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- Dual DAC and support for microSD up to 2TB
- 13 mm slim and 165 g
- $149 / £139 / about AU$277
FiiO makes the the best high resolution audio player for most people, but as much as we love FiiO M23 – and we do, which is why we gave it four and a half stars in our review – with a recommended retail price of $699 / £649, it’s also quite expensive. So we’re pretty excited to see a new Android-powered FiiO portable player with a much lower price tag: just $149 in the US. For those of us of a certain audio age, that’s iPod Nano money.
As you can see from the image, it is a beautiful thing, and at only 13 mm thick and 165 g of weight, it does not endanger your bags or backpack. But if it can be perfectly in the pocket, there is nothing light on the specification.
FiiO JM21: key features and availability
The FiiO JM21 has two CS43198 DACs, 3GB of integrated RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable to 2TB via microSD. It is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 680 and has a 4.7-inch display. You can use it as a DAC with Mac or Windows computers, with support for sampling rates up to 384kHz/32bit.
There is a standard 3.5 mm socket and a balanced 4.4 mm output with a power of 700 mW + 700 mW, and the player also has SPDIF, USB and in-line audio output. There is dual-band Wi-Fi with DLNA and AirPlay, and Bluetooth is version 5.0 with SBC, AAC, aptX HD, LHDC and LDAC.
The JM21 has FiiO’s own music app and support for all high-resolution streaming services. The underlying software is Android 13 with FiiO’s own interface on top.
In addition to its small size and light weight, the JM21 has an impressive battery life, with up to 12 hours of play and fast charging in two hours.
That’s a serious specification for a very small price. If you want to get your hands on one, it will be shipping from the end of January – and we hope to get your hands on it for the first time at CES 2025.
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