Usability wise it’s definitely not as smooth as the latest android based FiiO’s or N6ii but SQ wise I’d say it’s far from garbage but to each their own.
On a side note my M15 should be here any minute now, I’ll post some impressions later.
FiiO M15 Audio Player | Dual AK4499EQ | 7490 mAh Battery | 64 GB ROM | $1299.99
- Thread starter xenoVa
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Usability wise it’s definitely not as smooth as the latest android based FiiO’s or N6ii but SQ wise I’d say it’s far from garbage but to each their own.
On a side note my M15 should be here any minute now, I’ll post some impressions later.
"Just not as smooth as the others" is too kind. Mine experience was extremely frustating. Operating system was insanely laggy and battery life was a disaster. Such a scam for $979.
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Vitaly2017
Headphoneus Supremus
Weell enjoyable and a totl dap sound is 2 different things....
I heard n8, 1z and ibasso and n6ii and I can tell you there is a difference and very noticeable )
Vitaly2017
Headphoneus Supremus
I had same experience with dx200. Ibasso even replaced my unit for brand new.
Unfortunately for me just to discover that the brand new unit exhibit the same hiss . What a danga banga
MrLocoLuciano
500+ Head-Fier
I could discover M15 for 45 minutes today.
Tried with MAD24 and Plato, and Zeus XIV CR (custom retuned) with PW1950. Ment to be 10 and 8,5 Ohms.
Speed and fluidity is incredible.
Build quality seems very high, screen is superb even though a little dark (even with high luminosity), and FiiO music is very nice to use.
Given it's form factor and weight, handling it is a real pleasure.
If we talk about sound now. Well, I have to admit I'm impressed.
Dynamic is excellent, tonality great, and power "feeling" just at the highest.
Bass are dense and so deep, mids are on the edge between technicality and warmth.
The stage is rather close but it's not short of air. It's pretty wide too.
I have the feeling it's in the spirit of the CAYIN N6ii with the T01 module but even more on the technical side. To be honest I prefer the FiiO.
Really good for price.
On the other hand, it heats up quickly, and the wheel doesn't inspire me too much confidence when inside a pocket.
What about the bass with the balanced output impedance at 3 Ohms?
Well clearly it's exaggerated, but they're pretty clean. It's not an inaudible blister.
Tried with MAD24 and Plato, and Zeus XIV CR (custom retuned) with PW1950. Ment to be 10 and 8,5 Ohms.
Speed and fluidity is incredible.
Build quality seems very high, screen is superb even though a little dark (even with high luminosity), and FiiO music is very nice to use.
Given it's form factor and weight, handling it is a real pleasure.
If we talk about sound now. Well, I have to admit I'm impressed.
Dynamic is excellent, tonality great, and power "feeling" just at the highest.
Bass are dense and so deep, mids are on the edge between technicality and warmth.
The stage is rather close but it's not short of air. It's pretty wide too.
I have the feeling it's in the spirit of the CAYIN N6ii with the T01 module but even more on the technical side. To be honest I prefer the FiiO.
Really good for price.
On the other hand, it heats up quickly, and the wheel doesn't inspire me too much confidence when inside a pocket.
What about the bass with the balanced output impedance at 3 Ohms?
Well clearly it's exaggerated, but they're pretty clean. It's not an inaudible blister.
lol. Well, in terms of speed/fluidity there's no comparison. Night and day difference. In terms of sound quality the M15 is 1-1.5 steps above IMHO.
Vitaly2017
Headphoneus Supremus
I could discover M15 for 45 minutes today.
Tried with MAD24 and Plato, and Zeus XIV CR (custom retuned) with PW1950. Ment to be 10 and 8,5 Ohms.
Speed and fluidity is incredible.
Build quality seems very high, screen is superb even though a little dark (even with high luminosity), and FiiO music is very nice to use.
Given it's form factor and weight, handling it is a real pleasure.
If we talk about sound now. Well, I have to admit I'm impressed.
Dynamic is excellent, tonality great, and power "feeling" just at the highest.
Bass are dense and so deep, mids are on the edge between technicality and warmth.
The stage is rather close but it's not short of air. It's pretty wide too.
I have the feeling it's in the spirit of the CAYIN N6ii with the T01 module but even more on the technical side. To be honest I prefer the FiiO.
Really good for price.
On the other hand, it heats up quickly, and the wheel doesn't inspire me too much confidence when inside a pocket.
What about the bass with the balanced output impedance at 3 Ohms?
Well clearly it's exaggerated, but they're pretty clean. It's not an inaudible blister.
How about vs 1z ?
I do like the impression of m15 being like n6ii t01.
Does m15 can do all nuances and textures like 1z? In bass
MrLocoLuciano
500+ Head-Fier
Well in fact my impression are of course in comparaison to my regular WM1Z.
Biggest problem is I only listened to balanced output, and got some deep deep textured bass with some inears that do give some but not as much normaly... Most certainly coming from the 3 Ohms output in regards to 10 Ohm inears.
But surely it's not bad, just might have to use Ifi IEMatch to really now what it is capable of.
Biggest problem is I only listened to balanced output, and got some deep deep textured bass with some inears that do give some but not as much normaly... Most certainly coming from the 3 Ohms output in regards to 10 Ohm inears.
But surely it's not bad, just might have to use Ifi IEMatch to really now what it is capable of.
Vitaly2017
Headphoneus Supremus
Thats cool fiio is evolving into high caliber game then )
1z is probably still a notch higher i guess.
