[eddy79]

Have had a look at a lot of reviews but my budget isnt great and these 2 are available locally and should hopefully be able to listen before purchase but the M9 is twice the price.

If anyone has had experience with the M6 and M9 what sort ot percentage better would you say the sound quality is. Unfortunately the old rule of diminishing returns still holds no matter how high you go. If double price can get 20% more it could be worthwhile but 10% not really.

Also if something better at the same price point recs welcome. Must have Bluetooth though.

Cheers Ed

 

[dsrk]

Have had a look at a lot of reviews but my budget isnt great and these 2 are available locally and should hopefully be able to listen before purchase but the M9 is twice the price.

If anyone has had experience with the M6 and M9 what sort ot percentage better would you say the sound quality is. Unfortunately the old rule of diminishing returns still holds no matter how high you go. If double price can get 20% more it could be worthwhile but 10% not really.

Also if something better at the same price point recs welcome. Must have Bluetooth though.

Cheers Ed

I had M9 for a couple of weeks and have M6 now. They are different sounding DAPs, M9 is a little warmer and thicker sounding while M6 is neutral and retaining that typical sabre qualities.
M9 has balanced out and a lot of power to drive demanding headphones and a volume wheel which works better than earlier FiiO models.
The track navigation buttons are good on M9 since it has volume wheel, play/pause, next and previous buttons.
M6 has only play/pause and volume buttons has dual function. For me the next/previous buttons are important as I want to fast forward or rewind often when the screen locked.
As for the sound quality, there is not a night and day improvement but M9 does sound a little refined in comparison. Please take this with a grain of salt as this is from memory.

And most important (for some) the headphone jacks are on the bottom for M9 and on top for M6, I like the former.
As for the Bluetooth it is superior on M6.

And if you can stretch your budget a little to $400, FiiO M11 for overall package or DX160 for size and sound quality are the best in the budget category.

 

[eddy79]

Thanks for your help. I prefer to go more neutral and better Bluetooth is preferred. I tend to play and pocket and just listen so not having the extra options inst a biggie. Really just trying to figure out if the M9 is worth double the price. Locally the M11 is 660 and well out of my price range.

 

[dsrk]

What are your headphones?

 

[eddy79]

Have Audio Technia ATH M50X headphones for at home and E40 iems I was using at work. Just got Noble Audio Falcon Bluetooth iems for work use as less obvious and cord was getting in the road and kept pulling E40s out of my ears.

 

[dsrk]

M6 can drive E40s fine but it will not drive M50X to its full potential,on quieter recordings you will be pushing it to maximum very often. And that is with the EQ off, if turn the EQ on it will reduce the volume -6b and it will be barely loud enough.
Where as M9 was able to drive HD6XX to reasonable levels and still had headroom.
For IEMs M6 is ok but for headphones like M50X or HD598, you need an AMP.

 

[eddy79]

Ok thanks for the info. I suppose the next question then is how is the Bluetooth for the M9. The Noble Audio Falcon Bluetooth iems will see the most use probably 90% so am I better with the m6 for better Bluetooth and sacrifice power for the m50x or go the m9 and sacrifice Bluetooth for power?

 

[dsrk]

Bluetooth quality is superior on M6 and consistent, it has enough volume to power any Bluetooth device. I am really surprised by the Bluetooth quality on M6.

 

[dsrk]

If you use Bluetooth most of the time, BTR5 is an excellent option which has the best sound quality in business.

 

[eddy79]

Looks interesting. Does it send Bluetooth as well as recieve.

 

[dsrk]

Yes it's a Bluetooth DAC/AMP.

 

[eddy79]

Will have to check out some reviews then. If it can drive both my corded and Bluetooth headphones and iems would be great as my music is on my phone as well as don't always carry dap with me. Looks small and easier to carry than a dap. Cheers

 

[eddy79]

Seems that the btr5 would be limited by my phones capability for Bluetooth output and would only use one of the sabre dacs as not using balanced output.

Leaves me back at the M6. My phone can run the m50x loud enough for my listening with about a third volume to spare so hopefully the M6 will be enough even if I do have to use at higher level than the iems.

 

[AtrafCreez]

BTR5

If you could help a clueless newbie. I bought 2 months ago Sennheiser Momentum 2 Bluetooth IEMs after waiting years to try bluetooth. Basically I play only YouTube music which i uploaded to my PC and wanted to transfer to a "good" MP3 with Bluetooth. If the Bluetooth is not as good,at least I have great wired IEMs but I hate wires. Thought of FIIO M6, then decided on M9 but have heard of FIIO BTR5-384K/32bit but didn't understand that from the DACs of FIIO M6 or M9. What would you suggest for the Senn.Momentum 2 Bluetooth IEMs. Also I need as much expandable memory possibilities as possible! Thank You so much

 

[dsrk]

If you could help a clueless newbie. I bought 2 months ago Sennheiser Momentum 2 Bluetooth IEMs after waiting years to try bluetooth. Basically I play only YouTube music which i uploaded to my PC and wanted to transfer to a "good" MP3 with Bluetooth. If the Bluetooth is not as good,at least I have great wired IEMs but I hate wires. Thought of FIIO M6, then decided on M9 but have heard of FIIO BTR5-384K/32bit but didn't understand that from the DACs of FIIO M6 or M9. What would you suggest for the Senn.Momentum 2 Bluetooth IEMs. Also I need as much expandable memory possibilities as possible! Thank You so much

For BTR5 you need a source like a mobile phone. M6 is very good for the money. There are other options like Hidizs AP80 or Hiby R3 Pro or Shanling M2x, you can't go wrong with anyone one of these.