FiiO DM15 AKM Edition Review - The other flavour of the same excellent platform
General/Packaging/Build I've been sitting on the DM15 R2R for a while now, so when FiiO sent over the AKM variant, I already knew roughly what to expect on the build side, and I wasn't wrong. Same chassis language, same top-loading transparent glass lid where you can watch the disc spin, same solid in-hand feel. To my ears and eyes both, this thing does not feel like a budget portable CD player, it feels like a proper piece of desktop Hi-Fi gear that just happens to be small enough to carry around. Where it differs from the R2R is under the hood, FiiO swapped out the R2R DAC architecture for a dual AKM AK4493S setup, paired with its own filter and amp stage. Build quality wise though, I honestly can't tell the two apart, same metal-and-glass construction, same reassuring weight, same overall footprint. Gears Used for This Review Aune S17 Pro Amp Burson Conductor Stellar FiiO DM15 AKM FiiO DM15 R2R (for direct comparison) Foreword My review is solely based on what I hear ...
