FiiO M3 Review
Thanks to FiiO for the sample.
First impressions: It’s been some time
since I’ve had a FiiO product in. I see and can feel that the quality
of the box itself seems to have improved. It’s a more professional
feeling box, not that the box is all that important. It may make a
small difference if you’re browsing in a store but I can’t say I see it
likely to bump into FiiO products on the high street anytime soon. A
shame that but it’s not like many places sell DAP’s on the high street
anyway. Opening it up, there in the player itself. I’m instantly
presented with mixed feelings. The player is super tiny and I cannot
help but think, oooooooohhhh. However then I notice it’s flanked by
white ear buds, white. I’m not pleased, I don’t mind that they come
with buds although I’d rather they didn’t. I view DAP’s coming with
earphones as a waste of money and especially given that anyone buying a
FiiO product probably cares enough to not need or want them. If they do
want them then just let them buy them, separately. Anyway with a black
player as I have here if they must come with buds, they really ought to
be black I think. I know it’s not important but it’s a pet peeve of
mine.
Returning to the player itself I’m again
just struck by how diminutive it is. I realise that its numerical
dimensions indicate it’s small but I really hadn’t twigged just how
small it is. The thing is freekin’ tiny in my hand, compared with other
DAP’s I use the only thing that comes close is the ancient 1G Ipod
Shuffle. It’s just so itty bitty!!!
Screen: Well it’s DAP, a Digital Audio
Player so the screen is only to navigate music and maybe to tell you the
name of what’s playing right? It does both those things just fine.
The screen is perfectly adequate for its use case. What I mean by that
is it’s kinda cheap and meh. I have no problem with that as its
perfectly fine for what you’re doing with it, it’s not a video player or
anything.
Battery Life: The spec sheet says 12
hours playback and that to me seemed plausible. It easily lasted
through not just one days use but a few. Unsurprisingly the screen
getting lit up shortens that life but nicely, when you track skip or
volume adjust the screen doesn’t automatically light up. Yey!!! I like
to control my audio player with it either in my hard or in my pocket,
where I’m certainly not looking at it so no need to power up the screen
and waste power.
UI: To date I’ve never come across a DAP
from the Far East (excluding Sony) that was intuitive and a pleasure to
use. The UI here is functional but its pictograph’s aren’t always
obvious and scrolling off screen likewise isn’t obvious. I mean it’s
not impossible and you get used to it but I’d suggest doing what I
normally do. Set the thing to shuffle the whole SD card and just track
skip your way through things.
In The Hand: Pictures don’t do it
justice. Pics and the dimensions both told it me it was small but
actually having it in my hard was a revelation. It’s so itty bitty
tiny!!! The thing even comes with a lanyard whose length suggests it to
wear round your neck. Oh did I mention it weighs almost nothing? The
only thing though is I’d rather the front wasn’t so much screen but had
the buttons more spaced out. They feel all a little squished down
together at the bottom. Its corners are maybe a touch angular and sharp
but being plastic they aren’t too bad. Most of all the thing is just
so diminutive.
Controls: The buttons on the front, from
a first glance they look like touch sensitive things don’t they?
That’s what I thought but gods be praised, they aren’t. They are
actually normal buttons you must depress to actuate, you cannot know how
pleased by that I am. It means no accidently pressing the wrong things
and means I can operate the thing tactilely in my pocket. Woo Hoo!!!
Love real buttons on DAP’s. I change the volume and skip tracks all the
time so real buttons are always welcome. Interestingly it also has a
hardware button lock switch. You slide the lock and the buttons stop
working, the idea being you lock it and cant accidently press stuff in
your pocket.
One interesting control feature, by
default the track skipping, it comes with a soft transition. When you
hit skip, the current track dips quickly in volume to nothing and then
quickly climbs back up with the next track. I found myself rather
liking that, despite its making the process a little slower its was
nice. It made for a very smooth transition.
Format Support: The spec sheet again is
fairly comprehensive. You name it, it can play it it would seem,
including APE which to date I’ve never seen anyone use but apparently
its more popular in the Far East. The only slight caveat is that it
can’t play the very highest bit rates. Its tops out at FLAC: 48 kHz/24
bit and WAV: 96 kHz/24 bit. That is technically a shame but in reality
it doesn’t matter at all. People who buy a DAP at this price are not
intending to throw 192kHz /24bit files at it anyway, are they?
Otherwise it also supports MP3, WMA, OGG and M4A so pretty much about
everything any reasonable person is ever likely to want to use.
Connections: Here there is nothing
fancy. We have the ubiquitous 3.5mm hp output, the almost as common
micro USB input (for charging and data transfer) and then lastly, the
micro SD card slot. That’s it, it’s a short list but really what else
would you want?
Volume: The dial goes up to 60, frankly I
hate to think just how loud that must get, I got it as far as 40 before
finding it getting uncomfortably loud. Sure if you maybe have some
very quiet piece or you have hearing issues then you might make use of
it…….. me though, god no. It’s capable of going stupidly loud.
