Introduction:
I was lucky enough to be selected to take part in the Fiio Q1 MkII review tour. My own focus in these impressions is going to be less about the sonic characteristics of the N3 and more about its functionality as it applies to my particular needs.
About Me:
I listen mostly to heavy metal, hip hop, and electronic music, as well as movie and video game soundtracks. I value detail, clarity, and soundstage above other acoustic qualities, and generally prefer a V-shaped sound signature. I don’t possess any DSD format music and have only a little in the way of Hi-Res FLAC. Most of my portable listening has been straight out of a smartphone, or occasionally out of of my Fiio E6 portable amplifier. I have owned the Fiio X1 (first gen) and briefly owned the Fiio X1 (2nd gen). For desktop listening, I use the JDS Labs Element. I currently own the Campfire Audio Polaris (received today), Mee Audio Pinnacle P1, Mee Audio Pinnacle P2, E-MU Teak, KZ ATE, Mixcder X5, and Archeer AH07, and have owned the Fostex TH-X00, V-Moda M-80, V-Moda LP2 Crossfade, Mee Audio M6, Hifiman HE-400S, and (very briefly) Phillips Fidelio X2.
Other equipment used:
I mostly used the Fiio Q1 MkII as a DAC/AMP with a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Android smartphone running a custom Nougut ROM, using either Spotify Premium HQ streaming or 16 bit 44.1Hz FLAC files. I did most of my listening with the Mee Audio Pinnacle P1 and the E-MU Teak, but I did have some time with the Mee Audio Pinnacle P2 as well.
Acessories/Build Quality:
The review unit came with a USB-A to micro-USB cable, a short 3.5mm interconnect, two micro-USB to Lightning jack cables (of equal length, causing me to wonder if this was a packaging mistake), and a micro-USB cable to a jack that I did not recognize resembling a micro-USB cable twice the regular width. Also included were four rubber bracelets for stacking, a silicone slab for scratch protection while stacking, and a cloth mesh carry case. The volume pot was noticeably angled, which was disappointing. In addition, the bass-boost and gain controls were not marked, which hopefully was an oversight limited to my review unit as press photos indicate that they should be marked.
Design/Functionality:
The Q1 MkII is not advertised as being compatible with Android devices, and when I connected the Q1 to my Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, it crashed the device twice, the second time sending it into a bootloop that took a factory reset to recover from. I'm not entirely sure what the issue was. I switched kernels and it worked fine for the remainder of my time with the device for all media sources, including Spotify, GoneMad Music Player, Youtube, and Snapchat, but I have not tried it with Hibymusic again (which was what was open when the crashes occurred).
This was my first experience with a balanced setup. I used the balanced cable from the Fiio F5 with the MeeAudio Pinnacle P1. There was considerably more power on tap with the balanced output, but apart from maybe a hair more bass clarity, I didn't hear a difference in sound quality from single-ended.
I liked the overall form factor more than the flask-shaped MkI, but I miss the volume pot protector from the MkI, which helped to keep the volume from being adjusted while in my pocket. I also would advise Fiio to not be afraid to make devices intended to be stacked bigger. My phone has a 5.5 inch screen, and if the Q1 MkII had been more the size of the Fiio A5, the functionality of the phone would be less impaired by the placement of the rubber bracelets.
When being used as just an amp through the 3.5mm out on the phone to the line-in there was some distortion when adjusting the volume, which does not occur in DAC/AMP mode.
I wish that Fiio had used USB-C for the charge/connector port. This should really be a basic expectation at this date, and it is frustrating that it remains so rare. The device did have exceptional battery life, lasting a full day of listening easily. Fiio advertises a battery life of 20 hours, which I have no reason to doubt. It also charged fully after being completely drained within 2-3 hours.
I generally subscribe to the philosophy that if a source device is coloring the sound, something is wrong with the source device, so I will not wax lyrically about how the N3 made such and such song sound different than with other source devices. It has also been my experience that the primary benefit of high-end amplification is to increase the maximum volume music can be played at while still having the instrumentation resolve clearly. That said, the Q1 MkII has a slightly rolled-off high end, which helped with the occasionally harsh treble of the P1s. Separation and soundstage are nominally but noticeably better than being driven straight from my smartphone. There is no audible hiss at max volume on high gain with the P2 for both balanced and single-ended outputs while there is no music playing, so users with sensitive IEMs should be in good shape. I did not have any issues driving the Teaks out of the single ended output, but I did not have the chance to test the Q1 MkII with anything truly power-hungry.
My biggest issue with the Q1 MkII is it seems to be extremely sensitive to noisy USB ports. I haven't had issues with static with my phone or laptop, but when hooked up to my desktop's rear USB ports, I had continuous issues with intermittent static, which is an issue I don't have with The Element. I've also had occasional incidences of skipping fractions of seconds of songs from all sources I tried with the Q1 MkII.
Final words:
I have mixed feelings about the Q1 MkII. For portable use it is an easy recommendation for a self-powered DAC/AMP, especially if you have sensitive IEMs, easy to drive headphones, or balanced cables. I would not recommend the Q1 MkII for desktop use given my experiences with EMI interference and the underpowered single-ended output compared to the Q1 MkI.
