FiiO M11 Plus LTD Review

Design & Build Quality

Casing

Visually, the new FiiO M11 Plus LTD is a fresh revamp of the previous M11 and M11 Pro. It kept the same form-factor, the same aluminum case covered by glass panels front and back, as FiiO mainly changed the layout, but not much else. 

Build quality is absolutely flawless, with no gaps and high-end materials everywhere your eye can see. Front panel? Gorilla glass. Back panel? Same but now completed by a diamond-cut texture. The case? Neat, CNC’ed, polished aluminum with a matte black finish. Also available in stainless steel if you want to go the extra mile. Volume Knob? Gone, replaced by a sensitive/clickable surface.

Size-wise, the FiiO M11 Plus LTD is bold and big. As a matter of fact, it’s closer to the M15 than the M11/M11Pro and the numbers are… impressive to say the least: 136,6 mm tall, 75 mm wide, and 17,6 mm thick. Compared to modern smartphones, size is not a real issue, even though it won’t fit in every pocket.

If it doesn’t look as posh as the M15, it still feels like a premium player, even more now that FiiO introduces their new honeycomb design.

Layout

The layout of the FiiO M11 Plus LTD slightly differs from the one found on the M11 and M11 Pro.

First and foremost, the new M11 replaces the usual scroll wheel for a geeky, sensitive, all-in-one volume button. We’ll talk about that later, but long story short, it works pretty well. Next to that, the second obvious change is the honeycomb design, where every button now shares the same hexagonal pattern. 

So, now you have, on the left side:

• the classic power on/off button
• the new volume control
• and a new blank button announced as a mighty “do-it-all” button

On the right side, you’ll find:

• prev/next and play/pause buttons
• a switch to fully lock/unlock the player, and especially the volume control
• the micro-SD card tray

At the bottom of the player, you have:

• 3.5mm headphone/line/digital output, so you can connect your headphone, a headphone amp or even a DAC,
• 2.5mm balanced headphone output, a classic for all of you who didn’t switch for the…
• 4.4mm Pentacon balanced headphone output, which is slowly becoming the new norm. 
• a USB-C port

And for the first time since the X5 Mark III, all headphones out are now completely blacked out. Some will like this sobriety, others will prefer the classic gold-plated 4.4mm Pentaconn, but all-in-all, it doesn’t really make a difference.

Obviously, everything looks and feels premium, but that was to be expected.

Screen

If bigger, the FiiO M11 Plus LTD screen remains close to the M11/M11 Pro and M15 in terms of specs.

It’s a 5.5 inch wide IPS screen (0.35” bigger than before), boasting 16,7 million colors, a “retina” 300PPI definition thanks to the 1440×720 resolution, and an 86% screen to body ratio. FiiO is proud to announce a border-less screen, but you still have a little black bar at the bottom of the player.

Still, it’s one of the best features of the FiiO M11 Plus LTD, a big, vivid, widescreen. The viewing angle is large, the refresh rate is fast, and you can even use that DAP to watch videos or movies, on the go! If you want to get a better screen, you have to check out the likes of Shanling with the M6 21, and its ultra high-def screen.

Bundle

Inside the box

If the FiiO M15’s bundle was quite dire, the FiiO M11 Plus LTD follows the same path.

In the box you will find :

• the FiiO M11 Plus LTD
• a micro-SD slot tool
• a USB-C cable
• the mini-Jack to Coaxial adapter
• a quick-start manual

And… a faux-leather cover! Quite a nice one even more, something that was desperately missing with the M15 and M11 Pro.

Cool move FiiO, cool move.

Let’s see how it works now.

The article continues on Page Three, after the click here

Page 1: about FiiO

Page 3: UI, Usage, Bundle

Page 4: Technical specifications

Page 5: Sound performance 

Page 6: Sound Part 2, Comparison and conclusion