Fiio M11 vs iBasso Dx160

Anyone here knows first hand how these two compare? It would be to use with power hungry planar IEMs mostly.
Thanks.

Just wondering, have you considered the hiby r5 for the power and having google play support? I would say that if you wanted something with more features and something a bit analytical leaning, the m11 is my pick. If you want a more refined experience and sound the dx160 is my pick. But with something that needs power the hiby r5 might be worth a look

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I’ll take a look at it thanks, I didn’t know it.

Mmmmmhhhhhhh :thinking: very interesting…

Which has the warmer sound?

The dx160 or the hiby r5, what are you going to run with them?

I just bought the dx160, I don’t have it yet but I read the entire 180page thread on headfi to come to my verdict. It seems that the ibasso is more warm and musical sound while the M11 is clean cold and analytical sound sig. The dx160 apparently has a lower noise floor with no hiss even on the more sensitive iems and can have Google play services installed where as the M11 can not.

The M11 is gonna be the faster and snappier device with the way faster processor as well dual SD cards over the single on the ibasso Bluetooth is apparently not great on the 160 with a lot of people reporting issues holding a signal, but of course it could be a case of the vocal minority.

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For example, my Tri i3 sounds phenomenal but I find myself using a lot the bass boost in the Nx3s when playing from the M9 (when playing direct from the Dap I have to EQ and that takes me to 90 percent of the power). I already have the Xd-05 plus but that is for home use mostly with the Dt1990 (middle gain 12 o’clock) and the He4xx (high gain 11/12 o’clock). That will power also my future Lcd2c. For the moment I’m just investigating because if I take the M9 with the i3 to go for a walk, the perception of bass diminishes greatly sounding flat and trebly and I end up taking the Blon 03 for it’s better subbass. I don’t think I’ll go for the M11 pro nor the M15, too expensive and unnecessary for me, but I want to be covered in the future if I get more demanding neutral sounding IEMs.
By the way, the Ikko OH10 will be arriving shortly and will probably order the Isn H40 though these two should be easier to drive.
Well, I don’t know if all this makes sense to you…

Thank you mate! You just saved me from reading those 180 pages! Please post your thoughts when you finally have it!

Also, I believe the Dx160 is the less powerful of the three isn’t it? I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how many mW were 6Vrms. It seems that is like 350 at 32 ohm, which isn’t great… Unless I’m mistaken.

There is some good discussion on the power rating of the dx160 you can look at here; FiiO M11 v M11 pro

It seems there is some discrepancy because we don’t know what impedance load the 6.4vrms is referring to. If what is discussed in that link is correct the rating is closer to a little over a watt at 32ohms but who knows…

From what I’ve read it doesn’t seem like power is much of an issue with it though, I’ve hardly seen any complaints about it in all my research.

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Read it, thanks.

Recommend Fiio M11 pro, better than M11 and iBasso DX160

My issue I had with the m11 pro after hearing it again is that it’s really analytical leaning, it sounds a bit lifeless in comparison to the regular m11 and dx160. It does push forward more detail with a bit more oomph, but the presentation isn’t all that natural. You also trade away the 2nd sd card slot which is personally a deal breaker for me

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Yes but it’s way more expensive than the normal M11 450 usd vs 675. In this case the M11 pro competes in other price bracket. M11, dx160 and Hiby R5 cost around 400/450.

as long as you use yours as transport connected to your external DAC/AMP - I see why you don´t want to miss the second card slot!

the M11 Pro is even more with a serious 1 TB SD card(400€) vs the cost for 2 smaller and way cheaper (60€ for a 400 GB) SD cards in the M11

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Maybe Thx has something to do with it?

That is correct lol

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