FiiO M17 settings

Just received it last night. I was searching to see if there were recommended Roon settings and only came across issues with Android devices and the M17 not playing at all. Mine is showing up as a RAAT, so I was hoping someone has figured out how to optimize this brick.

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All DAPs handicapped in Roon, even Roon Ready AKs

You canā€™t do anything to optimise Android with Roon. It will playback at a fixed sample and bit depth that that the os reports to Roon. What that is is very DAP dependant. All formats will then be upsampled or down sampled accordingly, you canā€™t get bit perfect on Android unless itā€™s the fully Roon Ready A& K DAPs.

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Thatā€™s disappointing. Is the issue with Roon or the OS? Guess Iā€™ll stick to direct streaming with Tidal and Qobuz. :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

Very sad that there is no Roon DAP solution :frowning:

There is, the A&K range, but they have their own caveats. They dont cover the full format range the DAC can , so the higher DSD rates are not covered by Roon, likely due to instability over WiF. Their WiFi implementation is a little flakey from my experience so kept loosing connection when moving around house. Even directly near an ap signal is weak. Roon mode tended to be a bit buggy and just stop reboot was needed. Likely tied to bad WiFi. Andorid in general has some multiroom sync issues if grouped with other raat zones. Apart from those they are fully Roon Ready and are bit perfect when they work well over wireless they sound good and work, whether this alone is worth the inflated price is up to the user. It wasnā€™t for me and I returned it and went back to my Hiby and Android resampling, it doesnā€™t sound that bad at all really.

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I noticed that thereā€™s a difference in processing between Tidal and Qobuz content being played through Roon. I donā€™t see the upsample/downsample when itā€™s Qobuz, at least not on anything I was playing last night. For the most part, everything sounded ok, but I was also in the living room where itā€™s pretty noisy compared to the media room. Overall I like the M17 even though itā€™s massive. Iā€™ll probably get the M15S when itā€™s released (hopefully) in the fall for something more portable.

After a few DAPs with Roon including A&K, I totally dropped DAPs way and stick to ChromeCast Audio

I own the insanely incredible (for their price points) FiiOā€™s M11 and M17, which I love both. But as mentioned in many areas across boards the sample rate isnā€™t correctly reported in Roon using Android-based DAPs such as FiiO.

So like any self-denigrating audiophile I forked over $3000 for the ā€œRoon Ready ā€¦ ā€¦.ā€ Astell&Kern SP2000. Beautiful yes, my local files (DSD, MQA, HR, SQ, and lossy) all sounded great - rivaling my mid-range tabletop setups. But itā€™s Roon Ready feature was not what I expected. Yes, it fixed the sampling issue of the FiiO. But unlike the FiiO it doesnā€™t act as a Roon Remote, meaning you have to use another device (your phone, computer, another DAP) to control it. This is frustrating since the DAP has a full size touch screen. I expected to be able to navigate Roon on my AK2000 just like on my similarly sized mobile touchscreen device iPhone, Samsung Z Fold, FiiO DAPs). I ended up, with the AK2000 buying yet another streamer/DAC needing to be controlled by Roon Remoteā€¦. I have like 33.3 of those. :grimacing:

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Thanks for the feedback Tyler. I have been looking at the SP2000 but the idea of getting it just for Roon doesnā€™t set well with me. At this point Iā€™ll be letting Roon expire this year and wonā€™t renew.

Just got my M17, and LOVING IT! A great Roon Ready endpoint.

Quick question: Is it bitperfect over Roon/RAAT?

Why would it not be, this isnā€™t using the Android app itā€™s using the SDK that is integrated direct to the hardware by the manufacturer. It doesnā€™t go via any android audio stuff. Roon reports bit perfect it is and the daps own sample rate switches as well. Have you turned on the sample rate display in the settings?

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No, not yet. Iā€™ve only just received it, so I need to go through the settings menu,

Enjoy. They are so solidly built.

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With Roon Ready now implemented, the FiiO music app now comes in a very far second out of all the available apps for me in terms of SQ. I think I have to say it now. Yep I willā€¦ My life is now complete! My only lingering issues are now resolved all thanks to the divine Triumvirates:

1. Audiollius, purveyor of vibrations and giver of life vitale.
2. FiiOphythys, protector of electro-magnetic interferance and procrurer of sonic-fidelity.
3. Roonathius, magister of amplitudinis perfectiō and professoris of musica bibliotheca.

