TECHWEEK
FiiO is known mainly as a developer and manufacturer of portable audio – audio players, headphone amplifiers, DACs and headphones themselves. Some time ago, the company decided to expand the range and introduced its first fixed desktop network player R7 with headphone amplifier, DAC unit and preamplifier.
FiiO R 7 is powered by Snapdragon 660 chipset and runs Android 10 OS. D/A conversion is based on ESS Technology’s Saber ES9068AS chip and supports PCM up to 32bit/768kHz, DSD up to DSD512, and MQA decoding . . To connect to an amplifier or active acoustics, analog outputs are provided – both unbalanced on RCA connectors and balanced on XLR. There is also a full range of headphone jacks – 3.5 mm minijack, 6.4 mm jack and balanced 4.4 mm.
In addition to Android-compatible streaming service apps such as Spotify, Qobuz, Deezer, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, and Tidal, music streaming is also supported by Roon Readiness, AirPlay, or UPnP. Also, the player is able to play content from the built-in drive with a capacity of 64 GB. The amount of memory for storing the music library can be expanded with an SD card or an external USB drive. The FiiO R7 patch panel also has coaxial and optical inputs and outputs, as well as an Ethernet port for integrating the component into a home computer network. In addition, there is support for two-way Bluetooth version 5.0 with support for SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC and LHDC codecs. Navigation and playback control is carried out from the touch screen on the front panel,
The next logical step was the emergence of FiiO active monitors, which would allow us to offer a full-fledged mono-brand mini desktop system. And such monitors are announced by the company. FiiO SP 3 active desktop speakers should be available later this year. Detailed specifications and recommended retail prices of new items will be announced later. So far, according to unconfirmed information, the SP3 speakers will be two-way with three-inch mid/bass drivers. And the FiiO R 7 is already on sale for $699 .