Any thoughts m15 vs lpgt
1z is probably still a notch higher i guess.
Any thoughts m15 vs lpgt
MrLocoLuciano
500+ Head-Fier
Modded 1Z has more finesse and refinement to my ears.
Initial overall impressions without going into sound detail too much:
Virtually no hiss with my M5 which are quite sensitive (this was a huge problem and a deal breaker for me on the M11, so this is very positive)
Tons of power, on low gain I’m probably at about 25% power output running 4.4mm balanced out
DAP is on the heavy side but doesn’t feel overly heavy like the SP2000, size is on the larger side too but it is comfortable to hold in the hand
The amount of buttons on the left side of the DAP will take some getting used to for sure, not the biggest fan of this multifunction button? Being nit picky here.
Would have much rather have had similar packaging to the M11, don’t care for a wooden box or anything like that when it’s packaged with below average accessories for a $1300 DAP. The provided (screen protector?) doesn’t even fit the front screen, looks like it’s measured for the back which already has plastic covering it. The lack of a case is also quite poor.
I’ve read quite a few complaints about the volume knob but I actually like that it has start/stop points for min/max volumes instead of just being an infinite scroll wheel, makes it very easy to adjust the volume to levels where I want it without having to see on the screen physically where I am at.
Overall I am quite impressed so far but we will see how it goes over the next week or so. I’ll post back anything relevant I can.
Virtually no hiss with my M5 which are quite sensitive (this was a huge problem and a deal breaker for me on the M11, so this is very positive)
Tons of power, on low gain I’m probably at about 25% power output running 4.4mm balanced out
DAP is on the heavy side but doesn’t feel overly heavy like the SP2000, size is on the larger side too but it is comfortable to hold in the hand
The amount of buttons on the left side of the DAP will take some getting used to for sure, not the biggest fan of this multifunction button? Being nit picky here.
Would have much rather have had similar packaging to the M11, don’t care for a wooden box or anything like that when it’s packaged with below average accessories for a $1300 DAP. The provided (screen protector?) doesn’t even fit the front screen, looks like it’s measured for the back which already has plastic covering it. The lack of a case is also quite poor.
I’ve read quite a few complaints about the volume knob but I actually like that it has start/stop points for min/max volumes instead of just being an infinite scroll wheel, makes it very easy to adjust the volume to levels where I want it without having to see on the screen physically where I am at.
Overall I am quite impressed so far but we will see how it goes over the next week or so. I’ll post back anything relevant I can.
Can also confirm the 3.5mm out (with 64audio A18t) also has an incredibly low noise floor, definitely impressed with that.
MrLocoLuciano
500+ Head-Fier
Forgot to say that hiss is higher than Modded WM1Z for sure.
Guys, what app can I install on M15 for playing Tidal MQA? Can't install UAPP. Need something similar, because SQ out of Tidal's app sucks.
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I am back from auditioning several IEMs with M15 and M15+SHA900: Elysium, VE8, JH Roxy, JH Lola and the stars of the show U12 and U18. Among these only VE8 did hiss. But it did hiss tiny bit even with SHA900 which has 0.35 ohms output impedance. It was so sensitive that, for U18 volume was at 10/24 and for VE8 it was 4/24, with SHA900.
The disappointment of the show was Elysium. It was also great but I was expecting more than just creamy mids (which are actually greally gorgeus), seeing the technicality comparisions with U18. The treble was just too tamed. Even VE8 had better treble extension to my ears. If they would tame it that much, why did they use ES tweeters? I liked VE8 actually more than Elysium.
Then there were those two IEMs which sounded like they are from a completely different galaxy I heard for the first time. U18t and U12. I didn't notice any hiss, but just awesomeness. With U18t M15 shone with the amount of detail. Unbelievable. I switched to M15+SHA900 and it did improve especially the bass speed. But also hearing with M15 alone was jaw dropping, how the orchestral / acoustic music sounded with U18 and the ebass with U12. I am extremely happy with the M15 capabilities, as a whole package. At least with Stellia and Elysium, its SE output is not SQ-wise lacking anything from its balanced output and I can repeat myself and say that I see no reason to use the balanced output for a sensitive IEM. For me M15+SHA900 sounds better (especially better clarity, detail and stage) than other top DAPs I had (SP1000, WM1Z). M15 alone is a bit colored with a bit of forward mids which is sometimes is not my favorite sound, works better for some people/pieces and M15+SHA900 for others.
In the end, I left the shop after having my impressions done. Somehow I avoided custom IEMs for a long time knowing that I cannot resell them and I have been trying so many universal IEMs. And searched for the reason why I cannot get a proper isolation with universals and why my ears hurt when I do get the isolation: I have curved and elyptical (tall and narrow) ear canals. It was even hurting a bit as I was testing the IEMs. I guess I am not going to touch the universals anymore. They will inform me this week about the upcoming U18s and when I can try it, but I am sure that I will get U18t or s, maybe later followed by A12.
A few of the pieces I use/d for testing (of course as FLACs or Qobuz HiRes downloads):
(for the bass speed and texture - bass texture/speed improves with SHA900)
(my wife's album, first time I heard with such clarity, other than our HEDD tower monitors, U18t + M15 + SHA900)
(can't think of any other reference female voice)
(a well produced album that I very much like)
(a well produced folk music)
(another one)
(instrument recording is great with big stage but the vocal mix very odd)
(a very well produced metal album)
(same bassist and drummer, not as good produced but is alot of fun listening to them from a good source + IEM/HP)
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