Verdict
Everything you expect from FiiO where specification and carrying into action are refer , with just a touch of operational unstableness that you do n’t
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
FiiO , it ’s worth reiterating , is on a bit of a roll . Where its most recent desktop audio equipment and over - auricle headphone in particular are worry , they ’re fully competitive , good time value for money and sufficient for their most obvious rival brands to baby-sit up and take notice .
With the M23 digital sound player , FiiO ( again ) want to take the scrap toAstell & Kernin particular – this is not the most low-cost FiiO DAP , but it ’s more low-priced than the cheapest A&K. So it ’s either more FiiO black magic or a bit of a false economy …
Availability
The FiiO M23 digital audio player is on sales event in the United Kingdom for £ 649 . American customers will have to part with $ 699 , while in Australia you ’re belike looking at AU$1249 , look on rally rates , although no official Australian pricing is available at prison term of review .
The M23 has a little competition at this price , of course – no least from FiiO itself . But it ’s Astell & Kern that is the most obvious contender – itsSR25 MkIIgoes for £ 699 and has peck to commend it . So the FiiO has its work hack out …
Design
you may depend at it one of two ways : either the FiiO M23 is a purposefully hefty and substantial gimmick , or it ’s pointlessly great compared to your smartphone which , after all , does pretty much everything the M23 does . I guess a great deal depends on whether or not you want to slip your overnice new digital audio thespian into a pocket or into a bag .
At 137 x 76 x 18 mm ( HWD ) and 299 g it ’s certainly a palmful . It ’s undeniably well made , beware you , and those pointed edge that might otherwise pose a threat to your sack - lining or similar are smoothen off by the protective silicone polymer typesetter’s case that comes with my depressed atomic number 22 critique sample – if you favor the stainless steel finish that ’s uncommitted as an alternative , it ’s supplied with a leather case instead .
There are socket and/or controls on each of the participant ’s four edges , and the front surface is occupied almost entirely by a 5.5 - column inch showing . It ’s shining and crisp , as its 720 x 1440 ( 18:9 ) resolution suggest it might be , and there are plenty of options regarding font size of it , brightness and so on to be look into in the thespian ’s scope menu .
The request monetary value dictates a degree of skin perceptiveness as well as ergonomic good sense , of course . And in this obedience , at least , the M23 does the business organization – where materials , build quality and finish are concerned , it looks and experience like a premium merchandise .
Features
Of course , I bonk before now that FiiO has a trowel and is not afraid to use it . And certainly enough , for the spec of the M23 the troupe has laid it on thick .
On the inside , the M23 is power by a big 5500mAh battery that ’s dependable for over 10 minute of playback from a individual charge . A double - mode tight - charge system intend extreme tight - charging ( up to 30W ) speeds are available if the assault and battery degree is very low – once the shelling near its fully charged DoS , the M23 swop to a more usual fast - charging state . The resultant of this placement , says FiiO , is much - better charge times with no impact on the recollective - terminal figure wellness of the battery .
Digital - to - analogue conversion is taken precaution of by a couple of AKM DAC chipsets – the AK4191EQ and AK4499EX operate in tandem bicycle , keeping the digital and analog stages entirely disjoined and utilising DWA route technology to keep the signal - to - randomness ratio to an absolute lower limit . And they give the M23 the power to deal with digital audio files of almost every type ( including MQA ) up to a firmness of purpose of 24 - bit/384kHz and DSD256 .
The pizzaz is allow for by FiiO ’s latest fettling of the democratic THX gain design . take the THX AAA 78 ( as used in its well - regarded M11 Plus andM11 Promodels ) as a commencement - power point , FiiO has refined the architecture to the point that it ’s now called THX AAA 78 + – and can purportedly extend greater exponent output signal with minimal twisting and even more preciseness .
These form just the newspaper headline where internal hardware is concerned . FiiO is prepared to talk ( at length ) about its unified hi - fi audio architecture , four - stage 20 - rail power supplying , 28 gamey - capacity polymer atomic number 73 electrical condenser , bespoke Digital Audio Purification System and plenty more besides … but by now the across-the-board point is surely made . FiiO has never been anything other than profoundly serious where its digital audio players are concerned , and if the M23 fail it wo n’t be for lack of applied science effort .
get the auditory sensation out can be done a duo of different way . pumped up earphone can apply either the 3.5 mm unhinged or 4.4 millimeter balanced production on the top edge of the instrumentalist – of course , these socket can also be used to strong - wire the M23 to an amplifier or what - have - you . And the 3.5 millimeter socket is hybrid , also pretend as a digital coaxial end product in case you want to bypass the M23 ’s DAC circuitry .
There are also wireless possibility for both getting audio info on board and getting it out again , of course of action . Dual - band Wi - Fi is on circuit card , and the FiiO can both transmit and receive usingBluetooth 5.0 – and in each direction , it ’s compatible with SBC , AAC , aptX HD andLDAC codecs .
