We'll do more sound styles on top of the DM15 for people to choose from, but the DM15 will be more expensive and will be positioned a bit higher than the DM13

I'm excited to hear about DM15!

 

[2leftears]

What happened to the DM14?

Any rationale behind the naming? DM13, DM15? (DM isn't an homage to the Discman by any chance?)

Will the DM15 have a user-replaceable battery, or is that not on the drawing board until 2027?

 

[scoo]

@Nightankh & @jandrews0407, I am having the same issues, very annoying on brand new CDs.

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?

Did the downgrade firmware or any other solution work?
thanks.

 

[FiiO Willson]

Thanks for the reply and nice to hear of a higher end DM15 in the works. But as history would prove, often companies neglect older devices when newer ones are released so I hope the DM13 continues to get regular firmware updates and refinements and bug fixes that are quite crucial at this point. Thanks.

As I said above, we're still in the process of upgrading the DM13's ability to read disks, because it's an ongoing process

And the better the DM13's ability to read disks, the more confident we'll be when the DM15 hits the market in the future

 

[andrewchoppa]

Have a look at Passion For Sound's review - what do you think??

 

[brownstone2025]

DM15 hits the market in the future

I would like to point out that when it comes to classic devices, many expect a sound similar to the devices of that old time. I think that the DM13 device sounds good, but it can always be made even better. Is it possible to make a new device on some classic chip (Many of them are still quite available for purchase and are not rare.), for example, Burr-Brown PCM56, PCM63, Philips TDA1543, TDA1541?
Can I expect that the new device will not have a beeping screen?

 

[aceedburn]

As I said above, we're still in the process of upgrading the DM13's ability to read disks, because it's an ongoing process

And the better the DM13's ability to read disks, the more confident we'll be when the DM15 hits the market in the future

@FiiO Willson I read that the DM13 supports APTX HD, but why doesn’t it use the APTX HD codec on both of my headphones which are APTX HD compatible and is verified on my Android devices?

 

[FiiO Willson]

@FiiO Willson I read that the DM13 supports APTX HD, but why doesn’t it use the APTX HD codec on both of my headphones which are APTX HD compatible and is verified on my Android devices?

With different headphones, there will be compatibility issues.
You should know that although they are all Bluetooth but different manufacturers and products, there are still differences in their handshake mechanism

If your headphones have an app to adjust the Bluetooth format, it's easier to hear audio in aptX HD format by fixing your headphones' Bluetooth format to aptX HD

 

[aceedburn]

With different headphones, there will be compatibility issues.
You should know that although they are all Bluetooth but different manufacturers and products, there are still differences in their handshake mechanism

If your headphones have an app to adjust the Bluetooth format, it's easier to hear audio in aptX HD format by fixing your headphones' Bluetooth format to aptX HD

There is no app to choose the Bluetooth codec for headphones, all source devices choose the highest possible codec to connect to that headphones. These headphones use APTX hd when connecting to all my other devices except the DM13 so the fault is with the DM13. It only uses SBC by default all the time. Yet again, as usual from FiiO, we the buyers are always beta testers who paid money to have a flawed device and never get what was advertised. I’m disappointed and this is not the first time. I’ve been using FiiO products since the X1 DAP was released almost a decade ago.

 

[FiiO Willson]

There is no app to choose the Bluetooth codec for headphones, all source devices choose the highest possible codec to connect to that headphones. These headphones use APTX hd when connecting to all my other devices except the DM13 so the fault is with the DM13. It only uses SBC by default all the time. Yet again, as usual from FiiO, we the buyers are always beta testers who paid money to have a flawed device and never get what was advertised. I’m disappointed and this is not the first time. I’ve been using FiiO products since the X1 DAP was released almost a decade ago.

DM13 will automatically adapt to aptX HD when the headset supports aptX HD.

Please note that the Bluetooth protocol requires a handshake from both sides, and SBC will only be selected when we, DM13, can't query the protocol supported by your headset side, this is the working mechanism of both sides.

 

[FiiO-Yellow]

DM13 review from Darko Audio.