[Redcarmoose]

I think dongles has never sounded this good, (look at E1DA 9038s, Meizu hifi pro, even apple(!) Is amazing)
It makes it not so obvious anymore to own an audiophile dap unless you aim for the $1K++ range or you hate smartphones.
That and the fact that most people do streaming nowadays.

The Apple Dongle sounds exactly like the output of the IPod Touch 6th Gen. IMO.

Though the great part is if you have issues with the headphone jack, it’s easy to replace; where before you needed a new phone or IPod.

 

[TheUnknow]

Does an 2019 entry level DAP sound better or similar than a high end DAP from 2015 ?

I wonder , because if you buy an entry level TV now , you won't end up with an 720p LCD device and 1 hdmi port.
Or if you buy an entry level smartphone right now , you won't end up with a 2015 SOC, 512 mo of memory and a 720p resistive touchscreen ...

 

[slumberman]

I actually compare the FiiO M11vs the iPhone with dragonfly. Regarding the cost of $1200 I don’t consider it at all. I mean it’s a monthly salary for many. So the discussion, at least from my side, it’s only between fiio and iPhone with cobalt.

I’m on the same boat, although I have been attracted to the Astell & Kern line of DAPs mostly because of the interface/design.

I have been thoroughly enjoying my iPhone XS Max with Dragonfly Cobalt, and I have been thinking about the “need” for a dedicated player.
the main drawbacks of using an iPhone based setup, to me, are the battery drainage (would probably need to get a battery case or travel with a power bank even in town as I spend a lot of time on the metro/traveling) and the file management:
All is fine and elegant when I am using tidal and qobuz, but the moment I looked into importing and playing back lossless files I realized there is no elegant way to do it aside from using a 3rd party app and connecting to iTunes / utilizing the file sharing options.
Granted, so far I’m 99% streaming based, but I have a huge library I’d like to integrate on the go at all times (I can do that with iTunes Match at the moment) and I can see myself not being happy with a lot of mp3 versions and upgrading to lossless for some/most of them. also, the ability to listen to work files (I work in music) directly by drag/dropping onto an SD card is much easier than the whole iTunes connecting thing.

Still, I haven’t pulled the trigger on a DAP and I’m still researching....

 

[slumberman]

The scary part is how close this same system set up could be used for full-size headphones if just a small extra amount of power could be generated by DAPs. There could be a foreseeable future when the desktop is obsolete......not the DAP.

Still I agree it’s not good taking big stuff around outside.

well for full size headphones there’s the AK KANN Cube now... one of the DAPs I’m looking at. the size reminds me of the first Walkman and I love it... does this show my age ?

 

[521994]

Hello all,


I don’t consider my self a reviewer but simply an audiophile with passion for quality & high-fidelity sound. For me audio is like food. I can have 5 ingredients, boiled, blended in a mixer and served as a thick paste with “interesting” texture and rather debatable taste or cook these ingredients to perfection and to my taste for an unforgettable lunch.

As such I don’t approach audio from a cynical point of view based on measurements, graphs and numbers. These are indeed important to open the door for a product but will never keep it open for me. What keeps the door open is the way the item makes me feel. “Feel” is the word surrounding the evaluation of any audio gear I buy. Now, the intention of this post came out of the challenging question, according to DarkoAudio, “are the DAP days over?”. For some time in the past I’ve used DAPs. Nevertheless, with new solutions like the dragonfly cobalt the need to carry a separate mobile phone size device was at stake. Does it worth it to have two large devices if a dragonfly can give you the audio pleasure you are looking for in a far more mobile setup? As a self-challenging exercise, I thought to put my opinions to the test and my money where my mouth is. As a result, I bought my self a FiiO M11. I’ve lived with the Iphone + dragonfly cobalt streaming Tidal for six months and I enjoyed every single day of it. At that point I would like to highlight that I was already with my usual notebook to keep notes for mids, highs, lows soundstage, timbre, tonality etc. and make a comprehensive test having in mind that I was a bit bias thinking that the DAP days are over indeed.

