[gLer]

Yes, when these are your main requirements you would be better off with a mobile phone because you are not using the advantages of the M9.
The M9 is a great sounding DAP with his dual DAC and sufficiently powerful AMP with a balanced output and can handle a large amount and great variety of offline music files.

Well said. I do think FiiO made a mistake marketing all the streaming and wireless features given the CPU they chose for the M9, but they still work, albeit not as well as dedicated and far more powerful (and expensive) streaming devices. The M9 is first and foremost a high-res balanced dap, which for <$300 is quite amazing. You lose ALL the advantages of high-res and balanced when streaming, so I consider streaming more a convenience than the main purpose of the device.

 

[Typhoon1944]

Yes, when these are your main requirements you would be better off with a mobile phone because you are not using the advantages of the M9.
The M9 is a great sounding DAP with his dual DAC and sufficiently powerful AMP with a balanced output and can handle a large amount and great variety of offline music files.

Are you serious? Fiio state on their website that the M9 was developed to fill a hole in the market as there were phones that could stream but not play hires content and DAPs that could play hires but not stream. WiFi connectivity is a basic element and for it to not be working is a fundamental problem. Are you saying that someone who buys a Bugatti but can't drive it at 260mph every time they get in it should just walk as they aren't using the advantages of the Bugatti?

I'm glad Fiio have finally provided an answer to my question but it would be interesting to find out if they knew about the problem with the Samsung chip prior to bringing the M9 to market or if this is something new that can be fixed by a software upgrade. If it can't be fixed I'm going to have to return it to Amazon. And if I was a future M11 purchaser I'd be worried that it could happen again.

 

[gLer]

And if I was a future M11 purchaser I'd be worried that it could happen again.

I wouldn’t. The first thing that struck me when I saw the M11 specs was that this is what the M9 *should* have been given the features it offered - especially CPU and RAM. That’s why I’m trading up.

 

[MrPanda]

Yes, when these are your main requirements you would be better off with a mobile phone because you are not using the advantages of the M9.
The M9 is a great sounding DAP with his dual DAC and sufficiently powerful AMP with a balanced output and can handle a large amount and great variety of offline music files.

It's marketed as a streaming capable device, not as a 'well, maybe you could stream a little sometimes, but then the wifi will cut out, and you can't run the streaming apps in a stable or less-than frustrating way' device. It stinks, stinks, stinks and STINKS. Just look at the answer on the Wifi, -- "oh, that's not our problem, it's Samsung!" -- FiiO that is a ridiculous cop out, and this device is a lemon.

 

[Daiyama]

Are you serious? Fiio state on their website that the M9 was developed to fill a hole in the market as there were phones that could stream but not play hires content and DAPs that could play hires but not stream. WiFi connectivity is a basic element and for it to not be working is a fundamental problem. Are you saying that someone who buys a Bugatti but can't drive it at 260mph every time they get in it should just walk as they aren't using the advantages of the Bugatti?

I'm glad Fiio have finally provided an answer to my question but it would be interesting to find out if they knew about the problem with the Samsung chip prior to bringing the M9 to market or if this is something new that can be fixed by a software upgrade. If it can't be fixed I'm going to have to return it to Amazon. And if I was a future M11 purchaser I'd be worried that it could happen again.

If streaming is your main requirement than please go ahead and return the device, there are better options available. That is all that I wanted to say.

 

[afico]

The only better option for that it is not a Dap . But and audiophile phone like LG .

 

[Dobrescu George]

My review on FiiO M9 is live now!

This is one pretty sweet DAP from FiiO, lots of power, lots of abilities, and for a fair price

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2019/04/back-on-top-fiio-m9-player-review.html

 

[afico]

My review on FiiO M9 is live now!

This is one pretty sweet DAP from FiiO, lots of power, lots of abilities, and for a fair price

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2019/04/back-on-top-fiio-m9-player-review.html

Really nice review George!
And I agree..dx120 sound better but no streaming duties.

 

[dharmasteve]

It's marketed as a streaming capable device, not as a 'well, maybe you could stream a little sometimes, but then the wifi will cut out, and you can't run the streaming apps in a stable or less-than frustrating way' device. It stinks, stinks, stinks and STINKS. Just look at the answer on the Wifi, -- "oh, that's not our problem, it's Samsung!" -- FiiO that is a ridiculous cop out, and this device is a lemon.

It may well be a quality control issue. Mine has never dropped WiFi (Virgin in UK). If you are under warranty either get it replaced or as you are so frustrated with FiiO your money back. Are there many having NO problems with WiFi cut out?

 

[Dobrescu George]

Really nice review George!
And I agree..dx120 sound better but no streaming duties.

Thank you!

I try to be honest and impartial to products, people need to know exactly how things are, and I do my best to bring that information

It may well be a quality control issue. Mine has never dropped WiFi (Virgin in UK). If you are under warranty either get it replaced or as you are so frustrated with FiiO your money back. Are there many having NO problems with WiFi cut out?

I also had a really strong Wifi reception with M9, been able to get good streaming even more than 15 meters away from my router (?)

 

[gLer]

I also had a really strong Wifi reception with M9, been able to get good streaming even more than 15 meters away from my router (?)

Likewise, no Wi-Fi problems here...unless I’m in a poor reception area or if I have a few too many Bluetooth/wireless devices or microwave devices around. Remember the M9 is limited to 2.4ghz Wi-Fi and doesn’t have the strongest antenna either, so it’ll be very susceptible to interference from other Wi-Fi and BT devices. That’s the main cause of dropouts. Something like the M11 with 2.4/5ghz Wi-Fi are far less susceptible to interference from other devices and can also maintain far higher throughput speeds.

 

[Daiyama]

.......

I also had a really strong Wifi reception with M9, been able to get good streaming even more than 15 meters away from my router (?)

Did. you try to Stream highres files via WiFi?
Also have no problems with Amazon music when I tested my WiFi yesterday. So I wonder were all these WiFi dropout complaints come from.

 

[afico]

From my side I can only say that the problem is the connection time.
I mean.randomly after 1 hour or so the wifi signal goes down and then up. And I need to restart the player

 

[Sven2015]

... another useless review...
I have a question. What is the background for this kind of "reviews" without any comments about known problems / open issues? I don't understand it...

remember M7 & M9 devices have massive problems with music playing - both models are useless in gapless playback and normal music playing; the app crashes and so on!
These problems are not fixed until today!

 

[gLer]

... another useless review...
I have a question. What is the background for this kind of "reviews" without any comments about known problems / open issues? I don't understand it...

remember M7 & M9 devices have massive problems with music playing - both models are useless in gapless playback and normal music playing; the app crashes and so on!
These problems are not fixed until today!

That’s just not true. The vocal minority may have some issues but most users seem very happy with the basic functions of the M9. I’ve never had an issue with gapless playback (and I have many dozens of gapless albums), nor with almost all normal files I play.