Fiio Introduces Latest Player – M7

Fiio is a relatively young company, having only been around since 2007. And yet, they’re currently releasing new devices at a rate that puts some of the big boys to shame. Recently they introduced their latest player – the M7

What’s The Deal with The M7?

To some extent, the M7 is an entirely new device for Fiio. Perhaps one of the more standout specs here is the fact that they’ve gone with a dual-core Samsung Exynos 7270 chip clocked at 1GHz, along with 786MB of RAM.
There’s also 4GB of on-board memory (of which only 2GB is available to the user), but thankfully the device also supports up to 512GB external memory (microSD).
Another completely new addition for Fiio is a Type-C USB port. Up until now, all of their devices have utilised micro-USB ports.
Apparently there’s also a demand/need for FM radio capabilities, so Fiio have gone ahead and given the M7 an FM receiver capable of cover all frequencies within the 76-108MHz.

Fiio have also opted to go with a touch-panel for the M7, giving it a 3.2-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480×800. That equates to a pixel density of 292PPI. So whilst that still doesn’t equal the 300PPI of the Shanling M2s and M3s, it’s still a relatively high resolution display.
In terms of dimensions, the M7 measures in at 52 x 109 x 13mm and weighs 116g. Compared to some of Fiio’s other devices, this makes the M7 roughly 14% larger than the X1 2nd Gen, but around 15% smaller than the X3 Mark 3.
The only other device in their M-line was the short-lived M3 player which was even less than half the size of the X1 2nd Gen.
Overall, we can see various design-queues from a number of Fiio’s past and current devices. Most notable is probably the volume-dial.

However, it’s when we get to the audio specs that things become rather interesting. The DAC-chip of choice here is an ES9018Q2C, allowing the M7 to decode not only PCM formats of up to 192kHz/24-bit, but also DSD formats up to DSD64.
In terms of power-delivery, there isn’t a great deal of power available, as the M7 is only capable of outputting up to around 70mW into a 16-ohm load. However, that’s still a 40% improvement over the M3’s maximum rater output power of 50mW into the same load.
The most intriguing spec, though, is the M7’s SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) figure. Fiio has stated that the M7 has an SNR of more than 117dB (A weighted). This is a better figure than what the X1 2nd gen (113dB), X3 Mark 3 (112dB), X5 3rd Gen (115dB), and even the X7 Mark II (116dB with default amp module) is capable of.

However, Fiio still wasn’t done with the M7. They’ve gone ahead and given it full Bluetooth 4.2 treatment as well, including AptX, AptX HD, and LDAC!

Then, just to sweeten the deal even further, they managed to get a battery run-time of up to around 20 hours when using the 3.5mm jack, and up to around 30 hours when using Bluetooth.

Now, assuming that they’ve also given the M7 the ability to output audio data over the Type-C port, the M7 might just be a near-perfect transport – perfectly capable of serving as a stand-alone device, but also as an exceptionally competent and easy-to-use device to attach to your favourite high quality DAC.

Pricing and Availability

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any clear indication of when the M7 will be available and at what price yet, but our best guess for pricing will be around the $100-150 range. That’s entirely speculation, though, which is purely based off of Fiio’s current pricing-strategy and device lineup.

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