Preamble:
Originally posted in English on my English and German audio review website, the "
Kopfhörer-Lounge", here comes my review of the FiiO Q1 MkII.
Introduction:
The original FiiO Q1 was a portable DAC-Amp for headphones, in-ears and earbuds. Recently, it was replayed by the Q1 MkII. Other than the name and what they are (DAC-Amps), the two devices don’t really have much in common at all, since the
Q1 MkII is a product that was completely redesigned not only on the outside, but also inside when it comes down to the technical implementation.
The low price and slim design of the new
Q1 MkII promises quite a lot, such as native DSD support, MFi support, a balanced headphone output, digital volume control, additional bass boost and up to 20 hours of battery life.
Does the FiiO Q1 MkII DAC-Amp deliver good value and sound? Let’s find it out in this very review!
Full disclosure: I was provided with a sample of the FiiO Q1 MkII DAC-Amp free of charge for the purpose of an, as always, unpaid, honest and unbiased review that reflects nothing but my own impressions and wasn’t given any directions/guidelines, no matter how it would turn out.
Technical Specifications:
MSRP before Taxes: $99.99
German/European Price: ~
€119
DAC: AK4452
Amp Chips: OPA926
Output Power (into 32 Ohms): >75 mW (SE), >220 mW (BAL)
THD+N: <0.003% (USB DAC), <0.002%) (AUX In)
SNR: >115 dB (AUX In), >110 dB (USB DAC)
Crosstalk: >90 dB
Headphone Impedance: 16 ~ 150 Ohms (BAL), 16 ~ 100 Ohms (SE)
Supported Sampling Rates: up to 384 kHz/32 Bit
DSD Support: DSD64/128/256
Optional Bass Boost: 5.4 dB
Battery Capacity: 1800 mAh
Battery Life: >20 h (AUX In), >10 h (USB DAC)
Dimensions: ~ 99 x 59 x 12.5 mm
Weight: ~ 101 g
SE Output:
Output Power: >112 mW (16 Ohms), >75 mW (32 Ohms), >11 mW (300 Ohms)
SNR: >116 dB (A-weighted, AUX In), >109 dB (A-weighted, USB DAC)
Gain: -2.5 dB (L), 3.2 dB (H)
Output Impedance: <1.2 Ohms
Crosstalk: >79 dB (AUX In)
Peak Output Voltage: >4.4 V (peak to peak)
Max. Input Level: 3.4 V
BAL Output:
Output Power: >240 mW (16 Ohms), >220 mW (32 Ohms), >45 mW (300 Ohms)
SNR: >115 dB (A-weighted, AUX In), >109 dB (A-weighted, USB DAC)
Gain: 3.2 dB (L), 9.1 dB (H)
Output Impedance: <2 Ohms
Crosstalk: >93 dB (AUX In)
Peak Output Voltage: >7.4 V (peak to peak)
Max. Input Level: 3.4 V
Delivery Content:
When you get the Q1 MkII, you will likely not need any further accessories, since it comes with many things already included, such as a handy rubber pad (that is great to use for stacking to prevent scratches), four silicone bands/loops that can be used for stacking, one Lightning to micro USB cable, one USB-A to micro USB cable, and last but not least a perforated carrying pouch as well as a brief manual.
The only thing that is missing for perfection is a micro USB to micro USB OTG cable.
Aesthetics, Haptics, Build Quality:
The majority of FiiO’s most recent devices has got a quite unique and stylish, beautiful design, and the Q1 MkII is certainly no exception. Therefore it looks quite a bit sleeker and more stylish than its predecessor that is also quite different inside.
Additionally, the DAC-Amp is quite small and flat, and definitely a bit smaller and flatter than I imagined it to be.
