[FiiO M11] Android 7.0, 2.5/3.5/4.4 Powerful Output, Exynos 7872, Dual AK4493 DAC chips, 3GB RAM, WiFi, Two-way LDAC

[dpastern]

There's also the issue of bug fixes for exploits. example:

https://www.cvedetails.com/version/201744/Google-Android-7.0.html

edit: the M11 was released in May 2019. By this stage, Android 9, "pie" had been released for nearly 9 months. Android 7 was released in August 2016 - that's a LONG time for bugs and exploits to have existed...whilst it's unlikely, it is very much possible that the DAP could be rooted by a 3rd party exploit and damaged (wipe & destroy ROM for example). Many years ago I had a BIOS chip on a motherboard destroyed by the Blender virus (late 90s). It does happen. Another POV is that buying a phone in May 2019 that was still running Android 7 would be considered unacceptable by nearly every phone consumer on the planet. Such a phone wouldn't sell too well no matter how good the hardware specs...and if the manufacturer refuses to upgrade the O/S, they'd cop a tonne of flack for being slack. I see no difference to Fiio here. Not upgrading the O/S is just poor post sales support and very slack imho. Some people may be OK with it, I, as a consumer, am not.

 

[steamboiled]

As this is something i am experiencing right now in my professional life, it's a topic i find very interesting to make me even jump in and give my opinion.

As outsiders, we will never know as it's really hard to say what exactly went into the decision making of FiiO of not having a constant update cycle. It could be as people say, lack of effort (laziness) or could be that the software is just not their priority (focus) and diverted their resources elsewhere. A lot of variables comes into play when manufacturing or implementing a product: budget, current trends, development cycle, post-launch support, resources, etc.. That being said, it's true that DAPs that doesn't come with Android OS tends to have a longer product life, e.g. Sony NW-WM1Z.

Personally, i don't use the android features of the M11 so it's not a deal-breaker for me but i do appreciate the convenience it brings as well as understand and accept the risks that entails with an outdated OS. We all have reasons why we bought it, for me it was the dual microSD. FiiO M11 after all is a DAP and i believe it's main purpose is to provide good sounding music, which it does.

As a consumer we are free to want more and expect more but as a manufacturer they are also free to ignore our opinions or demands as they are working within constraints that are not transparent to us. We should remember we are free to choose what we buy or not to buy and it's not wrong to critically judge a product before buying. There are other DAPs that might best fit your need/want or not have as many deal-breakers for you as the M11.

Again, i am no way trying to side with any party, just giving my unrequested 2 cents.

 

[Phil B]

If having the latest and greatest OS will actually make the player sound better in some way then I am all for it! I grew up on music players that you couldnt upgrade the firmware let alone download anything to it, but I bought those specifically because of the hardware spec and how they sounded. I bought the M11 for the same reason. I've had mine since before the Android store and to me it was a nice bonus as the hardware was the biggest selling point for me. I guess for me if I wanted the latest OS and the like I would use my phone and be done with it. My player gets used in a studio environment just about every day and it would be devastating if it kept going down because of glitches or bugs due to android issues.
I have had to return a few players from other companies that had many software issues on its own, let alone trying to add Android to the mix. I like the separation of a phone vs. dedicated player but I also understand not everybody does.

 

[Airsculpture]

I believe the chip set has a limitation that Android would not support after OS 7. This was mentioned by FiiO months ago.

 

[dpastern]

I have had to return a few players from other companies that had many software issues on its own, let alone trying to add Android to the mix. I like the separation of a phone vs. dedicated player but I also understand not everybody does.

Yes, I understand that (15 years working in the IT industry).

I believe the chip set has a limitation that Android would not support after OS 7. This was mentioned by FiiO months ago.

Are you referring to the Samsung Exynos 7872 chipset? I researched this and couldn't find any hard information that suggested that it had an Android OS limitation, but I could also only find 4 phones (quick search though I might add) that used the chipset, and all were listed as using Android 7. The Meizu m6s doesn't seem to have any upgrades available to later versions of AndroidOS, so perhaps you are right. If so, that is a very disappointing choice of chipset to use in the M11 imho. I guess pricing and availability come into play though. I'd rather pay a bit more for a Snapdragon chipset and have the ability to upgrade the OS in all honesty. But hey, horses for courses. I mean, imagine if say, Apple put a particular chip in one of their MacBooks that stopped you from upgrading MacOS - very few people I know of would be happy with that. Why settle for that logic with a phone or DAP?

 

[Airsculpture]

Yes, I understand that (15 years working in the IT industry).



