Hey Andy, I’ve had the Q15 for a couple of months. I couldn’t be happier. This thing is an absolute beast, from its build to its sound. My best before the Q15 was the ifI Gryphon. The Gryphon is no slouch it is no match for the Q15. Power, sound, build the Q15 sweeps the floor with the Gryphon. Excellent review. TonyTex aka Akros brought it to my attention last fall. I saw top of the line AKM I knew I had to get one. I couldn’t be happier. Your review is spot on imho. I do love your reviews because you get in to the nitty gritty of what makes these things tick. I learn something new with each review you publish. Thank you Andy. 🎻🎸✌️😊

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

A beast indeed, it is like HIBY FC6 on steroids, lol. And thanks! 🤘🤘

@SpiritualPsychotherapyServices

2 ай бұрын

I already have the HiBy for earphones but I may use this FiiO with 🎧

I love the close-up and the way you have shown both points of view. I wish more reviewerswere like yours.

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

I appreciate that!

I'm loving all of these reviews!! i have been looking for reviews on this and the btr15. i must say i am so glad i found this channel and will be coming to this channel more and more as i see what is coming out and seeing what is posted. I love the honesty and the transparency on all these reviews!! loving your channel!!!

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

Thanks. You made my day. Really appreciate the support 😃. Cheers

best reviewer i have heard for a long long time.....love your work Thank you.

@donglemadness

Ай бұрын

Wow, thanks!😁

Thanks for your review q15 😊. I got one. Organics and nature sound. Fantastic!

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Enjoy!

Hi Andy, great review of an outstanding product. Thank you.

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

No worries, and thanks

Amazing review Andy 😁

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Thank you! 🙏

Really great review. Thanks. 😃

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

🙏

great content and great review Andy hoping to get the Q15 down the road or by the end of the year, already have the Fiio dongles the KA13 and KA17

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Thanks man

Its my first time watching one of your review videos, I really like that you demonstrated how you use this product while out and about rather than simply talking about the product as other reviewers tend to do. I have paused the video @3:02 to comment as this really stood out as a real positive, +1 Subscriber from Australia. 🤔 btw, I also really like cargo pants, they are so practical with all their pockets.

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

Hey thanks for the support!. Oh yes that cargo pants is my favorite, for a gadget nerd like me, I can fir in so many stuffs, LOL. It is a Levi's Cargo Pants by the way, quite thick

Andy,i bought one yesterday,like new,with almost 2 years guarantee,at half price! I cant wait to arrive to me!💪💪

Just received it yesterday, bought it after watching your review satisfied with the sound, very natural and organic. Thanks

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Awesome. Enjoy your music!

this fiio q15 sound fantastic now for me also akm is something special....very very good

Great review!I need the same trousers 😄The Q15 is on my short list with the Shanling H5 (smaller and with support of SD card)

@dheny3007

4 ай бұрын

I'm waiting also comparison this two DAC, with same chip, but the price still win fiio Q15, fortunately i got andy's review, thankyou andy 🙏🙏🙏

I went from the Ifi zen v2 stack to the Q15 and I couldn’t be happier. So glad I got a proper amp for my IEM’s. Sweet Godflesh shirt btw!

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

I can totally relate to that. Cheers 🤘🤘

@justinmerrill3548

4 ай бұрын

Keep up the good work your passion really shines through your videos and I enjoy your work. I’ve been following you since I got the VE SIE and megatron. What a lovely combo that is with the impedance adapter. Thanks for the recommendation the SIE is my favorite set by far in the 100 range. Long live analog!!!! 🤘

Excellent review mate!!!!. If you get the chance do review the Xduoo XD05 Pro

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Thanks!. If I can get hold of one, absolutely want to review XD05 Pro, looks impressive on paper

Good review 👍

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Thank you 🙏

Most definitely Analytically reviewer in audio gadgets in KZread 🇵🇭💯😘😋👍👏👏👏👏✌️❤️‍🔥

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

😂 Thanks

Tried q11 and just blown away But this is another level lest see if I can try them out

Waitting for Fiio Ka17 review

@user-uc9ro9tf6q

4 ай бұрын

Me too... please Andy 🙏😊

This DAC-Amp has quietly gone under as none of the "big channels" are ready to review this majestic work of art. I wanted FiiO Q7 but didn't want something that comically large. So when this came up I went at it on the first day to get it. This is pretty much endgame level good with Senn HD 600 or Hifiman Sundara.

