INTRODUCTION

   Listening to music while at home, the office or even while on the road is something I’ve always enjoyed immeasurably and I’m certain that's also true for most people out there. What's also true however is that not everyone has the same standards/taste about things, for example some people want the largest LCD screens with the highest resolutions and refresh rates so they can enjoy playing their favourite game titles and/or watching movies while others may just want the highest quality speakers/headsets and/or the best music players for the maximum possible audio clarity and output (likewise some people prefer consoles over PCs and vice versa). Personally, as far back as i can remember I’ve always used portable music players (cassette/CD/Mini Disc/MP3) with the M11 Hi-Res Portable Music Player by FiiO (review here) topping that list, at least until their flagship M15 model arrived at my doorstep almost 2 months ago.

   FiiO was established in 2007 and has experience in researching and developing countless portable music products of different types, and sell FiiO-branded products through sales agents worldwide. The brand name FiiO is composed of Fi(fidelity from HiFi) and iO(number 1&0), representing the real feeling and convenient life that digital brings to life. Meanwhile, the Chinese “飞傲” is the transliteration of FiiO, indicating the positive and innovative spirit as thriving as spring. FiiO is focused on product quality, adheres strictly to ISO9001 standards in quality management and works hard to attain the lowest repair-related product returns rate.

   The M15 had to surpass the already excellent M11 (and the M11 Pro after that) in every conceivable way so to do that FiiO equipped it with not 1 but 2 AK4499EQ switched resistor DACs by Asahi Kasei (768KHz/32-bit/DSD512 native/140dB SNR) which they successfully paired with the Exynos 7872 hexa-core processor by Samsung (features two A73 cores clocked at 2GHz, four A53 cores clocked at 1.6GHz, 3GB LPDDR3 RAM and 64GB flash memory), the XUF208 USB chip by XMOS (768KHz/DSD512 - 384KHz/DSD128 for USB audio) and the CSR8675 v5.0 bluetooth chip by Qualcomm (supports the SBC/aptX/aptX-HD/LDAC/HWA audio codecs and features their Kalimba DSP). However, the list of hardware components is far from over since inside the M15 FiiO also managed to squeeze 7 TI op-amps (2xOPA2211/4xOPA1612/1xOPA1622), 8-layer gold PCB (complete with independent shielding and copper-nickel-zinc alloy heatsinks), ProASIC3 series FPGA (ARM Cortex-M1 processor), two custom Japanese NDK crystal units, dedicated audio capacitors and a somewhat huge 7490mAh lithium-cobalt oxide rechargeable battery (supports QC2.0/MTK PE fast charging) which can provide the M15 with up to 15 hours of music playback. An analog potentiometer volume knob, gold plated headphone outputs, left side controls and a 5.15 inch corning gorilla glass borderless screen (1440x720p/18:9/16.7 million colors/312PPI/10-finger multi-touch) complete this clearly impressive package.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The M15 is the first music player to arrive here by from FiiO inside a secondary cardboard box with their logo on it.

As expected, the main box has a large product picture at the front along with the company, iF design award and Hi-Res Audio logos.

At the rear of the box FiiO has placed their genuine serial number along with some of the product specifications and of course its serial number and barcode.

Once you remove the external cover you will find the main box on which FiiO has engraved the Dual AK4499EQ feature.

FiiO packs the entire bundle inside an box made out of black walnut wood (not very heavy but it seems to be of good quality).

Of course, the interior features 2 thick pieces of black foam to keep the M15 100% safe.

Along with the M15 FiiO also packs a screen protector, 3.5mm to RCA adapter, USB-C charging cable, warranty card, open source license paper, notes on using bluetooth devices and of course the quick start guide.

THE M15

The 307g heavy M15 is by far the largest portable music player to ever arrive in the lab and so it measures 134mm in length, 75mm in width and 18mm in thickness.

As usual a size comparison is in order and so in the above picture the M15 can be seen right next to the M11 (both have 5.15 inch screens), M7, M6, M3k and M5 portable music players by FiiO.

The 5.15 inch corning gorilla glass borderless screen with its 1440x720p resolution, 18:9 ratio and 312PPI (pixels per inch) is without doubt one of the M15's strong selling points.

Optimal grip is also ensured thanks to both the textured surface and the special design of both sides of the M15.

On the right side we also find the hold switch (disables the touch screen) along with the power on/off, next/previous track, play/pause and the multifunction buttons.