Are you referring to the Samsung Exynos 7872 chipset? I researched this and couldn't find any hard information that suggested that it had an Android OS limitation, but I could also only find 4 phones (quick search though I might add) that used the chipset, and all were listed as using Android 7. The Meizu m6s doesn't seem to have any upgrades available to later versions of AndroidOS, so perhaps you are right. If so, that is a very disappointing choice of chipset to use in the M11 imho. I guess pricing and availability come into play though. I'd rather pay a bit more for a Snapdragon chipset and have the ability to upgrade the OS in all honesty. But hey, horses for courses. I mean, imagine if say, Apple put a particular chip in one of their MacBooks that stopped you from upgrading MacOS - very few people I know of would be happy with that. Why settle for that logic with a phone or DAP?

Apple do. My old iMac could not upgrade passed El Capitan and I had to move to a newer iMac to get it to go to Catalina and subsequently Big Sur. iPhones are similarly limited.

 

[Augustin79]

Ok, this stupid little device just full pissed me off. I have a nice Peachtree Audio Decco 2. Sounds great right? Get the Fiio M11, I don't know what magic they're using on this but I can hear and distinguish bass lines in my music, even metal, even grungy crap like Alice In Chains. On the Peach I can HEAR theres a bass but usually sounds like it's just someone hitting hte low E and that's it. I can hear every note on the M11.

This is ridiculous. I love it.

Also thanks for giving us the play store. Using a high end DAP like this with the option to USE MY OWN PLAYER IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER WITNESSED. I CAN USE POWERAMP PRO ON MY DAP. IM SO HAPPY. I've missed using it so much. I've used it since my OG Moto Droid up until I discovered dedicated DAPs.

If you guys never used it, give it a try: https://powerampapp.com/

My only complaint about this thing so far is the lack of decent cases and screen protectors.

Also what about giving us an app drawer? It is android after all. I don't need all these usless icons on my screen or multiple screens with icons I don't need. I hate apple devices for that very reason.

You could install a launcher if you want app-drawer and one/fewer screens. I'm using Nova launcher and it's working great.

 

[spykez]

You could install a launcher if you want app-drawer and one/fewer screens. I'm using Nova launcher and it's working great.

Huh, I never thought about grabbing a launcher

 

[dpastern]

Apple do. My old iMac could not upgrade passed El Capitan and I had to move to a newer iMac to get it to go to Catalina and subsequently Big Sur. iPhones are similarly limited.

yeah my bad on that, I didn't even think of the firmware issue with older MBPS, but very good point. With that said, they are very old machines now - my MBP mid 2009 wasn't able to go to mojave (at least, not without hacking it). The M11 was a lot newer on release so it's a bit of a different story.

Anyway, One final question, which I hope someone here has experience with - I have an older AK 120 II - how will the M11 compare sound wise? The AK unit still works (power button is sticking a bit these days). The larger and more responsive screen on the Fiio unit is attractive to me, plus double microSD slot and larger storage limits too. The real issue is sound quality though - I like the sound of the AK unit, but bass is a bit subdued imho, and it's not as airy as I'd like. It still is a very good and detailed and quite musical player though and it's been an enjoyable affair.

So, hopefully someone has had an AK 120 II and upgraded to a M11 or has access to the AK and M11 units to compare and can give me some honest ideas of any differences in sound quality.

 

[geokite]

Recently got the M11 as an upgrade to the X5ii. I'm noticing quite a bit of hiss. Pause the music, and about 16 seconds later the hiss goes away. Happens either with the fiio player or power amp.
Low gain, 4.4 output, iems FH5 and the recent LZ A7.

Any fix for this? Or is this just the cost of using the 4.4 output?

 

[spykez]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the 4.4 a balanced output? Hissing and noise would be the very thing it's NOT supposed to have. Any possibility of returning it?

 

[geokite]

Yes, 4.4 balanced. Amazon, Bought Oct 7th, packaging gone. Don't get me wrong, it sounds amazing, and no software issues. Poweramp sounds the same as the Fiio player, repeated tests.

But in the quiet parts of a song I can always notice the hiss. Can anyone else replicate this, the 16 seconds of hiss after the music is paused?

 

[gefellmics]

I would love to use the wavelet app with the M11, but there is always an error "parsing failed" when I try the install routine with apkpure. I also downloaded the wavelet apk from the official website und saved it to the internal storage....same error during install.
Any help or did anybody make the same experiences?

 

[Mybutthurts]

Question.

Under the previous version of the Fiio app. when opening the app under 'local music' it listed number the number of tracks found. It was helpful to tally up with totals on my PC.
Anyone know where to find this info in the new release.

TIA

 

[geokite]

Yes, 4.4 balanced. Amazon, Bought Oct 7th, packaging gone. Don't get me wrong, it sounds amazing, and no software issues. Poweramp sounds the same as the Fiio player, repeated tests.

But in the quiet parts of a song I can always notice the hiss. Can anyone else replicate this, the 16 seconds of hiss after the music is paused?

Just did a search through this thread for hiss, came across a post from James at fiio stating that this hiss is normal for the balanced output. The gain is a higher than the 3.5 to drive higher impedance headphones, so more hiss.

Bummer. Guess I'll be looking for higher impedance iems...