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

Victoria Concordia Crescit. COYG

love my Q15 as well. Sounds really wonderful even compared to my Hifiman EF400 Desktop DacAmp. using Hifiman Arya Organic and Fiio FH-9

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

No joke, this Q15 competes with desktop stuffs

Great review Andy, I ordered one last night based on your review, I tried to use the Mojo 2 as a mobile source but it doesn't work very well in ones pocket, even if it and the phone are in different pockets. The BTR7 is a good pocketable source, but doesn't sound as good as the Mojo 2. The Mojo 2 is now connected to a Burson Soloist 3XP which is a great combo. If the Q15 has some Chord and Burson elements to its sound, but is also mobile, then I'm in for a real treat.

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

Thanks. Q15 offers denser and less edgy sound compared to Mojo 2, a bit more musical and less emphasis on technicalities (but it is still very technical nonetheless)

@zenboy2000

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for the clarification, still really looking forward to it@@donglemadness

@radiofreealbemuth

3 ай бұрын

how would you compare the q15 with the mojo 2? @@zenboy2000

Thanks

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

🙏

Would be interesting if you could review and compare the IBasso D16 Taipan

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

I would be VERY interested in that one too 😁😁

Great review as usual, I wanted to ask you which filter do you prefer among those available? Thank you.

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

Thank you. Most of the time I use Slow filter, but really at least to my own hearing, these filters don't influence much at all

Binge-watching all your videos which i missed recently .... Andy again a request if possible please review The Fosi Audio SK02.. and did you get the FiiO KA17 or the KA11 yet?

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

I don't have any of them with me and I don't know when, so I can't promise anything. Thanks for your support, always ✌✌

I am heavily considering this thing after doing a quick demo of it. Have you done thorough comparisons to the iFi Gryphon? That’s the DAC/Amp I currently have but I am considering on selling it for this.

@donglemadness

Ай бұрын

I don't have Gryphon so I have no idea how they would compare, sorry

I’m wondering which to get (right now I have a btr7, qudelix 5k and a shanling m3 ultra dap). I was wondering between questyle m15, fiio q15, hiby fc6 or Cayin ru7. Mainly for iems, but I also have a fiio ft3 350ohm and an edition xs….oh and a beyer dt990 pro 250ohm but I don’t enjoy cymbals smashing the side of my face lol.

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

Such a wide choice, but since you consider Q15 in the bunch, then get Q15 and you get everything in one package. Otherwise I would narrow it down to FC6/M12i/BTR15 for something more portable, and a bit more preference to BTR15 if you need MIC and wireless convenience. FC6/M12i/BTR15/Q15 will all synergize great with DT990 Pro

Very Nice Little Amp. The other one that looks promising is the upcoming $699 Questyle CMA18 (ouch that price !). I don't know if the CMA18 will be competitive due to the price being even more than the Chord Mojo2. A 3 way shootout between the CMA18 , Mojo2 and Q15 would be very interesting. I have a feeling that the Fiio will be a better value since it is half the price.

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Yep on price alone for a flagship DAC/Amp, Q15 is hard to beat

Hi Andy. I ordered the Q15 and will have it tonight! I have a lot of confidence buying this due to your excellent review here. I like the AKM chips which is a big part of why I am buying this particular unit. Do you find that the software has any issues? I use a iPhone 13. I have heard people have issues with the Fiio app. Other than that I think I am really going to enjoy this unit! Thanks.

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

I personally don't find any issues with the app. The majority of things can be done with the built-in controls Q15 offers. I think the reported issues are mainly related to PEQ and I practically never use PEQ or EQ, so I don't encounter any issues there

@BrianVallotton

3 ай бұрын

@@donglemadness Thank you for the encouragement!

Andy, did you go through the filter option? Is it big diff?

@donglemadness

Ай бұрын

For Q15, barely any difference at all if any

Andy, could you share tracks you use for testing pinna glare?

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Just have a look at my shared Playlist. Alison Krauss is a good example. And also if you listen to Black Metal from Burzum, he uses a lot of E Minor guitar chords on top of his vocals being sharp sounding

Nice review as always. Wondering how it compares to iFi Gryphon 😁

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@fiddlix

4 ай бұрын

I have the q15 and the gryphon. Both are excellent. But the q15 has that special sauce that the gryphon is lacking. Andy’s review said it best.

I have the colorfly m1p and absolutely loved this device. Can I ask what improvement can I expect from using the fiio q15? I will assume that this fiio will not sound as rich and analog as colorfly. Mainly use with phone/dap and iem.

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Q15 as you can see in the timbre chart practically identical to M1P and DACPort HD in analog sound timbre. It is velvety smooth/rich as would be expected from a properly tuned AKM DAC, on top of it it has improved technicalities over M1P especially with imaging/micro resolution

@adamtan3919

4 ай бұрын

@@donglemadness Thank you for your reply. One more question please - does the fiio q15 sound as wide and spacious as the m1p or is it even more so?

