When I got the M3 Pro out of the box and I connected it for the first time to my headphones — the Creative SXFI GAMER (review coming soon), followed by a few others, I noticed that this player is LOUD (comparing it with the X3 II on the low gain setting at roughly 50 and 75% volume). I compared it to the FiiO X3 II because I got the microSD out of it and I played the same tracks to notice the differences. However, I noticed that the M3 Pro’s sound was far less refined and I had to use it with the EQ set on Metal to get things in order. Thankfully, after burning it in for a week or two, I was able to fully enjoy the M3 Pro with the EQ turned off, as I usually do with my X3 II (and any other USB DAC I get to try), and the result was much better.
The M3 Pro sounds great overall, and it makes any low-end and mid-range headphones shine, even my cheap Xiaomi Mi Piston Basic or the BrainWavz Audio Delta IEM. The audio it delivers is warm enough with plenty of detail and if it doesn’t sound refined enough at first listen, then just give the M3 Pro a week or two to get in the mood. Since I don’t have any audiophile-grade 600-ohm cans at my disposal, I cannot tell you if this DAP is capable of driving such headphones properly, but I don’t think those who use them would go with sub-US$100 sound sources anyway.
When used as a USB DAC, the M3 Pro gets the job done well. To be honest, I think the pink noise level is noticeably higher than what I get from the X3 II when used in USB DAC mode, but two things need to be highlighted here: The X3 II — although released a few years ago — is a mid-range DAP/DAC and nobody in their right mind would use such an audio solution to deliver the sound to studio monitors (Fluid Audio FX8, in my case) — at least not without properly filtering the USB outputs (my mainboard and external USB 3.0 hub seem to deliver quite unstable USB data and power output).
The calculator, e-book reader, and photo viewer can be useful, but I don’t think too many users would feel sorry if they were removed from the next firmware update. Being able to customize the software of the FiiO M3 Pro is a great feature to join the “I’d like to have it” list. While there’s nothing to say about the sound recorder, calculator, and the e-book reader — they just work as intended, the photo viewer can load images up to ~7-8 MB in size. Unsurprisingly, I failed to load JPEG files that are around 14-15 MB in size and more. However, the big problem is that I was not able to zoom in at all, so what you get when loading a Full HD (or higher resolution) image onto the M3 Pro is a thumbnail-sized view 340 pixels wide really — there is no way to view images in landscape mode, either. This is definitely an area where the software could be improved in future updates.
Now, one more thing about the overall software experience — using the FiiO M3 Pro is very easy and my 10-year-old daughter was able to create her first playlist without any assistance. When the M3 Pro arrived, it had version 1.0.8 of the firmware and the interface was extremely slow in response. I could go as far as saying that it was barely usable. The next update improved the performance a bit, but sliding back and forth was still painfully slow. The latest version of the M3 Pro firmware, labeled 1.1.0, improved everything and also added a few new features, such as low pass audio filters, in-vehicle mode, SQ/HR/DSD and other audio quality identifiers in the playback interface, as well as custom settings for the volume buttons — a welcome change that should have been made to the firmware a long time ago.
Depending on the volume and encoding of the files played, the battery life might not hit 15 hours. However, the player holds the charge well while in idle without being powered off — more than 30 days of in standby/sleep mode, according to the official data. The 1,000- mAh battery needs less than two hours to hit 100% when using some ubiquitous 5 V ~2A charger (or a USB port on a PC) to fill it up.
The post FiiO M3 Pro hands-on: The little giant that punches above its class appeared first on abangtech.
source https://abangtech.com/fiio-m3-pro-hands-on-the-little-giant-that-punches-above-its-class/
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