[greenflash]

My wife of course would prefer we keep the money and the M0 for now but I am not getting any younger and would like to have a more functional DAP. Ahh decisions desicions, tough to make the call. I just wish there were more DAP's available in this price range with LDAC. No Sony A55 anywhere in site leaving the M0 and Fiio M7 and M9 to possibly demo right now.

I hear ya, same here, gotta enjoy things now. To be honest I wouldn't have even bothered for a hi-res DAP before the M6 because the u$s 400-500 range or something is unpayable for me. Heck u$s 149 (plus the cost of importing etc it's been about u$s 225) has been a stretch. But at that price and with all those FEATURES I felt compelled (it helped that my Nexus phone died on me). Previously I only bought the X1/X1II which are fine but nowhere near in features terms. I do want the WIFI option, yeah, I rarely take the time to fill up my SD Card (or I never have there what I want ) and I rely on Spotify for my day's mood.

They've recently set up a FiiO store in my country (well done!) but they are a virtual store, no demo products at all. Also the M6 will take a long time to come here I guess (they need to clear up old models stock for sure)

FiiO really hit the sweet spot with the M6. The M9 is awesome in its price category and the M7 has its public too; so in general it's a smart line they designed. If it wasn't for the M6, truth is I would have probably taken the M3K road or even stuck to the BTR1K which sounds really good and it's really comfortable. Delighted with the little thing.

 

[abitdeef]

I've got an issue with Tidal where using bluetooth (to BTR3) sound mutes after one track.... waking the screen up starts the sound again, but the track has actually been playing, just muted. Other forums suggest that adding a 1s crossfade might help, but the latest version on Tidal (with MQA) has removed crossfade! Anyone else??

Me too I have the same problem with Bluetooth using ESS 100 I have only experienced it with tidal offline- let me check tidal online. Nope it’s got the same problem with online tidal.

 

[fish1050]

They’re all pretty close, I would imagine from reviews m9 and M7 sound warmer than M6 and probably the balanced of m9 would be quite a step up.

To me m6 sounds a little more tame than A80 and M0, a little more even in the frequency response- but it still has that zing of an ESS chip. And the hiby R3 is warm also and doesn’t have that typical ESS thinner sound.

I imagine the M7 has a bit more weight and the treble is smoother and more in line and that’s why you friend likes it- probably sounds richer. I’m mostly using m6 through a great sounding Bluetooth dongle and both my all the iems/cans I’m using are pretty full bodied so the more neutral sound is good in that respect.

I don’t know if you considered hiby R3 or how their availability is in Canada, but one can be had here for as low as 149.00 dollars from music teck- used like new. And that is a very nice capable dap that has a great Eq and dsp effects. It’s got tidal but it’s Linux based and has pretty much all the stuff you want.

Lol not to confuse you anymore or anything, just throwing it out there. I had one but I thought it was too warm sounding for me , but I guess subsequent firmware releases fixed that, Worth checking out if you can.

The Fiio m6 has more tricks up it’s sleeve but as you said you’re not going to be using all the apps and such. I don’t think any are a ‘wrong’ choice as their all similar in audio quality and all have bigger screens than M0.

Funny but I actually was considering the Hiby R3 before the M0 but the terrible battery life turned me off completely. For such a low powered device I couldn't get past how little power it had. It was actually available for a little while from headphonebar.com in Vancouver but they don't carry it anymore and I don't know of any other dealers that do.

You know having owned the Sony A17 and demoed the A35 and A45 and now owning the M0. I really think my ideal DAP has a sound somewhere between the two. Not quite as dry and analytical as the Sony A series but a little tamer than the the M0 sound. Some songs sound really good on the M0 but for some it does sound as you say a little thin and almost metalic and it is then that I miss a smoother slightly warmer sound. The reviews for the M7 indicate a more traditional Fiio sound with more warmth. Though I understand the M9 even though it has the AKM DACs is tuned closer to the M6 than the M7. They both have the characteristic treble rolloff above 10 Khz that Fiio is known for which should produce a smoother sound on both.