On one edge of the chassis there ’s a power button – it ’s edge - light up to point the size of digital audio single file the player is deal with . There ’s also a multifunction release , the specific routine of which is simple to delineate . And in between there ’s the loudness control arrangement FiiO has lately become so lovesome of : it ’s a carbon - fiber strip / cradle , and you may either slide a finger up or down , or pressure either ending to make your alteration .
On the other edge there ’s a group of three buttons shoot care of play / pause , hop forward and skip backwards . There ’s also a handle electric switch to prevent any unsolicited actions being carried out , and a switch to put the M23 into five hundred - modality . viosterol - mode is background mode – when it ’s switched on , the musician is completely power by an external mogul reservoir plug into one of the USB - C socket on the bottom and the battery is bypassed tout ensemble , so you may utilise your M23 as desktop equipment without worrying about the force you ’re have got on the barrage fire . The other USB - degree Celsius socket is for datum transfer , and countenance the FiiO to act as a USB DAC .
Like all FiiO digital audio players , the M23 uses a breathed - on version of Android as an operating organisation – in this case , it ’s Android 12 . A Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 mainframe ensures the FiiO is fast and antiphonal in its interactions , and some careful reskinning means the operating system does n’t eat into the 64 GB of internal memory all that much . And besides , the microSD slot on the bottom of the player is good for cards of up to 2 TB – which should , in any realistic circumstance , be plenty .
Sound Quality
FiiO offers a middling amount of scope for end - substance abuser adjustment where the sound of the M23 is worry – using the touch screen you ’re able to adjust the EQ frequency distributor point , gain and bandwidth , fine - tuning the response curve to suit your predilection .
No matter how you fiddle around the edge of the audio quality here , though , it seems unlikely in the extreme point you ’ll be able to keep the M23 sound direct , informative and thoroughly melodic in any and every circumstance .
During the course of this mental test I listen to it via a pair ofBowers & Wilkins Px8connected wirelessly and a twain of Sennheiser IE 900 tie via the 4.4 millimetre balanced output . I take heed to music streamed fromQobuzand TIDAL , as well as euphony adulterate instantly onto the player ’s internal retention . And at no power point does the M23 sound anything less than poised , active , lavishly detailed and endlessly listenable .
A 24 - bit/96kHz FLAC file cabinet of In the Moon House by Szun Waves illustrates these points nicely . The M23 sounds open and organised , with a pleasantly neutral tonic proportion and a deft room where integrating of the frequency range is concerned . There ’s tremendous dynamism to the piano , a lot of mutant in the harmonic of the instrument , and an inviolable heap of item revealed when the sax abstract entity and clattering percussion conjoin in . The transcription sound incorporate , the result of performers responding and reacting to each other , rather than of individual doing their own individual thing . It sounds like a execution .
Switching to a DSD64 file of Stevie Wonder ’s timeless Innervisions allows the M23 to show what it ’s got where low - frequency control , rhythmical expression and midrange faithfulness are concerned . And it ’s good to say the FiiO has fuck off plenty – it communicates in the most eloquent way of life where the fore - in - the - mix vocal is concerned , punches through the low - frequency data with both determination and momentum , and keep a close eye on the transient information at the bound of the recording . Again , the mother wit of engagement and carrying into action is tangible .
At every turn , in fact , the M23 is deft and sinewy , straight-from-the-shoulder and subtle , detailed and dynamic . They seem perfectly content to engage with any case of euphony you care to listen to , and are even fain to slum it if you resolve you want to hear some sub-16 - bit/44.1kHz subject . It seems almost impossible to throw it out of its merry , confident pace .
Or , at least , it ’s not potential to do so via the cognitive content you take to listen to . There are , though , a match of operational glitches that become evident during the course of my test that , although minor , serve to both exacerbate and to undermine the impressive nature of the M23 ’s carrying into action somewhat .
The M23 will pause , unbidden , at random – not very often , but enough to become apparent . It can sometimes chop up into the first second or so of a digital audio frequency single file , start out playback from just more or less further forrard than 0:00 of the recording – when this chance , it ’s always when set about some newly prompt - up content . Once an album or playlist is playing , the M23 behave as it should , but switch to a different stream and the glitch will sometimes manifest itself again .
manifestly these are far from fatal flaw . But every bit manifestly , they ’re not what anyone is await from their pricey novel digital audio frequency player .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
The pains that FiiO has pass to where the M23 is touch on are apparent in the way it sound
I mean we all feel entitled to defect - free playback , do n’t we ? But it ’s not always on offer here …
Final Thoughts
I needed no convincing where the idea of a dedicated digital audio musician is come to – but nevertheless it ’s always adept to have one ’s biases confirmed . The FiiO M23 is the perfect replication to anyone who conceive their smartphone is good enough to take care of the business of music playback .
Trusted Score
FAQs
you could tote up microSD storage up to 2 TB .
