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FiiO DM15 R2R CD Player vs Sony's Greatest Discman

Technostalgism

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FiiO DM15 R2R review: the portable CD player that's hiding three devices in one.

Six months with the FiiO DM15 R2R, tested against Sony's greatest Discman. What is an R2R DAC? Should you buy a brand-new CD player, or go vintage?

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Along the way we get into the features nobody talks about:
USB-to-S/PDIF bridge functionality that nobody’s talking about.
Does it play FLAC CDs? High Rez FLACs?
Media key support

Reviewed against some of the greatest Sony Discman: the D-Z555 and D-515. And the D-50, D-303 and D-J50 come along for the ride.

CHAPTERS

0:00 • Intro
1:35 • What’s an R2R DAC?
2:15 • Features: Three devices in one
3:13 • Use cases: headphones, transport, USB bridge, Bluetooth
5:09 • What Nobody Talks About
7:14 • Desktop Mode
7:38 • ESP, MagicBass, Rec Mode
8:39 • DM15 vs. Discman UX
11:45 • Portable vs. Transportable
12:33 • Sound: DM15 vs. Sony D-Z555 vs. D-515
15:13 • Design
16:20 • Alternatives
16:50 • Verdict: new or vintage?

💿 GEAR IN THIS VIDEO:
FiiO DM15 R2R (and AKM)
Discman: Sony D-Z555 · Sony D-515 · Sony D-50 · Sony D-303 · Sony D-J50 · Sony D-NE920
Headphones: HiFiMAN HE1000se · Sony IER-Z1RFiiO K17
DAC/AMP: RME ADI-2 DAC · Fiio K17

FiiO DM15 firmware update instructions: https://www.fiio.com/newsinfo/1109157...

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#FiiODM15 #R2R #CDPlayer #Discman #PortableCDPlayer #HiFi

20 Comments

@technostalgism Creator 1 month ago (edited) Pinned

If you enjoyed the video, Subscribe to the channel. It really helps.
FAQs ANSWERED:
- My T-Shirt: https://technostalgism.com/go/store/
- ESP: Probably compressed. Fiio recommend you keep it off for critical listening. As said, there's some buffering even with ESP OFF - and I tested this by actually walking with it. It's not normally skipping with ESP OFF. Fiio also mentioned that for standard audio CDs, ESP provides 60 seconds of pre-reading; for MP3 discs, 120". Enabling ESP improves playback stability, but does not significantly enhance disc reading performance.
My theory - a short uncompressed buffer - generally does the job. Turn ESP on only for extreme environments.
- Yes, the DM15 has gapless audio CD playback.
Thanks for watching!

@snazzysailor 3 weeks ago

This is what I call a review. Excellent job!

@ThilanUdalagama 1 month ago

best review for DM15 R2R!
the effects, diagrams, effort is 100%

@atariandre5014 1 month ago (edited)

I bought one and returned it after a few days. Pairing Bluetooth with a car is not possible, the very reason I wanted it. But worse: when I connected it through digital out to my Cambridge Audio CXN it sounded very mufled all treble had seem to be gone compared to when I hook up my CA Azur 740C digitally to the CXN. This is crazy. You may assume the tiniest of nuances when hooking up CD players as transports only, but not such a huge difference in sound.
Also: the buttons are terrible and the display was flickering regularly.

I bought a Sanling EC Zero AKM instead and it’s much better in almost all ways. Also rips to USB sticks larger than 32Gb which the FIIO can’t handle.

@AndrewGamblin-go5oe 1 month ago

1st viewer - what a professional video production, well done.

@GL111SG 1 month ago

Do both. Get the DM15 (or similar) for kicking back with a good pair of headphones/IEMs, as well as utilizing it as a nice desktop DAC. Buy a couple of old portable CD players (Sony, Panasonic or Technics are my preferred makes), throw that in your backpack for commutes or the gym. These old players are built pretty well even for the lower-end models, and can handle daily use without much issues. So long as you're not hunting for the "collectible" or unicorn models, they don't go for too much on eBay.

@peraphanjittrapirom9820 1 month ago

have the dm13 and loved it. awesome review

@iagogallardo6971 5 days ago

New sub here, the video is simply perfect

@stevochang 1 month ago

Incredible review! I learned a few things I didn’t even know about my unit!

@aleksei.akhachev 1 month ago

thank you so much for such a detailed beautiful review!

@Graciashauf 1 month ago

Great video! Nice and in depth

@maheeinfy13 1 month ago

Excellent review bud. Subbed

@johnmoorefilm 1 month ago

Wonder-filled review ❤ I understood about half, but that was a fun half!❤❤❤

@fhwolthuis 1 month ago

Excellent video ❤ Really interesting devices that are appearing lately 😃

@highfidelity1989 1 month ago

Awesome video ❤ Thank you for sharing!

@xeudio 1 month ago

Awesome video!!! Thank you!

@boltmix21 1 month ago

Solid info. Thanks

@Toby-NL 1 month ago

When I was a kid still going to school . I always would have both a walkman on a belt clip and a few of my favorite cassettes next to a diskman whit a cd map filled whit my favorite cd’s in my backpack . On my way to school , and on my way back home . I always had my headphones on , while listening to my favorite bangers . I really miss those days .