When it first came out a couple years ago, the Fiio M15 Flagship with the dual AK4499EQ DAC was the second to only Astell and Kern 2000, and sold MSRP $1500.
This was the last DAP before the infamous AKM fire, and for a while these sold for nearly $2k on the secondary market even used.
Now on eBay, I see so many of these units being sold for around $700-$900.
What’s up with that? It doesn’t make any sense since we’ve come to discover that the ESS DACs for other top of the line DAPS are used because of thier super low power consumption as compared to the far superior velvet sound of the AKM. Even the M17 is a overpriced unit using the ESS chips. Want an example of AKM being superior to ESS? Why then is the astell Kern Sp2000T with the inferior ESS chip being sold for nearly $1000 less than the AKM Sp2000 version?
The newish Shanling M9 features the AKM 4499 chips as well, and is retailing for nearly $1800.
So what gives? Why the mass unloading of used yet perfectly conditioned M15 being sold on eBay for half the value of when it came out? Further, other flagship daps haven’t changed in price much, especially the SP2000 which hasn’t dropped a cent?
This was the last DAP before the infamous AKM fire, and for a while these sold for nearly $2k on the secondary market even used.
Now on eBay, I see so many of these units being sold for around $700-$900.
What’s up with that? It doesn’t make any sense since we’ve come to discover that the ESS DACs for other top of the line DAPS are used because of thier super low power consumption as compared to the far superior velvet sound of the AKM. Even the M17 is a overpriced unit using the ESS chips. Want an example of AKM being superior to ESS? Why then is the astell Kern Sp2000T with the inferior ESS chip being sold for nearly $1000 less than the AKM Sp2000 version?
The newish Shanling M9 features the AKM 4499 chips as well, and is retailing for nearly $1800.
So what gives? Why the mass unloading of used yet perfectly conditioned M15 being sold on eBay for half the value of when it came out? Further, other flagship daps haven’t changed in price much, especially the SP2000 which hasn’t dropped a cent?