Anyone else pre-ordering the new M11Pro with the THX amp?
tried it out at London Canjam, the problem with DAPs is that android will always get slower, but a portable DAC won’t ever slow down.
Sounded good, but will only last a few years before it gets a bit crappy
edit: it was also quite heavy…
Well it won’t necessarily slow down per se, we just get used to faster and faster devices, so I know what you mean
If it starts to physically slow down you can do a full reset and be fine
The thing that effects both daps and some portable dac/amps is the battery wearing out
firmware updates do tend to slow devices down over time, just look at apple’s iOS scandal. Android is even less regulated so I expect that firmware patches, whilst giving more protection, will slow down devices over time.
I reckon the best way to avoid this is to not update firmware if you don’t have to. I remember a BGGAR video saying this loosely.
Well you can always manually flash back if you get concerned. That does happen, but regarding apple, it was intentional slowdowns, not just something that happened overtime. Also regarding fiio products I have seen that the newer updates fix more issues and are more mature and occasionally make the device run faster.
Unfortunately the m11 has a locked boot loader which I explored a bit in the m11 thread, so you can’t really flash a custom kernal or rom yet (well you can but it wouldn’t be a good idea) until an exploit is found
You forgot the most important part, how did it SOUND? lol
Yeah lol my bad, THX obviously made it pretty analytical, I only tried with the shire se425 and the Fiio FH5 but it was definitely very clean. It was quite balanced as well, not for my taste as I quite like warmth. I’m sure if you hooked up a mini tube amp like the little bear BX-4 or the Oriolus BA300s then you could get that effect.
I couldn’t hear a massive difference between the normal M11 but obviously the environment wasn’t the best. There was a small one though, simply a cleaner sound. Nothing was more forward etc
1 Like
Sounds pretty accurate to me. The regular m11 has more of a balanced fiio house sound that is already pretty good imo, and the thx is going to be a bit more transparent. Think power output is similar.
Have you guys heard the M9? That’s my current daily driver and wondering how much of an upgrade it will be in the sound department specifically. I know it will work much faster but I care more about the sound. Wondering if I should save money and just get a unit like the Q5S to stack w the M9.
Going to invest FH7’s at the same time. My current M9 + KZ ZS10 Pro are doing the job for now tho.
I have not heard the m9, but the fh7 is a pretty big upgrade, alot more then getting a new source, so hope you like those. The Q5s + the thx amp module is a killer setup and imo probably a more future proof choice if you don’t have many gripes with your current dap
My only gripes are it’s painfully slow, and the screen has some lines from being very slightly dropped one time. Other than that it’s been pretty great. Wouldn’t mind a snappier interface though, and if I could get the same or better sound quality in one unit vs stacking that would be nice.
I have though about a chord mojo but too many reports of shoddy reliability, and I detest micro usb ports.
You could just use a phone and the q5s with the thx module and really never have to worry about slowness
1 Like
Something I’m considering as well.
If you like a warmer sound the ifi xdsd is also pretty nice, but not focused on transparency like the thx fiio stuff
1 Like