CD / SACD players and transports — FiiO DM15 R2R

The FiiO DM15 R2R is a portable disc player whose centrepiece is FiiO's own fully differential, four-channel 24-bit R2R resistor-ladder DAC. It takes the retro idea of a disc player you carry with you and adds a sturdier build, a more advanced converter and a much wider set of controls. In FiiO's portable CD range it sits above the entry-level DM13.

Key specs that matter

The ladder DAC uses 192 thin-film resistors, 48 for each of the four channels, rated at 0.1% accuracy with low temperature drift. Signal-to-noise ratio for CD is 112 dB and THD+N is 0.03%. Headphone output reaches 1150 mW from the balanced 4.4 mm jack, with a 3.5 mm single-ended jack as the second option. Line connections are a 3.5 mm three-in-one socket that handles line out, coaxial and optical, plus a separate 4.4 mm balanced line output. Connected to a computer as a USB DAC, it handles PCM up to 384 kHz and 32 bits and native DSD256. A 4700 mAh, 3.85 V lithium battery lasts roughly 7 hours per charge, and PD3.0 fast charging fills it again in about 2 hours.

Engineering and use context

Instead of a delta-sigma chip, the converter turns digital values into analogue voltages through the resistor ladder. Bluetooth transmission runs on a Qualcomm QCC3095 chip with SBC, aptX, aptX HD and aptX Adaptive, so both CD and USB sources can be sent to wireless headphones or speakers. Ripping is built in - plug in a USB drive and the DM15 saves the disc as WAV files while it keeps playing. There are three Magic Bass modes and eight EQ presets, and a Desktop Mode bypasses the battery for long stationary sessions. The chassis is aluminium alloy, 144 x 137 x 25.5 mm and 471.5 g, with a tempered-glass front and a clear tempered-glass lid that leaves the spinning disc visible. Finishes are black, white, red and silver.

Pairing

Balanced and single-ended headphone outputs cover most wired headphones, while the coaxial and optical outputs and the balanced line output connect the player to powered speakers, an external DAC or an amplifier. When it feeds a separate system, the remote control skips tracks and switches output modes from across the room.

Alternatives

The FiiO DM13 is the simpler portable CD player in the range, without the R2R DAC.