For what I love Fiio, it's for the ability to surprise with products that suddenly appear "out of nowhere". While all lovers of portable audio are looking forward to their flagship player X7 and top-end portable "tsapou" Q5, the company rolls out an unexpected budget model that has every chance of success. This is a portable DAC and amplifier Q1.
The idea to assign different types of products different alphabetic indexes is hatched in Fiio for a long time, and now they have moved to its implementation. The players will stay with the letter X, the amplifiers will become the K line, and the DACs with the amplifiers will belong to the Q line. There will also be a new line of budget players with the letter M. At the same time, all products will be updated periodically, preserving the previous model name (X3 and X5 second generation players became in this first).
According to this specification, the hero of today's review falls into the very bottom of the line of portable "capes", but this does not prevent him from enjoying many opportunities at once.
First, the design. Q1 does not look budget, metal casing, reminiscent of the shape of the amplifier E11K, an interesting appearance - all this highlights the device against the background of competitors.
Secondly, the time of work. The built-in battery of the device is enough for about 30 hours of operation in the amplifier mode, which is very cool for a portable device.
Third, power. 190 milliwatts per 32Ω load - this is very good, problems with most headphones clearly will not.
Fourthly, the device is compatible with Android and iOS devices. For the first, you may need to install the player Hiby (a very good application, by the way), for the second - you need a Camera Connection Kit.
With all this, the price of the device is very affordable 65 dollars. Sales are only just beginning, but in a couple of weeks, you can buy a device wherever. Information about shops you can find .
Specifications
- DAC: PCM5102
- OS: MAX97220
- Digital signal: up to 96 kHz / 24 bit
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 KHz
- Output power: 190 mW @ 32Ω, 75 mW @ 150Ω
- Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise: <0.005% @ 1KHz
- Channel separation: ≥75 dB
- Maximum output voltage: 7.2 Vp-p
- Maximum output current: > 75 mA
- Channel imbalance: 0.2 dB
- Signal to noise ratio: ≥107 dB
- Output Impedance: <0.3Ω
- Battery: 1400 mAh
- Operating time per charge: > 30 h
- Charging time: ≤4 h
- Dimensions: 97 mm × 56 mm × 13.1 mm
- Weight: 100 gr.
Packing and delivery kit
Box - the standard for younger products Fiio, flat, the size of a compact disc, but a little thicker. On the upper side is the same traditional print resembling a record and a photograph of the device. Inside, in a pallet of black cardboard, reliably protected by inserts of rubber, the Q1 itself and a box of accessories. If the rubber rings for "sandwiches" and Micro USB cable - are expected, then here are a couple of items turned out to be an unexpected novelty.
First, a new, very short interconnection cable with two 3.5 mm connectors is only a few centimeters long. It is more convenient than the old models and allows you to conveniently connect the device to the source in the role of an amplifier.
Secondly, two silicone gaskets were put in the kit. If you remember, the shape of the Fiio E11K caused some criticism, since the convex side was not snugly attached to the device, and this led to scratches. The silicone in the kit allows it to be easily avoided.
In general, the package delivered even more than you might expect.
Design and management
The appearance is very simple, yet stylish enough. The main body is made of slightly rough black aluminum, the front and back panels are made of plastic. It was there that housed all the controls. The metal case is a very reasonable step for the device, which is supposed to be used even with smartphones, aluminum very well shields electromagnetic interference.
The shape of the case Q1 - slightly rounded, like the Fiio E11K, and also a bit like a flask. At E11K this led to small problems in use with the player, in Q1 they were solved with silicone gaskets.
On the rear panel there is a MicroUSB port for connecting to a PC and charging, next to it there are two switches, the first selects the gain factor, the second - allows you to disconnect the charging from USB, this is useful when using the device with mobile phones. Immediately placed a combined socket of the line input and output. When Q1 is connected via USB, this connector acts as a line output, when there is no USB connection, an analog audio source can be connected to it, and then Q1 will work as an amplifier. At the front end are: multi-color LED indicator on and charge, headphone output, bass boost switch and analog volume control, combined with a power switch.
