Disclaimer: I received the M9 tour unit to evaluate for about 10 days in return for my honest opinion. Build: The M9 is small, but solidly built. The controls are conveniently placed. There are two headphone ports, one 3.5mm single-ended (SE) and one 2.5mm balanced (BAL) and a USB port at the bottom of the unit. The 3.5mm port does extra duty as line-out and SPDIF (the 3.5mm TSR to SPDIF RCA adapter is included). The USB port is Type C and operates bidirectionally as USB DAC (using driver software available at...

Setup: I currently use an iDAC (original) in my desktop configuration. Foobar2000 serves as the source on my laptop (Dell XPS15 [9550]). The signal path is: laptop USB C -> Dell WD15 “docking station” -> USB 3.0 SS (A) cable to USB 2.0 B in iDAC. For testing the nano iDSD BL, I used the same USB cable from the dock and added the female to female USB B to USB A adapter that came with the nano iDSD BL. The iFi USB audio driver was updated to version 3.2 prior to testing. Downstream equipment included home and office desktop setups: 1) Creek 4330se...

Disclaimer: I received the X7ii tour unit to evaluate for about 10 days in return for my honest opinion. Build: The X7ii is solidly built and has a substantial feel. The controls are conveniently placed. Moving the power button to the top near the right side was a big improvement for me (it was on the right side near the top on X5iii). The volume wheel is easy to use and I rarely move it accidently when handling the unit. The play/pause button is easy to use when the screen is asleep. I occasionally skipped forward or backward when picking up the...

Disclaimer: I received the X5iii tour unit to evaluate for 7 days in return for my honest opinion. Build: The X5iii is solidly built and has a substantial feel. The controls are conveniently placed with the exception of the forward/backward rocker. I frequently skipped forward or backward when picking up the unit or holding the unit in my left hand and pressing the power button to wake the screen during playback (the base of my thumb would activate the rocker when pressing the power button with my index finger). The rocker can be disabled using...