[Pictograms]

 

[DarginMahkum]

I don’t think there will be much hope of a different volume display since it’s analog... maybe I’m the only one who loves the dial... I find it very easy to use while in my pocket and takes no time to adjust when switching headphones

I actually also like the dial very much and there is a very small volume display on the upper left corner of the screen, but I would prefer if it was a percentage, for example.

 

[Pictograms]

I actually also like the dial very much and there is a very small volume display on the upper left corner of the screen, but I would prefer if it was a percentage, for example.

The would be much better! I didn’t even notice that changed from mute and on... but I see now it has 5 levels mute, 0-25, 26-50, 51-75, 76-100
That indicator is pretty useless

 

[cr3ativ3]

Maybe @FiiO can answer this ? Use the SE 3.5 output both DACs ?

 

[DarginMahkum]

I was just copy pasting this.

If i remember right , SE output uses only 1 Dac..(correct me if this is wrong for the M15) if i buy a device with dual dac.. i want to use its full potential .. and 2nd .. all my upgrade cables are 4.4.. sure could use an adapter..

I think it is using both of the DACs in both modes. As I mentioned earlier, the AK4499 has 4 channels and the SP2000 divides it between balanced and unbalanced, per side. From what I see above, FiiO uses a DAC per side in both balanced and unbalanced modes with all channels. I thought maybe FiiO uses 4 channels in balanced mode and 2 in SE, but I am probably wrong - it seems to use all channels.

 

[cr3ativ3]

I was just copy pasting this.



I think it is using both of the DACs in both modes. As I mentioned earlier, the AK4499 has 4 channels and the SP2000 divides it between balanced and unbalanced, per side. From what I see above, FiiO uses a DAC per side in both balanced and unbalanced modes with all channels. I thought maybe FiiO uses 4 channels in balanced mode and 2 in SE, but I am probably wrong - it seems to use all channels.

Well .. these are good news

 

[Nayparm]

The would be much better! I didn’t even notice that changed from mute and on... but I see now it has 5 levels mute, 0-25, 26-50, 51-75, 76-100
That indicator is pretty useless

Using the LED ring brightness with volume works better

 

[Pictograms]

What's the approximate run-time using flac files if you care to share?

Just to check In again, after a few hours I lost 5% battery every 30 min streaming hires from tidal (balanced, headphone mode, low gain, volume 26-50 range) which looks like 9-10 hours is doable with wifi on... next time I charge the m15 I’ll try only FLAC (fiio music player) with wifi off

 

[jmills8]

because this guy is Fiio connected and always had positive reviews about their products, even for x5iii crap. He was one of the guys who introduced Fiio products to Romanian potential customers. He;s enthusiastic about M15 and if he's going to sell it, i might try it but without play store, i don't know...

Soundwise and playing music stored in the 2 sd cards the X5III sounded and performed great.

 

[jmills8]

Unfortunately I don't have any. I did a complete reset to my portables about 5 months ago. I only have Stellia and PM-1.

Guess you going on a portable gear buying spree ?

 

[expat852]

Re: the analog volume knob, Fiio's M15 page says:

"Analog potentiometer volume knob Pro-audio grade volume adjustment
ADC curve reconstruction as employed in the M15's volume adjustment solves problem traditionally associated with analog potentiometers, such as volume imbalance between the left and right channels."
​

So it seems that it the analog potentiometer is not in the signal chain directly controlling the volume, but its position is digitized and used to digitally control the volume (ADC is Analog to Digital Control?). There are a few tells here such as Settings>General>Hold switch setting, where you can set the volume knob so it doesn't change the volume when the hold switch is on. That would not be possible if the analog potentiometer was in the signal chain.

This does at least mean that there is nothing stopping FIIO from adding a traditional numerical volume display in a future firmware update.

 

[cr3ativ3]

Soundwise and playing music stored in the 2 sd cards the X5III sounded and performed great.

Do you have the M15 already ?

 

[LightBlue77]

Soundwise and playing music stored in the 2 sd cards the X5III sounded and performed great.

This is your opinion, mine is different, aside of sound, it was slow, had poor battery life and broke micro SD cards. It's all on its head-fi thread. But, whatever, it's history.
About m15, how is tidal used on it? Does it have direct support or it is installed using downloaded apk? Now I use uapp on my smartphone and a pioneer dap, but without play store, it wouldn't be possible to install it.

 

[jmills8]

Do you have the M15 already ?

Ill demo it next week .

 

[Asdcreation]

Can someone compare it with audioquest dragonfly cobalt? I mean it's in different league but a sound comparison will be nice
Will be using it for car audio / focal clear headphones
Right now using fiio x7 mk2 with clear @Home
Cobalt with s9+ for car audio