Q1 is very good for a budget device, it looks very expensive and reliable, the assembly is close to ideal, there are no backlashes and creaks.
The operating time from one battery charge was 13 hours 50 minutes in DAC mode and 29 hours 20 minutes in amplifier mode.
Sound
The following headphones were used to listen to the device.
- Oppo PM-3
- Dunu DN-2000J and Titan 1
- Lear LUF-4F and LHF-AE1d
- Ambient Acoustics AM10
Evaluating relatively inexpensive devices, I always think - how to approach the evaluation, taking into account the price or "absolutely"? If you do not take the price into account, the nit-picking will be too much and the readers will get the wrong idea about the device, if you take into account the price - then there is nothing to find fault with, Q1 plays very well for its money. In this case, I, perhaps, will still choose the first tactic, since Q1 came out as a fairly strong device, which, although losing to more expensive solutions, does it with dignity. Please note that devices that sound much better than the new Fiio brainchild are significantly more expensive.
The sound of Q1 has an emphasis on midbass and lower midrange, but the accent is not very pronounced, HF is sidelined, although some aggression in their filing is present.
The bass is deep enough, accented and dense, it is well controlled and does not conflict with MF. Of course, super-resolution top-end sources do not have to wait here, but even without an adjustment to the price, LFs are quite good. The amplification function is low-key, but for my taste it's still superfluous. On very fast Q1 tracks, there is a little bit of speed, and the separation of lowercase instruments slightly drops, on slower tracks the bass pleases with bodilyity.
The middle frequencies are slightly simplified, but remain easily readable. The device copes well with the transfer of emotions and the nature of instruments. Q1 without much stress wins the struggle with the built-in sound chips of the vast majority of consumer devices, revealing to users new nuances of music. The imaginary scene is wide enough, although the depth, of course, is not great.
The upper frequencies are partly reserved, obviously in the pursuit of the now popular "not straining" sound, although sometimes they do make themselves felt, especially on light headphones. Despite the quantitative shortage of HF, their quality is very acceptable for this price category. Of course, in top-end headphones there are little hints of a synthetic sound, often perceived as "friability", but expensive headphones require no less expensive sources. In addition, in this price category, this is more the norm than the exception.
I would like to emphasize once again that everything described above does not take into account the price of the device (as an experiment I'm trying to switch to "absolute" estimates), for my price the sound is very good: captivating, without excessive sharpness, pleasantly musical and energetic.
Compatibility
Q1 has a good power reserve, so it copes with most headphones without problems. Of course, it's useless to use it with top models, the middle segment is its prerogative. I would advise to it not strongly dark models with normal HF type of the same Etymotic MK5 or Ostry KC06.
In DAC mode, the device works with Android-smartphones and iOS devices via CCK. By the way, in the near future Fiio promises to release a digital cable that will allow you to connect iOS to USB DACs without using an adapter from Apple.
Genre Q1 gravitates to simpler styles: electronic music, pop, rock, simple varieties of metal and jazz. Of course, you can listen to it with other genres, but for their full disclosure it is better to use more expensive solutions. To the quality of records, the device is quite tolerant, which is not surprising, since Q1 is primarily aimed at beginners.
Traditionally - several tracks
Exxasens - Spiders on the Moon That rare case when post-metal does not drive into a permanent bottomless depression. Scalable instrumental canvas, very well played by Q1
Europe - Carrie Lyrical ballad from the masters of the final countdown. The good vocal transmission inherent in Q1 allows you to enjoy this track in all its beauty.
Faith No More - We Care a Lot Invigorating portion of musical sarcasm from people who invented to mix rap and heavy rock. The bass, slightly underlined by Q1, goes to this track very much for the benefit.
conclusions
Excellent device for the ratio of price and quality. A good sound, stylish design, convenient control and a long battery life make Q1 a successful purchase for those who are just starting their way into the world of quality sound.
The article is based on materials .
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