Sound Quality: So let’s be clear that
the M3 is a tiny itty bitty sliver of a thing. It’s not going to be
rocking desktop amp power and it’s likewise not got the most complex and
sophisticated innards either. So if you think you’re going to get,
world class, uber high quality audio you may want to think again. The
M3 is about being a convenient and crazy small DAP its intention is to
take the battery strain off your phone and give you a bit of a bump in
audio quality while it’s at it. That is just what it does too. Sure
it’s a little soft, little warmed, a little bit of diffuse creaminess.
Its somewhat the typical FiiO sound and its one common to Far East
players. They all veer towards the warmer side of things, hey it’s just
what’s popular in the Far East. While I might prefer a bit more dry
and clinical in a DAP, warmth coming from my earphones instead, it is
what it is.
Lows: They are nicely diffuse, a little
softish perhaps as the power output on the little M3 struggles to drive
the Oppo PM-3’s I’m playing with. It not bad but in the deepest lows it
just runs out of puff. Swapping to the Finder X1’s and while the bass
doesn’t need so much power they still are struggling at the deepest
deaths. They also are a little reduced in potency, they haven’t the
hearty kick that a more powerful player can offer. Swapping to more
rich music that is very nicely complimented and playing with some very
bass heavy earphones it’s a rather pleasant on the ear pairing.
Quantity wise, while the lowest reaches
diminished there is an overall little bump to the bass. That hint
softer, bigger, more full and wider. Something that would pair well
with something warmly sumptuous like the Sony EX-500’s. They made for a
great pairing.
Mids: Once more they are a slight bit
creamy and smoothed. It makes for a nicely pleasant rendition on the
ear. Particularly with the warm EX-500’s they are very smooth, level
and melodic. They aren’t so great with a more airy presentation song
wise. They just don’t want to push towards open, breathy, clarity so
they sort of sound a little bit enclosed, a touch suffocated. As is
ever with a warmed presentation the best vocally you find when playing
back warm and creamy vocals. They are softly smooth, richly sumptuous
and the just ooze round your ears. It’s a very pleasant style to relax
to. If however you push them, towards say fast paced gym type music (a
place where you may well want a cheap and tiny little DAP.) Then you
get that Sony esq big warm bombastic sound. It’s not one I’m wild about
but Sony Hi-Fi’s have long sold well and are well loved by the general
public. It’s a big potent, powerful and weighty sound. It likes to
just power on through everything.
Quantitatively they are a smidge behind
the bass I think, just a faint tiny bit. They do come with a dollop of
cream though, which is nice but not entirely for me all the time.
Highs: They are that faintly warmed,
slightly smoothed out style that we have seen elsewhere. It’s an ever
popular and easy on the ear playback style. It really does pair nicely
with the Sony EX-500’s. Neither are wildly great at great at the
treble end so both conspire to give a delicate little dusting of
shimmer, keeping it all rather vague but it works. Neither are about
vast detail retrieval and they both you might think, are pushing
everything too much in the warm direction but like I say, it works.
Neither are analytical tools.
Quantitatively they are a smidge reduced and a little tiny bit diffused.
Hiss: I cannot say I noticed any.
Accessories: You get a rather weird
selection. The micro USB cable isn’t a surprise, the earbuds are a
little bit of a surprise to me but the weird one is the neck lanyard.
Not that I have any problems with it, I actually rather think it’s a
nice, fun idea but it’s just not something you often see. Indeed I’m
not sure I’ve ever seen a DAP come with one before. The earbuds though,
I’m a little disappointed with. Now I get that FiiO may have a more
“high street” presence in China and so it’s then a little bit more
expected that a player should come with some earphones. However, I
cannot imagine anyone in the west who is buying a FiiO device isn’t
going to be using their own earphones. So to me including them is a
just a waste of money.
Value: This is where FiiO traditionally
shine and here is no exception. While the M3 isn’t the world’s most
thrilling DAP its star quality is its price tag. The thing comes in at
just US$55 on Amazon US, which is just £38 though the UK price I found
was £50. (Slight grumble.) The fact is at its price, either price it’s a
great value product. It’s not going to challenge proper high end DAP’s
but it’s not meant to, its phone battery saver, it’s a gym companion,
it’s a little gem.
Conclusion: So you may have noticed I’ve
not been wild about its audio quality. It isnt anything particularly
acoustically special. I can’t even say it’ll be definitively better
than your phone either. Phones have been getting better and when I
compare it to my Lumia 735 I actually prefer the colder, crisper
presentation of the 735. I generally do prefer colder DAP’s it’s just
what suits me better. So the M3 is being pitched at a more typical and
mainstream user.
The Warmer and more smooth presentation
it offers is generally exactly what a typical, normal phone using
listener is after. They want big, smooth, expansive bass. They want
that big weighty sound. They want something that weighs nothing. They
want something that will got through a weeks’ worth of gym sessions.
They want something that isn’t going to eat any precious phone battery
life. The M3 does a grand little job of all those things.
So should you buy one? Well if you want a
diminutive DAP for working out, or you just want something tiny to
replace your phone for battery destroying commute listening then it’s a
fab little thing. It’s so small and it weighs practically nothing.
Throw the lanyard on it and hang it round your neck so even if you’re a
girl with no pockets you can still use it unencumbered. Aside from the
music playing you’ll instantly forget it’s there it weighs so little.
It’s a highly functional little DAP with excellent battery life that
would be perfect as a diminutive gym or a commute companion.
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