The chassis is made of matte black metal, which also includes the switches but not the front and back panel that are made of plastic (but appear almost like metal) and sit slightly recessed and are concavely shaped, which looks nice but also somewhat protects the ports and switches from unintentional operation and shorts. Solely the volume pot is unprotected compared to the old Q1 (however, I frankly appreciate this decision as it makes the Q1 MkII look much more visually appealing, nonetheless one should take more care not to drop or nudge the DAC-Amp).
Build quality and design are great – there are no panel gaps, no build imperfections, and no burrs or sharp edges.
The included lightning cable is just awesome – short, but extremely soft and flexible.
Ports, Buttons/Switches, Features:
The Q1 MkII can be used as a pure DAC (combined line in- and output socket), as a pure amplifier, or as a DAC-Amp.
Besides that combined line in- and output on the front side, it has got a single-ended 3.5 mm headphone output, next to a balanced (TRRS-terminated) 2.5 mm output. Additionally, there is a smooth and non-stepped volume potentiometer that is small but has a rather good grip and also turns the DAC-Amp on and off, with a blue LED (that can also light up in red if the FiiO is charging) next to it as a power and charging indicator. Last but not least, the front also houses another little LED that lights up as soon as you play DSD material.
On the back, one can find a two-stage gain control switch along with a bass boost switch, a reset button hidden inside a tiny hole, and last but not least a micro USB socket for charging and USB DAC input (with DSD capability for those who need it).
The only slight imperfection that one could remark is that activating and deactivating the bass boost doesn’t happen quietly, but that there’s a slight, audible glitch.
In order to get the
Q1 MkII to work as a DAC in combination with a Windows computer, drivers have to be downloaded and installed first, whereas it should work without any additional drivers when connected to a MacOS or Linux-based computer.
The FiiO is by the way MFi-certified wherefore one can use it directly with portable Apple devices unlike non-certified devices that usually require going the alternative route by using the
Apple CCK as a workaround.
While other people have reported the FiiO to work flawlessly with their Android devices, I couldn’t get it to work with my Asus Google Nexus 7 (2nd generation) despite having compatible OTG cables on hand. I guess just like the
Beyerdynamic A 200 p, it won’t work natively with all Android devices but will probably require root access with some, or the USB Audio Player Pro. The included manual by the way doesn’t mention Android compatibility at all, nonetheless as I mentioned, some users have reported that the FiiO works with some devices running on Android OS.
Volume Control:
A fully analogue implementation of the volume control usually has the disadvantage that channel matching in the low potentiometer adjustment range is pretty bad and that one side is quieter than the other until you raise the volume. That is why I have developed a bit of hatred towards fully analogue volume control implementations over the years.
While the new FiiO Q1 MkII appears to have a typical analogue volume control implementation due to its regular rotary volume potentiometer, this is totally
not the case – its volume control is implemented digitally wherefore channel imbalance is completely avoided, even if the potentiometer is in the very low adjustment range. Indeed, it is great to see an idea I have recommended to FiiO multiple times to be finally implemented. I just love it.
The Volume is almost muted during the first two, three mm after turning the DAC-Amp on, but then suddenly increases immediately with a big-ish jump, although increments are smooth and gradual above that threshold – in the latter way, the Q1 MkII feels just like a regular device with a traditional analogue potentiometer, but with the advantages of the digital attenuation (ideal channel matching), and this is probably exactly what FiiO wanted to go for.
(Very personally, as someone who has come from preferring analogue attenuation to clearly preferring fully digital attenuation, I would still prefer a small screen and volume buttons or a pot with infinite turns and probably steps coupled with a small screen for the sake of even higher precision and always getting the exact volume setting I want, ideally with 256 steps in total, but I can totally see why FiiO went the way they did. Very personally, I also wouldn’t have minded a slightly lower starting volume in amp mode in order to being able to listen at even quieter volume levels with very sensitive in-ears (it’s absolutely fine in DAC-Amp mode though) – but that’s just me.)