Okey my head is starting hurt thinking about all this minutia of warm vs neutral and less like this sound and more like that sound. Anything short of a good solid demo of both the M7 and M9 and I won't be able to decide. Honestly it feels like the music is becoming more about the analytics and less about the listening. I just want to find a nice functional DAP that sounds good but doesn't bankrupt me. How hard can that be?

 

[fish1050]

I hear ya, same here, gotta enjoy things now. To be honest I wouldn't have even bothered for a hi-res DAP before the M6 because the u$s 400-500 range or something is unpayable for me. Heck u$s 149 (plus the cost of importing etc it's been about u$s 225) has been a stretch. But at that price and with all those FEATURES I felt compelled (it helped that my Nexus phone died on me). Previously I only bought the X1/X1II which are fine but nowhere near in features terms. I do want the WIFI option, yeah, I rarely take the time to fill up my SD Card (or I never have there what I want ) and I rely on Spotify for my day's mood.

They've recently set up a FiiO store in my country (well done!) but they are a virtual store, no demo products at all. Also the M6 will take a long time to come here I guess (they need to clear up old models stock for sure)

FiiO really hit the sweet spot with the M6. The M9 is awesome in its price category and the M7 has its public too; so in general it's a smart line they designed. If it wasn't for the M6, truth is I would have probably taken the M3K road or even stuck to the BTR1K which sounds really good and it's really comfortable. Delighted with the little thing.

I so miss my audio sales days when you could go into a dealer, sit in a nice comfy chair in a sound room and spend the day in audio bliss trying out gear. Now its order online, wait for delivery and hope it is what you are looking for and trying to ship it back if it isn't. My god when did we become so uncivilized.

I kind of feel like DAP's are becoming more about the gimmicks and less about the sound. I think what is giving me pause about the Fiio DAP's is they seem to be going down the Apple road. Putting the features ahead of the sound quality to some extent. I mean all the antennas and wifi and the additional circuitry must be affecting the sound quality to some degree. That is why I don't want to buy a DAP with features I don't need like wifi because they take away from the sound quality. Give me a plain old DAP with LDAC bluetooth support, decent power and battery life and color me happy. You can keep your new fangled Tidal wave and yer Potify and let me listen to my music in peace already.

 

[abitdeef]

Funny but I actually was considering the Hiby R3 before the M0 but the terrible battery life turned me off completely. For such a low powered device I couldn't get past how little power it had. It was actually available for a little while from headphonebar.com in Vancouver but they don't carry it anymore and I don't know of any other dealers that do.

You know having owned the Sony A17 and demoed the A35 and A45 and now owning the M0. I really think my ideal DAP has a sound somewhere between the two. Not quite as dry and analytical as the Sony A series but a little tamer than the the M0 sound. Some songs sound really good on the M0 but for some it does sound as you say a little thin and almost metalic and it is then that I miss a smoother slightly warmer sound. The reviews for the M7 indicate a more traditional Fiio sound with more warmth. Though I understand the M9 even though it has the AKM DACs is tuned closer to the M6 than the M7. They both have the characteristic treble rolloff above 10 Khz that Fiio is known for which should produce a smoother sound on both.

Okey my head is starting hurt thinking about all this minutia of warm vs neutral and less like this sound and more like that sound. Anything short of a good solid demo of both the M7 and M9 and I won't be able to decide. Honestly it feels like the music is becoming more about the analytics and less about the listening. I just want to find a nice functional DAP that sounds good but doesn't bankrupt me. How hard can that be?

I’m sure M9 will sound better than M7, no doubt. I can tell you m6 sounds close to M0 but with a more evenness across the board and a tiny bit more polite that some might not like. But I like the wider more spread out stage of the M6.

M9 is probably better than both in staging and tone. I have an AK SR15 and while the m6 doesn’t put me off- the SR15 is wider and more 3D and has more detail and dynamics and a more realistic tone.

I think you’ll find that with the m9

Oh and my R3 has pretty good battery life and the balanced sounded nice and the magic 8 ball dsp was fun to play with. I hope Fiio adds something like that because it was better than Sony Eq dsp effects and they are good.