Hi Andy. Nice review. I am pkanning to buy the q15 as an uograde to my BTR7. Is the q15 an upgrade to the BTR7 ?

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

I never tried BTR7 so I would not know. But to give you an idea I see Q15 being on par to FiiO desktop DAC/Amp of K9 and I even prefer Q15 more for being smaller and richer sounding

Hi Andy, Can you compare it to xDuoo XD05 Pro sound wise? (with the AKM DAC card) (and with Sparkos SS3602 Op-amps if you can)

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

I wish I can help with that but I don't have neither one of them accessible to me. But if can get them, then yes I would do it. Thanks

I have the chord mojo 2. Is this device an upgrade or not? You said the Q15 is more balanced?

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

At this level, both at the upper tier of things, it is more like different tuning. Mojo 2 focuses a bit more on technicalities and as mentioned in this video, being a bit brighter sounding too, Q15 is smoother, richer with sound texture and more organic sounding. Which sound style you prefer more will determine which one you like better

Hey Andy. How is the sound of this compare with FC6? I got the FC6 through your review and I love it but most of my gears are 4.4 so I'm trying to get a dac with 4.4 with a wide soundstage.

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Thanks. Check again 15:58 at Sound Timbre and you would see how close Q15 is with FC6 when it comes to sound signature, Q15 is practically on par with DACport HD and Colorffly CDA-M1P when it comes to sound timbre, texture richness and temperament. And you are right, this is like having FC6 with 4.4mm BAL if you prefer to use 4.4mm BAL since your cables are mainly 4.4, Q15 also as noted in my review, is like having more open staging with a bit more of headstage versus FC6 and DACport HD

@c.k1523

4 ай бұрын

Thank you Andy.

Hello, Does the PEQ in the FiiO Control App working also with streaming services like Qobus or Tidal? Thanks 🙏

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

I don't think it will work with MQA in Tidal, Qobuz I don't know

I hope you review Calyx K DAC Dongle in 2024 too...😃

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Noted

hey Andy, for sundara and warm sound...fiio q15 or ifi zen dac V3?

@donglemadness

15 күн бұрын

Q15

9:02 i'm a bit confused here. when you set it to desktop mode and it's not charging the battery, can you just supply power to the q15 through the USB charger? So for example, if I connect one USB to the phone and one USB to a USB charger (plugged to a wall), can the q15 just use the power from the USB charger (wall) or does it still drain battery from the phone?

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

Whenever there is a supply of power is fed to Q15 on the 2nd USB port marked in orange/red. Q15 will never draw from the host or your phone. So yes it will not drain the battery of your phone

Terima kasih kerana tidak salah sebut "timbre" kali ini. 😅

Can i ask how is the noise floor/hissing on the Fiio Q15 with sensitive iems?

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

I have tested it with 2.9 Ohm hybrid IEM with 121 dB of sensitivity, zero floor noise, total silence

@radiofreealbemuth

2 ай бұрын

@@donglemadness ah, I'm wondering if the noise floor rises when you set it to ultra high gain mode. From what I understand, when you set it to desktop mode by connecting it to the wall via a USB charger and bypassing the battery, it shifts into ultra high gain mode, and I'm guessing that could raise the noise floor

If i already have a dap hiby r6 III do you recommend me this device for headphones like senn hd660 s2 and hd800s? Or my hiby can deliver enough power for those headphones? Thanks

@donglemadness

Ай бұрын

Power is not an issue here as R6 III already offers all the power you need. You swap DAC/Amps to try different synergy and tuning, different experiences

Hi Andy should I buy FC6 on sale around 175 or should I stretch and get Q15? Will. It worth it?

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

$175 for FC6 is s steal. I love both FC6 and Q15 equally but with that price, FC6 is a clear choice if you ask me

Can i ask how you like the user interface of the Q15? I've heard some people say that the software is buggy.

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

I like it a lot. The ones saying it is buggy probably due to issues with PEQ, and I almost never touch PEQ at all so I don't get any issues

Do you think would you be using Q15 more than BTR15 when on the go/outside (with IEMs)?

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Sound wise yes, but BTR15 being able to do calls because it has MIC making it more practical, so it is a hard choice to make here

@FrantaPo-bc5mu

4 ай бұрын

Also clipping Q15 to your belt and controlling it with one hand without looking might get difficult ;).

Nice review, thank you. Too bad you didnt mention software issues with Q15, EQ is almost unusable through USB until Fiio fix it.