Battery Life:
For this test, I used the FiiO’s single-ended headphone output, with the inexpensive
Superlux HD668B connected to it. No bass boost was used, low gain was chosen, and the potentiometer was set to ca. 50%.
Used as a pure amplifier, the Q1 MkII’s battery lasted for roughly 20 hours and 45 minutes, which is even slightly better than FiiO’s stated 20 hours.
While this might not appear as all that much at first glance, compared to the
Leckerton UHA-6S.MKII’s ~ 30 hours and the
Elekit TU-HP02’s ~ 50 hours, one has to bear in mind that the FiiO is not only a much flatter, more compact device, but also has got a digitally controlled volume that of course contributes to the battery drain as well.
And for portable headphone amplifiers with digitally controlled volume, the Q1 MkII runs quite a bit longer than most other portable headphone amps with digital volume control such as the
Creative SoundBlaster E5, JDS Labs C5/
C5D, Leckerton UHA760 or
FiiO’s own E17k. Therefore one can definitely say that the Q1 MkII has got good battery life.
A battery test in DAC-Amp mode couldn’t be performed due the lack of a recent iPhone with lightning connector (one could have been organised/borrowed, but probably not for a full-length battery test), and since the FiiO recharges itself when it is connected to a PC.
Sound:
Frequency Response:
One of the most basic and fundamental things an audio device should have is a flat unloaded frequency response in the important range of 20 to 20000 Hz. While it is anything but sorcery to achieve this in modern days, some (however mainly inexpensive and rather no-name) audio devices still fail to achieve this very basic thing.
So let’s see how the Q1 MkII measures when used as a…
… pure Amp:
… DAC-Amp:
… pure DAC:
As one can see, a flat frequency response, just the way it should be, is what the FiiO outputs (the minimal roll-off on both far ends that can be seen in some of the graphs is just very slight and still below the audible threshold).
The Q1 MkII however also features a bass boost implementation:
^^^ different graph scaling compared to the others above
As one can see, it adds ca. 5.6 dB below 100 Hz.
Output Impedance:
Even when having a flat frequency response without load or with a simple load (such as a headphone that has got the same impedance over its entire frequency response), things are getting quite a bit more difficult with most multi-driver in-ears that have got more than just one driver and a crossover circuit that causes the in-ears’ resistance to vary along with their frequency response.
If the audio device’s headphone output doesn’t have a low output impedance, the in-ears’ frequency response and therefore heard tonality will be skewed and they will (depending on the player’s output impedance and the in-ears’ specific impedance response) sound more or less different compared to when driven by an audio player that has got a low output impedance.
To maintain an unaltered sound even with low impedance multi-driver in-ears, it is therefore best to have an audio device that has got an output impedance of around (or ideally even less than) 1 Ohm.
This is what the
FiiO Q1 MkII puts out when connecting a critical, low impedance multi-driver in-ear to its single-ended output:
The connected load was my
Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10, an in-ear that is among the more source-picky species of its kind and changes its sound rapidly as the player’s output impedance climbs (yes, it even makes a low output impedance of 0.5 Ohms visible). I therefore pretty much always use it for measuring the frequency deviation compared to a simple load. Based on this, the output impedance can be calculated.
The measured deviation in combination with the FiiO is still on the smaller side and can be calculated to be around 1.2, 1.3 Ohms, which is still a fairly good value and proves that the player can drive the vast majority of multi-driver in-ears without (or with only slightly, which is the case for divas such as the Triple.Fi 10 or
Shure SE846) altering their sound unlike players that have a rather high/higher output impedance. This also backs up FiiO’s specs that state 1.2 Ohms.
So if you were wondering whether or not the Q1 MkII has got a still low and (for the vast majority of in-ears) multi-driver-friendly output impedance in single-ended mode, I can tell you that it does.
I didn’t perform any output impedance measurements of the balanced output, but the 2 Ohms spec stated by FiiO spears realistic and there’s no reason to not believe in it.
