FiiO M9 , Android based Hi-Res smart DAP with 3.5/2.5 powerful output|AKM4490 X2 |WiFi|aptX/aptX HD/LDAC/HWA(LHDC)|USB DAC|USB AUDIO OUT

[FiiO]

I just received my Fiio M9 a few days ago (with a Fiio F9) and here are my first feedback about it.
(I updated it to FW 1.0.2.)

The good!

• Overall experience is really good.
• Sound quality is really good.
• UX is really good. (Although it is not always as responsive as one would expect.)
• Qobuz app works very well. You can download music to the SD card, which is to me the killer feature. (If you have the proper subscription of course.)
• It Bluetooth chip knows more protocols than C3PO, including LDAC. It can both send and receive Bluetooth signals.
• It can read anything. FLAC, DSD, ISO…
• It has a balanced output.
• It has a regular USB-C port.
• You can connect it to a DAC or as a DAC. Basically anthing you can think of will actually work the way you think it should.

- The not so good…

• The player crashes from time to time (but not that often).
• Fiio Music app lacks very important basic features, such as "Album by Artist" sorting, "Browse the Artist", "Browse the Album", etc.
• The keyboard is really tiny.
• DSD files are not played gapless, whether they are DFF, DSF or ISO.
• Roon application is very unstable. (It works fine on my phone.) It cannot play DSD.
• On Fiio Music app, "Scan for songs" must be run twice: the first time it never detects any new song and most of time it crashes. The second time I run it, it works perfectly.
• Sending DSD from a laptop to Fiio M9 using DoP (either 1.0 or 1.1) does not work. (On the other hand, sending DSD from the Fiio M9 to an external DAC using DoP seems to work just fine.)
• Wifi is 2.4GHz only.

Except for the non 5GHz wifi, all could be updated.

Dear friend,

Thanks for the kind feedback.

1. You could send the crash folder from internal storage/Android/data/com.fiio.music/files/crash to us for check.

2. The display is not big enough for a bigger keyboard

3. You would need to scan the media library first. And then you could read your music files from artist/ album category.

4. Yes, gapless is disabled in DSD files. We have reported to the engineer about that to check whether we could add the support for this in later firmware.

5. playing DSD files when M9 works as DAC for the computer is not supported by the M9 currently. We will update it in later firmware update.


Best regards

 

[dblml320]

Sorry. I am still following up on the original thread and had reached page 29 of 44 and thought, okay maybe I am the only one. Better read everything next time.

Has FIIO commented on the lack of 5GHZ WIFI support? I wonder if perhaps the hardware in the M9 is capable, but it needs a firmware update to get enabled. The time is likely fast coming where 2.4GHZ WIFI will fade into the sunset ... you get higher bandwidth at the higher frequencies ..

 

[Richter Di]

I tried the new qobuz app on the M9 instead of the one of the Fiio website, but I went back to the older one since the new one does not function properly and is often stalling, or keep quitting. So just a word of warning as it takes ages to import all the playlists.

 

[Pro-Jules]

That's very brave! Thanks for the field report!

Hey I can't see the Google Chromecast icon on my M9...

I would like to beam 96k 24 bit audio via wifi to my Hi Fi system.

Any ideas? Anyone sending to Chromecast from their M9 ?

The Chromecast icon is not visible in Qobuz and I cant see it in Spotify.

Thanks

 

[dharmasteve]

That's very brave! Thanks for the field report!

Hey I can't see the Google Chromecast icon on my M9...

I would like to beam 96k 24 bit audio via wifi to my Hi Fi system.

Any ideas? Anyone sending to Chromecast from their M9 ?

The Chromecast icon is not visible in Qobuz and I cant see it in Spotify.

Thanks

The Fiio app cannot cast. The only app that can cast is Spotify, and that can be hit and miss (look in Spotify settings 'connect to a device'). When Fiio say the M9 streams WiFi, they generally mean WiFi into the M9 from Spotify, Tidal, Deezer etc.. Streaming Wifi out needs Fiio to whitelist relevant apps. Streaming Blutooth out is not problematical.
Steve

 

[dharmasteve]

My notification on the M9 tells me there is a system update (I'm on 1.0.2), but when I get to the update button it tells me I already have the latest version. Anyone getting this? This has happened a couple of days.

