[TheUnknow]

You can have any other store and aurora store for full google compatible store (just no google services for any apps relying on it due to samsung not fiio)

But it's FiiO fault for choosing the 7872 , not Samsung.

In contrast, I believe A&K SP2000 is android 6 ,no playstore or any other store, 1 slot, slower soc and 3 times the cost but nobody is moaning in that thread ? Fiio are doing some fantastic daps for the money.

Closed Android 6, and that's a big difference as you can't install anything you want (Open APP service) .

 

[chidmas]

Sim slot isn't simply a engineering issue you have to get the unit approved by networks or else at any point they can blacklist the item. For a company like fiio this could be time consuming and rather pointless since I do not thinks that essential when you can simply use your phone as a hotspot

Good point.



Two devices, to serve one purpose. That seems pointless to me, especially for $1,300.



Yes that is the issue, no play services. Some apps, especially media apps that are bitperfect (unlike the Fiio apps) require play services to verify the account. Well without play services, at least you won't have the battery drain.

So you would rather pay for engineers improving sound or adding Sim card slots

 

[alegria]

There are a lot of people here, already complaining about the player (price and specs) even before the player is released. Fiio is selling us affordable products in comparison with other competitors which rip us off mercilessly. You all who are complaining, you better wait until the unit is available then go and demo it so that you can do a real judgment. After doing so, if you are not satisfied and need a better player with the same 2x AK4499 and DSD512, then go and buy a SP2000 for around 3.500 USD.

 

[Colors]

Probably not buying this as they'll likely release a M15 Pro in like six months

 

[DarginMahkum]

Play Store ?

I personally don't need it, but that's me.

 

[Blackberry Jack]

2x AK4499 and DSD512 then go and buy a SP2000 for around 3.500 USD

There is no correlation between the DAC chip and the sound quality. AK is overpriced indeed, but they charge a big price for arguably the best sound on the market. Fiio is far from that.

 

[DarginMahkum]

To me, the dap market is different to the phone market where new cpu and other features need to be fast to overcome the competition. It’s all about the sound, and how tuning the player gets the best from the sound. It’s no accident the chord mojo is 4 years old now and still one of the best mobile DACs. The real danger in having too quick dap releases is that the old ones get left behind, and no more firmware updates improve the sound from what they had before .

That's why I find the whole concept of DAPs these days wrong. The right way is, I think:

- In the form of Q5s (but with the functionality of Poly + Mojo)
- No display
- No Android
- Possibility of having an SD card slot
- Bluetooth connection to mobile phone or computer to control the content and actions
- Streaming services should be played over BT from the mobile

Having to have a second Android system, which requires a lot of CPU power and memory (and a lot of development time), just does not make sense for me. An audio company should stay an audio company, not try to match a mobile phone platformand SW-wise. HifiMan is doing the right thing with HM1000 (which has a rather overbloated price and costs more than 3 times of M15).

But this just does not work, because people would like to have shiny toys with blinking lights all over it rather than real audio gadgets. I remember (I think it was Cayin) one of the companies here has written that, they had a product that had SE output as good as any balanced output, but because people just would like to have a balanced output independent of the audio quality, a high quality product with SE output is seen as a low quality one.

 

[xenoVa]

I agree

I think the best type of product should be Q5s-type DAC/AMP with an SD card slot. Smartphone controls the device via bluetooth. Audio is not being transferred via bluetooth, phone just controls the audio playback of the device. Audio is being played from the SD card with full quality.

 

[FastAndClean]

"We have them every week"
Fiio

 

[Sven2015]

A DAP based on (old) Samsung SoC with old Android and non working BT module would be a backstep...

 

[Sven2015]

- Same CPU / RAM: The fastest processor in the market, hands down beating anything else. What more do you want?
- Identical screen: Are you going to watch HDR Netflix on this? Why do you need a better screen?
- Stuck wit Android 7: And what about this? What's the added benefit of a newer Android on a media player?
- No new features: DSD512 capability, current output DACs are not new enough features for you? Just as a reminder, the only other AK4499 based device with DSD512 is SP2000 with a price tag of $3500 / €3800.
- Heavier thicker: This is not a beauty contest item, it is a music player.
- Shorter battery life: You don't want it to be thicker, but you don't want a reduced battery life. Interesting...
- Wrong marketing strategy: How many music equipment products have you developed until now, how many companies did you run, and how successful were you? Would FiiO be considered successful if they just did what you want, rather than run the company themselves?

There are things that are going wrong in the player market at the moment, but the reason is more the useless expectations of the consumers.

The SoC is from beg. 2018 and a mid range SoC (used in midrange smartphones) The latest model is Exynos 9820 from last year.
An old android = old OS kernel, maybe security issues and other (open) issues based on this OS - no support by Android such google play for example
DSD512, NO one will hear the difference!

 

[TheUnknow]

That's why I find the whole concept of DAPs these days wrong. The right way is, I think:

- In the form of Q5s (but with the functionality of Poly + Mojo)
- No display
- No Android
- Possibility of having an SD card slot
- Bluetooth connection to mobile phone or computer to control the content and actions
- Streaming services should be played over BT from the mobile

Having to have a second Android system, which requires a lot of CPU power and memory (and a lot of development time), just does not make sense for me. An audio company should stay an audio company, not try to match a mobile phone platformand SW-wise. HifiMan is doing the right thing with HM1000 (which has a rather overbloated price and costs more than 3 times of M15).

But this just does not work, because people would like to have shiny toys with blinking lights all over it rather than real audio gadgets. I remember (I think it was Cayin) one of the companies here has written that, they had a product that had SE output as good as any balanced output, but because people just would like to have a balanced output independent of the audio quality, a high quality product with SE output is seen as a low quality one.

For me, line up should be re-worked like this (all have the same -high end- audio quality) :

- Entry level (< 200 $) : no connectivity (Wifi, BT) , no touch screen , no OS (like a QLS DAP) ;
- Mid level (< 400 $ ) : touch screen , connectivity still no OS (Hiby R3 like) ;
- TOTL ( < 700 $) : touch screen , connectivity , OS , recent hardware ... ;

It would allows manufacturer to focus on proposing decent hardware and fully fonctionnable features for every line , instead of proposing old SoC and few Go of RAM to run an obsolete OS with bugs.

 

[asian23]

When we look at it, what’s the biggest growing dac segment? It’s the USB-C dongles! Why? Because it brings superior sound to PCs and mobile phones that don’t have it. I have the dx220 but still I bought one, because ease of access is sometimes even more important. It’s also the reason why the BTR5 will be a top seller, but then it’s cheaper than a full blown dap.

 

[asian23]

I agree

I think the best type of product should be Q5s-type DAC/AMP with an SD card slot. Smartphone controls the device via bluetooth. Audio is not being transferred via bluetooth, phone just controls the audio playback of the device. Audio is being played from the SD card with full quality.

it already exists. Just get any phone with 512gb storage and a q5s, and forget all about daps...

 

[xenoVa]

it already exists. Just get any phone with 512gb storage and a q5s, and forget all about daps...

No it doesn't exist yet. Q5s can be controlled from phone but audio quality gets worse due to lossy bluetooth codecs. With my solution audio won't be transmissed via bluetooth, it will be played from the device's storage.