Professional and Versatile, FIIO’s Desktop High-Res Audio Streamer S15 Is Officially Released!

[FiiO-Yellow]

Pretty funny given how many issues the S15 still has like the remote still not working reliably or the fact that the search bar in settings menu covers the options your trying to navigate. These issues are still present even after the latest firmware update.

hi, you mean the RM3 remote control coming with S15?

 

[scracy]

hi, you mean the RM3 remote control coming with S15?

Yes, I have mentioned several times on this thread that the remote control is not reliable and at times has a mind of its own, not to mention that the latency of the remote control is terrible especially when scrolling through the FiiO music app local music library. Up until recently all we got was radio silence from FiiO. It's kinda ironic that the S15 has been given an award considering all the issues that are still present. I'm only using the S15 for local music playback so I won't uncover more of the issues others have had but clearly this still is not a finished product despite the award.

 

[invisiblekid]

Yes, I have mentioned several times on this thread that the remote control is not reliable and at times has a mind of its own, not to mention that the latency of the remote control is terrible especially when scrolling through the FiiO music app local music library. Up until recently all we got was radio silence from FiiO. It's kinda ironic that the S15 has been given an award considering all the issues that are still present. I'm only using the S15 for local music playback so I won't uncover more of the issues others have had but clearly this still is not a finished product despite the award.

Despite the great working abilities on the inside and the price, the total abilities and the wonkiness of them so far, REALLY bring forth the arguement of don't buy on the promise of somethings potential.

Sure Fiio have brought updates quickly, but this is definitely one to sit out until they are fixed.

Since I'm not using the DAC the I2S is a must (the front DAC out is a very unfunny joke). But I like the design and Fiio until now Fiio have been on great form.

 

[FiiO-Yellow]

Yes, I have mentioned several times on this thread that the remote control is not reliable and at times has a mind of its own, not to mention that the latency of the remote control is terrible especially when scrolling through the FiiO music app local music library. Up until recently all we got was radio silence from FiiO. It's kinda ironic that the S15 has been given an award considering all the issues that are still present. I'm only using the S15 for local music playback so I won't uncover more of the issues others have had but clearly this still is not a finished product despite the award.

Sorry, about the remont control latency issue, you mean you press the remote control button, but late response in S15?
Maybe you could try to re-pair it? As you mentioned before that 'The remote control does seem better in terms of latency and stability, time will tell.'

 

[scracy]

Sorry, about the remont control latency issue, you mean you press the remote control button, but late response in S15?
Maybe you could try to re-pair it? As you mentioned before that 'The remote control does seem better in terms of latency and stability, time will tell.'

Already tried to re-pair the remote control made zero difference. By latency I mean late to respond which causes the selected function to overshoot and cause incorrect selection. Later firmware has improved the response of the remote but it still isn't great. Also when using the remote to scroll through S15 main menu the search bar scrolls down simultaneously which covers up menu options making it impossible to view menu options, only does this when scrolling with remote when using touch screen it doesn't.

 

[bujinkan]

i will wright it once again....can u please on the next firmware make the vu meters black? or maybe a chosi of multicolors for each user to determine what he likes?
Thanks

 

[FiiO-Yellow]

i will wright it once again....can u please on the next firmware make the vu meters black? or maybe a chosi of multicolors for each user to determine what he likes?
Thanks

hi, you like black color? i will forward to our team.

 

[scracy]

hi, you like black color? i will forward to our team.

These looked better

 

[hmss007]

I'm very interested in the S15, one question for those that have one. Have you tried the SiriusXM application on it? Does it work, is the UI acceptable? I'm asking as I listen to SirusXM most of my work day for music discovery - and I'm an old-time radio listener and it's the best alternative for me. So, for any streamer, SiriusXM is a requirement.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Musikfan]

Hi,

I'm considering buying the Fiio S15, and I would like to attach an external dac and use the S15 through Roon. I have a few questions:

- Has the Fiio S15 received Roon Ready certification? Will the S15 stll be able to be enabled in Roon under the Roon Ready devices or will themS15 only play via Airplay?

- I'm planing to attach an external dac via usb. If I understand correctly, you need to plug the usb dac to the usb port on the front panel of the S15. Is that correct? Also, do I need to install the Usb driver if I don't plan to use the S15 with a pc?

Thanks, everyone! Cheers!

