You might have read my FiiO M3K realview before and in case you didn’t, read it, or not. FiiO needs no introductions anymore in the audiophile world with their wide portfolio of audiophile solutions catering from the simplest to the most demanding needs.
What we have to realview is the FiiO M6, their bridging model for the M3K and M7. Holysai Thailand (FiiO’s official distributor) sent the M6 in exchange for an honest review, there were no monetary factors involved. The FiiO M6 is priced at $149.99 worldwide and 5,990 baht in Thailand. You can check it out off Holysai’s official website.
The FiiO M6 is said to take on and embrace a wireless future which definitely is getting into the times. Wireless devices in the audiophile community is being considered an almost must-have now and with the continued removal of the 3.5mm port on most devices, the FiiO M6 is indeed hoping to provide an option for those looking to get a hand on a music player that still offers the 3.5mm port with value added features. Is it enough? Let’s get the realview rolling and find out.
Specifications and Packaging
FiiO M3k Spec sheet:
- SoC (Main processor): Exynos 7270
- DAC: ES9018Q2C
- Screen: 3.2 HD display
- Operation: touchscreen + capacitive touch buttons
- Dimensions: 90.8mm x 44.2mm x 12mm
- Weight: 77.5g
- Charging time: <2.5hours (DC5V/2A charger)
- Battery life: >13 hours
- Standby time: >26days
- Battery: 1100mAh lithium-ion polymer battery
- Storage: micro-SD card (supports up to 2TB)
- Power output: >25Mw (32
- Frequency Response: 5Hz-90kHz (-3Db)
- SNR: >117Db (A-weighted)
- Output Impedance: <1 (32 load)
- Recommended drive loads: 16-100
- THD + N: 0.004%(1kHz/32)
- Noise floor: <2uV
The FiiO M6 came in a white cardboard box which features the M6 snapshot upfront and the Hi-Res certification, the minor product details and specifications at the back portion. Inside this white cardboard box is a black cardboard box which when opened immediately shows the FiiO M6 which is protected by a clear plastic wrap while being housed in a clear silicon case. The accessory set is minimal here which is completed with a M6 manual, warranty card, a screen protector film and a charging/data transfer cable.
Build quality and Handling
The M6 only comes in black and that would attribute greatly to its $149 price allowing FiiO to focus on only one template for the entirety of the M6 line. One of the catchiest features of the M6 is its size, it resembles that of your credit card which is great for one hand use and it also features rounded edges with a 2.5D glass front and back. The FiiO M6’s body is made of anodized CNC aluminum alloy in black which worked great in supporting and giving the overall aesthetic compliment for the other glass components. All the ports and buttons sits well on its CNC aluminum alloy body and while there is some loose movements on the 3-button play/pause/volume up/volume down buttons, it is far from having annoying rattling issues when used on the go.
The inclusion of a clear silicon case is a good move however personally, I would have preferred a black silicon case akin to that of the M3K. The clear silicon case is slippery, gets yellowing fast and apart from the minor protection it gives, it’s hard to argue to not use the case at all.
User Interface and Features
The M6’s UI is as fluid and smooth as its body. It is easy to navigate and labels are straightforward as well as the logos used for each setting. Turning on the M6 gives you the usual black and red welcome screen by FiiO followed by their signature FiiO logo over white background, it boots up at around 30 seconds and shut downs at around the same time as well. Scanning a fully loaded 64 GB card with 878 tracks took the M6 34 seconds. The FiiO M6 has 9 categories (FiiO Music, File Management, Gallery, Technical Support, Settings, KKBOX, TIDAL, NetEase Music and MOOV) by default. The same with the M3K, the M6 doesn’t automatically update its music library when I plugged in SD card even after checking that the “auto-update library” was turned on so I had to do it manually (FW1.0.1). Opening up the FiiO Music app on the M6 is smooth and while it is responsive, the rather cramped up options would be a struggle for audiophiles like me which has bigger thumbs. That issue however is alleviated when opening the different sub-categories especially within the “All Songs” tab, the M6 will highlight the tracks format in different color-coded labels (Purple-Standard Quality, Yellow-Hi Res and Green for DSD) MP3 tracks will get no love which means no color-coded labels. The FiiO M6 has three digital filters being offered; Fast Roll-Off, Slow Roll-Off and Minimum Phase as well as Left/Right channel balance. There was almost no difference in sound experience when toggling between the digital filters so I decided to let it stay on the default Minimum Phase.