Dear friends, let’s address the elephant in the room. This is not going to be a comparison because simply there is no comparison to be made in terms of sound quality. The FiiO M11 walks rounds and all over the dragonfly. I honestly couldn’t find one element of sound quality where the dragonfly won the battle. Consequently, I had to ditch my note book into the fire place and cry for at least two consecutive nights. As I explained my approach to audio is not conventional so expect some emotions to be unraveled.

Tears after tears I had to accept the superiority of the FiiO M11 for highs, mids, bass, timbre control soundstage, POWER etc. The tears drop for few reasons. Firstly, I had to accept that the FiiO is a superior machine. I had also to cry over the embarrassment that FiiO made me feel. Give me a second to explain what I mean by the word “embarrassment”. On the tube to Waterloo (I am a Londoner) and I’ve just had my new toy in hand. Music sounds BIG, with body, texture, space BUT this little think makes me want to dance…. I really want to dance, and I am already tapping foot, banging head with a solitude attempt to move my shoulders. The embarrassment came when I started to dance… alone… Future buyers be aware FiiO and good DAPs might fatally embarrass you. There is another reason I cried. Did you ever have the feeling that you need to share the music you are listening and the emotion you are experiencing with everyone on the train, road, park? Well, that’s how this dap made me feel. I wanted to dance and everyone to dance along. Maybe this is a good idea “music hotspot” to share with anyone who wants to listen your music LIVE.

The FiiO gave me goosebumps where the dragonfly gave me a great upgrade from my mobile’s stock arrangements. You see, that’s the difference. The dragonfly gave me a technical justification and lift from my audio impulsiveness, measured and quantified with numbers and colors. The FiiO gave me a f…g big smile and made me feel things.


Are there any limitations for the FiiO? Sure, max out in gain and volume and it just drove my HD800S to a good level but not even close to what these headphones are capable to do when parred with my THX AAA 789. But let’s stick to portability. The Dragonfly cobalt is a nice and clear-cut upgrade from the stock mobile dac. This is out of question and this is a great solution if absolute portability is your aim with a great sound quality. It is easy to plug, easy to use and has a decent power to drive IEMs and mainstream headphones. The FiiO is another extra device to carry but with this sound quality, power and authority I forgot that I was carrying a mobile. That’s just me and here I share my emotional experience.

For technicalities you can look on professional reviewers with comprehensive technical perspective. The FiiO made me feel happy, gave me a big smile, I wanted to dance, gave me goosebumps and cried over my redemption.

I rest my case and the dragonfly will rest in a very technically sound drawer for the time being. To Mr John Darko I would like to answer in a David Attenborough style (The Brits will laugh).


David Attenborough: The FiiO DAP and its capabilities with the little SD card are safe………

for now…….


Thanks all for reading

L

 

[slumberman]

Hello all,


I don’t consider my self a reviewer but simply an audiophile with passion for quality & high-fidelity sound. For me audio is like food. I can have 5 ingredients, boiled, blended in a mixer and served as a thick paste with “interesting” texture and rather debatable taste or cook these ingredients to perfection and to my taste for an unforgettable lunch.

As such I don’t approach audio from a cynical point of view based on measurements, graphs and numbers. These are indeed important to open the door for a product but will never keep it open for me. What keeps the door open is the way the item makes me feel. “Feel” is the word surrounding the evaluation of any audio gear I buy. Now, the intention of this post came out of the challenging question, according to DarkoAudio, “are the DAP days over?”. For some time in the past I’ve used DAPs. Nevertheless, with new solutions like the dragonfly cobalt the need to carry a separate mobile phone size device was at stake. Does it worth it to have two large devices if a dragonfly can give you the audio pleasure you are looking for in a far more mobile setup? As a self-challenging exercise, I thought to put my opinions to the test and my money where my mouth is. As a result, I bought my self a FiiO M11. I’ve lived with the Iphone + dragonfly cobalt streaming Tidal for six months and I enjoyed every single day of it. At that point I would like to highlight that I was already with my usual notebook to keep notes for mids, highs, lows soundstage, timbre, tonality etc. and make a comprehensive test having in mind that I was a bit bias thinking that the DAP days are over indeed.

