[chef8489]

I'm in a bit of a dilemma since I got back into portable audio a few months back. I purchased a Fiio m11 cause couldn't find the dp-x1a I wanted. Now a week ago I picked up the AK se100. I can't decide which to keep. Here are the cons and pros of each.

Fiio M11
Pros
Dual SD card slot
Ability for blackplayer or any I choose as I prefer having sorted by genre, then artists, then albums.
2.5mm, 3.5, and 4.4mm

Cons
Doesn't sound as good as se100
Sometimes I had glitches with both SD card slots.
Battery life on balanced sucks.
It's more neutral than the AK, not as full sound and highs can be painful and peaky.
Wifi sucks on it.
No real internal storage.

Ak se100
Pros
Sounds amazing
Battery life is much better
Wifi is better
Build quality is more premium, built better, looks better and feels better.
2.5 and 3.5
128gb internal and micro SD card currently at 1tb.
USB 3 charging and transfer. So much faster and instantly updates while transfering.

Cons
Crappy sorting in stock player. Can't sort how I like.
Locked down system. Very few apps I can install. No options for blackplayer or a player of my choice.
Only one microsd slot
No 4.4 balanced.

So give me your thoughts.

 

[ThomasHK]

Ditch the m11, no comparison in sound quality (source, I owned both).

 

[chef8489]

Ditch the m11, no comparison in sound quality (source, I owned both).

I think that's how I am leaning. At first I hated ak music player interface, but ig I'm getting used to it eventhough I'd like it to do genre-artist-albums. I do have it that way on my SD card so if I really need to I can do folder view. Really wish I could install blackplayer.

 

[Signal2Noise]

I’m a hoarder. I keep everything I buy, good or disappointing. Lol.

 

[snapandslide]

The M11 is great with really dark IEMs, otherwise it's a bit meh. In my case with the Z5s it was fantastic, I'm hating it with the Z1Rs.

 

[chef8489]

The M11 is great with really dark IEMs, otherwise it's a bit meh. In my case with the Z5s it was fantastic, I'm hating it with the Z1Rs.

Yeah I could only listen to it with my es60 as they are excellent on the low end and a little rolled off on Higgs. My retrace customs I could not use as the highs were way too much.

 

[snapandslide]

Yeah I could only listen to it with my es60 as they are excellent on the low end and a little rolled off on Higgs. My retrace customs I could not use as the highs were way too much.

Jup, agreed, the highs are a bit much, plus the overall presentation is just soooo flat. I'll be keeping mine because I suspect with the incoming N3s they'll be pretty good. Plus apart from Wifi which is naff, the hardware is pretty good and I've not had any issues for my relatively basic use case.

 

[Julius Decimus]

As i understand the Astell&Kern has own operation system, it is not modified Android ? I would definitely stay with that.

And since:

Sounds amazing
Battery life is much better

its a win win.

I do think this is higher class device altogether.

The dual sd card slot is good on the Fiio as 2 smaller cards are often cheaper than one big one. You decide how much memory you need.

 

[chef8489]

As i understand the Astell&Kern has own operation system, it is not modified Android ? I would definitely stay with that.

And since:


its a win win.

I do think this is higher class device altogether.

The dual sd card slot is good on the Fiio as 2 smaller cards are often cheaper than one big one. You decide how much memory you need.

It's It's modified and locked down android.

 

[Julius Decimus]

It's It's modified and locked down android.

Ok.

There is something else as well, you could look for teardown guide and see the internals. Mainly to check if the battery is replaceable. Most people do not care about this though (at least in this forum) and switch to newer device one when 2+years are passed and battery is with bad health. You may like the sound much and not wanting to replace the player even after years, for such case look how is the battery placed and connected to the board, do you need soldering or not to change it, that's my advice.