Torben,
Your best bet is to get onto AliExpress and buy it from there. You can try to pick where it ships from to help with delivery times.
In the US, it’s available from Amazon. I bought it. It’s just ok. The material is stiff and the physical buttons are quite hard to press. I’m back to the leather case. I wish there were more alternatives but I don’t think there are.
@gTunes - Maybee I have found one:
Weiche Abdeckung Kristall TPU Klarer fallen für FiiO M11 Plus LTD – Grandado?
It says “LTD”
Torben
My final verdict
- A great Roon Ready endpoint that seems faultless so far.
- Can be controlled with iPhone, iPad and desktop (windows). Just leave it the pocket.
- Great WIFI - no dropouts even by DSD128
- Size and weight is just perfect
- Good battery
- Nice sound - very good soundstage
Let’s hope that ARC incl. bit-perfect will be fixed soon.
Torben
I do not mind the stock case it protects it nicely and is free. Those silicon ones are ugly as make it look cheap.
+1 for the stock case here as well. It’s nice not to have to buy extras for a new purchase.
FiiO M23 (new product)
Release date: Autumn 2023 Price: TBD
Reflecting the change in naming rules, the M23 will be the successor to the M11 Plus. It is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2023, and if it goes on sale as planned, it will be two years since the first release of the M11 Plus, which will be a very long replacement cycle. The “M11 Plus”, which was released in May 2021, will discontinue production of the LTD AK4497 version in January 2022. The existing M11 Plus ESS is still relatively competitive. Although the M23 has improved the current design and pursued new functions, in fact FiiO has been stagnant in the development of portable players for the past two years, especially in the area of core audio technology. Therefore, FiiO would like to do our best to popularize some high-end models like the M15S.
I wonder what they will change. Maybe higher DSD rates ? Yet again another DAC chip? Faster CPU? Maybe Snapdragon 8xx
I doubt they will change cpu as they will want all the range on same one and they wont ant it to better the M17. Likely DAC and some other audio related tweaks. You cant get much better than the THX78 mind for portable audio as the amp side of things currently. I would imagine it’s minor changes and possibly a new case design.
That’s exactly why I want I silicone case. Hopefully in bright purple!
The article suggests that the 15S is due for release in March with a Snapdragon 660. That suggests that the M23 could follow suit in Autumn.
Bumping the SOC may be a reasonable moment to bump the OS. We could possibly see Android 11 and the Snapdragon 660 across the next generation which might begin with the M15S and M23.
Possibly more internal storage.
These seem likely to be fairly incremental releases.
The M11 currently uses the 660 already so it’s the same cpu.
I have no idea why I thought it was the 600. Thanks for the correction.
660 is also capable of running Android 12.
The 4.4mm balanced cables that I ordered for my Sennheiser and Dan Clark Audio (DCA) headphones arrived today so now I can do some listening tests of the Fiio M11 Plus in various configurations and against various other headphone amps.
Specifically:
Testing the single ended versus balanced output of the M11 Plus
Testing the M11 Plus against the Benchmark DAC3 HGC (single ended output only on the Benchmark), the Oppo HA-1 (both singe ended and balanced output) and the Focal Arche (both singe ended and balanced output).
I will be taking my time with these comparisons and will try to post my findings as I complete each set of tests. I like to give things a chance to settle in and listen over extended periods since it’s the only way to get a good feel for the sound of any combination. And of course, I won’t bore you with any audiophile lingo like veils, air and pace. Just the facts, nothing but the facts.
At the moment I’m listening to the DCA Aeon X Open, balanced, headphones using the M11 Plus with Roon and convolution filters. Sounds pretty damn fine to these old ears
My guess will be that they may go with ESS 9017, which is a lower cost option for the eight (8) channel DAC. This would bring it closer to the level of the M17 and M15, rather than just staying at two (2) channel stereo, like the current M11 Plus and M11S.
I dipped my toe into the waters of testing the sound quality of the M11 Plus and now I’m afraid to the rest of the way in.
Today I tried the M11 Plus with most of my headphones. I used the balanced output whenever possible, used Roon and convolution filters. The M11 Plus was easily able to drive all the headphones to more than acceptable volume and all the headphones sounded great. The little portable M11 Plus is truly a giant killer and comes within a hair’s breadth of the overall sound quality of many desktop headphone amps. Add in the fact that is also a high quality Roon endpoint which can also stream from any music streaming service and store and play back lossless audio from an inserted microSD card and the M11 Plus slays a few more giants.
Yesterday I took the M11 Plus on its first “road trip” when I traveled by train into New York City. I listened to music from the microSD card using the Focal Bathys headphones in wired mode (single ended). When in wired mode the noise cancellation on the Bathys is still active and this was a big plus on the less than quiet trains. I was very impressed with the sound quality and the battery life of the M11 Plus.
So whether at home or on the road the Fiio M11 Plus is just fantastic!
I love hearing this. Thanks for sharing it!
A question about the Bathys. When you run in wired mode with noise cancellation, are the headphones doing A->D before applying noise cancellation and then going D->A? Is it actually better, for some reason, than just using Bluetooth?
While I can’t answer for sure (I will ask the Focal representative at the upcoming CanJam NYC show) I think that the music stays analog and the noise cancellation is just added “on top” of the music, which I also believe is how the Sony headphones work when in wired mode.
Thanks @Jazzfan_NJ I can now sleep well that my ears are not deceiving me and that I don’t need to look any higher than the M11.
From the horses mouth the M11 Plus does support up to DSD512 but only in USB DAC mode not via local or network playback. Which is what I always thought