Dear friends, let’s address the elephant in the room. This is not going to be a comparison because simply there is no comparison to be made in terms of sound quality. The FiiO M11 walks rounds and all over the dragonfly. I honestly couldn’t find one element of sound quality where the dragonfly won the battle. Consequently, I had to ditch my note book into the fire place and cry for at least two consecutive nights. As I explained my approach to audio is not conventional so expect some emotions to be unraveled.

Tears after tears I had to accept the superiority of the FiiO M11 for highs, mids, bass, timbre control soundstage, POWER etc. The tears drop for few reasons. Firstly, I had to accept that the FiiO is a superior machine. I had also to cry over the embarrassment that FiiO made me feel. Give me a second to explain what I mean by the word “embarrassment”. On the tube to Waterloo (I am a Londoner) and I’ve just had my new toy in hand. Music sounds BIG, with body, texture, space BUT this little think makes me want to dance…. I really want to dance, and I am already tapping foot, banging head with a solitude attempt to move my shoulders. The embarrassment came when I started to dance… alone… Future buyers be aware FiiO and good DAPs might fatally embarrass you. There is another reason I cried. Did you ever have the feeling that you need to share the music you are listening and the emotion you are experiencing with everyone on the train, road, park? Well, that’s how this dap made me feel. I wanted to dance and everyone to dance along. Maybe this is a good idea “music hotspot” to share with anyone who wants to listen your music LIVE.

The FiiO gave me goosebumps where the dragonfly gave me a great upgrade from my mobile’s stock arrangements. You see, that’s the difference. The dragonfly gave me a technical justification and lift from my audio impulsiveness, measured and quantified with numbers and colors. The FiiO gave me a f…g big smile and made me feel things.


Are there any limitations for the FiiO? Sure, max out in gain and volume and it just drove my HD800S to a good level but not even close to what these headphones are capable to do when parred with my THX AAA 789. But let’s stick to portability. The Dragonfly cobalt is a nice and clear-cut upgrade from the stock mobile dac. This is out of question and this is a great solution if absolute portability is your aim with a great sound quality. It is easy to plug, easy to use and has a decent power to drive IEMs and mainstream headphones. The FiiO is another extra device to carry but with this sound quality, power and authority I forgot that I was carrying a mobile. That’s just me and here I share my emotional experience.

For technicalities you can look on professional reviewers with comprehensive technical perspective. The FiiO made me feel happy, gave me a big smile, I wanted to dance, gave me goosebumps and cried over my redemption.

I rest my case and the dragonfly will rest in a very technically sound drawer for the time being. To Mr John Darko I would like to answer in a David Attenborough style (The Brits will laugh).


David Attenborough: The FiiO DAP and its capabilities with the little SD card are safe………

for now…….


Thanks all for reading

L

Fantastic report, thank you!

A.

 

[521994]

Fantastic report, thank you!

A.

You are very welcome indeed and let me know your thoughts if you buy a dap.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Hello all,


I don’t consider my self a reviewer but simply an audiophile with passion for quality & high-fidelity sound. For me audio is like food. I can have 5 ingredients, boiled, blended in a mixer and served as a thick paste with “interesting” texture and rather debatable taste or cook these ingredients to perfection and to my taste for an unforgettable lunch.

