FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player

FiiO Electronics Technology Co Ltd. continues its offensive strategy for portable hi-fi players and is now introducing the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player, the new flagship of the FiiO M range, all based on the Samsung Exynos platform.

FiiO Electronics Technology Co Ltd. is probably one of the most dedicated players in the portable hi-fi audio market today. Not only has it been able to offer a very wide range of solutions for years, but it is also gradually expanding its product range at a truly remarkable pace. Moreover, and this is particularly astonishing, the company is using the latest technologies at very attractive prices. This is especially true for the FiiO M Range solutions, which is based on the FiiO M3K Digital Audio Player, but focuses on the FiiO M6 High Resolution Lossless Music Player, FiiO M7 High Resolution Lossless Audio Player and FiiO M9 High Resolution Lossless Music Player.

These last three players in the FiiO M Series combine a very important feature, namely that they are all based on the Samsung Exynos platform. This platform is a direct result of the development of current smartphones and has several advantages. On the one hand, it guarantees more than sufficient performance for smooth operation, while at the same time consuming very little power to achieve long battery life. In addition, it is a highly integrated solution that includes almost all relevant components of a mobile solution in a state-of-the-art form, allowing the developers at FiiO Electronics Technology Co Ltd. to focus on the essential features of a portable hi-fi audio player.

Now, FiiO Electronics Technology Co Ltd. is once again expanding the FiiO M Series with a very special portable audio player, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player.

As the product name suggests, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player is the new top product in the FiiO M Series, the new flagship product, which, although technologically similar to the previous models, is still superior in many key areas. For example, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player is expected to offer even more performance with a generous battery life, better converters, an even higher quality output stage, but also a generously sized display for particularly intuitive operation.

“The M11 is FiiO’s resounding answer of the future of portable HiFi”

This is the message the company is sending with the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player.

The developers rely on the Samsung Exynos 7872 platform as the technological basis, whereby a 6-core processor with two A73 2 GHz and four A53 1.66 GHz, all built in 14 nm, ensures more than sufficient performance. This is supported by 3 GByte RAM and 32 GByte ROM, and Google Android 7.0 is used as the operating system, whereby the actual music playback takes place via the newly designed FiiO Music App.

In addition to dual-band WiFi according to IEEE 802.11n, Bluetooth is of course also a must. As with most of the previous models in the FiiO M range, a Bluetooth module is also used here that really supports all relevant standards. Thus not only SBC, AAC and aptX are supported, but also aptX LL and aptX HD, but also LDAC. By the way, the manufacturer speaks of full format Bluetoth transmission, but also of lossless Bluetooth receiving. The Bluetooth module can therefore be used as a transmitter and receiver.

In this context it should be mentioned that the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player not only carries the Hi-res Audio seal of approval, but is also certified for Hi-res Wireless Audio.

The FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player supports UPnP (dlna-certified), Apple AirPlay and of course the so-called FiiO Link introduced by FiiO Electronics Technology Co Ltd. The company refers to this as HiFi wireless to your iPhone and WiFi file transfer.

Of course, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player already uses USB C as an interface to connect to a PC or Mac, and can also be used as an external D/A converter with asynchronous data transfer. This interface is also used to charge the integrated rechargeable battery, a 3,800 mAh lithium-polymer battery, which is designed to provide up to 13 hours of play time. Via Qualcomm QC 2.0 (Quick Charging) or MTK PE (Pump Express by MediaTek), this battery should be fully charged within two and a half hours. In standby, the player should be available charged for no less than 50 days.

One of the outstanding features of the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player is certainly the display used here. It takes up almost the entire front of the player and thus has a screen diagonal of no less than 5.15 inches with a picture ratio of 18:9 and a resolution of 720 x 1,440 pixels. Thus, the display ultimately corresponds to 720p, this should only be mentioned in passing.

This large display is of course also the focus of the operating concept of the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player, since it is supposed to enable a particularly intuitive gesture control, whereby the entire display can be used for this.

The new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player features a True Balance Architecture, based primarily on AKM converters, or more precisely Dual AK4493. This ensures that the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player supports all relevant audio formats, up to Linear PCM with 32 bit and 384 kHz, as well as DSD with up to DSD256, and natively, to emphasise this explicitly. Even ISO tracks can be played back directly.

Of course, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player micro SD Cards are also used as storage media, so that there is enough “leeway” even for large media libraries.

The output stage of the FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player is based on Texas Instruments OPA926 operational amplifiers and uses both an unbalanced 3.5 mm stereo mini jack connector and balanced connectors, designed as a 2.5 mm 4-pin jack and a 4.4 mm 4-pin jack. This ensures that any headphones can be connected in the best possible way. After all, at the unbalanced connection 195 mW at 32 Ohm impedance is available, at the balanced connections it is even 550 mW at 32 Ohm impedance. This means that even the most demanding headphones can be used without any problems.

Even a coaxial S/PDIF is available here, this should not be forgotten to mention.

The new FiiO Electronics Technology Co Ltd. presents itself as an extremely elegant solution with the usual solid aluminium housing, whereby not only the front, but also the back is made of hardened glass, but here it is reinforced with a thin layer of carbon fibre, which creates a special optical contrast. On the side, there is a golden shining rotary encoder, which is also used as a push button. Besides the display, it is the main control element of the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player.

The new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player measures 130 x 70.5 x 15.5 mm and weighs no more than 211 g.

Of course, a suitable protective case made of silicone is included in the scope of delivery. A matching leather case is available as an optional accessory, whereby a Tempered Glass Screen Protector is also included.

According to initial information from the manufacturer, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player should be delivered to distributors worldwide as early as the end of May 2019. A promise that was kept, so that the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player is now available in this country. The recommended retail price is € 499,-.

Getting to the point

Now FiiO Electronics Technology Co Ltd. is once again expanding the FiiO M Series with a very special portable audio player, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player. As the product name suggests, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player is the new top product in the FiiO M Series, the new flagship product, which, although technologically similar to the previous models, is still superior in many key areas. For example, the new FiiO M11 Smart Lossless Playback Portable Music Player is expected to offer even more performance with a generous battery life, better converters, an even higher quality output stage, but also a generously sized display for particularly intuitive operation.