FiiO M23 DAP Review & Comparison 

Love you reviews bro. Keep it up! Great to see Malaysia represented in the RU-vid audio community!

Love the FiiO M23 review very well informative. Would love to see you get your hands some other DAP as well including the Shanling M5/M6 Ultra.

Great vid and review Andy. I just use my phone with micro SD card through a dongle. Was wondering how do you get your music on your dap device, cd rips or file downloads?

Great review.. Kindly review the Hiby R4 as well. Budget gear deserve all the love.

Fantastic review, Andy! 😃 I would consider this Fiio DAP as my "endgame" DAP. I'm currently using Hiby R3 ii, and I'm either considering Hiby R4 or Moondrop MIAD 01 as my next DAP unless Fiio releases a more budget friendly DAP. Fiio is undoubtedly my go to brand for DAC and DAP but all their DAP are not budget friendly. Hopefully soon!

First off let me start off by saying that I absolutely love your videos I love your real world take on the audio genre. I love your comparisons 100 and I think that you provide us with a great source of normalcy to this overhyped market. Now with that being said I would really like you to do an in-depth video on the difference between daps. Because at the end of the day this is nothing more than an high end MP3 player. And I'm not understanding why we are acting like because it could support 4.4 mm headphone jack or it has one watt of power that this somehow means that it should cost as much as a standard Android cell phone all of these apps come with at best low to mid-range phone specs. And when you look at the phones that dominate the specs they usually are around 4 to 500 bucks. Yet somehow if you take that $500 low-end phone and you remove the cellular component. You remove the high-end touch screen display add you add a headphone jack and amplifier and somehow this is supposed to justify the jump in price tag over a phone when you yourself and I have to be honest because of your recommendations I have bought dongles that have given me and other users so much more functionality over their phone than ever before at not even half the cost of these daps. Please because I have asked others to do this and they have not so far so now I'm asking you can you make an in-depth video on the true pros and cons of having a digital audio player over a high-end dongle. Because truthfully I'm not really seeing the value in buying something like this and as a member of the audiophile community I have spoken to others who feel the same way and I would just like somebody of credible stature like yourself to help bring some clarity to this issue

Great review Andy! 👍🏼👍🏼 Can you compare the M23 with the iBasso DX 170? I actually love the way the iBasso is tuned. I like the warm, detailed and cozy sound, how would it differ from the AKM DAC?

I am very happy that you are also reviewing and comparing a potentially good DAPs and DAC/AMP Combos! But can you also give scores to the sound? (Like the scores you are giving to the Dongles) Thanks 🙏

Hi Andy, Compered to your reference device: "Burson Audio Playmate 2", which one is better? And why? Thank you 🙏

Hello. Just asking. Have you consider to review aftermarket C to C cable like those from DDHiFI TC05 or TC07? And have you tried C to C cable that usually used for charging to use it on DAC?

Andy, many thanks for this review. I have a questions regarding your comparison with Q15. How would rate these two devices when it comes purely to sound performance. Apart from small differences in tuning/sound signature (more neutral vs more organic), does Q15 match M23 when it comes to other sound aspects?

I really appreciate your in depth reviews thank you. I'm still curious about the blind test between a smartphone and the m23. Just wanted to know how much of a differences in terms of sound quality so i can decide if it worth buying a dap instead of continue using my smartphone as my player.

Nice review. ❤ Next one Onix alpah xI1 right?

hello, i already have M11 Plus ESS. i love the warm character m11 plus ess. but dont like the soundstage, its feel narrow. if i change to m23, i can feel the huge differences?

Hi...on only SQ aspect, how much better is this M23 as compared to dongles like dacport, FC6 or DC04 pro etc...

Some people are saying the M23 cuts off after 2 or 3 songs, have you experienced any playback issues with the M23?

I was wondering if i can ask a newbie question: does the Fiio M23 offer better sound quality than a standard android phone as a music source, if you connect it via USB to your desktop DAC amp setup? For example, does your iem or headphone sound better with your Burson Playmate or JDS Atom stack if you connect it via USB C to the Fiio M23, versus an android phone? I ask because a DAP like the M23 can play bit perfect audio and doesn't downsample your FLAC files like standard android devices.

Good video😌

Can I play Tidal/Qobuz straight without UAPP to get bit-perfect on this DAP? I want to play straight with Tidal/Qobuz because I need to ride airplane, there don't have internet inside the airplane. I need to pre-download all the music before I switch to flight mode.

Thank you

I recently bought the Astell & Kern Kann Alpha and even though the sound is great the UI is just terrible. You can't find a more laggy experience than the Kann Alpha. Also the WiFi sucks. I can go on and on and on about problems with the player - it just sucks. It's no fun using it. It makes me so mad and sad since the player was a thousand dollars. Even dowloaded music lags using Tidal. Unacceptable! I will sell it. I ordered this FiiO M23 in stainless steel yesterday and I have high hopes for a more fun experience. Besides sound the overall experience has to be good in my opinion. Thanks for the review :)

How does this compare to the Mojo 2, strictly in terms of sound?

Is it a huge change in sound quality over the m11s I love the sound quality on the m11s with tidal hifi

How it compares to K9 AKM? It has the exact DAC and Amp.

Fiio PEQ is good. It just needs to be more stable.

My opinion: the real contender for M23 in terms of price is M15 1st generation (used) in Indonesia. But for the bang for bucks, coz the sound performance is not very far is the M11 LTD or M11pro

Moondrop phone is half the price. I don't know if it's any good but that's my initial thought when I see the price

Is this worth an upgrade from the M11s

este vídeo es mil veces mejor gracias al gatito

My bottom line take is , if u own the m11 plus ess it's not worth moving to m23 , it's to similar in sound and features with the equalizer . I can see they are trying to nodge the newer m23 for sale but I'm not buying the hype.

it needs to be compared to shanling m5 ultra

Its not qhd resolution. Its 720p+

I wish I could buy it….😅

Fiio is competing with there own daps instead of trying to take on sony , basso, AK , at a better price.

M23 vs Cayin RU7?

lately you don't mention your favorite tanchjim zero and even put it below (60) in your rating, what happened, love has passed 🙂

Hello Andy. I have a topic that may be of interest to you. I am the owner of Fiio M17 and Fiio M15. I tried connecting these players in USB DAC mode to Android smartphones (three different Android models) to transmit sound from the smartphone to these player in USB DAC mode. Nothing worked for me. I contacted FIIO technical support and they emailed me the following: “Hi, are you using the C to C cable with direction? If not, please try the OTG C to C cable with direction to see whether it helps? The USB DAC function of M17 is not designed for Android mobile phone originally. So the connectin has some limitations."End quote. I want to ask you to try connecting your FIIO M23 in USB DAC mode to your Android smartphone and tell us all how it went. Thank you for your work.

10:27 just thinking about eq makes Andy puke, hehe 😁

Day 17 of asking for Fiio KA11 Review video :)

Not worth.... Rm3k+ Hahahaha Better get fiio R7