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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 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. 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. Treble: Honestly seems neutral and very detailed without added boost or harshness, it mirrored the source well.
Not surprisingly, while the drive of the IEMs was excellent, the level of detail retrieval from music with which I had a lot of experience, such as Jazz in the New Harmonic by David Chesky, which has the most incredibly nuanced percussion, from the Q3 was not as good as with either FiiO’s higher offerings, such as the M11 Pro, or other more expensive DAC/amps, such as the iFi xDSD or Chord Mojo. The next one is a multifunction button that when it is short pressed switches between low and high gain and when it is double taped cycles between sharp and slow roll off filters. Campfire Audio, Chord Electronics, Dan Clark Audio (formerly MrSpeakers), EAR Micro, Eleven XIAudio, Enleum, FiiO, FIR Audio, Focal, Focusrite, Fostex, Grado, HarmonicDyne, HeadAmp, Hifiman, JBL, Kefine, Kiwi Ears, Klipsch, LETSHUOER, Mark Levinson,
FiiO Q3 Specifications
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. The FiiO Q3 has a 1,800mAH battery which the company says should last 10 hours or more, even under USB decoding. I found battery life fluctuated between 9 and 12 hours. It depends on how loud the music is and the signal being sent into the DAC. I think the battery life is acceptable, but maybe getting something more along the lines of 15-20 hours may be more acceptable to other users. Price/Value If you own a Q1 Mark II, this time I can confidently advise you to up your game and get the new Q3. Sound-wise, the difference isn’t massive, but if you take into account all the various ergonomics improvements, the scale really weighs towards the new Q3. Everything was going great with my tests, I started from the bottom and tested it with the Moondrop Quarks, Tanchjim Tanya, Hifiman HE-4XX and it worked flawlessly with all of them, with plenty of definition and power, even to drive the 4XX to hurtful levels.
Like most modern USB-DAC, the FiiO Q3 doesn’t need any driver on most computers. If you’re using a MAC, this is no surprise as Apple has made a mission to ensure that every device you’ll connect will work directly…ish. Obviously, with an MFi certification, it would have been a shame otherwise. Q3 is also Apple MFi (Made For iDevices) certified meaning that it will work exceptional with any of their portable or desktop units. It is USB-C certified too, meeting standard specifications to ensure a wider compatibility with Android smart devices. The gain modes were interesting, as even in high gain, the volume level was about right for even the quite sensitive Campfire Audio Andromedas, with only minimal hiss, a bit more than the BTR-5. The volume has to be turned up quite a bit before sound comes out, even in high gain, and maxes out easily with full-sized headphones before the sound gets very loud. This makes me feel it is best for IEM use, and unless you don’t listen loud, the output may be too low for full-sized headphones, especially if you listen to typical jazz and classical music that has a high dynamic range.The charge on/off switch is a nice option for those who’d prefer to shunt the USB power from their computer. I didn’t hear a difference between the two modes, but that may be a real game-changer for some listeners. FiiO Q3 has a fast, pretty emphasized and controlled midbass performance, without to show remarkable negative situations such like a midbass hump or mixings. The Q3 offers a sufficient level midbass quantity and intensity for most listeners, inclusive bassheads, and is able to produce soft or strong bass notes depending of the record. 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. At the top of the FiiO Q3, you’ll find the power/volume knob. This is also made of metal and is knurled, giving it a nice feel when rotated. The RGB indicator is next to the knob, which relays some information about the operation. The dac is used in balanced mode providing symmetrical signal to the low pass filter and then it is amplified by two THX AAA 28 op amps for low distortion and high power balanced output.
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