At the top of the M15 we find the 2.5/3.5/4.4mm headphone outputs and the analog potentiometer with its activity LED ring.

The USB-C port and the microSD card slot are located at the base of the M15.

For the rear of the M15 FiiO has used a PET coated carbon fiber textured back cover.

Naturally for this review i used the FiiO FA9 earphones (along with the Periodic Audio C and the 1MORE Dual Driver ANC Pro Earphones and with the Edifier S1000DB, the Harman Kardon Nova and the NuForce S3-BT speakers).

USING THE M15

The M15 uses the Android V7.0 OS and that's something clearly evident even from the two main screens.

Of course, since the player is based on the Android OS most settings are identical to what we find in a smartphone (minus the mode selection of course).

One more thing we don't see is the multifunction setting from where you can adjust the available shortcuts/commands for that button.

With a 2.7GB usable memory and roughly 53GB available on its internal flash the M15 is powerful enough to store and run any Android app.

There are several other options tailored for the M15 like adjusting the brightness of the volume control knob LED and of course selecting the audio quality output.

As mentioned earlier there are several modes to choose from with the Pure Music and USB DAC modes obviously carrying the most weight.

Once again while playing audio tracks almost half of the screen is taken by the track art.

From the audio player drop down menu you can access the above settings.

A convenient theme browser is also available along with a 6-preset equalizer.

The M15 also has the ability to send and receive files to and from a computer or a smartphone via WiFi.

Finally, a list of compatible FiiO bluetooth devices and of course the FiiO player version is also present.

CONCLUSION

   Much like every other music player I’ve used and/or tested to date it all comes down to what kind of equipment one can use to test its performance and of course what type of media one uses (16-bit & 24-bit Hi-Res uncompressed FLAC for my tests only). For example, when using the 1MORE Dual Driver ANC Pro Earphones with both the FiiO M11 and M15 hi-res music players it's not very easy to spot any differences. On the other hand, however when using the FA9 and the Periodic Audio C earphones (or even one of the speaker sets) you can certainly tell them apart, if not due to the crystal clear and more accurate audio reproduction (courtesy of the increase in dynamic range) of the latter then certainly from its extra bass levels, more "vivid" vocals and further reduced noise levels. That being said I'm certain that if i had an even more expensive set of speakers I’d probably be able to notice even more differences than i did but even with the ones i did use there's a clear and rather significant gap between the M11 and the M15. Secondary features like Bluetooth and WiFi range and signal strength don't differentiate that much from the M11 (if at all when it comes to WiFi) but i never had issues with these to begin with. As for battery life FiiO claims that the 7490mAh lithium rechargeable battery pack can power the M15 for up to 15 continuous hours but once again my tests came up short of just over an hour which is still a great result, especially for a portable music player with a 5.15 inch LCD screen.

   FiiO has once again managed to impress me not only with the level of quality of their latest flagship model the M15 but also with its audio performance and plethora of features. Of course, these all mean that the M15 does not come cheap and with a current price of USD1299.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 1308Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) attached to it it's certainly a lot more than what the majority of consumers will ever consider to be affordable. On top of that you need a good pair of headphones and/or speakers to really enjoy it to the max so in the end it all could easily take you very close and even over USD1500/1600Euros. Bottom line the M15 is the creme de la creme of music players currently. Yes, it may not be the best of the best out there (i wouldn't know unless i had every similarly priced player here) but judging from the hardware components FiiO chose it should come pretty close to that and since to date i haven't experienced clearer audio from a portable music player the M15 is without doubt worthy of our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Remarkable Audio Performance (Dual AK4499EQ DACs)
- Supported Bluetooth Codecs (LDAC/HWA/aptX/aptX HD/SBC)
- 5.15 Inch Corning Gorilla Glass LCD Screen
- Hexa Core Samsung Exynos 7872 CPU
- 3GB LPDDR3 RAM
- 2.5/3.5/4.4mm Audio Outputs
- 64GB Onboard Storage
- Supported Audio Formats (DSD/ISO/DSF/DFF/DST/DXD/APE/Apple Lossless/AIFF/FLAC/WAV/WMA/MP3/OGG/AAC)
- 7490mAh Rechargeable Battery (Up To 15 Hours Of Playback)
- Micro SD Card Slot (Up To 2TB)
- Customized Android v7.0 OS
- Product Support
- Walnut Wood Case

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Size (For Some)