FiiO M15s Hi-Fi Music Player with 1,200mW power, a faster Snapdragon chip, and desktop mode

FiiO upgrades one of its best portable music streamer. The FiiO M15s is characterized, among other things, by a much faster processor and a new digital-to-analog converter, but also offers innovations for stationary use.

With the M15s, FiiO has finally given the three-year-old M15 an upgrade. On the outside, a few changes apart from the texture of the volume wheel and the design of the back. Technically, however, the hi fi portable music player offers several significant upgrades. Above all, the Samsung Exynos 7872 is replaced by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660.

As a result, the best portable music streamer has four instead of just two ARM Cortex-A73 performance cores, which also achieve even higher clock rates of up to 2.2 GHz. There are also four Cortex-A53 efficiency cores. The extra power is welcome because the player is based on Android 10, so users can use any music streaming app. The integrated QCC5124 Bluetooth chip supports, among other things, aptX HD and LDAC, whereby the latter codec can even be received.

Also new is the ESS Saber ES9038PRO DAC chip, replacing the defunct AK4499 in the M15. The maximum power of the amplifier increases to 1,200 mW, with which even the most demanding headphones can be operated effortlessly. To be able to use the full performance, the FiiO M15s must be powered via USB-C. A new desktop mode allows power to be drawn directly from the charger, bypassing the battery entirely, which should increase battery life.

Otherwise, much remains the same. FiiO also packs a 5.15-inch IPS panel with a resolution of 1440 x 720 pixels, a microSD card reader, and a range of headphone jacks, including 3.5mm, symmetrical 2.5mm, and 4.4mm ports. However, the high performance takes its toll, because the battery life drops to just 9 hours of music playback despite the large 6,300 mAh battery.

FiiO M15s price and availability

The FiiO M15s hi fi portable music player is available to pre-order on Bhphotovideo.com store for $999.99.

Along with this best portable music streamer, FiiO also introduced the R7 streaming hi fi system for the desk. It has a 5-inch touchscreen with a Snapdragon chip, Android, high-quality DAC, and a headphone amplifier that promises first-class sound. It costs $699.99.