With a claim of “embracing a wireless future”, the FiiO M6 is heavy on supporting a myriad of wireless connections to allow for a completely detached musical experience, either from your smartphone which has no 3.5mm port or your handy dandy laptop device. Setup is fairly easy and uber convenient when working especially when you want to free your device devoid of wires. The FiiO Link connection via BT (SBC) was stable and won’t cause in any warmth on the device itself. Standard connection via BT can also be made without the use of the FiiO Link app minus the UI experience. While Android and Windows wireless connection takes the spotlight, iOS users are still taken care of via the AirPlay function which I tested using an iPad 2018 and connection was still stable while the sound experience was step-up compared to using the iPad 2018’s 3.5mm port. The FiiO M6 also supports 2-way BT connection for both input and output and can act as a BT amplifier.
Stability and Connectivity
I’m personally not a fan of the Exynos chipset especially when considering my smartphone purchases, a device that sports the Exynos chip is always a no go for me due to the fact that its counterpart Snapdragon chip is always ahead in terms of performance and battery life management based on my experience with trying them out. A different story could be told when considering the Exynos chip to be used on a dedicated music player such as the M6, it allows for a vast support of features that would come handy in a music player. For the whole 2 months that I have used the M6, I encountered no instances of UI lags, freezes, shutdowns, track playback stoppage and other major hiccups. That alone is a great experience on my end since when I decide to pull out the M6, it would be for a siesta time and expecting the M6 to provide that from boot up to shut down is a must.
The FiiO M6 also uses a USB-C connection for its charging, data transfer and external DAC (192 kHz/24bit) functions. Data transfer via the USB-C connection was smooth and reliable as well as setting up the DAC functionality, no unnecessary, additional, cumbersome steps to complete. It also supports various wireless connectivity options and codecs from LDAC, aptX, aptx-HD and SBC. I wasn’t able to try connecting the M6 to a MAC device though. While the M6 has only a 2GB built-in storage, it however supports micro SD card storage expansion up to a confirmed 2TB card from FiiO themselves. I only used a max of 128 GB card for the realview.
Sound Quality and Battery Life
The FiiO M6 supports almost all the lossless formats such as APE, AIFF, FLAC, WAV, MP3, OGG, M4A, ALAC, ISO, WMA, AAC, DFF and DSF as well as CUE files and M3U/M3U8 playlists. This vast support of audiophile formats allowed the M6 to handle all the formats that I have on my collection. I mainly played 16/44 and 96/24 FLAC files from Taylor Swift’s “1989” album as well as DSF files from MJ’s “Thriller” album and Incubus’ “A Crow Left of the Murder” album. The FiiO M6 implementation of the ES9018Q2C DAC gave an overall warm sounding experience with an emphasis on providing a much cleaner background and resolution. It would be a hard recommendation when you are using a flagship smartphone like the Samsung S10 5G as it sounds glaringly similar with less kick on the low-end. I paired the M6 will various IEMs such as the Fearless Audio S6 RUI, Custom Art FIBAE Black and the Periodic Audio Carbon and the M6 is more than willing to provide the juice they need to sing to their potential, they still retain their inherent sound signature but a noticeable added oomph on the low-end compared and clarity to when used on the S10 5G. I’m making this comparison to highlight that flagship smartphones are indeed getting on the trend of providing a better audio experience although most are ditching the 3.5mm port.
What the M6 would provide over the S10 5G is easing the burden of consuming precious battery life if you are big on making the most of a single charge. The FiiO M6 normally lasts me 3 days with interval usage of 2-3 hours each while using the aforementioned audio formats above and in the 45-55/120 volume step. This experience resulted in days where I forgot to charge the M6 and only to turn it up and see 1% left which I rarely experienced on its M3K sibling. The standby power consumption of the M3K is indeed better than the M6 in my time with both. I would recommend that you take advantage of the Power-off timer options such as the Sleep and Idle power-off settings as well as the brightness level if you want squeeze more playback time on the M6. Charging the FiiO M6 from a full dead battery will take 2-3 hours depending on your wall adapter used.
Conclusion
The FiiO M6 isn’t getting a clear recommendation if you are after a great sounding music player in the 1st place. Its sound signature doesn’t stray too far off the Samsung S10 5G but that is where the M6 draws the line. What the FiiO M6 offers is a convenient and hassle-free musical experience from its build quality, handling, User Interface, BT functionality and easy sounding signature. A better managed battery life would have been great considering we didn’t do heavy music streaming yet and that alone isn’t looking great if you plan on using the M6 solely as what they claim it to be. “Embracing a wireless future”.
