FiiO M11 Plus ESS Review

UI & Usage

Android 10.0

While the old FiiO M11 / M11 pro and M15, still run on Android 7.0, the new M11 Plus (ESS and AKM) is fueled by the 10th version of the popular OS. 

Thanks to that, the player now supports dark mode, gestures, and most of all, a full Google Play Store experience. This means you can install all third-party apps, like Qobuz, Tidal, and… Apple Music! In the last months, it slowly became my main service, thanks to low-price, good pay-out for the artist and most of all: great performances!

Of course, if you prefer to use APK Pure, or FiiO’s own market, you can. Both apps are still pre-installed and thanks to the faster CPU + Wi-Fi chips, download speed is now on par with players like iBasso’s DX300. A very good experience overall.

Compared to the previous generation, the difference isn’t massive, but some things are definitely faster: boot-up speed, firmware upgrade, and other little caveats, now gone.

Overall navigation

The FiiO M11 Plus ESS gives you the same exact same navigation menu as before. No more, no less, which is a good thing as the FiiO M11 really outperformed a lot of players on this point.

What’s interesting however is how snappier the whole player appears, compared to the “old” M11 / M11 Pro. The new CPU and new UI seem to edge the previous generation in terms of speed, even if by a small margin on daily use. It’s essentially when you’ll begin to download some tracks, try new apps or navigate through those same apps that you’ll begin to feel the difference.

All in all, it’s one of the best experiences available at the moment, but I expected no less.

FiiO Music

Since the first FiiO X7, the brand began to move from its old UI to a modern one: FiiO Music. It’s an android application, available on the AppStore and Play Store but on the latest players, the integration goes further beyond a simple app.

Sure you can use any android music player app you want, but the FiiO Music app is now very, if not the most, competent and matches the FiiO M11 Plus ESS perfectly well. It’s fast, reliable, easy to use, and remains one of the best player app out there. iBasso is (very) close, but I still prefer FiiO.

It’s one of the most potent apps I used those last months, with the Shanling M6 UI.

Settings menu

General

• Scan for music : if you need to scan your SD Cards, you can choose to scan the whole card or just a specified folder
• Sleep timer : choose if the player turns off after a specified time, this works with the FiiO Music app only.
• Resume : choose if the player resumes to your latest track or the latest position in the track
• WiFi music transfer : a very quirky option, enabling music transfer from your local wifi
• Theme : now you can choose any background you like, even a manga-desu one !
• Gap less playback : if you listen to concerts or live performances, be sure to check it out
• Play through folder : this option enables the continuous play if you began to play your music from a folder
• Equalizer : want to tune your music ? This is where you go
• FiiO Link : this option allows you to control the player directly from your smartphone
• Auto search for lyrics : like Shazam, but for your song lyrics
• Auto-access to : I couldn’t figure out what’s the point of this one, but I kept it on anyway
• MQA SPDIF : if you want to output MQA through the coax port, you can chose between bitstream and decoded MQA
• Replay Gain : this mode automatically augments or lowers the gain depending of the track you’re playing to avoid wide volume range
• USB Output mode : if you want to plug a USB DAC to your FiiO M9, you can either choose DoP or D2P
• HWA : an option for enabling high definition streaming through Bluetooth headphones, once this mode is enabled you won’t be able to select the volume from the M9 anymore, in Bluetooth
• Automatic lyric search: for your karaoke need
• Lockscreen album art : if you like to see your album art when the player is on
• Reset database : it clears all the music you have, simple as that

Battery Life and Charging

The FiiO M11 Plus ESS battery is smaller than the one found in the M15, but bigger than the one used in the M11 and M11 Pro. Rated at 6000mAh, the new ultra-high capacity battery uses lithium cobalt oxide to offer a better weight/capacity ratio.

It supports QC4.0, MTK PE, and USB PD, so you can quickly charge the player from almost any power supply. Personally, I used my own computer charger (60W) and it worked like a charm.

FiiO advertises 11.5h of continuous playback and a much more conservative 41 days of deep sleep. In real-life usage, the player nearly matched those values and peaked at 10h30, wifi and Bluetooth always on.

USB-C and SD Card

The FiiO M11 Plus ESS uses a USB Type-C port. It’s the best option available yet, with a reversible design, fast data transfer, and Quick charge to fill the big(ger) battery.

The USB port works as an entry and a gateway: you can either plug the M11 Plus ESS into your computer and use it as a DAC, or connect a DAC and use the player as a source. A cool option we are seeing more and more on DAPs, and one I use much more than I expected with my actual setup.

But, underneath, FiiO did an important, and definitive, upgrade: the M11 Plus ESS now supports USB 3.0 transfers speed. If that doesn’t make a big difference in your daily use, it’s a game-changer when you have to copy/remove some music from your player. 

On most players, I usually preferred to use my own micro-SD reader (USB 3.0) but now, I can just connect the player and do all my data transfers, directly from the player. 

Finally, like every FiiO’s player, the M11 Plus ESS sports a classic micro-SD slot, with a tray system. Even if the SD-reader only supports UHS-I speeds, which bottleneck at 30Mo/s – still plenty, but in an era of PCI-Express SSD, you want 500Mo/s, at minimum!

Everyday carry

Bigger and bolder, the FiiO M11 Plus ESS is also thick(er).

To be fair, compared to the previous M11/M11 Pro, it’s only thicker by a mere 2-3mm, but it’s considerably heavier: 310g on the scale.

It’s a supersized smartphone or one with a big battery attached, and if It’s not impossible to carry – have you seen the FiiO M17 aka “the pant destroyer” ? – but I would be lying if I said it’s an easy player to carry. 

Thankfully, the new volume controller is just super, duper cool. To lower/increase the volume, you can just slide your finger across the surface, and the player will make that cool, clicky, sound mimicking the old scroll wheel sound. It’s simple and surprisingly accurate, even on the run! But, if you prefer step-by-step increases, you can just click the touch panel, and it’ll work like a classic button. Clever!

Strangely, though, I found the one on the M11 Plus ESS a little less accurate than the M11 Plus AKM. Not by much, and you would never be able to tell if you don’t have both players side to side, but in my own experience, the M11 Plus ESS volume control was 10% less accurate.

Last but not least, there are the new honeycomb-shaped buttons.I found them pretty cool to look and handle, especially when you use the leather pouch. Add to that the option to configure the “shortcut” button with extensive options like ‘filters, playback modes, USB DAC / Media Storage” and it’s almost foolproof.

The article continues on Page four, after the click here

Page 1: about FiiO

Page 2: Design, build quality

Page 4: Technical specifications

Page 5: Sound performance 

Page 6: Sound Part 2, Comparison and conclusion