 

[Pro-Jules]

The Fiio app cannot cast. The only app that can cast is Spotify, and that can be hit and miss (look in Spotify settings 'connect to a device'). When Fiio say the M9 streams WiFi, they generally mean WiFi into the M9 from Spotify, Tidal, Deezer etc.. Streaming Wifi out needs Fiio to whitelist relevant apps. Streaming Blutooth out is not problematical.
Steve

Thanks

OK I need to get an LDAC Bluetooth reciever. (And ditch the Chromecast)

 

[reiserFS]

My notification on the M9 tells me there is a system update (I'm on 1.0.2), but when I get to the update button it tells me I already have the latest version. Anyone getting this? This has happened a couple of days.

I can try this later today and will report back.

 

[dharmasteve]

Thanks

OK I need to get an LDAC Bluetooth reciever. (And ditch the Chromecast)

I have managed to use a Bluetooth Aptx HD receiver to reach my HiFi and it is very good, but just an itsy-bitsy bit behind WiFi in quality. It very minor though. Some may think they are equal. It is very good though. My receiver cost me about £30 on Amazon. Bluetooth sends everything to equivalent Bluetooth devices. WiFi works differently and needs apps to link to the WiFi receivers.
There is an app on the play store called HiFy. It specifically links Spotify to UPnP and airplay. If you open it on your phone it shows whatever your system can stream/cast to, then Spotify on the M9 can do the same, they seem to sync. So I just bought an old Arcam Airplay DAC/streamer on Ebay and can now stream Spotify on WiFi from the M9 to my HiFisystem as the HiFy app makes the Arcam available even to Spotify on the M9. It sounds excellent, but it's an unneccessary and difficult way to reach my HiFi. I cannot believe that Fiio are not going to whitelist an app like Hi-Fi Cast, DS Cast music or BubbleUPnP at some stage. They may be protecting the Fiio music app so that people use it, but an app like DS Cast music can do more than the Fiio app for casting at the moment. Fiio could build in casting to the Fiio app, but I don't know if they listen to their customers.

 

[Richter Di]

I am getting no notification and it seems 1.0.2 is still the latest:

http://www.fiio.me/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=43776&extra=page=1

 

[Richter Di]

While I was mourning about the LDAC / Wifi problem of the M9 with my Audeze Mobius headphones I just found that they work just fine out of the USB C into the USB C directly. What a sound quality. Even better compared to LDAC. Just wow. A big thank you to @FiiO and @Audeze / @KMann for making high end quality available to such a great price. Can not believe my luck. Would never thought it would work. If you have not got a pair of Audeze Mobius try to listen somewhere to a pair. The 3D of the Mobius with the M9 is a killer combo.

 

[dharmasteve]

While I was mourning about the LDAC / Wifi problem of the M9 with my Audeze Mobius headphones I just found that they work just fine out of the USB C into the USB C directly. What a sound quality. Even better compared to LDAC. Just wow. A big thank you to @FiiO and @Audeze / @KMann for making high end quality available to such a great price. Can not believe my luck. Would never thought it would work. If you have not got a pair of Audeze Mobius try to listen somewhere to a pair. The 3D of the Mobius with the M9 is a killer combo.

How do Spotify, Deezer or Tidal high quality streams sound through the Mobius? The Audeze get some great reviews.

 

[JamesFiiO]

something to share with you .

1, The black and silver M9 just launch Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Resolut...=UTF8&qid=1544231056&sr=8-14&keywords=fiio+m9

2, The airplay will launch on M9 in the coming days.

3, LDAC receive will launch on M9 in next month.

 

[JamesFiiO]

Has FIIO commented on the lack of 5GHZ WIFI support? I wonder if perhaps the hardware in the M9 is capable, but it needs a firmware update to get enabled. The time is likely fast coming where 2.4GHZ WIFI will fade into the sunset ... you get higher bandwidth at the higher frequencies ..

The RF features is decided by Exynos 7270 which can't supports 5G wifi.

 

[Pro-Jules]

Hi Fiio

Sony LDAC headphones are too bassy.
Can you please add an 11 band eq like Onkyo have in their Hi Res iOS app? It's a great one.

Please make it a global eq that allows best quality LDAC

Here is the type of curve the Sony WH1000X M3s need to sound "flat"

It's a - 5db bell shaped reduction @ 70hz