Good luck

 

[abitdeef]

I so miss my audio sales days when you could go into a dealer, sit in a nice comfy chair in a sound room and spend the day in audio bliss trying out gear. Now its order online, wait for delivery and hope it is what you are looking for and trying to ship it back if it isn't. My god when did we become so uncivilized.

I kind of feel like DAP's are becoming more about the gimmicks and less about the sound. I think what is giving me pause about the Fiio DAP's is they seem to be going down the Apple road. Putting the features ahead of the sound quality to some extent. I mean all the antennas and wifi and the additional circuitry must be affecting the sound quality to some degree. That is why I don't want to buy a DAP with features I don't need like wifi because they take away from the sound quality. Give me a plain old DAP with LDAC bluetooth support, decent power and battery life and color me happy. You can keep your new fangled Tidal wave and yer Potify and let me listen to my music in peace already.

I felt the same way, but I’m listening to tidal off line right now and it sounds amazing and it’s an album by ozric tentacles that is hard to come by here. There is just so much at your fingertips and it’s very easy to manage and even make playlists.

And this is Tidal hifi - the masters sound even better. I can assure you using excellent revealing iems the sound quality is as good as flac/ (masters) off your ss memory on your dap or micro sd card. And regular hifi sounds as good as any hi bit rate MP3/WMA.

 

[BetterLate]

So the only dealer in Canada I can find besides amazon to pre-order the M6 from has pulled it from their site. I called them and they now have no eta on when they will get stock. Amazon.ca still says they will have stock on Feb 21, but given their penchant for changing eta's on stock I don't know if I can trust it and @FiiO mentioned a stock shortage for the M6.. I have someone that wants to offer me a good price for my Shanling M0 but he doesn't want to wait that long.

So my question is, is the M9 worth paying $180.00 more for over the M6? Also I have a Musician friend who bought the M7 over the M6 because he thinks it sounds better and headphonia gave the M7 8.5 for tonality vs only 8.1 for the M6. The dealer that just pulled the M6 has the M7 on sale for $250.00 CDN. Still hearing the M7 has issues so not sure I want to go that route either.

So for all you Fiio fans out their that have maybe tried all 3 models can you make a recommendation? I understand you have gone with M6 but any advice would be appreciated. I don't really need the wifi and streaming that the M6 offers so feature wise the M7 fits my needs but I understand it has bluetooth issues?

As you don’t care about streaming you might look at Hiby R3
Lol, guess I should read to end before posting

 

[abitdeef]

As you don’t care about streaming you might look at Hiby R3
Lol, guess I should read to end before posting

Lol I do that all the time, I have a short attention span and I’m a spaz.

 

[Unknown757890]

Just one thing @FiiO should take note of.

I downloaded the apk of Amazon music. After a while I turned off my FiiO M6. I turned it back on. When it said “Welcome” on the screen in stead of being on the screen for 3-5 seconds it stayed on till my FiiO died (a very.. long time.) I reacharged it and thankfully it turned on . I powered it off, and it stayed saying “powering off” till it died. I recharged it and again it thankfully turned back on. So I uninstalled the amazon music app wich was installed on my FiiO’s memory, hoping that this won’t happen again. I didn’t, for a few days.

Did anyone else experience this issue?

 

[Tenashus1]

Where did you find the Amazon Music apk?

 

[Unknown757890]

Where did you find the Amazon Music apk?

I used the link that fiio gave on the website.

 

[SubtleOrc]

Do we have any idea / roadmap / hints or otherwise whether or not the Apple Music and or Youtube Music apps are going to be whitelisted on this?

This is basically the thing I'm waiting on before dropping the money on it.

 

[alchemical]

Do we have any idea / roadmap / hints or otherwise whether or not the Apple Music and or Youtube Music apps are going to be whitelisted on this?

This is basically the thing I'm waiting on before dropping the money on it.

Would love to know this too. Really happy with my M6, but would love to be able to play Apple Music natively as opposed to just Airplaying.

 

[Ranscat]

@FiiO @JamesFiiO hey is there any possibility to add an option to rotate the screen?

 

[Brava210]

I had issues with tidal where it refuses to play anything. Pressing play does nothing
But i can navigate around it ok.?