Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Technically. In terms of power the Hip-DAC’s balanced headphone output (400mW) has an edge over the Q3 at 32Ω (300mW) and an edge at 600Ω with 66.15mW to the Q3’s 35mW, prior to “Gain” boost. The Gain boost, however, increases the Q3’s power to 100mW. The FiiO Q3 decodes to DSD512 and samples to 768kHz/32-bit, while the Hip-DAC decodes to DSD256 and samples to 384kHz/32-bit. Suffice to say, that either will play 100% of the Qobuz catalog. However, only the Hip-DAC will decode Tidal’s MQA files, while the FiiO Q3 will not and for some this may well be the differentiating factor. This is one of the tightest calls that I have yet to make on two pieces of equipment from the perspective of sound and technology and cost. The bass response is very fast, from percussion instruments like drums up to the guitars in metal music. Electro- and Bass guitars do have a good level of rumble, speed and depth, while the bow pulls of the contrabass that can produce a high level of rumble/vibrations are pretty audible. To those measurements, you can add the USB-C cable, or USB-C to 8-Pin if you’re using an iPhone like me (all provided by the brand) and the silicone straps designed to be attached between your phone, and the Q11. Thanks to that, the DAC can easily be carried on the go, recreating the decade old audiophile sandwich, something that some of you may never have tried before! Build Quality
Even with the Q1 mk2 the noise was lower, almost unnoticeable, but with the Q3 I don't even had to look for it, it was right there. Want to upgrade your old DAP? You can with the Fiio Q3. All you’ll need is a USB cable, connected from your player to your DAC, as long as you can use it in USB-out mode. The FiiO Q3 whether placed between iPAD, iPhone, or Mac performed brilliantly and easily with a number of IEMs / headphones—FiiO FH5, iBasso IT00, VISION EARS EVE2020, Meze 99 Classics. For the review the FiiO Q3 was paired, primarily, with the FiiO FH5 and the Meze 99 Classics. The FiiO’s volumetric cube—sound stage—is quite large and, at times, holographic, in that it spans good depth and height and width and, yet, is intimate when called to be so. Positioning and layering are also quite good as is image solidity and there is very good transparency and thus detail retrieval. Though the best and the more expensive across this category would, no doubt, extract more detail, nuance, and microdynamics. Bass The FiiO Q3 was partner to the iOs brothers—iPhone and iPad—and output through the following IEMs and headphones—iBasso IT00, FiiO FH5, Meze 99 Classics, and the VISION EARS EVE2020.The Q3 comes with the same XMOS XUF208 USB chip as found on FiiO’s flagship DAC/amplifier, allowing it to easily support decoding up to 768kHz/32bit PCM and DSD512. Shoutout to Sunny Wong from FiiO for sending me the Q3 to test and review. While I always appreciate the chance to test and review products sent in from manufacturers, it never affects my review. The Q3 in contrast to the Q1 mkii does not feature a dedicated line out that bypasses the amplification stage. PS: The review is written after a burn-in process of about 70 hours mainly based on my experiences with the FiiO FH3 and FiiO FH7 In-Ear Monitors. The sound of the FiiO Q3 will depend on the headphones you’re using. This section should really only be about performance, as the Q3 is designed to improve the sound of your headphones. The Q3 itself doesn’t produce the sound, but it does process the signal from your source.
The XMOS XU208 is a 32-bit multicore microcontroller that brings the low latency and timing determinism of the xCORE architecture to mainstream embedded applications. The various DAC/Amps were partnered to a MacBook Pro, or an iPAD, or a Samsung S10, all were ROON enabled, with the Meze 99 Classics, the FiiO FH5, and the VISION EARS EVE2020 as selected headphones/IEMs. The FiiO Q3 is a DAC/Amplifier with a close to neutral and detailed presentation that offers a good level of treble detail, sharpness and extension, with nice amount of airiness. The Q3 shows in general a pretty natural and linear tuning in any frequency region. The overall toning on the other hand is neither too sterile/dry nor to warm.Besides that, an analog bass booster that is adding 6 dB of gain somewhere between 20 and 300 Hz is used by the help of OPA2322 op-amp. Its volume control works in analog domain and thanks to a NJU72315 low-noise and ultra-low distortion volume control chip, you’ll have a great channel balance even at lower volumes with ultra-sensitive IEMs. Soundstage: was naturally open but average and perhaps a little more intimate than other THX amplifiers I have. The imaging is better than average with detail and accuracy to spare. Treble: Honestly seems neutral and very detailed without added boost or harshness, it mirrored the source well. Regarding the two filter settings they mostly affect higher frequencies with the one sounding more firm and well defined and the other more rounded and soft. As I’ve told you previously in my Kennerton Wodan review, those are so easy to drive by planar-mafia standards that Q3 was more than enough to drive them to ear-deafening levels even on its regular 3.5mm output. Q3 went with me in a long trip, somewhere at higher altitude surrounded by lots of snow and mulled wine, where Q3 was used daily from 9 P.M. to around midnight for several days in a row. Even without any kind of burn-in, I didn’t observe much of a change, it sounded pretty much the same out of the box as it did seven days later.
While FiiO touts the Q3 as having a THX AAA amplifier, known for their low distortion, I don’t consider balanced amplification to provide anything superior to a good single-ended design, and in and of itself wont necessarily make a cheaper product perform better than a more expensive single-ended design. It would make more sense that portable equipment all be single-ended, but as enthusiasts have gotten themselves all excited over “going balanced” for years, the manufacturers have had to follow suit. It has digital volume control, just like the Q1 mk2, which is a must have for me. In this case, there's a potentiometer but the analog audio signal doesn't pass through it, it's encoded to digital and then the digital value is used to control the output volume. This ensures there's no channel unbalance, which is a common thing when the signal passes through a potentiometer, specially with low volumes We didn’t have the chance to get this one for review, but I can give you an excerpt of the previous K5 review, by Lieven: One more note, the Q3 does support MQA, but I do not use Tidal or a similar service that delivers MQA; I use Apple Music which does support Lossless but not MQA. So I did not test this feature. Battery LifeA green light goes on for high gain but there is no visible indication to distinguish between the two filters. That said, I highly recommend the FiiO Q3 for the things it does so very well—technical upsampling/decoding abilities (at price point) and its beautiful, transparent rendering of music across all genres, and its design aesthetic. Bravo! Helped by a powerful USB receiver like XMOS XUF-208, Q3 can natively decode 32-bit 768 kHz PCM files and DSD512 material. You can find this exact chipset in most modern DACs, it is a very stable chipset which I never had a problem with. While just finishing my Hip-Dac review before taking the Q3 into testing but the Fiio didn't disappoint with most things in fact it worked much cleaner with IEMs even my Higher impedance headphones worked to a decent point but don't expect miracles its a portable after all and they all don't have the XP5's amazing power. The Q3 seems well suited to low Ohm cans and IEMs even sensitive ones. Since 2007, FiiO has been pushing further and away to become one of the top players. And you know what? After more than 10 years of hard work, I think they achieved their goal as the once unknown brand is now on every mouth and ear.
Great Deal 
New Comment