[TTAOFJ]

Having a lot of trouble deciding between these 2 DAPs.

Prices in my country:

Fiio X3 MKIII - $173
Fiio M7 - $210

I have a pair of VSONIC GR07 37th Anniversary Edition IEMs and Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 headphones(these are my travel headphones... I have a dedicated DAC+AMP config for my other headphones at home) that are driven by my Huawei Honor View 10 right now.
Now Huawei is known for not having the best internal DAC/AMP configurations, so I'd prefer a separate solution for my travel IEMs/headphones.

I also did some research and some reviews say that the M7 sounds better and others prefer the X3.
Initially I was set to buy the M7 because of the extra features, better battery life and so on.... it seemed the perfect choice. The only thing that stops me from getting the M7 is the output power... only 40mW@32 ohms is really low compared to the X3 which gives 160mW@32 ohms.

So this is where I'm stuck right now. I know that the M7 will provide plenty of power for the momentum and vsonic pairs, but IEM upgrades may come in the future ($350-$400 would be the max budget).... so I'm not really sure if the Amplifier integrated in the Sabre 9018Q2C SoC of the M7 will be enough.

This is my first post here!
Thank you all for the help!
Happy Holidays!

 

[Me x3]

Hey there,

I have extensive experience with both M7 and X3 Mark III.

For most practical applications the FiiO M7 is a powerful source, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
It's also very clean sounding and superb for IEMs in terms of background noise. It's also a joy to use, quick, simple and efficient.

If you ever decide to move to something that's truly hard to drive, like an AKG K712 PRO or Sennheiser HD650 and you feel the power available is not enough you can always add a FiiO A5. There you have all the pros of the M7 + the powerhouse A5, a combo that can drive pretty much everything on the market with ease, from hard planars (HE560) to very high impedance headphones (DT880 600 Ohm, Tesla T1, etc.)

FiiO X3 Mark III is a different player and your preferences play the most important role here.
When you pick an X3 Mark III you pay for:

- Balanced output
- Built in (relatively powerful) amplification
- Warmer sound
- Classic UI
- Bigger object with leather case included.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Me x3

 

[TTAOFJ]

Thanks a lot for the reply!

You actually nailed the 2 headphones that I have at home... I already have the K712 PROs and the HD 650, those are paired with a FIIO K5 + NuForce uDAC5. Most likely I won't use open back or high impedance headphones for commute... I mostly use my IEMs and the Momentum M2s which are really efficient(also forgot to mention that I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM2... so LDAC would be nice).

I'll go with the M7 in the end... Thanks again for your recommendations!