As such I don’t approach audio from a cynical point of view based on measurements, graphs and numbers. These are indeed important to open the door for a product but will never keep it open for me. What keeps the door open is the way the item makes me feel. “Feel” is the word surrounding the evaluation of any audio gear I buy. Now, the intention of this post came out of the challenging question, according to DarkoAudio, “are the DAP days over?”. For some time in the past I’ve used DAPs. Nevertheless, with new solutions like the dragonfly cobalt the need to carry a separate mobile phone size device was at stake. Does it worth it to have two large devices if a dragonfly can give you the audio pleasure you are looking for in a far more mobile setup? As a self-challenging exercise, I thought to put my opinions to the test and my money where my mouth is. As a result, I bought my self a FiiO M11. I’ve lived with the Iphone + dragonfly cobalt streaming Tidal for six months and I enjoyed every single day of it. At that point I would like to highlight that I was already with my usual notebook to keep notes for mids, highs, lows soundstage, timbre, tonality etc. and make a comprehensive test having in mind that I was a bit bias thinking that the DAP days are over indeed.

Dear friends, let’s address the elephant in the room. This is not going to be a comparison because simply there is no comparison to be made in terms of sound quality. The FiiO M11 walks rounds and all over the dragonfly. I honestly couldn’t find one element of sound quality where the dragonfly won the battle. Consequently, I had to ditch my note book into the fire place and cry for at least two consecutive nights. As I explained my approach to audio is not conventional so expect some emotions to be unraveled.

Tears after tears I had to accept the superiority of the FiiO M11 for highs, mids, bass, timbre control soundstage, POWER etc. The tears drop for few reasons. Firstly, I had to accept that the FiiO is a superior machine. I had also to cry over the embarrassment that FiiO made me feel. Give me a second to explain what I mean by the word “embarrassment”. On the tube to Waterloo (I am a Londoner) and I’ve just had my new toy in hand. Music sounds BIG, with body, texture, space BUT this little think makes me want to dance…. I really want to dance, and I am already tapping foot, banging head with a solitude attempt to move my shoulders. The embarrassment came when I started to dance… alone… Future buyers be aware FiiO and good DAPs might fatally embarrass you. There is another reason I cried. Did you ever have the feeling that you need to share the music you are listening and the emotion you are experiencing with everyone on the train, road, park? Well, that’s how this dap made me feel. I wanted to dance and everyone to dance along. Maybe this is a good idea “music hotspot” to share with anyone who wants to listen your music LIVE.

The FiiO gave me goosebumps where the dragonfly gave me a great upgrade from my mobile’s stock arrangements. You see, that’s the difference. The dragonfly gave me a technical justification and lift from my audio impulsiveness, measured and quantified with numbers and colors. The FiiO gave me a f…g big smile and made me feel things.


Are there any limitations for the FiiO? Sure, max out in gain and volume and it just drove my HD800S to a good level but not even close to what these headphones are capable to do when parred with my THX AAA 789. But let’s stick to portability. The Dragonfly cobalt is a nice and clear-cut upgrade from the stock mobile dac. This is out of question and this is a great solution if absolute portability is your aim with a great sound quality. It is easy to plug, easy to use and has a decent power to drive IEMs and mainstream headphones. The FiiO is another extra device to carry but with this sound quality, power and authority I forgot that I was carrying a mobile. That’s just me and here I share my emotional experience.

For technicalities you can look on professional reviewers with comprehensive technical perspective. The FiiO made me feel happy, gave me a big smile, I wanted to dance, gave me goosebumps and cried over my redemption.

I rest my case and the dragonfly will rest in a very technically sound drawer for the time being. To Mr John Darko I would like to answer in a David Attenborough style (The Brits will laugh).


David Attenborough: The FiiO DAP and its capabilities with the little SD card are safe………

for now…….


Thanks all for reading

L

Cheers to your conclusion! Enjoy!

 

[Jalo]

@CortoLmaltese, you made several good points, frankly speaking, and strictly from the perspective of high end sound, I don’t even know why we are having this discussion. I can understand if we are trying to compare desktop system to portable daps, but if one wants to enjoy mesmerizing sound on the go, nothing besides dap will do. If anyone is serious about the quality and enjoyment of music and the purpose is to get the best sound on the go, dap is the only option, there is not even an alternative if one wants to enjoy music in an airplane, on the train, ship, case, bus, in a park, in a hotel or anywhere you may be. iPhone, notebook, dragonfly, will allow you to access to some tunes, but for serious listening on the go, dap is the only choice we have today.