Hiss:
As someone who is quite sensitive to hearing hiss when it is present and as someone who is also using many sensitive and some very sensitive in-ears such as the
Shure SE846,
Ostry KC06A or
Pai Audio MR3, three models that are real “hiss-magnets”, having an audio device with as little audible hiss as possible has always been an important thing to me. The destination of perfection, a hiss-free audio player in combination with super sensitive in-ears, was what I could reach with my
iBasso DX90, the
Plenue 2, as well as the
Luxury & Precision L3 and
L3 Pro, though the L & P players don’t have the ideal output impedance for every kind of in-ear. And devices such as the
iBasso DX200 with its stock amplifier module came very very close to it.
Using my Shure SE846, Pai Audio MR3 and the Ostry KC06A through the FiiO’s single-ended output, with the Q1 MkII acting as a pure amplifier, I can happily report that hiss is just very barely above the audible threshold with these three super sensitive in-ears when no music/empty files are playing, wherefore one could call it basically hiss-free, just like the DX200. Changing the gain, activating the bass boost or increasing the volume doesn’t change this.
Using the Q1 MkII as a DAC-Amp though, there is some slight hiss audible with those extremely sensitive in-ears. It’s still rather quiet (quieter than the
Cowon Plenue D or
Plenue J for example, two devices that already preform quite well in this regard), but more noticeable than when the FiiO is used as a pure amplifier.
In this scenario, hiss also becomes more noticeable when the volume pot is turned almost all the way up, however one wouldn’t need that setting with sensitive in-ears, and headphones that need that much power are way too insensitive to make the hiss audible.
Changing gain or activating the bass boost doesn’t have an effect on the amount of hissing either.
To sum it up – used as a pure amplifier, the FiiO Q1 MkII is basically hiss-free even with super sensitive in-ears, whereas it shows a faint amount of hiss when it is used as a DAC-Amp when the same super sensitive in-ears are connected to it.
Subjective perception of Transparency, Details and Soundstage…
… in Amp Mode:
Now to the rather subjective part of my review. My opinion and experience regarding the perceived “character” and “transparency” of source devices and amplifiers is this one: there can be an existing audible difference between various devices, but it should definitely not be overrated – simply because the basic character of a headphone won’t be completely changed (if the circuit follows a clean design philosophy and the output is load-stable), but sometimes rather slightly “shaped” and is usually very subtle in many cases and is (in most cases) just slightly present (if even there) and not “huge” or like “totally different classes” or “night and day”.
I am not a fan of exaggerations and hyperboles here because as long as the objectifyable parameters of an audio player are neutral and not too shabby (loaded frequency response, distortion, crosstalk, dynamic range, noise, …), the audible difference, if there is any, will be quite small at best if two devices are compared with proper volume matching that cannot be done by ear but only with instruments, since even small differences in loudness can be perceived as a technical advantage by our ear and brain.
A more detailed, German article written by me concerning the “audible difference between comparable audio devices, if there is any”, can be found here:
http://kopfhoerer-lounge.blogspot.de/2016/04/Eigenklang.html
So let’s go on with my subjective impressions and observations (for this critical listening, I mainly used my
UERM,
Audio Technica ATH-IM03,
Etymotic ER-4S,
Audeze LCD-X as well as the
NocturnaL Audio Atlantis and
Fidue SIRIUS in single-ended mode. I also used a few more headphones and in-ears from different price and performance ranges for listening but more for personal enjoyment than for the sake of critical listening and comparisons. The main DAC/source for the Q1 MkII in use as a pure amplifier was the
iBasso DX200 with the stock AMP1 module’s line output):
The basic “character” of the FiiO is clean and neutral, but with a very slight amount of smoothness and a little softness. To my ears, it falls right between sources that I also subjectively perceive as “neutral” (they measure objectively neutral anyway), such as the iBasso DX200 with the AMP1 module, my iPhone 4 or my
Leckerton UHA-6S.MKII, and sources that I perceive as somewhat smoother and “unaggressive” sounding, such as my
Chord Electronics Mojo or
iBasso DX80.