I was lucky enough to be selected to take part in the Fiio Q1 MkII review tour. My own focus in these impressions is going to be less about the sonic characteristics of the N3 and more about its functionality as it applies to my particular needs.
About Me:
I listen mostly to heavy metal, hip hop, and electronic music, as well as movie and video game soundtracks. I value detail, clarity, and soundstage above other acoustic qualities, and generally prefer a V-shaped sound signature. I don’t possess any DSD format music and have only a little in the way of Hi-Res FLAC. Most of my portable listening has been straight out of a smartphone, or occasionally out of of my Fiio E6 portable amplifier. I have owned the Fiio X1 (first gen) and briefly owned the Fiio X1 (2nd gen). For desktop listening, I use the JDS Labs Element. I currently own the Campfire Audio Polaris (received today), Mee Audio Pinnacle P1, Mee Audio Pinnacle P2, E-MU Teak, KZ ATE, Mixcder X5, and Archeer AH07, and have owned the Fostex TH-X00, V-Moda M-80, V-Moda LP2 Crossfade, Mee Audio M6, Hifiman HE-400S, and (very briefly) Phillips Fidelio X2.
Other equipment used:
I mostly used the Fiio Q1 MkII as a DAC/AMP with a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Android smartphone running a custom Nougut ROM, using either Spotify Premium HQ streaming or 16 bit 44.1Hz FLAC files. I did most of my listening with the Mee Audio Pinnacle P1 and the E-MU Teak, but I did have some time with the Mee Audio Pinnacle P2 as well.
Acessories/Build Quality:
The review unit came with a USB-A to micro-USB cable, a short 3.5mm interconnect, two micro-USB to Lightning jack cables (of equal length, causing me to wonder if this was a packaging mistake), and a micro-USB cable to a jack that I did not recognize resembling a micro-USB cable twice the regular width. Also included were four rubber bracelets for stacking, a silicone slab for scratch protection while stacking, and a cloth mesh carry case. The volume pot was noticeably angled, which was disappointing. In addition, the bass-boost and gain controls were not marked, which hopefully was an oversight limited to my review unit as press photos indicate that they should be marked.
Design/Functionality:
The Q1 MkII is not advertised as being compatible with Android devices, and when I connected the Q1 to my Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, it crashed the device twice, the second time sending it into a bootloop that took a factory reset to recover from. I'm not entirely sure what the issue was. I switched kernels and it worked fine for the remainder of my time with the device for all media sources, including Spotify, GoneMad Music Player, Youtube, and Snapchat, but I have not tried it with Hibymusic again (which was what was open when the crashes occurred).
This was my first experience with a balanced setup. I used the balanced cable from the Fiio F5 with the MeeAudio Pinnacle P1. There was considerably more power on tap with the balanced output, but apart from maybe a hair more bass clarity, I didn't hear a difference in sound quality from single-ended.
I liked the overall form factor more than the flask-shaped MkI, but I miss the volume pot protector from the MkI, which helped to keep the volume from being adjusted while in my pocket. I also would advise Fiio to not be afraid to make devices intended to be stacked bigger. My phone has a 5.5 inch screen, and if the Q1 MkII had been more the size of the Fiio A5, the functionality of the phone would be less impaired by the placement of the rubber bracelets.
When being used as just an amp through the 3.5mm out on the phone to the line-in there was some distortion when adjusting the volume, which does not occur in DAC/AMP mode.
I wish that Fiio had used USB-C for the charge/connector port. This should really be a basic expectation at this date, and it is frustrating that it remains so rare. The device did have exceptional battery life, lasting a full day of listening easily. Fiio advertises a battery life of 20 hours, which I have no reason to doubt. It also charged fully after being completely drained within 2-3 hours.
I generally subscribe to the philosophy that if a source device is coloring the sound, something is wrong with the source device, so I will not wax lyrically about how the N3 made such and such song sound different than with other source devices. It has also been my experience that the primary benefit of high-end amplification is to increase the maximum volume music can be played at while still having the instrumentation resolve clearly. That said, the Q1 MkII has a slightly rolled-off high end, which helped with the occasionally harsh treble of the P1s. Separation and soundstage are nominally but noticeably better than being driven straight from my smartphone. There is no audible hiss at max volume on high gain with the P2 for both balanced and single-ended outputs while there is no music playing, so users with sensitive IEMs should be in good shape. I did not have any issues driving the Teaks out of the single ended output, but I did not have the chance to test the Q1 MkII with anything truly power-hungry.
My biggest issue with the Q1 MkII is it seems to be extremely sensitive to noisy USB ports. I haven't had issues with static with my phone or laptop, but when hooked up to my desktop's rear USB ports, I had continuous issues with intermittent static, which is an issue I don't have with The Element. I've also had occasional incidences of skipping fractions of seconds of songs from all sources I tried with the Q1 MkII.
Final words:
I have mixed feelings about the Q1 MkII. For portable use it is an easy recommendation for a self-powered DAC/AMP, especially if you have sensitive IEMs, easy to drive headphones, or balanced cables. I would not recommend the Q1 MkII for desktop use given my experiences with EMI interference and the underpowered single-ended output compared to the Q1 MkI.