The FiiO app was increasingly loosing ease of use to naivgate diverse and growing music collections - was tedious at best. Coming in a respectable third, and it pains me to say it because I love everything about it otherwise, is Neutron - it just seemed that try as they might, they couldnā€™t quite break through the Android OS Labrynth even with a really impressive custom driver backend. UAPP had always been my number one before the M17, but it couldnā€™t make the finishing line for me in this race. Tidal stock was superiour.

Other notables aspects:

I am really impressed with the stability of this first release Roon Ready functionality. Granted when I bought it on day one, it was a bit misleading and probably it should have really been marketed as Roon Ready [coming in 2022, or more likely 2023] - Zeroth world problems really!

However, I do commend the FiiO staff presence on forums, who by in large respond to user queries and allaying my fears. They could so easily opt not to do this like most of the bigger companies. So thank you, honestly!

The only things that were previously missing for me was a portable way to easily and fully utilise the outstanding sound capabilities the M17 offers when sans-home with the Roon DSP functionality + catelogue navigation. Solved!

Two extra unexpected bonuses:

1. DCA Stealth Sound for me so very very close to my home setup I am stupified. I just accepted it the M17 would never compete with my Matrix Audio Element-X + Topping D90 et al. The pairing was previously weak for me - a bit of a wet noodle - missing tonality, and especially punch (even with a low shelf boost ~10dB, DC Enhanced Gain, Various Apps, see Appendix-A1 etc). Wow!

2. It was always an arduous chain of proxies vpns porting yadda yadda to use it at work. The issue was getting both the Roon software to work and for it to think the USB/Wifi connected DAP was also local. Now it is as simple as VPN to home server + hotspot on + connect M17 to the work laptop. This was the best unexpected plus as my Stealths will not be commuting to work, nor on a beach resort holiday etc. Again, Wow!

Thank you for this update and pushing to get it finally through!

Appendix

A1. Assume for argument sake I use DSP extensively in Roon with EQ, upsampling (regardless of settings within), headroom management, convolution etc., all depending on the application/song. I also shouldnā€™t really need to mention what without a shadow of a doubt is the already unanimously agreed upon in all Audiophile circles due to their sheer greatness, that MQA and DSD technologies will also be in use.

A2. A lesser known and somewhat controversial hint to really upgrade sound fidelity I recently discovered is to wear a closed-cell foam power-ranger suit at all times. It wards of the aliasing demons and those pesky modal nodes that the evil wizards Nyquist and Fourier send out to battle (you can thank me later).

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Iā€™m so impressed with the M17. The Roon-Ready implementation seems faultless so far (Iā€™ve only had it a couple of days).

And the sound quality? WOW! I spent all last night listening with my balanced HD800ā€™s. And in comparison to my (single-ended) Chord Poly/Mojo endpoint, I would give it to the FiiO. The FiiO sounds more specious, and more ā€˜suppleā€™. The Chord sounds a little ā€˜hardā€™ in the mids/lower-treble, although I appreciate it may depend on which headphones you pair it with.

Today Iā€™m going to pit the FiiO against my main DAP, the Sony NW-WM1Z. I suspect the FiiO will have more power, even though the Sony is imported from Hong Kong and is the ā€˜uncappedā€™ version. But if the FiiO holds itā€™s own against the Sony (which I suspect it will), Iā€™m gonna have some kit to sell :smiley:

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Well, I donā€™t think itā€™s a complete surprise that no matter how the M17 is, the NW-WM1Z sounds better. On High-Gain mode it doesnā€™t lose out too much to the FiiO on listenable volume either, using my balanced Beyerdynamic T1.2ā€™s. Yes, the FiiO goes louder, but the Sony goes loud enough.
And the Sony sounds much more refined than the M17. I suppose it should do for twice the price! :money_mouth_face:
Iā€™m undecided about selling the Sony now, although it would make sense to move it on. But I think my Chord Poly/Mojo combo is going to eBay soonā€¦

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Thanks @Oliver_Cassells and and @Martin_Kelly for taking us on your journeys, one of which is substantially more psychedelic than the other. Between the two of you and @CrystalGipsy youā€™ve convinced me to place an order.

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You wonā€™t be disappointed! Iā€™m just loving mine so far :smiley:

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Are you comparing network playback here or local SD card playback when comparing to the Sony? I have found that local SD card playback sounds different to local playback on the M11 Plus, when its all via network cant tell any difference.

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