Transparency with sensitive in-ears is on a good level, although on a slightly lesser level compared to for example my Leckerton or the DX200 and
Cowon Plenue 2, which I would partially contribute to the Q1 MkII’s slightly soft and smooth, a bit more “inoffensive” presentation, and very good but not yet flagship quality measurements.
Those clearly aren’t night-and-day differences with proper volume-matching though, which one shouldn’t expect anyway these days where a clean audio implementation is no wizardry even in the budget-oriented price range.
The FiiO’s soundstage reproduction appears quite “average” to me and neither as “compact” as the Mojo’s or as expansive as the DX200’s (with properly matched volume of course).
… in DAC-Amp Mode:
Here I can make it very short: to my ears, the highs appear very slightly smoother and very slightly softer, but otherwise the presentation remains similar.
- - -
Just a very quick and brief comparison with another DAC-Amp:
My
Leckerton UHA-6S.MKII has got an overall slightly cleaner sound (a little higher “transparency” and tightness with in-ears) but is also more expensive.
The FiiO outputs a slight amount of hiss in DAC-Amp mode whereas the Leckerton still remains quiet when used as a DAC-Amp (when low gain is chosen). In pure amp mode, the FiiO is also basically hiss-free.
Feature-wise, the FiiO offers more, such as the additional balanced output, digitally controlled volume and bass boost, along with the more modern format support for those who need it. However, when it comes to inputs, the Leckerton offers more (S/PDIF and COAX).
Both DAC-Amps’ output impedance is low and multi-BA-friendly (Leckerton: excellent < 0.5 Ohms; FiiO: good, ca. 1.3 Ohms).
The Leckerton offers the somewhat higher battery life in amp-only mode while both offer comparable battery life when they are used as DAC-Amps.
Balanced vs. Single-Ended use:
Proper volume matching of the two outputs (at least doing it quickly) was quite difficult with the Q1 MkII’s potentiometer, however I found an easy way to still get proper volume matching between the two outputs: using my computer’s digital volume control, I didn’t have to use the FiiO’s pot but could quickly and properly match the volume on my PC while switching outputs.
Mainly using the
Fidue SIRIUS, as it was to be expected, the higher power output compared to the single-ended output is the most obvious feature of the balanced output (unfortunately hiss increases audibly as well with the gained output power when sensitive in-ears are connected), but the sound is also slightly less soft and therefore a bit tighter to my ears compared to the single-ended output. The perceived timbre (slight smoothness) and soundstage reproduction remains however the same.
Conclusion:
That the
FiiO Q1 MkII doesn’t
fully excel in each and every category, aspect and scenario (for example it showcases some slight hiss in DAC-Amp mode with very sensitive in-ears, and hiss becomes more prominent over the balanced output, along with its slightly soft general character in single-ended use), but this was rather clear from the beginning, given the excellently detailed, transparent and trustworthy technical specifications. That is does
really well in pretty much all categories (still quite low output impedance (single-ended), digitally controlled volume, great format support, good battery life as an amplifier, pretty much hiss-free when used as a pure analogue headphone amplifier with very sensitive in-ears in single-ended mode) and comes close to exceling was however also obvious from the same spec sheet.
It is true, the
Q1 MkII is a great product that is feature-rich, at the height of time when it comes to ports, sampling rate and technical implementation, and has got a truly good price-performance-ratio.
There simply isn’t anything that really speaks against FiiO’s small and very reasonably priced DAC-Amp (well, probably limited compatibility with some Android devices that aren’t rooted and/or don’t have the USB Audio Player Pro installed, however since Android support isn’t listed as a feature and mentioned nowhere in the manual or the website, I cannot blame FiiO for this at all, and several users have reported that the Q1 MkII works with some of their Android devices).
Good job, FiiO!