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

The reason for that was that, I never use EQ on any of my audio gears, so from that perspective I really don't know there was even an issue with EQ

@Rezzzn0r

4 ай бұрын

@@donglemadness I see, thank you. I own Q15 and I think it's a great sounding device. On the other hand I do not like how Fiio treats customers. Releasing a product that clearly has not been tested enough from a software perspective.

which one is best combine for fa19 for pc gaming this one or fa17?

@donglemadness

Ай бұрын

You mean KA17? while both Q15 and KA17 are great with imaging and resolution, I find that KA17 will be more suited for spatial holographic presentation which means it will also be more suited for FPS/TPP type of gaming, Q15 however is superior with natural timbre which is more applicable for music and immersion

Those this dac support usb output? Where I can connect it to a vehicle usb input

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Yes the USB C is the primary output from this Q11, assuming that your car system can accept USB in then it will work

@topandrun126

4 ай бұрын

@@donglemadness thanks for the info

@topandrun126

4 ай бұрын

@donglemadness I was referring to the q15 not the q11.

Is it worthy to sacrifice portability from KA17 and upgrade to Q15?

@donglemadness

2 ай бұрын

The reason to upgrade to Q15 is to get a more natural and richer sounding output, but technically both of them are really on par, and Q15 offers more features including a very good LDAC decoding, yes you lose portability, but KA17 is already very solid as it is

Hi Andy, How do you compare Q15 to L&P W4 ?

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

Q15 is superior especially with sound texture richness,, outright power, analog timbre and balance between musical/analytical. W4 is exceedingly competent with technicalities but to me just a bit lacking with sound texture and timbre, so if you ask me, Q15 is superior

@ruslanbodnarchuk8580

3 ай бұрын

Many thanks for sharing your opinion

Hi, how is this compared to DC Elite?

@donglemadness

3 ай бұрын

DC Elite is flatter and more neutral with lows and mids. As noted in my review here Q15 offers enhanced neutral sound frequency for Mids and Lows, making it richer sounding with imaging and texture, it is also more analog than DC-Elite. Technical wise they are pretty much on par

Next review is -> Fosi Audio SK02 👌👌👌

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

That's my wish too

Review tempotec V3 sir That DAP using AKM too

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

I can only review what I can get, if I can get it, yes of course

Sir, you really look like my uncle 😅

@donglemadness

Ай бұрын

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Can you compare with cayin ru7?

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Just like comparing RU7 vs FC6, except that Q15 is like a supercharged FC6, it has richer sound texture and analog tonality a bit more than RU7

@Malik08902

4 ай бұрын

@@donglemadness thank you very much for the quick reply!

There's a similar device by Xduoo xd05 balance 2 with 1.5W power on the balance output. Anyone have tried it?

@Sarmat52

4 ай бұрын

Он хуже fiio q15.

@endrizo

4 ай бұрын

and the xd05 bal2 has optical input as well. q15 does not include optical. only coaxial

@Maj0rTac0

4 ай бұрын

​@endrizo you can also change the omp amp of the xd05 bal 2 but the gain though it only has hi-lo compared to Q15's 4/5 stages. Bal 2 uses ESS and FIIO is AKM. I hope Andy can get hold of the Xduoo for comparison

@endrizo

4 ай бұрын

@@Maj0rTac0 yes i know. i wont get into thay craze of op amp rolling. a side by side comparison would be great.

@Maj0rTac0

4 ай бұрын

@endrizo would you go with the q15 or the Xduoo if you were to decide

I guess fiio k9 akm outperforms a little bit.😁

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

I guess it would, considering that K9 AKM is a flagship too with larger real estate and components

@AbalMarius

4 ай бұрын

K9 akm is q15 on steroids, it sounds even better but is stationary device not portable so depends how you use it

Hy Andy, have you try Fiio KA17 DAC Dongle? I'm curious about sound quality that dongle has. The output power about 2 x 650mW Bal

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

No, I don't have it yet

I have this dac. it's not bad, but the sound quality is slightly worse than ifi go bar.

That's desktop size.

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

Yep, a brick still lol

IBasso Elite eats all of them alive.

@SAyar-so9ur

4 ай бұрын

😂

@donglemadness

4 ай бұрын

😂

@VanDungLe2510

4 ай бұрын

Doubt, but okay😂

@karolkedzierski5824

4 ай бұрын

You can laugh but i know what im talking about. Ive had the Fiio M15s which is better than the q15. I compared the M15s to my AK sp1000 and it took 5 min to send the M15s back, no chance. The Elite on the other hand stands to the sp1000 better than the M15s. There is no way the q15 is better sound wise.

@VanDungLe2510

4 ай бұрын

@@karolkedzierski5824 yeah but... Andy has both q15 and dc elite. Your opinion is just an opinion. Glad to see that you like it tho