[FiiO M11 Plus LTD/M11 Plus] THXAAA-78,Android 10, 2.5/3.5/4.4 Powerful Output/4.4 LO output, Dual AK4497/ES9068AS DAC chips, 4GB RAM,64G Flash
Jun 29, 2021 at 4:22 PM Post #377 of 2,938
On the other side of things , I hear it as dead flat.
No treble forwardness , no nothing , perfectly linear....but that is just me.
I think the fact it is dead flat coupled with it's slightly smooth velvet like mids gives more space for the treble to rear it's head, and sometimes give the impression of excitable highs to me - just like theres a little too much air and I'd like it to be a bit dampened if not rolled off.
 
Jun 29, 2021 at 4:23 PM Post #378 of 2,938
I’ve paired it with the sennheiser ie300. That is a little harsh in the treble. Maybe that’s what I’m hearing.

with the aonic 4’s it’s a smoother listen. But even less “rocking”.
Those Senns have treble peaks - you can eq them in UAPP (check online for graphs)... the M11 will not soften those peaks by itself
 
Jun 29, 2021 at 4:44 PM Post #380 of 2,938
Hello, day after day i get the feeling that is the perfect device for me.
Everything is there, in the most neutral way.
Not to holographic as my Ibasso Dx160, but with more authority, more real.
Thinks are in the right way and positions, but, doesn't forgiven the poor records.

With good records it sound so good!
 
Jun 29, 2021 at 4:52 PM Post #381 of 2,938
Hey, just curious, have you done much listening to just the M11 Plus direct to the Focal Stellia? That’s how I’ll be using it once I get mine, and was wondering how it sounded.
Yeah I've done a bit with UAPP. Very much enjoying it. Again that feeling of refinement over the M11 Pro is still apparent. I used the Stellia with the Pro a lot. Now it's my default with the Plus for when I'm working from home.

Plenty of power for the Stellia, naturally. Just middling the volume pot on medium gain.
 
Jun 29, 2021 at 5:37 PM Post #382 of 2,938
I’m currently finding my burned in m11 pro warmer and smoother sounding than the unburned m11 plus. I think I just need to hold off until I have a good 50-100 hours play on it first
 
Jun 29, 2021 at 6:40 PM Post #383 of 2,938
Yeah I've done a bit with UAPP. Very much enjoying it. Again that feeling of refinement over the M11 Pro is still apparent. I used the Stellia with the Pro a lot. Now it's my default with the Plus for when I'm working from home.

Plenty of power for the Stellia, naturally. Just middling the volume pot on medium gain.
One thing that threw me when I first tried it was the the gain was set to high as a default (which I think is kind of odd), and everything just sounded completely harsh. I’m finding low gain with my IEMs to be perfect and to allow for a more gradual volume adjustment.
 
Jun 30, 2021 at 5:48 AM Post #384 of 2,938
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Jun 30, 2021 at 6:18 AM Post #385 of 2,938
Haven’t seen this before on the 11 Pro, seems the 11 Plus gets more heat... doesn’t look healthy... I guess i can’t leave it plugged in and listen to music
 

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Jun 30, 2021 at 6:46 AM Post #387 of 2,938
Just received the M11 Plus today, currently going through burn in.

* Does seem to offer more of what the M11 Pro did - sounds a bit wider and the mids are a little less ethereal and more direct/lifelike - there's improvements here, I will just need to listen more to articulate better. First impression in general is: incredibly clean, grain free uber neutral reference sound; it's the german engineered car equivalent - there's no space for romance or art, it injects the raw files directly into my ears..

* Sounds close to my Apogee Element - i.e. reference but it also adds a little echo/smoothness in the mids and a touch more lower treble forwardness. The Element sounds a touch less processed and little better defined, and has more inner warmth to the sound giving a little more natural tone.

* It is a touch treble bright/forward - i'll leave it to burn in should help.. i think the M11 Pro was the same out of the box (it settled a bit after burn in, but not massively)

* When in USB dac mode it does have a lag similar to the Pro - i.e. it can't really be used for gaming or music production which is a real shame as I though this was resolved. This lag really needs to be in the 3-10ms range for this to be usable - i'm guessing only xmos chips can do this? although I think chord dacs only use FPGAs and they don't have this lag.

* Screen is better than the Pro - better viewing angles and seems better defined/sharper. I can see one small white burn spot, I hope it'll go away...

* Touch volume seems like a UX anitpattern - as I'm holding the DAP i accidentally slide on the volume constantly with my finger, so I turned off the touch aspect of it.

* Nice to have a more recent OS and larger screen - should be good for some newer apps/games on it.

Anyway, my main hope now is for it to settle down a little on that forwardness/brightness. Hmm ibasso dx300....
Thanks for those impressions. Can’t say it has me very excited about this unit, as I’m more into colored signatures. But your wording conveys the DAP’s character very well and that’s rare and precious!
 
Jun 30, 2021 at 7:36 AM Post #388 of 2,938
Thanks for those impressions. Can’t say it has me very excited about this unit, as I’m more into colored signatures. But your wording conveys the DAP’s character very well and that’s rare and precious!

It's a tricky one really. I've had a funny relationship with the M11 Pro before and now this is similar - on one hand I get annoyed that it's flatter than Keira Knightley, but then coming from other more grainy source (ZX507 and especially N3Pro) I appreciate it's cleanliness and technicalities.

For practical travel purposes I find my ZX507 and IERM7 a more holistic pleasant experience overall - nice enough sound quality, global eq, streaming and gplay, very small and portable.
But then the M11 Plus is something different - it gives a very technical performance similar to a high quality desktop DAC, has the technicalities wow factor but also brings it's own can of worms as just being a bit too "technical" and not offering an organic flavour.. it might be just the AKM dacs - if I'm honest I've never been blown away by them in all the different sources I've tried... earlier versions are grainy, and newer ones seem to go for a Japanese/Chinese definition of HiFi that exaggerate certain audiophile traites: the bass is super tight and agile ( - too tight, needs a little bloom and natural decay warmth), mids are clean smooth but with a touch of echo to create that feel of distance (but as a result sound a little DSP'd and not exactly natural, they should be just as is ideally), and the highs are sparkly (- a little too sparkly creating that feeling of uber resolution, but in the process not allowing some darkness and natural dampening to come into play to create a sense of calmness).. that's just my view.. I do find that Sabre chips when implemented well can offer a more natural sound; Apogee Element being the best implementation I've heard to date (easily competing with Chord Qutest and in some ways more natural) - it's a sabre chip, i.e. very neutral, but somehow still offers feeling of inner warmth and calmness... the Fiio doesn't quite reach there.

Sony ZX507 is at least a Sony - they make an effort to make some cohesion and naturalness in their sound with their own s master chips, even if it doesn't measure amazingly well, and can appear less technically proficient, it can be a better fit for some.

I haven't heard the iBasso DX300 but reports that it sounds organic has me intrigued.
 
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Jun 30, 2021 at 9:38 AM Post #390 of 2,938
Haven’t seen this before on the 11 Pro, seems the 11 Plus gets more heat... doesn’t look healthy... I guess i can’t leave it plugged in and listen to music
Could be while you're charging? That normally causes heat. Not ideal though. I was very close to pulling the trigger on one of these and now I'm not sure.
 

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