 

[521994]

@CortoLmaltese, you made several good points, frankly speaking, and strictly from the perspective of high end sound, I don’t even know why we are having this discussion. I can understand if we are trying to compare desktop system to portable daps, but if one wants to enjoy mesmerizing sound on the go, nothing besides dap will do. If anyone is serious about the quality and enjoyment of music and the purpose is to get the best sound on the go, dap is the only option, there is not even an alternative if one wants to enjoy music in an airplane, on the train, ship, case, bus, in a park, in a hotel or anywhere you may be. iPhone, notebook, dragonfly, will allow you to access to some tunes, but for serious listening on the go, dap is the only choice we have today.[

agree but for me is again the way the dap made me feel. That’s why I will keep the dap

 

[Redcarmoose]

This style of thread is important due to folks maybe not knowing. Everyone has phones with music on them; plus there is an entire industry built around phone add-ons or small computer add-ons that can be used with a phone. They still make stackable amps with 3.5mm to 3.5mm to connect to the phone or IPod. There are also small DAC/amps which can be connected via mini-usb. And while this thread isn’t about trying to downgrade that method; stuff like the FiiO M11 shows that for a great price point there is an alternative which allows not only music streaming but two 1TB slots, DAC capability as well as internet access browsing and two way Bluetooth. Access to on device music is smooth and the album covers are shown for each album along with lyrics at times.

The conclusion is maybe that a DAP would be something to investigate for a future purchase...........not to try and avoid.

But most importantly we can possibly find DAP musicality!

 

[slumberman]

agree but for me is again the way the dap made me feel. That’s why I will keep the dap

I might have to go back and test the M11 again. the more I read about it here and in reviews and the more it seems ideal when it come to being able to do the things I need (DAP,streaming, MQA, airplay node, android apps).
I did spend the day testing the Astell & Kern SR15, Kann Cube, SP2000 and FiiO M11, and I have to say I fell in love with AK's interface and looks, particularly the Kann Cube. Im pretty sure I wouldn't be carrying it with me everyday though, and it would be relegated to home use and travel.Which I don't think I mind in theory. That said, we are talking bout a rather hefty difference in price, which makes the Fiio M11 very tempting as a first DAP.

 

[521994]

I might have to go back and test the M11 again. the more I read about it here and in reviews and the more it seems ideal when it come to being able to do the things I need (DAP,streaming, MQA, airplay node, android apps).
I did spend the day testing the Astell & Kern SR15, Kann Cube, SP2000 and FiiO M11, and I have to say I fell in love with AK's interface and looks, particularly the Kann Cube. Im pretty sure I wouldn't be carrying it with me everyday though, and it would be relegated to home use and travel.Which I don't think I mind in theory. That said, we are talking bout a rather hefty difference in price, which makes the Fiio M11 very tempting as a first DAP.

Well, first to highlight that the M11 pro does MQA. Personally i don't care about MQA thats why i got the M11. Regarding the alternatives I couldn't compare the A&K with the FiiO. The FiiO is portable while the A&K is transportable. If you need great sound anywhere the i would recommend the FiiO. BTW I've spend some time with the other DAPs you've mentioned. Also In terms of second hand value the FiiO will have lower depreciation if you want to sell in the future.

 

[slumberman]

Well, first to highlight that the M11 pro does MQA. Personally i don't care about MQA thats why i got the M11. Regarding the alternatives I couldn't compare the A&K with the FiiO. The FiiO is portable while the A&K is transportable. If you need great sound anywhere the i would recommend the FiiO. BTW I've spend some time with the other DAPs you've mentioned. Also In terms of second hand value the FiiO will have lower depreciation if you want to sell in the future.

Ahhh ok good to know. I got the two confused. Thank you for clarifying and for the additional insights!

 

[521994]

And as we were talking about mobiles and Daps the following is an indication for the future? The first THX mobile phone
https://www.whathifi.com/news/the-w...e-promises-surround-sound-from-any-headphones