FiiO M17 Transportable DAP with ES9038Pro DAC & THX 788+ AMP

After many delays, FiiO finally announced the launch of the Flagship HiFi Player M17 On October 26, 2021, which is an Transportable Android DAP that is equipped with some interesting hardware features such like the Sabre Dual ES9038Pro DAC Chip and a THX 788+ Amplifier section.

The M17 has an impressive output power of up to 3000mW per channel over the 2.5mm TRRS and 4.4mm TRRRS Balanced Outputs. It offers also up to 16dB Gain level in enhanced over-ear headphone mode. In addition, the ultra-low output impedance helps to drive almost any type of headphones on the market.

Price is estimated between $1500 – 2000 USD, while the official price will be announced after the FiiO Launch event on October 26, 2021.

VC (Vapor Chamber) Technology:

The FiiO M17 takes a lot of measures by using the “H” style heat dissipation and VC (Vapor Chamber) technology. The whole shell of the M17 was hollowed out by an aluminum alloy plate, weighting about 151g with high heat capacity to better dissipate the heat internally.

List of Features:

• Dual DAC chipset featuring dual ES9038Pro flagship-grade DACs.
• THX-AAA 788 Pro Amplifier
• Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 SoC.
• Multiple Headphone output ports: 2.5mm TRRS, 4.4mm TRRRS, 6.35mm TRS, and 3.5mm TRS
• VC (Vapor Chamber) technology

Specifications:

• 99” Full HD IPS panel
• Battery Capacity: 9200mAh
• Analog Outputs: 5mm+4.4mm Line-Out ports
• Digital Outputs: USB Audio – RCA
• Power Supply: 12V DC
• 0+PD Quick charging
• Battery/DC power supply switch
• Weight: about 610gram

SABRE ES9038Pro DAC:

The M17 is the ultimate flagship Android Music Player that adopts a Dual DAC chipset with two high-performance ES9038Pro DAC chips. It is a 32-Bit premium Sabre DAC that delivers excellent high-resolution audio signal decoding with low distortion and high SNR ratings.

THX-788+ Amplifier Section:

FiiO partnered with THX, which is a well known brand that is behind many successful desktop and portable headphone amplifiers. The FiiO Q3 and the M11 Plus LTD for example are did come with an mobile version of THX amplifiers, while the Latest M17 features a desktop-grade THX-788 amplifier that provides up to 3W of output power when connected to a DC power supply. While using the device on battery, it gets lowered a bit for better battery life.

The M17 contains overall 5 gains being high, medium, low, and enhanced over-ear headphone mode, each of which supports 120 levels of volume adjustment. The accurate volume adjustment allows you to adjust the volume to a more appropriate level whenever driving high-impedance headphones or high-sensitivity earbuds. When under DC mode, the enhanced over-ear headphone mode gain will be unlocked. At this time, the maximum output power goes up to 3W under 32Ω.

V 470mF DMF supercapacitors:

The FiiO M17 comes with impressive configurations in other parts: the 470mF DMF supercapacitor equivalent to 10,000 47uF tantalum capacitors applied provides a solid foundation for a large power supply; the Ti LT3045 LDO provides clean power to the DAC chip

Various Output Options:

3.5mm+2.5mm+4.4mm+6.35mm, name any headphone output port, the M17 features them all. It supports headphone output with 3.5mm and 6.35mm single-ended, as well as 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced headphone output. The device also has separate single-ended and balanced line-out ports via independent 3.5mm and 4.4mm ports.

SoC (System on a Chip), Display & Other Hardware Components:

The FiiO M17 comes with a pretty large 5.99″ full HD Display with a resolution of 1080P.

FiiO M17 is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 SoC (System on a Chip). This is an eight-core CPU chip that delivers that on most flagship DAP’s these days. It has also 4GB of ram that allows for using multiple applications at the same time which is a must have for Music Players with Android OS.T

The USB receiver chip is the XMOS XUF208 which supports up to 768kHz and DSD512. The new-gen flagship QCC5124 supports aptX Adaptive, making for a Hi-Res audio experience even when you are hanging out.

RGB Indicator:

The M17 takes an all-new design language, FiiO’s 7th-gen mech design, evoking a sense of technological wonder. 12 RGB indicator lights lie in the volume knob, left and right sides with extensive customization options, such as colors and brightness.

Battery:

Since the M17 has ultra high power consumption, the large 9200mA battery capacity only allows a continuous playback for about 10.6 hours under single-ended output, and about 8.6 hours under balanced output.

Android OS (Operating System) 10:

The FiiO M17 is comes with Android 10 OS that makes it possible to install and use of a wide variety of applications such like Online Streaming Services (Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, etc.) or YouTube and many more, which can be directly downloaded over Google Playstore.

Accessories:

The FiiO M17 comes with abundant sets of accessories, such like a cooling stand with fan + an external DC adapter, a leather case, a USB 3.0 data and power cable and an aluminum alloy dust plug.

Thank you for the Read!