FiiO’s complex M11 portable digital audio player is like the UK motorway, challenging but
fast, thinks Noel Keywood.T
here are portable players
like my small and venerable
Astell&Kern AK120 that
just play from internally
stored music – and there
are portable players like the
FiiO M11 I’m reviewing here that are
more like mini-computers – able to
access music streaming services on
the ‘net and much, much more. Addin a full suite of connectivity options
and top quality audio digital conver-
tor chips and you have the M11 in
broad outline, a sophisticated porta-
ble digital audio player – price £450.
Fitted with a Samsung Exynos
7872 processor running customised
Android 7 operating system that,
together with all else like wi-fi and
Bluetooth and a massive screen,consumes current, there’s a large
3800mAh battery onboard. To explain
this is no small player, although at
220gms on our scales there are
heavier ones around. At 71mm wide,
130mm high and 16mm deep it is
pocketable – if not in a shirt top
pocket unless you are a lumberjack.
A large battery takes time to
charge, FiiO quoting 3 hours (max)
on a 5V phone charger, which is
about what I got. There are fast
charge options though at 9V and
12V with a suitable supply (extra).
Running time is quoted as 13 hours- but that’s with the large screen off.
The touch-screen screen is 117mm
high and 58mm wide – nearly the
size and resolution of a large mobile
phone. But then because the player
runs music apps like Deezer, QoBuz,
Tidal and Amazon music – to name
a few of the 14 options on our
player – it needs display area to
accommodate their layouts. To play
stored music means using the music
player app fitted, more of which later.
To go on-line wi-fi is used
so there’s a screen keyboard for
password and data entry. Once
connected to a home network the
M11 can not only see ‘net music
servers and Google (this being
Android) but also DNLA music
servers on a home network, which
usually means a PC. It saw music
on my Windows 10 PC and played
it without hassle. PCs run PCM up
to 96kHz sample rate and I ran CD
and 24/96 hi-res files from PC when
listening but the player comes with
a dedicated USB DAC driver for PC
for higher resolution music play.
I also used the M11 as a
headphone DAC with my 'old' Mac
(Sierra, USB 2) and here it forced a
44.1kHz sample rate (no bit-depth
info) that could not be changed at
On The M11
REVIEW
74 HI-FI WORLD SEPTEMBER 2019 http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk