This affordable new hi-res music player is the iPod replacement I’ve been waiting for
- Dual DACs and support for microSD up to 2TB
- 13mm slim and 165g
- $149 / £139 / about AU$277
FiiO makes the best hi-res audio player for most people, but as much as we love the FiiO M23 – and we do, which is why we gave it four and a half stars in our review – with a recommended retail price of $699 / £649, it’s also quite expensive. So we’re rather excited to see a new Android-powered FiiO portable player with a much lower price tag: just $149 in the US. For those of us of a certain audio age, that’s iPod Nano money.
As you can see from the images, it’s a good-looking thing, and at just 13mm thick and 165g in weight, it’s not going to endanger your pockets or bag. But while it may be perfectly pocketable there’s nothing lightweight about the specification.
FiiO JM21: key features and availability
The FiiO JM21 has dual CS43198 DACs, 3GB of on-board RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable to 2TB via microSD. It’s powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 680 and has a 4.7-inch display. You can use it as a DAC with Mac or Windows computers, with support for sampling rates up to 384kHz/32bit.
There’s a standard 3.5mm socket and a 4.4mm balanced output with 700mW+700mW power, and the player also has SPDIF, USB and line audio outputs. There’s dual-band Wi-Fi with DLNA and AirPlay, and the Bluetooth is version 5.0 with SBC, AAC, aptX HD, LHDC and LDAC.
The JM21 has FiiO’s own music app and support for all the key hi-res streaming services too. The underlying software is Android 13 with FiiO’s own interface on top.
In addition to its small size and light weight the JM21 has impressive battery life, with up to 12 hours of playtime and fast charging in two hours.
That’s a serious spec for a very small price. If you’d like to get your hands on one it’ll be shipping from late January – and we’re hoping to get our hands on it for the first time at CES 2025.
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Dual DACs and support for microSD up to 2TB 13mm slim and 165g $149 / £139 / about AU$277 FiiO makes the best hi-res audio player for most people, but as much as we love the FiiO M23 – and we do, which is why we gave it four and…