 

[FiiO Support Lin Lin]

Hi,

I'm considering buying the Fiio S15, and I would like to attach an external dac and use the S15 through Roon. I have a few questions:

- Has the Fiio S15 received Roon Ready certification? Will the S15 stll be able to be enabled in Roon under the Roon Ready devices or will themS15 only play via Airplay?

- I'm planing to attach an external dac via usb. If I understand correctly, you need to plug the usb dac to the usb port on the front panel of the S15. Is that correct? Also, do I need to install the Usb driver if I don't plan to use the S15 with a pc?

Thanks, everyone! Cheers!

Dear friend,

1. The S15 comes with a built-in firmware that features a test Roon Ready mode. This test mode does not affect regular usage. However, the default name of this device as displayed on your computer's Roon Core may vary and can be changed to whatever you want.
2. You could connect the USB DAC to S15 via the front/back USB A and back USB C port.
3. You don't need to install the USB DAC driver if you don't need to use the S15 as USB DAC for the computer.

Best regards

 

[Musikfan]

Dear friend,

1. The S15 comes with a built-in firmware that features a test Roon Ready mode. This test mode does not affect regular usage. However, the default name of this device as displayed on your computer's Roon Core may vary and can be changed to whatever you want.
2. You could connect the USB DAC to S15 via the front/back USB A and back USB C port.
3. You don't need to install the USB DAC driver if you don't need to use the S15 as USB DAC for the computer.

Best regards

Thank you very much!

 

[hp4fun]

Purchased an open box unit from ebay (with full warranty according to the seller) and just arrived a day ago. So far very satisfying with the sound quality. The setup and app are as buggy as other complaints so I don't need to add on that. My use case is rather simple -- streaming qobuz to my home speaker system, so I just use Android mode + wifi. The only thing I want to make sure is that the DAC is as good as my other gears.

I did the following comparisons on a headphone setup, and plan to test it on my KEF R11 over the weekend. I only have Fostex TH900mk2 onyx at my desk and I use Topping A90 to power it. In each experiment, I play white noise from each source, and use a DB meter from iphone to calibrate the volume. Of course this is not super objective and limit to consumer equipment quality.

• Compared to RME ADI-2 FS(AKM chip). Initially, I found ADI-2 sounded better. Soon I discovered that it was because I enabled Bass (but flat EQ otherwise). After tuning of the whole PEQ, both RME and S15 sounded the same to me on various genres.
• Compared to SMSL SU-9 (ESS chip). I found there were very minor differences, but very likely due to filter implementations. I used fast roll off in both cases. The ROI is quite low as I continued this investigation so I stopped.

Previously I tested Wiim Ultra. I was very unsatisfied with its sound quality on my speaker system so I returned it (to be fair I did not test on headphone). I also had the Gustard A26 a while ago. I sold it because the more native "Tidal Connect" was very lagging. This time I am still not totally satisfied with the screen cast + Android mode, but this is so far the best for me.

Hardware wise, my main hunch is it does not have RCA/XLR input, so I cannot play my turntable using the same setup. Yes I get that it is not supposed to have AD/DA but all-in-one is also nice (wiim even has a phono input).

 

[dabrown60]

Running the S15 with version 1.03 with Fiio Music app version 3.26. Is it ok to update just the Fiio Music app to version 3.27 using the Fiio players version for M/R/S players available on Fiio website?

 

[hp4fun]

I have been a/b testing S15, Topping D90, SMSL SU-9, and ADI-2 on my speaker system. I need more time, but I do find the GND/LIFT switch changes sound.

In my headphone system, I hear ground noise so I switched to LIFT. I actually don't know I have a ground loop before, as I did not hear such a noise in other setup.

When I moved the unit to my speaker system, "Alas, something is missing"! Or is it just my psychology deception as I was not doing blind test? After a few rounds, out of no reason I decided to switch it to GND when I was moving cables.

And seems everything changed. I no longer feel anything is missing when I A/B testing. Again, is it just because of pure psychology? I don't know. I did find that people discussed this in another Fiio model. https://forum.fiio.com/phoneNote/showNoteContent.do?id=202404222039335975676

I gave it some thought, but I did not have any spectrum analysis equipment that takes XLR input. I also tried to output the signal via toslink / coax to ADI-2 and check the spectrum, but I could see no difference.

Since this is a streamer (and my speaker connects to the same outlet), my next step is to find a ground loop isolator for power line if I want to go down this rabbit hole. But so far I am satisfied with the GND position in my home system, and will continue my comparison.