The M11S is geared toward people who have a big hi-res music library and wish to entry it on the go. You get sturdy inner {hardware} together with a superb DAC that enables your audio gear to shine, and it has a sturdy design backed by good battery life. With an in depth feature-set and nice worth, the M11S is the one hi-res music participant it is advisable to think about.
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Fiio is without doubt one of the most recognizable names within the hi-res audio scene, and the producer is understood for its value-focused DACs and IEMs. I reviewed lots of the model’s current launches over the past 12 months, together with the terrific BTR7 Bluetooth DAC, high-end K9 Professional DAC, FA7S and FD3 IEMs, and some transportable DACs.
Fiio additionally has a spread of transportable music gamers, with the M11S the most recent providing within the collection. Consider these transportable gamers as a spinoff of the iPod however for lossless music. You get all of the options you want in a single bundle: the M11S has a 5-inch display screen with a 720p decision, is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660, and options twin Sabre ES9038Q2M DACs that ship native 24-bit/384KHz playback, and DSD256 together with MQA decoding.
The M11S connects over the single-ended 3.5mm port, and also you get balanced 2.5mm and 4.4mm ports as effectively. What’s notably attention-grabbing right here is that there is Bluetooth as effectively, and the M11S can transmit wirelessly by way of SBC, AAC, AptX, AptX HD, LDAC, and LHDC. One of the best half is that it runs an uncluttered model of Android out of the field, and with full entry to the Play Retailer, so you’ll be able to set up your favourite streaming service with none problem.
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I wish to discuss just a little in regards to the design of the M11S earlier than I get to its sound traits. Fiio overhauled its design language in 2022 and is aiming for a constant aesthetic throughout its complete vary, and that’s instantly evident when utilizing the M11S. It has the identical angular strains and rectangular sides, and it’s much like the K9 Professional on this regard. Different Fiio merchandise just like the Q7 and R7 share an identical aesthetic, so it is good to see Fiio unifying the design language all through its portfolio.
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The design itself seems to be excellent, and the matte end on the edges makes it simple to carry and use the M11S. There are bodily music playback buttons on the precise, energy button and a big quantity rocker to the left, and a MicroSD slot that holds as much as 2TB — that is very helpful if in case you have a big offline music library and wish to entry it on the go. The ports are on the backside, with the three.5mm jack situated to the left of the USB-C port and the balanced 2.5mm and 4.4m ports on the precise.
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Whereas the 5.0-inch display screen feels diminutive towards the likes of the Galaxy S22 and even small telephones just like the ASUS Zenfone 9, it’s the preferrred measurement right here. It does not make the M11S unwieldy, and there is sufficient display screen actual property for shopping your music library and controlling music playback. The M11S is pretty chunky at 18.5mm, and that is all the way down to the audio {hardware} and huge 5300mAh battery below the hood. That mentioned, it is not too heavy at 271g, and also you get a transparent case within the bundle that protects the gadget in case of tumbles.
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The steel chassis is sturdy and feels constructed to final, and within the six months I used the M11S, I did not see any points with construct high quality or tactility of the buttons. Rounding out the design, the display screen is not notably vibrant right here, however it’s serviceable for the use case. Fortunately, you get Gorilla Glass protecting the entrance and rear panes of glass.
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Coming to the ports, the M11S is ready to ship 300mW over the three.5mm jack at 16Ω, happening to 200mW at 32Ω and 23mW at 300Ω. The balanced 2.5mm and 4.4mm ports have extra energy, going up 670mW at 32Ω, 550mW at 16Ω, and 90mW at 300Ω. There’s loads of headroom right here for driving IEMs and full-sized headphones, and I did not run into any drawbacks with the audio gear I’ve. You get three achieve settings right here — low, medium, and excessive — and for many IEMs, the low achieve setting was simply wonderful.
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As for the sound itself, the M11S delivers a dynamic signature with lots of character within the low-end, vibrant mids with good timbre and wonderful vocal readability, and a clear treble with good extension. There’s loads of layering and dynamism to the sound, and the mid-bass is splendidly detailed, delivering a clear low-end with an excellent presence.
The low noise ground means you will not hear any hiss even with delicate IEMs, and this hasn’t been a problem in my testing. The M11S got here into its personal when used with the Audeze Euclid, permitting the IEMs to ship a full of life sound that is completely engrossing.
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On the software program facet of issues, the M11S options vanilla Android 10 with entry to Google Cell Companies. Which means you get the Play Retailer out of the field, and you may set up all of your streaming companies you need. You additionally get the power to put in the rest you want, however given the older {hardware} and restricted reminiscence, you are higher off utilizing the M11S solely for music streaming — even the most effective price range Android telephones have higher {hardware} today.
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Fiio has its personal storefront that permits you to set up the likes of Qobuz and Tidal, and this was helpful for my use case as Tidal is not formally listed within the Play Retailer in my nation. In any other case, you are a vanilla interface with none adjustments, and contemplating my each day driver has been operating Android 13 for 4 months now, the design of the overview menu and notification pane feels archaic.
(Picture credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)
That mentioned, there’s system-wide darkish mode, and I did not see any slowdowns whereas utilizing the M11S — an achievement contemplating the {hardware} on supply. The participant is powered by Qualcomm’s 14nm Snapdragon 660, and the final cellphone I used that ran the platform was Xiaomi’s Mi A2. There’s 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inner storage, and whereas that will make for a poor mixture in a cellphone in 2023, it’s completely wonderful right here.
You additionally get Wi-Fi connectivity and AirPlay/DLNA streaming, so in case you’re like me and have your music library saved on a house NAS server, you get the power to entry the recordsdata straight. Whereas I exploit USB Audio Participant Professional on my cellphone, the built-in Fiio Music utility was sensible for enjoying music off the NAS — it has an excellent interface and handles media playback with none problem.
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There is a 5300mAh battery below the hood, and the M11S delivers over 15 hours of music playback. That ought to be greater than sufficient for weekly listening classes, and the one draw back right here is that it takes an agonizing three hours to totally cost the battery. I exploit telephones with the identical battery measurement that cost in below half-hour, however then once more, the M11S is not a tool that you’re going to have to cost each day.
I exploit the K9 Professional along with the Focal Elex after I’m at my desk, however for many transportable listening, I turned to the M11S as my participant of alternative. It drives all of the audio gear I’ve in my home with little to no effort, it produces a balanced sound that makes IEMs just like the Audeze Euclid shine, and it has greater than sufficient battery life.
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Greater than the rest, the M11S has been my go-to alternative over the past six months due to how simple it’s to make use of. I discover it to be extra handy to make use of the M11S than pair a Bluetooth DAC just like the BTR7 with my cellphone and play music that means.
The important thing differentiator is that not like my cellphone, there aren’t any errant notifications on the M11S, so I can simply take heed to the music with none distractions. On the finish of the day, that alone makes it a worthy suggestion, and in order for you a high-res music participant that nails the basics and simply will get out of the best way, you may love what the M11S has to supply.